It is with a heavy heart that I share the news with you that an Israeli court ruled today that the military was not at fault for killing Rachel Corrie, a U.S. activist crushed by an army bulldozer during a 2003 demonstration in Gaza. The court rejected the lawsuit filed in 2005 on behalf of the Corrie family by attorney Hussein abu Hussein which charged the State of Israel with responsibility for Rachel’s killing and failure to conduct a full and credible investigation in the case.
It seems fitting to share with you all the message Omar Barghouti of the Palestinian Boycott National Committee sent to BDS supporters this morning:
It's a
sad day for humanity, for the Corries, for Palestinians, for all people of
conscience around the world ...
Cindy
and Craig, we share your hurt. We share your indignation at this Israeli
mockery of justice which is typical of this unjust system.
This latest
and widely expected Israeli court whitewash underlines what the UN Goldstone
Report had proven after the Israeli massacre in Gaza in 2008-09. Referring to
“structural flaws” in the so-called Israeli justice system, the report
concluded that Israel cannot be trusted to administer
justice according to international standards.[Goldstone Report, paragraph 1756]
Precisely!
In too many cases to enumerate here, Israel's courts have rarely sentenced
Jewish-Israeli criminals for killing or injuring Palestinians or wantonly
destroying their property. According to Israeli human rights organization Yesh
Din,
"...
91% of investigations [by Israeli police in the OPT] into crimes committed by
Israelis against Palestinians and their property are closed without indictments
being served. 84% of the investigation files are closed because of the
investigators' failure to locate suspects and evidence. ... Indictments
were served in less than 3% of these cases."
Even as
early as 1996, at the height of the so-called "peace process," an
Israeli settler fatally pistol-whipped 11-year-old Palestinian child Hilmi
Shusha near Bethlehem for no apparent reason. An Israeli
judge first acquitted the murderer, saying the child "died on his own as a
result of emotional pressure., After numerous appeals and under pressure from
the Supreme Court, which termed the act "light killing," the judge
reconsidered and, as the Intifada was raging, sentenced the killer to six
months of community service and a fine of a few thousand dollars. The boy’s
father accused the court of issuing a "license to
kill." [Reuters, January 22, 2001; Phil Reeves, "Fury as
court frees settler, The Independent, January 22, 2001]
Gideon
Levy of Haaretz eloquently described the fine at the time as the
"end-of-the-season" clearance price on Palestinian children’s lives, referring
to the findings of B’tselem, Israel’s leading human rights
organization, which documented dozens of similar cases in which perpetrators
were either acquitted or received a slap on the wrist. [Gideon Levy, Haaretz, January 28, 2001]
Adding
insult to injury, the complicit Israeli judge in this case implied that Rachel
was not a "thinking person" because of her heroic nonviolent attempt
to stand against an indisputable war crime.
Given
that Israel's courts, like their South African counterparts during apartheid,
have systematically and consistently been a reliable pillar of Israeli
occupation, colonialism and apartheid, Israel's war crimes and crimes against
humanity ought to be prosecuted in international courts where justice has a
chance to see the day of light.
This
should also convince anyone who still needed to be convinced that without
effective BDS against Israel it will never comply with
international law. This is the lesson of South Africa.
Thank you to Omar for these motivating words.
YOU CAN TAKE ACTION: In the wake of this verdict, the We Divest Campaign, a national coalition demanding pension fund giant TIAA-CREF divest from companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands, is intensifying its call for divestment from Caterpillar Inc. For more information and to sign the petition to divest from TIAA-CREF, click here: http://wedivest.org
Thank you for standing for justice,
Elisabeth Geschiere on behalf of MN BBC
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