19 killed! Protest Israeli attack on humanitarian flotilla! 5pm Tues 1 June

STOP ISRAELI ATTACK ON HUMANITARIAN FLOTILLA
EMERGENCY PROTEST

5pm Tues 1 June

Wesley Church (cnr William & Hay Sts, Perth)

Socialist Alliance statement May 31, 2010
Rudd must break ties with murderous Israel
Socialist Alliance condemns the completely unwarranted and murderous attack by Israel on the civilian Flotilla carrying aid to Gaza.
Media reports on May 31 say that between 16-20 people may have been killed and more than 30 injured after hundreds of masked Israeli commandos stormed the six vessels of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters off the coast of Gaza.
Al Jazeera reported that the ships are being towed by Israeli warships to the port of Haifa, instead of Ashdod, where dozens of journalists were awaiting the Flotilla's arrival.
Protests erupted in Turkey and Gaza immediately, and are being organised around Australia for June 1.
It is not yet clear who from among the hundreds of activists on board the flotilla of ships, many of which were Turkish, has been killed.
Two Australians, among them well-known Sydney Morning Herald journalist Paul McGeough, were on board the flotilla. Their whereabouts is not known.
Not since the French Secret Service blew up the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985 has there been such a brazen act of international piracy by a sovereign state. Governments all around the world have condemned the criminal actions of Somali pirates in international waters off the horn of Africa, and have even sent naval armadas to confront those pirates. The international community must now unreservedly condemn this criminal act of piracy on the high seas, and immediately sent an international naval armada to restrain the barbaric actions of the Israeli Navy.
We demand the Rudd government immediately condemn the killings of unarmed civilians, break off diplomatic relations with Israel and demand that the Flotilla is allowed to land unimpeded, and the aid delivered to the people of Gaza.
Most of the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza rely on aid – which has been blocked by Israel and Egypt.
The Rudd government must demand that the siege of Gaza, imposed in 2007, be lifted immediately and that Israel recognise the democratically-elected Hamas government of Gaza.
Israel has once again violated international law and must be bought to justice for these and other war crimes.
For more information contact Pip Hinman 0401 760 577

June 1 Protests around Australia

Huge protests have broken out in Turkey and the Israeli embassy there has been stormed. There are emergency protests being organised around the world.
Sydney: Protest on Tuesday June 1, 5.30pm, Town Hall, organised by Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine.
Melbourne: There will be a protest on Tuesday June 1, 4.30pm at the State Library.
Perth: A snap protest will be held Tuesday June 1, 5pm, Wesley Church, cnr William & Hay Sts, Perth. Organised by Friends of Palestine.
Brisbane: A protest will be held on Tuesday June 1, 5-7pm, Brisbane Sq, Cnr Queen and George Sts.
Adelaide: Details coming soon - keep checking back here!
Canberra: Tuesday June 1, 5pm, outside Israeli Embassy, 6 Turrana St, Yarralumla. Plus also a rally in Garema Place on Thursday 3 June at 4.00 pm (organised by Australians for Justice and Peace in Palestine)
Al Jazeera is now reporting that up to 16 [latest: at least 19] people have been killed and more than 30 injured after hundreds of masked Israeli commandos stormed the six vessels of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters off the coast of Gaza.  Al Jazeera further reports that the ships are being towed by Israeli warships to the port of Haifa instead of Ashdod where dozens of journalists were awaiting the flotilla’s arrival.
Not since the French Secret Service blew up the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985 has there been such a brazen act of international piracy by a sovereign state.  Governments all around the world have condemned the criminal actions of Somali pirates in international waters off the horn of Africa, and have even sent naval armadas to confront those pirates.  The international community must now unreservedly condemn this criminal act of piracy on the high seas, and immediately sent an international naval armada to restrain the barbaric actions of the Israeli Navy.
Friends of Palestine Western Australia has called an emergency protest outside Wesley Church for tomorrow (Tuesday) 5.00pm outside the Wesley Church on the corner of Hay & William St in the Perth CBB.
You can take action before the protest tomorrow by contacting the following:-
Israeli Prime Minister’s Office
<Prime.Minister’sOffice@it.pmo.gov.il>
Israeli Ministry of Defence
<pniot@mod.gov.il>

Israeli Members of the Knesset Presidium
Dalia Itzik<yor@knesset.gov.il>
Collete Avital<avitalk@knesset.gov.il>,
Mohammad Barakeh<mbarakeh@knesset.gov.il>
Amnon Cohen <amncohen@knesset.gov.il>
Yuli-Yoel Edelstein<yedelstein@knesset.gov.il>
Yitzhak Levi<ithakl@knesset.gov.il>
David Rotem<drotem@knesset.gov.il>
Otniel Schneller<oschneller@knesset.gov.il>
Yitzhak Ziv<yziv@knesset.gov.il>
Israeli Knesset public complaints department
Gila Rothschild<gilar@knesset.gov.il>
Israeli Chairman, Security and Foreign Affairs Committee
Tzachi Hanegbi<zhanegbi@knesset.gov.il>
Israeli Ambassador to Australia
HE Yuval Rotem
ambassadorsec@canberra.mfa.gov.il

And please ask our own government  to condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs
The Hon Stephen Smith
Stephen.Smith.MP@aph.gov.au

Australian Ambassador to Israel
HE John Larsen
Fax: +972 3 6935002
Below is a link to a BBC report which contains a feed of the Turkish TV footage of the commando assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.  At this stage, the Turkish camera crew’s footage is the only footage known to have been taken of the murderous attack.
Disregard the disgustingly biased BBC commentary that overlays the footage which implies the situation was so “chaotic” the Israeli naval commandos were justified in opening fire.
Note also that since this report was filed several hours ago, the IDF itself has confirmed on Israel Army Radio that at least ten people were killed.  An IDF spokesman that activists tried to seize weapons from the commandos, and that the commandos were attacked with iron bars, sticks and knives.  Yet in the very same report in Haaretz (see link below), the Israeli military is reported to have said in an official statement that “protesters…attacked [the commandos] with live fire.”  In other words, the IDF has directly contradicted itself and shown itself to be lying through its teeth.  Either the naval commandos were attacked with iron bars, sticks and knives, in which case lethal force could not have been justified, or they were attacked with live fire.  Both things by definition cannot be true.  In either case, history demonstrates beyond any shadow of a doubt that any statements made by the IDF cannot be believed for one nanosecond.
We will all have an agonising wait over the course of the next few hours before we can discover exactly what happened on board the six vessels of the Freedom Flotilla early this morning.  What we can say for certain at this stage is that an Israeli naval commando unit has carried out an illegal act of piracy in international waters that has led to the deaths of at least ten activists guilty of nothing more than attempting to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to the besieged and long-suffering people of Gaza.
BBC stream of Turkish TV footage of the commando raid
Haaretz report confirming at least ten deaths