Israel will NOT investigate killing of 10 members of Gaza family in airstrike during last 8-day Israeli offensive in Gaza Nov 2012 (RT News)

RT NEWS
April 14, 2013

A Palestinian rescue worker carries the body of a child from the al-Dallu family into the hospital in Gaza City on November 18, 2012, after seven members of the al-Dallu family, including four children, were among nine people killed when an Israeli missile struck a family home in Gaza City. (AFP Photo / Mohammed Abed)

The Israeli Military’s legal arm has decided not to open a criminal probe into the deaths of 10 members of the Palestinian al-Dalou family killed in the IDF’s air-strike on their home during the Gaza war last year.

The airstrike on the al-Dalou home “does not raise suspicion of the commission of a criminal offense and that the unfortunate result occurred despite the efforts made to minimize the collateral damage to uninvolved civilians,” the IDF Military Advocate General's (MAG) Corps stated, after examining the claims of alleged violations by the Israeli military during the November offensive on Gaza.

“The MAG decided that there was no basis to open a criminal investigation or to take any additional measures,” the report published on the IDF website reads.

On November 18, during the eight-day deadly confrontation between Israel and Hamas militants, an Israeli warplane bombed the home of the al-Dalou family in Al-Nasser neighborhood, central Gaza City.

The attack turned the three-storey home into rubble, killing ten members of the household, including five women and four children. Two more civilians from the family living next door were also killed in the attack.

Palestinian men gather around a crater caused by an Israeli air strike on the al-Dallu family's home in Gaza City on November 18, 2012. (AFP Photo / Marco Longari)

Shortly after the strike, Israel’s chief military spokesperson Yoav Mordechai said that the intended target was the home of Yahia Rabia - reportedly the head of Hamas' rocket unit. “Although I don't know the outcome, there were civilians harmed by this,” Mordechai said, as cited by Reuters.

However, several days later, the Israeli military stated that one of the Al-Dalou family – 29-year-old Gaza police officer Mohamed Jamal – was the target of the raid.

“The father was a known terror operative affiliated with the military wing of Hamas," army spokeswoman Avital Leibovich told AFP on November 27. “There was no mistake from the IDF. It's tragic when a terror operative is hiding among civilians but unfortunately it is part of Hamas and Islamic Jihad tactics.”

Adding even more controversy to the story, Leibovich later denied she had identified Muhammad al-Dalou as the target.

“What I said is that the targets we picked were not innocent civilians,” she told Maan News Agency, refusing to comment on who exactly was targeted and whether the person was killed.

The controversial raid attracted wide media attention and sparked criticism from rights organizations.

Palestinian men carry the dead bodies of children from the al-Dallu family out from the rubble after an Israeli missile struck a family home killing at least seven members of the same family in Gaza City on November 18, 2012. (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)

Human Rights Watch labeled the air strike as “a clear violation of the laws of war” adding that Israel provided no information to support the claim that Mohamed Al-Dalou was directly participating in hostilities. The organization urged Israel to investigate “disproportionate attacks.”

United Nations Human Rights Council also said in its annual report that Israel actions were not in line with the law.

“Even if one member of the Al-Dalou family was affiliated with an armed group, and therefore potentially a legitimate military target, an attack under the given circumstances with the large number of civilians present, would not meet the requirement of proportionality, i.e., the anticipated concrete and direct military gain from the attack would not outweigh the anticipated civilian loss,” the document says.

Israel’s MAG though justifies the IDF action, saying “the attack against the terrorists, who constituted a military target, was aimed to reduce the scope of missile and rocket launchings towards Israel.”

“The Commission found that various precautions had been taken in order to reduce the possibility of collateral damage to uninvolved civilians in the course of the attack, including the choice of ammunition used, and that the operations staff had not foreseen that as a result of the attack, collateral damage would be caused to uninvolved civilians to the extent alleged,” it stated.

The MAG’s report on the findings of its examination does not provide names of the people targeted during the deadly Gaza incident in November.

Israeli legal system provides only ‘illusion of justice’

The Al-Dalou family case is not the only one that has been dismissed by Israeli military investigators, Gisela Schmidt Martin Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) told RT.

Since January, 14 civil cases which the PCHR had submitted on behalf the victims of the 2008-2009 armed conflict in the Gaza Strip have also been dismissed, she said.

“We are facing an ongoing impunity” for both the November 2012 offensive and for the three-week Gaza war, known as operation Cast Lead in Israel, four years ago, the expert pointed out.

“There have been a number of changes to the Israeli legal system, which have made it practically impossible for Palestinian victims to achieve any form of justice,” she stated.

In July last year, the Israeli government approved amendments to the Torts Law, which “basically exempts the State of Israel from any liability arising from any damage caused during a combat action,” Gisela Schmidt said. The definition of such a military operation in Israeli law “is extremely broad and open to a wide interpretation,” she pointed out. “It can even be the case when a soldier claims that he was in fear for his life.”

The PCHR called Israel's decision “a mockery of victims’ rights and international law.” The only way to achieve justice for Palestinian victims in the situation when “the Israeli legal system is providing an illusion of justice” is to go to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the organization believes.

“We are calling on the Palestinian leadership to sign and ratify the Rome Statute, become a member of the ICC and ask the prosecutor to open an investigation into Israeli violations of international Human Rights and Humanitarian Law,” the rights advocate concluded.

Current human-rights abuses in Bangladesh by repressive regime

If you have tears to drop,#Bangladesh
By ttorongo
CNN iReport
March 3, 2012 | Dhaka

While I am writing from Bangladesh I am in doubt whether world will ever get to know the grief of a green land Bangladesh, a small but most densely populated country of the world. I am in confusion since my language is not that much attractive but hopefully it will draw the most humanitarian hearts of the people from around the world. I just want to say, Bangladesh is in trouble. Please share your hands to save millions from persecution and killing by the state machinery of a radical secular government.

I have never thought of writing to the world people since I preserve the dignity that my country is my world. Whatever happens, let them inside my home and let the world know about we are happy since we are the highest in number in the UN peace keeping mission. But I am sorry, I have no way but to let you know that we are in trouble. We are in trouble for being burnt in political vendetta of some political groups, very powerful and indeed they are ruling us now.

What happened on last Thursday of February 2013 has never been experienced in the history. At least 50 people have died in police bullet for staging political processions, more than thousands have been bullet ridden and countless have been injured across the country. The country shocked with protests in every corner and straightly put down by the authorities by bullets, the only response to agitating demonstrators.

Why that has been happened to us? It was all about verdict, handed down by a court, not recognized internationally rather criticized by all rights groups including the UN, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. That verdict was handed down to Delware Hossain Sayedee, an acclaimed preacher of Islam but, unfortunately, implicated for crimes against humanity during liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. He has been handed down death sentence by a court set up by Bangladesh’s radical secular government which eventually achieved a critically debated position since its head had been revealed to concoct policy of charging the religious cleric. The head had to resign, but the verdict has been handed down as sketched by the resigned judge, even before hearing the arguments of either the prosecution or the defense.

How have been the charges? This question will haunt the generation to come for years. Just a glimpse into the witnesses would reveal how the justice had been handed down. In a charge the religious scholar has been accused of looting gold and silver from a house but no witness was been produced before the court. In another charge, the Maolana (Islamic term of a religious cleric) has been accused of setting fire on a house of a person during 1971 but the person was, stunning enough, not born at that time, let alone had a house. He is also charged with killing a man but whose wife filed a case during 1972 and of which case the final charge sheet was even framed. Name of Sayedee was not even there but he has been awarded with death of that person. In charge number 10- allegation of killing Bishabali has been placed. According to the allegation, a Razakar fired on Bishabali upon the order of Maolana Sayedee. But no witness has been produced to identify who carried the killing, what was done with the dead body or other relevant issues. On the other hand, Sukhranja Bali, brother of deceased Bishabali, defense witness for Sayedee was abducted from the Tribunal premise. Still the whereabouts of Bishabali is unknown. In these charge number eight and charge number ten, the tribunal has ordered death sentence to Allama Sayedee.
The tribunal’s ‘beyond reasonable doubts’ proved charges are also reasonable to consider and reconsider for a future at least to save a nation from splitting over political grounds. A charge has been brought against him of killing Bisha Bali for which he has been sentenced but whose brother Sukh Ranaja Bali, previously a prosecution witness but turned to into a defense witness for not going against a ‘valo manush Sayedee’ [ a good person Sayedee shouldn’t be blamed on false charges] has been abducted from the court premise. Just go a little bit more, a person Gouranga Shaha has accused Sayedee of raping his three younger sisters of the age of wedding and for which the Maolana has been sentenced. But Gouranga Shaha was born in 1963 and during the year of 1971 he had three younger sisters of the age of wedding and on ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ the Tribunal has accepted the charge.

Don’t be bored to get the stories from the Tribunal before reading one miraculous story of charge framing. Maolana Sayedee has been accused of raping a woman who, later, gave birth to a child. But the court evidences eventually proved that the woman gave birth to a child only within 4 months.

At this point, if you think I am against the trial of war criminals and verdict against crimes against humanity, I would not mind but would humbly request you to consider the point that if one person has not handed down justice what could the history to offer to injustice. It can spark crying if the person is an individual and if that person is an institution it would spark frustration and anguish. The followers of Sayedee have expressed their frustration and anger and many were seen praying. But their anger and frustration have eventually put down by bullets. May the be the future would write the crying and anguish or may the future will forget amid mass propaganda just like the most precious tear drops keep the footprint only inside the heart, not on the cheek.

The situation will continue to haunt many, uncountable at this moment and for many years to come indeed. The missing line is here. Crimes of against were carried during 1971 but were not carried by this person who is now convicted. The anguish of 1971 of Bangladesh has never been redressed but now some individuals are turning into new victims who have much political supports.

Today’s protests were massive so as the government’s violent but government supporting media didn’t publish them much. I have got a confirmed report that supporter of Sayedee was shot dead and later his two eyes were pulled out. This inhuman violence is nothing but simple cruelty and will be continued in a land where international interests are very low but human being, powerless, live there.

The despicable men who prey on the hopeless children in Bangladesh

Mutilated by gang who set out to maim him so he'd earn more as a beggar, the seven-year-old boy whose story is all too common in Bangladesh

• The young child was surrounded by four men in Bangladesh who tied him up, and cracked open his head with a brick
• Sliced his chest and belly in an upside down cross and chopped off his penis
• Attack said to be retaliation for argument his father had with one of the men
• 'Beggar mafia' is becoming more common in South Asian countries
• Shown in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, in which a child in Mumbai, India, is intentionally blinded so he could bring in more money

DAILYMAIL
By JILL REILLY

A seven-year-old boy was grabbed from the street by strangers to maim him so he would elicit more sympathy working for them as a beggar. But when he recognized the men from his area and told them he would report them to his father, they decided to torture him, cutting off his penis and leaving him for dead on the streets of Bangladesh.

SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW THE VIDEO

In some South Asian countries, the prevalence of 'beggar mafias' is becoming increasingly common.


Butchered: The seven-year-old's attackers drew ab upside down cross on his chest as well as slitting his throat

The practice was portrayed in the 2008 movie Slumdog Millionaire, in which a child in Mumbai, India, is intentionally blinded so he could bring in more money.

The tragic story was uncovered by CNN's Freedom Project - they named the child, who can not be identified, as Okkhoy, the Bengali word for 'unbreakable.' The horrific attack on Okkhoy unfolded in late 2010, just a few days before the Muslim festival of Eid, when three local children lured the trusting child out of his home with the promise of a lolly.


Brutal: One of the attackers grabbed a brick and Okkhoy lost consciousness after he was struck over the head

It was then a group of neighborhood men grabbed him and pulled him into an alley, binding his hands and feet. 'They tied me up and told me they'd force me to beg,' said Okkhoy.
But their hope to maim Okkhoy turned into a plan to kill him after he told the men that he recognised them and he would tell his father. One of the attackers grabbed a brick and Okkhoy lost consciousness after he was struck over the head. They then set about carving up his body, slashing his throat and slicing his chest and belly in an upside down cross.


Butchered: Okkhoy nearly died from blood-loss after his attackers slit his throat and left him for dead

In a final brutal act, his attackers chopped off his penis and his right testicle. Okkhoy was dumped by the side of a warehouse - his attackers intended to come back later and dump him in the river. But his mother, who had gone looking for her missing child, stumbled across his blood-soaked body.'

I barely recognized him; he was so stained with blood,' shes said. She carried her young son's body to the side of the main road where she was met by Okkhoy's father Abed, who had been alerted by a neighbor. 'It felt like the sky fell on me,' he said.

'As a father, there is no greater pain in the world than knowing that you could not protect your child.' Okkhoy spent three months in a Dhaka hospital, but doctors were unable to do much to repair the severed organ. Abed reported the attack to police, but was shocked to discover it had already been covered and the police would not investigate. A man, who pretended to be Okkhoy's uncle, had told police that his nephew was attacked by two boys in a playground spat.

A judge also refused to help, but by sheer coincidence human rights lawyer, Alena Khan was in the courthouse and felt compelled to publicize the horrifying case.

As the founder of Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation, she contacted a local television station and the story garnered so much publicity the high court was forced to ask authorities to launch an inquiry. Within days, the Rapid Action Battalion rounded up five suspects and charged them with attempted murder. 'The boy started arguing with us and I hit him on his head with a brick,' said one of the men in a televised confession.

'After I hit him on the head, he fell to the ground. Then (one of the men) said to cut off his penis, and I cut it off. After that, (someone else) cut his chest and belly. Then (a third person) held his head and slit his throat,' he said.


Philanthropy: U.S. businessman Aram Kovach, from Ohio, heard the story on CNN and decided to fund a trip for Okkoy and his family to travel to America for treatment

At the trial, according to prosecutors, it emerged that the gang maimed at least five other children to get money for begging. The gang kept the children confined for months in tight spaces or even in barrels and deprived them of food and then send them out to beg, according to one of the men who confessed. Okkhoy's father believes the attack was payback after he had a confrontation with one of the men at a tea stall. Authorities continue to look for four others who they claim are part of the same 'beggar mafia' gang.

To ensure Okkhoy and his family stay safe, they were placed in a battalion compound, but his father remained concerned about his son's ability to father children.


Publicised: The practice was portrayed in the 2008 movie Slumdog Millionaire, in which a child in Mumbai, India, is intentionally blinded so he could bring in more money

But then U.S. businessman Aram Kovach, from Ohio, heard the story on CNN and decided to fund a trip for Okkhoy and his family to travel to America for treatment. John Gearhart, the director of pediatric urology at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, Maryland decided to waive his fee and help Okhkoy.

Although the surgeons were initially concerned they would not be able to reconstruct Okkhoy's genitalia, they found it was less-damaged than originally thought on the operating table.
They were to move the urethra - the tube used for urination - to the tip of Okkhoy's penis, so he would no longer have to urinate through a tiny hole the doctors in Bangladesh had created.
And his father's concerns about having grandchildren was abated after Redett's team used skin from Okkhoy's thigh for the shaft of the penis and tissue from his inner cheek lining to create the tip.

The success of the operation means that Okkhoy will be able to have sensation and the organ will continue to grow as Okkhoy gets older. Now Okkhoy's ambition for the future is to become a doctor and help other people who have been inured.

A CNN Freedom Project documentary, ‘Operation Hope’ can be seen on CNN International

Save the Rohingya in Burma

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SAVE THEM

Wife`s genitals 'drilled with holes and sealed with a padlock' whenever husband went to work

Mechanic 'drilled holes in wife's genitals so he could seal them with a PADLOCK when he went to work'

• Sitabai Chouhan had tried to kill herself with poison
• Medics discovered primitive chastity belt still in place
• Husband arrested and police found keys in sock
• Claimed he did it because women in family 'strayed'

By DAILY MAIL
July 18, 2012

She was brought into hospital after attempting to commit suicide with rat poison.

But when nurses examined Sitabai Chouhan, they make a horrific discovery that was medieval in its barbarity.

Four years ago, the housewife had been drugged by her husband Chouhan who then punctured holes with a needle on either side of her genitals.

He had carried out the agonising assault so he could seal her private parts with a padlock when he went to work to stop her having sex with anyone else.

Assault: Sitabai Chouhan lies on a makeshift bed in hospital where nurses discovered the makeshift chastity belt

When she was admitted to the Maharaja Yashwant Raoin Hospital in Indore, India, the crudely-fashioned chastity belt was still in place.

It was only removed when police tracked down her husband and retrieved the key. He had kept the keys in his socks.

Head constable Chhaganlal said: ‘The nurses confirmed the existence of a small lock. It was only after the husband’s arrest that the lock could be opened.’

Barbaric: Chouhan said he
had assaulted his wife because 

women in his family had strayed 

in the past

Chouhan said he had done this because several women in his family had 'strayed' in the past.

Mrs Chouhan is being treated in hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

Her husband, meanwhile, has been charged with cruelty and voluntarily causing grievous hurt.

Police described him as an alcoholic who was mentally disturbed.

Mrs Chouhan married her husband when she was 16. They have had five

She is said to have attempted suicide after her husband allegedly tried to rape their eldest daughter.

A chastity belt is usually a piece of clothing that can be locked to stop the wearer having sex. The first recorded examples of their use is in the 15th century.

But it is not a item completely alien to modern India. Human rights groups have reported their use in the conservative state of Rajasthan as recently as 2007.

Gender rights activists say Indian women face a barrage of threats in India.

Many of the crimes against women are a result of a deep-rooted mindset that women are inferior and must be restricted to being homemakers and childbearers.

In addition, age-old customs such as payment of hefty dowries at the time of marriage and widely held beliefs linking a female's sexual behaviour to family honour have allowed gender crimes to persist.

Earlier this month, a dentist was reportedly arrested in Karnataka after his wife accused him of forcing her to drink his urine because she refused to meet dowry demands.

Shock footage: Syrian family allegedly slain by Western-backed Syrian rebels

(GRAPHIC VIDEO)

RT News
June 28, 2012


RT footage: Syrian family slain by rebels WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES

Footage showing the results of an alleged massacre in the Syrian city of Hama in April has been obtained by RT. Sources say that opposition rebels committed the atrocity.
The video shows the bloodstained bodies of four victims lying on body-bags on the floor of a morgue. It then goes on to show a number of bodies, including those of women and children in a house that looks to have been attacked. The victims’ bodies display evidence of severe trauma, bullet wounds and burns.

At the beginning of the video three children are shown in tears, the older girl demands to be allowed to go to the hospital to see her mother.

“What was these children’s fault? Why were they killed?” she shouts at the camera.
According to RT sources opposition rebel groups were responsible for the massacre.
The video is dated April 18, six days after the UN-brokered ceasefire officially came into effect. In spite of the truce consistent reports of violence on the part of opposition groups and regime forces have continued to come out of the country.

Another massacre occurred in Hama on June 6, where up to 80 people were killed in the village of al-Qubair. UN observers were unable to ascertain who was behind the attack. The opposition claimed that pro-regime militia group “Shabiha” was to blame, while the Syrian government said armed terrorist were behind the mass killing...

(click here to read the full article)

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 2012 REPORT

Published on May 24, 2012 by AmnestyInternational
http://youtu.be/2sbAEbESTNQ


Published on May 23, 2012 by AmnestyInternational
http://youtu.be/z4CNygt1WOk


The Amnesty International Report 2012 provides a comprehensive global overview of the state of human rights worldwide. The 400-page book documents the state of human rights in 155 countries around the world during 2011. It reflects Amnesty International's work to combat human rights abuses and lays out its future agenda for tackling human rights abuses.

Amnesty.org


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Amnesty International decries U.S. rights violations

Amnesty International lambasts US for human rights violations
Press TV
Thu May 24, 2012

Amnesty International has lambasted the United States for a number of human rights violations across the world.

In its 2012 annual report published on Wednesday, the rights group called US drone attacks in Yemen “extrajudicial executions,” Amnesty International’s website said.

Amnesty also censured US President Barack Obama’s failure to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and criticized conditions in US prisons.

The report said that at the end of 2011, almost two years after Obama’s deadline to close the detention center, “171 men were still held at the base, including four who had been convicted by military commission.”

In addition, Amnesty criticized Washington for its “use of lethal force” for the “unlawful” killing of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011.

“The US administration made clear that the operation had been conducted under the USA’s theory of a global armed conflict between the USA and al-Qaeda in which the USA does not recognize the applicability of international human rights law. In the absence of further clarification from the US authorities, the killing of Osama Bin Laden would appear to have been unlawful,” it said.

The rights group also condemned human rights violations committed under the administration of former US President George W. Bush, including CIA’s “secret detention and rendition”, which is a process of transferring “individuals from the custody of one state to another by means that bypass judicial and administrative due process”, and condemned the impunity with which Bush-era officials operated.

MHB/GJH/AS/HN

Image credit: Press TV

Another U.S. military scandal...Soldiers 'posed' with dead Afghan bombers

U.S. troops posed with body parts of Afghan bombers
An American soldier says he released the photos to the Los Angeles Times to draw attention to the safety risk of a breakdown in leadership and discipline. The Army has started a criminal investigation.

By David Zucchino,
Los Angeles Times
April 18, 2012, 4:30 a.m.

A soldier from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division with the body of an Afghan insurgent killed while trying to plant a roadside bomb. The photo is one of 18 provided to The Times of U.S. soldiers posing with corpses. Photo credit: LA Times

[...]

The 82nd Airborne Division soldiers arrived at the police station in Afghanistan's Zabol province in February 2010. They inspected the body parts. Then the mission turned macabre: The paratroopers posed for photos next to Afghan police, grinning while some held — and others squatted beside — the corpse's severed legs.

• U.S. prepares for 'violent backlash' in Afghanistan after photos of American soldiers posing with bodies of suicide bombers sparks outrage

A few months later, the same platoon was dispatched to investigate the remains of three insurgents who Afghan police said had accidentally blown themselves up. After obtaining a few fingerprints, they posed next to the remains, again grinning and mugging for photographs.

Two soldiers posed holding a dead man's hand with the middle finger raised. A soldier leaned over the bearded corpse while clutching the man's hand. Someone placed an unofficial platoon patch reading "Zombie Hunter" next to other remains and took a picture.

The Army launched a criminal investigation after the Los Angeles Times showed officials copies of the photos, which recently were given to the paper by a soldier from the division.

"It is a violation of Army standards to pose with corpses for photographs outside of officially sanctioned purposes," said George Wright, an Army spokesman. "Such actions fall short of what we expect of our uniformed service members in deployed areas."

Wright said that after the investigation, the Army would "take appropriate action" against those involved. Most of the soldiers in the photos have been identified, said Lt. Col. Margaret Kageleiry, an Army spokeswoman.

The photos have emerged at a particularly sensitive moment for U.S.-Afghan relations. In January, a video appeared on the Internet showing four U.S. Marines urinating on Afghan corpses. In February, the inadvertent burning of copies of the Koran at a U.S. base triggered riots that left 30 dead and led to the deaths of six Americans. In March, a U.S. Army sergeant went on a nighttime shooting rampage in two Afghan villages, killing 17.

The soldier who provided The Times with a series of 18 photos of soldiers posing with corpses did so on condition of anonymity. He served in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne's 4th Brigade Combat Team from Ft. Bragg, N.C. He said the photos point to a breakdown in leadership and discipline that he believed compromised the safety of the troops.

He expressed the hope that publication would help ensure that alleged security shortcomings at two U.S. bases in Afghanistan in 2010 were not repeated. The brigade, under new command but with some of the same paratroopers who served in 2010, began another tour in Afghanistan in February...

(click here to read the full article)

The True Face of Brutality in the Middle East (Infowars)

The world gets a glimpse of the mighty IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) at work...


Editor’s Note: Imagine if this were a video of a Syrian soldier hitting a peaceful protester. Undoubtedly, within minutes it would be transmitted throughout the global corporate mainstream media to promote the idea of regime change in Damascus. But because it happened in Palestine, you will not see it. This, and much worse levels of apartheid brutality and depravation have been allowed to carry on in Palestine for the last 65 years. - Infowars


RT
April 16, 2012

YouTube video showing a member of the Israeli military hitting a pro-Palestinian activist with a rifle has triggered uproar among both Palestinian supporters and Israeli officials. The officer condemned even by the PM says he was provoked.

The video was posted on Sunday by the International Solidarity Movement which supports Arab rights:



Lt.-Col. Shalom Eisner was filmed hitting 20-year-old Danish activist Andreas Ayas. The protester was slapped in the face with the rifle which made him fall down as if he had been shot.

Other activists who were attacked by Israeli soldiers, sustained wounds on their faces and backs and were taken to a hospital in Jericho.

The Israeli Prime Minister has condemned the beating. “Such behavior does not characterize IDF soldiers and officers and has no place in the Israel Defense Forces and in the State of Israel,” Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The incident is “seen as very grave” by the Israeli Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, and he has dismissed the officer who was the deputy commander of the IDF’s Jordan Valley brigade.
The clash between soldiers and pro-Palestinian activists happened on Saturday when a group of around 250 went on a bike ride in the Jordan Valley.

They called the action “a silent protest” aimed at showing the difficulties Palestinians overcome daily while using the Jordan Highway. They have to get permission from the Israeli military in advance to travel the road.

The protesters didn’t get permission and went on a bike ride in the direction of the highway. They were stopped by the Israeli soldiers who hit them and threw their bikes over a tunnel across the road.

The military say the deputy commander of the IDF’s Jordan Valley brigade, Shalom Eisner arrived after the confrontation started.

Activists insist their protest was peaceful, but Eisner has his version of the incident.
He argued that activists were trying to block a road, and soldiers were dealing with them for two hours trying to persuade them to avoid provocation.

Eisner also said the video was edited and doesn’t show how the Danish activist had hit him with a stick beforehand, and even broke two of his fingers.

The officer claimed that he carried out his job protecting the state highway from “lawbreakers”.
Israeli media note that conflicts between ISM activists and Israeli military occur frequently. It’s reported that from time to time the ISM manage to provoke soldiers and force them to turn violent, they constantly film the conflicts and the most flagrant episodes are used to blame the Israeli military.

Poland’s Secret CIA Prisons Exposed (Alex Jones)

Infowars.com
Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Alex speaks about the revelations regarding the CIA’s black sites in Eastern Europe.

Uploaded by TheAlexJonesChannel on Apr 4, 2012
http://youtu.be/AWm5a3NtPWQ

http://www.infowars.com/
http://www.prisonplanet.tv/
http://twitter.com/#!/RealAlexJones
http://www.facebook.com/AlexanderEmerikJones

Related:
Another secret CIA "black site" prison discovered...this time in POLAND

ICC hypocrisy: Refuses Palestinian demands to investigate war crimes and why? - says Palestine 'not a state'

ICC won't investigate Gaza war because Palestine is 'not a state'

Maan News Agency

April 3, 2012

RSA note: The farce and kangaroo ICC (International Criminal Court) will attempt to hear alleged war crimes committed by the Gaddafi regime by yet unknown documents and sources but refuses vehemently to hear well-documented Israeli war crime abuses on the Palestinians. Its funny to also note, even though America won`t hesitate a single second to pull someone straight to the ICC to be prosecuted - yet America still refuses to recognize the ICC for fear of American being indited on war crimes charges.

A family rushes from the scene of an Israeli missile strike 

on a building in theRafah refugee camp, southern 

Gaza Strip, Dec. 28, 2008.

(MaanImages/Hatem Omar)

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The International Criminal Court will not investigate Israel's conduct during its December 2008 offensive on Gaza because Palestine is not a state, the world prosecutor said Tuesday.

In a statement, the ICC prosecutor acknowledged that over 130 countries and some UN bodies recognize Palestine as a state.

But, Palestine still holds observer status in the UN, and so the ICC cannot at this time investigate allegations of war crimes committed on Palestinian territory, the prosecutor said.

President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full UN membership in September at the UN Security Council. The US vowed to use its veto to block the bid and the council has not yet made any recommendation to admit Palestine.

The ICC said it could in the future consider allegations of crimes committed in Palestine if the Security Council determines that Palestine is a state.

Israel 'worked quietly' against bid

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that diplomats had worked against the Palestinian request for an ICC investigation into Operation Cast Lead, Israel's 3-week offensive on the Gaza Strip that left nearly 1,400 Palestinians dead, including 300 children.

Commenting on the ICC's rejection of the bid for a tribunal, Lieberman said: "Not many understand how much work has been put into this issue," the Israeli news site Ynet reported.

"We have kept it out of the media," Lieberman said. "The Foreign Minister worked very professionally, discreetly and quietly."

ICC 'open to accusations of political bias'

Amnesty International said the ICC's decision meant victims of Israel's war on Gaza were likely to be denied justice. The prosecutor's decision opened the ICC to accusations of political bias, it added.

The rights group said ICC judges should decide on the court's jurisdiction. It said the prosecutor had "dodged the question," after considering it for three years.

"For the past three years, the prosecutor has been considering the question of whether the Palestinian Authority is a "state" that comes under the jurisdiction of the ICC and whether the ICC can investigate crimes committed during the 2008-9 conflict in Gaza and southern Israel," said Marek Marczynski, head of Amnesty International’s International Justice campaign.

"Now, despite Amnesty International’s calls and a very clear requirement in the ICC’s statute that the judges should decide on such matters, the Prosecutor has erroneously dodged the question, passing it to other political bodies," he added.

Most of the 1,400 Palestinians killed in Operation Cast Lead were civilians.

According to UN figures, Israel's military destroyed over 3,500 residential homes and made 20,000 people homeless during the 22-day assault.

A UN fact-finding mission tasked with investigating allegations of war crimes found that Israel committed "grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of willful killings and willfully causing great suffering to protected persons."

Syrian rebel 'Executioner' tells his story...real face of Syrian opposition

The Burial Brigade of Homs
An Executioner for Syria's Rebels Tells His Story
Spiegel Online
03/29/2012

Human Rights Watch has condemned abuses committed by Syrian rebels in their stronghold of Homs. But one member of a rebel "burial brigade" who has executed four men by slitting their throats defended his work in an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE. "If we don't do it, nobody will hold these perpetrators to account," he said.

By Ulrike Putz in Beirut

Hussein can barely remember the first time he executed someone. It was probably in a cemetery in the evening, or at night; he can't recall exactly. It was definitely mid-October of last year, and the man was Shiite, for sure. He had confessed to killing women -- decent women, whose husbands and sons had protested against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. So the rebels had decided that the man, a soldier in the Syrian army, deserved to die, too.

Hussein didn't care if the man had been beaten into a confession, or that he was terrified of death and had begun to stammer prayers. It was his tough luck that the rebels had caught him. Hussein took out his army knife and sliced the kneeling man's neck. His comrades from the so-called "burial brigade" quickly interred the blood-stained corpse in the sand of the graveyard west of the Baba Amr area of the rebel stronghold of Homs. At the time, the neighborhood was in the hands of the insurgents.

That first execution was a rite of passage for Hussein. He now became a member of the Homs burial brigade. The men, of which there are only a handful, kill in the name of the Syrian revolution. They leave torture to others; that's what the so-called interrogation brigade is for. "They do the ugly work," says Hussein, who is currently being treated in a hospital in the Lebanese city of Tripoli. He was injured when a piece of shrapnel became lodged in his back during the army's ground invasion of Baba Amr in early March.

He is recovering in relatively safe Lebanon until he can return to Syria and "get back to work." It's a job he considers relatively clean. "Most men can torture, but they're not able to kill from close range," he explains. "I don't know why, but it doesn't bother me. That's why they gave me the job of executioner. It's something for a madman like me."

Before he joined the Farouk Brigade, as the Baba Amr militia is known, last August, the 24-year-old had worked as a salesman. "I can sell everything, from porcelain to yogurt," he says.

How the Rebels Lost Their Innocence

The bloody uprising against the Assad regime has now lasted for a year. And Hussein's story illustrates that, in this time, the rebels have also lost their innocence.

There are probably many reasons for that development. Hussein can rattle off several of them. "There are no longer any laws in Syria," he says. "Soldiers or thugs hired by the regime kill men, maim children and rape our women. If we don't do it, nobody will hold these perpetrators to account."

Another reason, he explains, is the desire for vengeance. "I have been arrested twice. I was tortured for 72 hours. They hung me by the hands, until the joints in my shoulders cracked. They burnt me with hot irons. Of course I want revenge."

His family, too, has suffered. He explains that he lost three uncles, all murdered by the regime. "One of them died with his five children," he says. "Their murderers deserve no mercy."

Most chillingly, Hussein believes that violence is simply in the nature of his society. "Children in France grow up with French, and learn to speak it perfectly," he says. "We Syrians were brought up with the language of violence. We don't speak anything else."

But in spite of all the rebels' justification for their brand of self-administered justice, Hussein's actions fall under what the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch on Tuesday condemned as "serious human rights abuses" on the part of the Syrian rebels. In the corridors of the hospital in Tripoli, Hussein and his fellow injured comrades speak openly about the fact that they, just like the regime's troops, torture and kill. They find the criticism from the human rights activists unfair: "We rebels are trying to defend the people. We're fighting against slaughterers. When we catch them, we must strike hard," says one fighter, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Rami.

Alternative Justice System

Over the course of the last year, Homs had developed into the unofficial capital of the revolution. Until a few weeks ago, the rebels controlled whole neighborhoods of the city, especially the district of Baba Amr. But that area was overrun by government troops in early March. The fight between rebels and government forces has now shifted to the neighboring district of Khalidiya.

According to Abu Rami and Hussein, the alternative justice system that the rebels set up in Homs last fall remains intact. "When we catch regime supporters, they are brought before a court martial," they say. The commander of the rebels in Homs, Abu Mohammed, presides over the court. He is assisted by Abu Hussein, the head of the coordinating committee. "Sometimes even more men act as a jury," says Hussein. The interrogation brigade reports on the confessions of the accused. Often the suspects even had videos on their cell phones that showed atrocities being perpetrated against insurgents, the men say. "In that situation, their guilt is established quickly." In the event of a conviction, the prisoners are then handed over to Hussein's burial brigade, which takes them to gardens or to the cemetery. And then Hussein comes along with his knife.

So far, Hussein has cut the throats of four men. Among the group of executioners in Homs, he is the least experienced -- something that he almost seems apologetic about. "I was wounded four times in the last seven months," he says. "I was out of action for a long time." On top of that, he also has other commitments. "I operate our heavy machine gun, a Russian BKC. Naturally I have killed a lot more men with that. But only four with the blade." That will change soon, he says. "I hope I will be released from the hospital next week and can return to Homs. Then those dogs will be in for it."

'Sometimes We Acquit People'

The rebels in Homs began carrying out regular executions in August of last year, shortly after the conflict in the country began to escalate, says Hussein's comrade Abu Rami. In his Adidas tracksuit, he looks like any other convalescent in the hospital. But Abu Rami is a senior member of the Homs militia. The other Syrians in the ward greet him respectfully and pay close attention to his words.

"Since last summer, we have executed slightly fewer than 150 men, which represents about 20 percent of our prisoners," says Abu Rami. Those prisoners who are not convicted and sentenced to death are exchanged for rebel prisoners or detained protesters, he says. But the executioners of Homs have been busier with traitors within their own ranks than with prisoners of war. "If we catch a Sunni spying, or if a citizen betrays the revolution, we make it quick," says the fighter. According to Abu Rami, Hussein's burial brigade has put between 200 and 250 traitors to death since the beginning of the uprising.

He dismisses any doubts about whether these people were really all guilty and whether they received a fair trial. "We make great efforts to investigate thoroughly," Abu Rami says. "Sometimes we acquit people, too."

Apart from anything else, it is simply the nature of every revolution to be bloody, Abu Rami explains. "Syria is not a country for the sensitive."

Insight into China`s brutal one child policy (WARNING: Graphic image)

The Shocking Face Of China’s Brutal One Child Policy

Can’t happen here? Top academics and eugenicists are calling for what Obama’s science czar once advocated

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Thursday, March 29, 2012

This is the shocking face of China’s brutal one child policy which many academics and pressure groups are now calling to be imposed in the west – the image shows a 9 month old baby lying dead in a bucket, forcibly aborted by Chinese family planning authorities in the town of Moshan, Shandong province. 

Because the parents of the baby already had a child, they were hunted down and forced to comply with China’s draconian one child policy. The mother was injected with a poison that induced an abortion, but after the baby was “pulled out inhumanly like a piece of meat,” it was still alive and began to cry before doctors slung the defenseless child into a bucket and left it to die.

credit: Infowars

The time stamp on the image tells us the baby was killed on Monday. The image began circulating today on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, which has around 260 million members. The story has attracted widespread revulsion directed against the family planning authorities responsible for the murder of the baby.

China’s one child policy is enforced by way of forced abortions, infanticide and compulsory sterilization. In many cases, women are literally kidnapped off the street by state goons from the “Birth Control Office,” driven to government hospitals, drugged, and their child is forcibly aborted.

In one case in 2009, both a young woman and her baby were killed after such an abduction in Liaocheng City.

“According to a Doctor at the hospital where the two died, the young woman was kidnapped by the “Birth Control Office” and taken to the hospital where she was forced to undergo an abortion procedure,” reported the Epoch Times.

“The young woman fought with staff to protect her unborn child however a half a dozen men, pushed her down on a bed and injected her with a drug to induce labor. After the young woman had a still birth, she developed a massive hemorrhage and soon thereafter died.”

The practice of infanticide has its origins in barbaric eras of ancient history, but it is still common is many areas of the world today, including China where the one child policy allied with the social pressure to have boys has resulted in a massive imbalance in the population. Studies have found that 40 million girls are ‘missing’ in China as a result of gender-selective abortion and infanticide. In India, there are 50 million less females for the same reasons.

Advocates of population control, which is nothing more than a disguise for modern day eugenics, have long pressured for the one child policy to be enforced in the west. In 2009, an article written in Canada’s National Post argued for “A planetary law, such as China’s one-child policy, is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate.”

In his 1977 book Ecoscience, current White House science czar John P. Holdren floated the idea of forced abortions and compulsory sterilization, amongst a raft of other draconian population control measures, all of which would be carried out by a “Planetary Regime”.

During a speech at Sichuan University last year, Vice President Joe Biden told an audience that he “fully understands” China’s one child policy.

News network CNN, in addition to billionaire Ted Turner and other elitists, along with a whole host of pressure groups committed to pushing for population control, have all advocated the one child policy.

As we reported last month, a paper published in the Journal of Medical Ethics authored by top academics at the University of Melbourne argued that abortion should be extended to make the killing of newborn babies permissible, even if the baby is perfectly healthy.

The authors argued that “both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons,” and that because abortion is allowed even when there is no problem with the fetus’ health, “killing a newborn should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.”

The scintilla of hope that we can take from this distressing story is the fact that this baby’s precious few minutes of life before it was murdered were not in vain and in fact could end up meaning more than most people who live to old age. Why? Because as a result of seeing this one image, scores of couples around the world could decide against having an abortion, saving many more babies’ lives in the long run.

The image also serves as a damning condemnation of China’s arcane one child policy, as well as a warning that calls to impose similar population control measures in the west should be forcefully discredited, resisted and rejected at every turn.

This story is an Infowars English-language exclusive.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.