Is Anyone Following the Gaza Strip Situation?

[Draken]

Is there any country in the world with as many suspected "war criminals" in government as Israel?
America is a contender, as well as Russia, I presume. England is getting higher in the rankings as we speak...

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THE HOFFMAN WIRE
Dedicated to Freedom of the Press, Investigative Reporting and Revisionist History

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Michael A. Hoffman II, Editor

IDF general escapes arrest by London police's anti-terrorist unit

Haaretz (Israeli newspaper) Sept 12 2005

By Aluf Benn, Amira Hass and Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent

General (res.) Doron Almog, former head of the Israel Defense Forces'
(IDF) Southern Command, escaped arrest Sunday (Sept. 11) by the London
police's anti-terrorist and war crimes unit, when he remained on an
aircraft that had landed in Heathrow airport and returned with it to
Israel several hours later.

Almog had arrived in London on an El-Al flight. Israel Ambassador Zvi
Hefetz learned of a plan to arrest him for allegedly perpetrating war
crimes during the intifada, and quickly informed Yaki Dayan, head of the
political department in Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's bureau.

In Jerusalem no one knew whether Almog was to be handed a subpoena or an
arrest warrant, or who was behind the move, but they decided not to take
a chance. The Foreign Ministry sent a message to Almog, through the
airplane's communication systems, warning him that he could be arrested
if he entered the U.K.

Almog decided to remain on the plane. Because he had not passed border
control, he was not considered to have entered Great Britain and
therefore could not be handed an arrest warrant.

He had been planning to raise funds in the country for a children's
village for severely disabled children that he plans to build in the
Negev.

The request for Almog's arrest was issued by Judge Timothy Workman in
London, at the request of the firm of Hickman and Rose, which
specializes in human rights law. Almog was apparently suspected by the
London authorities of gravely violating the Geneva Convention, a
criminal violation according to British law.

The warrant was issued based on one incident - demolition of a home in
Rafah - but the attorneys also seek to investigate allegations
concerning Almog's involvement in three other cases: the killing of a
woman in her ninth month of pregnancy (Nouha al-Maqadam, March 3, 2003);
the killing of three young men in northern Gaza on December 30, 2001;
and the bombing of the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza on July 22, 2002,
which killed Hamas' military head Salah Shehadeh and 14 other
Palestinians.

Last month Hickman and Rose learned of Almog's planned visit to Britain,
and it submitted to Judge Workman information about the Israeli's
alleged involvement in various crimes. As representatives of the
families of the victims, Hickman and Rose decided to arrange for Almog
to be arrested. The firm worked closely over the past months with the
Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, which documents IDF
operations there.

One of the partners in the firm is Daniel Machover, who has dual British
and Israeli citizenship. Machover told Haaretz on Sunday that his
clients and his firm "were deeply sorry that Almog slipped away from the
British justice system, but the fact that he feels that he cannot stand
up to it, is at least significant in showing that there is no immunity
for war criminals in Britain."

Three years ago the Israeli embassy in Britain spirited Shaul Mofaz out
of the country to evade an arrest warrant for war crimes, which was
issued at the instigation of a Muslim organization. Israel later managed
to terminate the legal process against Mofaz, who visited the U.K. as
defense minister.

[truebeliever]

There was a guy who said if the State of Israel existed it would be a haven for criminals...what was his name again?

[Draken]

Don't know, but just look at how many of their Prime Ministers and major politicians have been and are real killers, terrorists, Mossad or military. From Menachem Begin through to Sharon...

[freeman]

Because he had not passed border
control, he was not considered to have entered Great Britain and
therefore could not be handed an arrest warrant.

Oh, sure, there's a normal interpretation of international law, right, gents? You and I could expect as much consideration, if say, we were wanted by the Crown on some outstanding parking tickets, could we not?

One of the partners in the firm is Daniel Machover, who has dual British
and Israeli citizenship. Machover told Haaretz on Sunday that his
clients and his firm "were deeply sorry that Almog slipped away from the
British justice system, but the fact that he feels that he cannot stand
up to it, is at least significant in showing that there is no immunity
for war criminals in Britain."

Uh-huh. You tell 'em, counselor.
...Can anybody say MAHABONE?

[truebeliever]

There was a guy who said if the State of Israel existed it would be a haven for criminals...what was his name again?

Clue...funny walk...funny moustache...

[Draken]

Funny that, since the man with the funny walk and the funny moustache was instrumental in the creation of the state of Israel... :lol:

[Draken]

<a href="http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,4049446%255E1702,00.html">Porn upsets Palestinians</a>

31mar02

PORN movies and programs in Hebrew are being broadcast by Israeli troops who have taken over three Palestinian television stations of Ramallah, irate residents of the besieged West Bank town have told AFP.

The offices of three local television and radio stations were occupied by soldiers yesterday morning, a few hours after tanks and hundreds of troops stormed the town in Israel's biggest offensive against the Palestinian Authority and its leader Yasser Arafat.

The soldiers started broadcasting the porn clips -- considered extremely offensive by most Muslims -- intermittently this afternoon from the Al-Watan, Ammwaj, and Al-Sharaq channels, the residents said.

"The pornographic movies started on Al-Watan television at around 3:30 pm," one 34-year-old Palestinian mother named Reema told AFP.

"I have six children at home, they have nowhere to go with what is going on here and can't even watch TV," she said angrily.

"It's not healthy really. I think the Israelis want to mess with our young men's heads," she said.

Anita, a 52-year-old mother of three children, complained about "the deliberate psychological damage caused by these broadcasts".

"I am furious, these are the people who are shooting at us that also play this disgusting trick on us," she said.

"We are desperate for news and constantly flipping channels and get these terrible pictures instead," adding that videos of the intifada were also shown backwards with "ideal terrorism" written in red across the screen.

"Luckily, there is no electricity in half of Ramallah," she said from her house in east Jerusalem where the channels are also available.

A fourth local station, whose premises were not seized by the army, ran a written message across its screen letting people know it was the Israelis who were behind the graphic scenes.

"Anything currently shown on Al-Watan and other local TV channels has nothing to do with Palestinian programs but is being broadcast by the Israeli occupation forces, we urge parents to take precautions," the message said.

The Israeli military denied that it had anything to do with the pornographic programming and instead blamed the Palestinian leaders.

"The Israeli security forces have no interest in putting pornographic and racist movies on Palestinian television," an army spokesman told AFP.

"The only reason we are in these buildings and in this city is to fight against terrorists and their infrastructure after giving the Palestinians various chances to it themselves," he said.

Palestinian leader Yasser "Arafat is willing to go low in order to make himself look better in this uncomfortable situation", he said.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said any such broadcasting was "shameful", but said he was not aware of the Israeli army's involvement.

"I cannot believe that Israeli soldiers would engage in such despicable behaviour," he said.