Israel Hayom..
31 August '12..
The family of Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an army bulldozer during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Gaza in 2003, filed a civil suit against the State of Israel for their daughter's death. This week, the Haifa District Court ruled that the state was not to blame.
“Corrie could have moved away from the danger easily, but she chose to endanger herself ... The purpose of the bulldozer’s work was saving lives," wrote Judge Oded Gershon. "The incident occurred at the height of an armed conflict between Israel and terrorist groups. The bulldozers were being used to prevent explosives from being planted on the road; they did not damage Palestinian homes in the area.”
Unlike the collaborators whose knee-jerk response was to describe Corrie as a peace activist and mention only the innocent-sounding name of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) without elaborating, here are some facts of the case, most of which can be found on the NGO Monitor’s excellent website.
The ISM portrays itself as advocating non-violence, human rights, respect for international law and United Nations resolutions, and as striving for a “just peace.” But study of its documents and the statements made by its high-ranking officials shows that the organization’s ideology is in fact anti-Israel and anti-Zionist, and has adopted the Palestinians’ most radical demands. Not only does the ISM negate the policies of Israeli governments (which amounts to “Israeli apartheid in Palestine” as it calls it), but also Israel’s very existence as the Jewish homeland. Statements by ISM officials emphasize implementing the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees to Israel, rejection of the Oslo Accords, and never even mention the two-state solution. However, the ISM keeps its positions vague so that it can appeal to the largest common denominator of human rights and peace activists, including Jews – most of whom, surprisingly enough, do not deny Israel’s right to exist, but merely oppose its policies.
In its internal documents, the ISM seemingly justified the Palestinian armed struggle against Israel, even at the height of the suicide terrorist attacks. Its activists gave refuge to a jihadi operative who had been involved in suicide bombings, shooting attacks and planting explosives.
They interfered with the Israel Defense Forces’ preventative operations (such as the incident in which Corrie was killed); at one point obstructing the bombing of an explosives laboratory that produced bombs used in suicide attacks.
The ISM’s activities include participation in Palestinian demonstrations and acts of protest; stationing activists as human shields to protect wanted terrorists; deploying its activists near IDF checkpoints and throughout Judea and Samaria; providing financial, logistical and moral assistance to Palestinians, including terrorists and their families; interfering with the demolition or sealing of the homes of terrorists who have carried out suicide attacks that have claimed many victims; and holding marches along the security fence and from Jenin to Jerusalem.
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