Johan Christian Tandberg takes up the camera just after the blast and movies while he runs past the bleeding, office dressed people. Then he takes into the government building.
Blood, flames, screams of pain, water, glass shattering, smoke, ruins. The bomb has just gone off in its ministries.
Johan Christian Tandberg is also there, having come out of the Vaterland tunnel – seconds after the explosion.
“Call an ambulance!” Cried a man, shortly after the Tandberg has turned on the camera to film terrorangrepets fatal consequence.
- The worst I’ve seen
After first having helped a woman in shock, he runs on.
“Here lies the more people without heart.This is the jævligste I have seen in Norway, “said Tandberg in the shooting.
“This is the 9 / 11 this here,” said Tandberg. He films on the 16 historic minutes.
Johan Christian Tandberg movies injured people, destruction, panic and chaos in the ministries 22 July 2011.
“Stay awake!”
- In such a situation, people had been shocked, someone had lost his hearing. I thought that here I had to help. I ran and took the pulse of more people. Some had a pulse, others had not, he says in retrospect.
When he saw the buildings around it, it looked like the pictures from the September 11 attacks in New York, he said.Eventually came the sound of sirens on.
- It was exactly the same images that I saw at that time. There was a slightly smaller scale, but the people were running around and it was a lot of glass and blood, he said.
Went into the building
Tandberg looks into high-rise building to help carry out the people. Inside the building, he meets several people who are apparently unharmed. They come into through the shattered doors, and looking for people in the ruined offices.
“Are there people here?!” Cried Tandberg.
- The first building I did not dare to enter, for it looked like it would breed further. When I look back at the situation, it was perhaps a bit rash to go into the other. But it was an exceptional situation. When reacting a perhaps a bit irrational, he says.
Commented on the way
Tandberg talking to people around them along. He also comments as he demonstrates and explains that the government building was blown to smithereens.
- I talked to those who got a real sense of how awful this was.This degenerated into something I have not been on before.
- I filmed and talked for fifteen minutes, Tandberg said.
Would assist police
Just before it exploded Tandberg had just been in town to do some errands.He ran in the tunnel when he heard a bang.
The explosion was so powerful that Tandberg had to lie down in the car. He thought the roof would fall on his head. The first thing he thought was a possible terrorist attack against Norway. He then took up the camera to film something he thought could help police in the investigation.
- I filmed a situation picture that I gave to the police immediately afterward, he said.
- I think of those poor people
Wednesday he was back in Akersgata for the first time since the terrorist attack on Friday 22 July. He says that he felt it felt unreal.
- I think of everything I saw, and all those poor people. It feels unreal. It’s something you never think will happen. I’ve managed well, fortunately.
- I will not let it shape me as a person, then he has crazy not won over me, and I do not allow. Life must go on. If I become mentally ill have the he won.Life must go on, says Tandberg.
Shocking video shortly after the explosion in Oslo
Norway was close to government buildings in Oslo, registered destruction shortly after the deadly explosion.Outraged citizens try to leave, and the area reminds battlefield …
Images of terror and destruction a few hours after the blast at government building in Oslo, registered in the Norwegian mobile Johan Christian Tandberg.
In 16 minutes of video, shows people trying to remove shock after the explosion, running between objects and everything reminds battlefield.
The pictures are very hard, and those who survived are afraid and are among debris. The Tandberg moved from building to building, while the people he meets, like starring in a thriller.
The explosion in the center of Oslo, killed seven people, while the responsibility for the attack Bechringk Anders Breivik has custody, having admitted his actions.
“There will be terrified”
The Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenmpergk said Wednesday that his country will not be intimidated by the double attack occurred Friday in downtown Oslo and the island Otogia, which he called “national tragedy”.
“I would not be threatened or intimidated by these attacks,” said Stoltenmpergk a news conference. He added that violence will be addressed by making society more open and democratic.
The Norwegian Prime Minister said that the country will assess the response of police will review security measures after the double attack which claimed the lives of 76 people.
“We will assess the organization (the police) and the ability, “said the press conference, adding that it is open to a dialogue on security.
also stressed that the attacks of 22 July will raise the interest of Norwegian policy. “I think the result (this attack) will be increased participation, more political activity,” said Stoltenmpergk. … Watch video
More than 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles struck over 20 targets inside Libya today in the opening phase of an international military operation the Pentagon said was aimed at stopping attacks led by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and enforcing a U.N.-backed no-fly zone.
President Obama, speaking from Brazil shortly after he authorized the missile attacks, said they were part of a “limited military action” to protect the Libyan people.
“I want the American people to know that the use of force is not our first choice and it’s not a choice I make lightly,” Obama said. “But we cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy.”
The first air strikes, in what is being called Operation Odyssey Dawn, were launched from a mix of U.S. surface ships and one British submarine in the Mediterranean Sea at 2 p.m. ET, Vice Adm. William E. Gortney told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
They targeted Libyan air defense missile sites, early warning radar and key communications facilities around Tripoli, Misratah, and Surt, but no areas east of that or near Benghazi. Because of darkness over Libya, Gortney said it was too early to determine the strikes’ effectiveness.
Gortney said no U.S. troops were on the ground in Libya and that no U.S. aircraft participated in the initial attacks.
Libyan television reported that 48 people were killed and more than 150 wounded in the barrage, but there was no independent confirmation of the numbers.
Earlier today, as pro-Gadhafi forces battled towards the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, 20 French warplanes flew over the region in a show of force. And one jet fired on and destroyed an unidentified Libyan military vehicle, French Defense officials said.
At one point a fighter jet resembling a Libyan MiG 27 was shot down over the city, according to news reports from inside Libya.
Meanwhile, world leaders met in Paris to discuss the nature and scope of the international military intervention to make Gadhafi respect a U.N. Security Council resolution that authorized “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians.
“We have every reason to fear that left unchecked, Gadhafi would commit unspeakable atrocities,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters following the meeting in Paris. “Further delay will only put more civilians at risk. So let me be very clear on the position of the United States: We will support an international coalition as it takes all necessary measures to enforce” the U.N. resolution.
But Pentagon officials cautioned that despite the initial military actions, an enforced no-fly zone over Libya was not yet in effect and will take time to establish.
“At this point we are creating the conditions to be able to set up a no fly zone, and once we have established and confirmed that the conditions are right then we will move forward into one of the next phases of the campaign,” Gortney told reporters.
No U.S. aircraft will be involved in air strikes over Libya tonight, he said. “Our mission right now is to shape the battle space in such a way that our partners may take the lead in…execution.”
As the campaign evolves, officials said, U.S. support aircraft would provide airborne surveillance, refueling and radar-jamming capabilities, and several F-16s may participate in patrols over no-fly zones above Tripoli and Benghazi.
Gadhafi Defiant
In an audio statement broadcast on Libyan state TV, Gadhafi called the attacks a “crusade” against the Libyan people and called on Arab countries and African allies to come to his government’s aid.
“We ask others to stand by us,” he said, according to a translation of his remarks heard on Al Jazeera. “We must now open the weapons depot and arms to all Libyans.”
Gadhafi warned the international coalition Friday not to interfere in Libyan affairs, calling the U.N. resolution “invalid” and appealing directly to world leaders, including President Obama, in a letter.
“Libya is not yours. Libya is for the Libyans,” he said in the letter. “If you had found them taking over American cities with armed force, tell me what you would do.”
Libya Action Follows Failed Diplomacy
Military action in Libya follows weeks of intensive, international diplomatic pressure on Gadhafi to cease the violence and pull back from rebel-held cities.
The Security Council approved a resolution late Thursday authorizing the international community to take “all necessary measures,” short of sending in ground troops, to protect civilians in Libya, and to impose a no-fly zone. The resolution does not authorize taking out Gadhafi or regime change.
“The [U.N.] resolution that passed lays out very clear conditions that must be met,” Obama said Friday.
“These terms are not subject to negotiation. If Gadhafi does not comply with the resolution, the international community will impose consequences and the resolution will be enforced through military action,” he said.
Exactly what role the U.S. military would play in enforcement of the resolution remains unclear.
“We will support an international coalition as it takes all necessary measures to enforce the terms of resolution 1973,” Secretary of State Clinton said today in Paris.
But Clinton declined to detail U.S. responsibilities in a supporting an attack, other than to say that the United States would offer “unique capabilities.” She emphasized that the United States will not deploy ground troops in Libya.
During a meeting with a bipartisan group of members of Congress Friday, Obama said he expects active U.S. involvement in any military action would last just “days, not weeks,” sources told ABC News.
Decision to Use Force Came Tuesday
Sources told ABC News that Obama’s decision to support the use of force came Tuesday, following several days of internal administration deliberations and the realization that diplomatic efforts to stop the brutality of Gadhafi’s regime weren’t working.
Presented with intelligence about the push of the Gadhafi regime to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the president told his national security team, “What we’re doing isn’t stopping him.”
Some in his administration, such as Clinton, had been pushing for stronger action, but it wasn’t until Tuesday, administration sources tell ABC News, that the president became convinced sanctions and the threat of a no-fly zone wouldn’t be enough.
“We are not going to use force to go beyond a well-defined goal, specifically the protection of civilians in Libya,” Obama said Friday.
While the United States has been leading the charge behind the scenes, officials say, the administration deferred public action to the State Department and the United Nations in an effort to emphasize that the mission reflects a broad, international coalition, including support from Arab allies.
World Preparing for Military Action Against Libya
Gadhafi’s son, Saif, told ABC News via a phone interview that the U.N. resolution is a “big mistake” and that if the United States wants to help, they should in fact help the government.
“We want to live in peace, so we want even Americans to help us get rid of the remnants of those people and to have a peaceful country, more democratic,” he said. “If you want to help us, help us to, you know, to be democracy, more freedom, peaceful, not to threaten us with air strikes. We will not be afraid. Come on!”
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norman Schwartz said Thursday it could take upwards of a week to fully establish a no-fly zone and that public comments by some that it could be done in a few days are “overly optimistic.”
He acknowledged there are limited Air Force assets because most of them are in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially transport aircraft.
Last week, Department of National Intelligence director James Clapper said the Libyan air force was large in raw numbers, but only a small number of aircraft were actually flying.
A Pentagon analysis of Libya’s air capabilities shows the overall readiness of Libyan aircraft is poor by Western standards and most aircraft are now dated or obsolete in terms of avionics or upgrades. Eighty percent of the air force is judged to be “non-operational and “overhaul and combat repair capability is also limited.”
Here is another video to consider, with video credit to Tamer Shaaban. It has close to 400,000 views when I saw it.
I like one protester’s message in the video … “We will not be silenced. Whether you are a Christian, whether you are a Muslim, whether you are an atheist, you will demand your goddamn rights, and we will have our rights one way or the other! We will never be silenced!
If the embed above does not play, here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThvBJMzmSZI&sns=fb
Egyptian Police Disappear in Widespread Chaos, Looting Spreads,Vigilantes Defend Homes
Egyptians armed with guns, sticks, and blades have formed vigilante groups to defend their homes from looters after police disappeared from the streets following days of violent protests.
Banks, junctions and important buildings previously guarded by the police and state security were left abandoned Saturday and civilians have quickly stepped in to fill the void.
“There are no police to be found anywhere,” said Ghadeer, 23, from an upscale neighborhood. “Doormen and young boys from their neighborhoods are standing outside holding sticks, razors and other weapons to prevent people from coming in.”
Police withdrew from the streets when the army was sent in to take over security in Cairo. Witnesses have since seen mobs storming supermarkets, commercial centers, banks, private property and government buildings in Cairo and elsewhere.
Egyptians have called for army intervention to bring back law and order. Saturday, many protesters changed: “No to plundering and no to destruction.
Dozens of shops across Egypt have painted display windows white to hide contents and discourage looting. A cash machine was broken in an upscale neighborhood, witnesses said.
“They are letting Egypt burn to the ground,” said Inas Shafik, 35.
Several government buildings were set ablaze during days of protests against President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. They were often left to burn without the intervention of authorities.
Islamic leaders have in the meantime called on people to join vigilante groups to protect their homes themselves. Yet, scenes of looting appeared to spread from upscale parts of Cairo to downtown and poorer areas as well.
Some 700 prisoners escaped in Fayoum, south of Cairo, and killed a senior police officer, sources said. Another senior police officer was also kidnapped in Damietta, a witness said.
“They are torching down the prisons. Our lives and property are at risk. Get out of the way,” one shopper shouted, echoing the anxieties of many as they raced to stock up at supermarkets.
Others stayed penned inside their homes for fear of what they said were marauding gangs in some areas. Friday, looters broke into the Egyptian Museum — home to the world’s greatest collection of Pharaonic treasures — and destroyed two pharaonic mummies, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s top archaeologist.
In walled-off estates on the outskirts of Cairo, private security locked down gates and refused to let people in.
Ghadeer said: “The looters want to plunder and the government is washing its hands clean of any responsibility.”
The U.S. government had been planning to topple the Egyptian President for the past three years – that’s according to diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks. The files show Washington had been secretly backing leading figures behind the uprising. Reportedly some fifty people have died and hundreds more injured in nationwide demonstrations since Tuesday. Protesters have returned to Cairo’s central square this morning reiterating calls for President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Earlier the president dismissed his government, but refused to quit. Unrest in Egypt comes weeks after a month of chaos in Tunisia, which saw 80 deaths and the president being toppled before fleeing into exile. Investigative journalist, Webster Tarpley, told RT, Washington wants to put new leaders in power in the Arab world to follow the U.S. agenda.
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Protests inspired by the revolt in Tunisia have dominoed along Egypt, Yemen and Algeria. Some have drawn comparisons to the colour revolutions seen in post-Soviet countries. To discuss this RT talks to William Engdahl – author of the book ‘Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the new world order.’
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Pop singer/songwriter Julien Drolon released his debut single “Peace Through Music” as well as the video to accompany the track today September 21st. The date of the release coincides with the International Day of Peace. This day is dedicated to peace, or specifically the absence of war, such as a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone. “Peace Through Music” is the lead single from Julien’s upcoming album Time For Peace, which is expected to be released in March 2011.
Commenting on the track and video, Drolon said, “Music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. It doesn’t matter whether people are from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds – music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race.”
April Jones of MusicDish critiqued the song, stating “If you’ve ever daydreamed of taking a tropical vacation, sipping a fruity drink and dancing in the white sand, “Peace Through Music” would be the song playing in the back of your mind. With its reggae beat, pop guitar and harmonic supporting vocals, “Peace Through Music” is every bit a fun song. But as the title implies, the song carries a message of “love, peace and harmony” which is precisely what French-born Julien Drolon hopes to inspire in his fans.”
Drolon plays guitar and sings in English, French, Portuguese, Tagalog (the native language of the Philippines), and his musical style is pop influenced by reggae, funk and rock. His Filipino band, which records and plays with him on the road, consists of Enzo Queyquep on lead guitar, Joseph Duenas on bass, drummer Bon Sundiang, and keyboardist Leal Nanca.
The single “Peace Through Music” can be purchased through iTunes at
Julien Drolon is a singer, songwriter, and former International Reporter, but the native Frenchman who now resides and records his album in the Philippines is on a musical mission for peace. Through a series of performances at the Peace Festival and Earth Dance in the Philippines, and the release of his debut single Peace Through Music” from the upcoming album “Time For Peace” which is slated for release at the beginning of 2011, Drolon is hard at work to make the world a better place for everyone. Drolon performed at the Asian music conference, Music Matters Festival, which was held in Hong Kong in May 2010 and at the opening of the China Music Industry Park – Shanghai in July, 2010.
The savage attack on the Gaza flotilla is a wake-up call for every Israeli and further proof of the government’s growing paranoia
The defiant and paranoid spirit emanating from the likes of Binyamin Netanyahu is poisoning the internal public discourse. Photograph: Bernat Armangue/AP
A few months ago I was handed a leaflet from the group that organised the humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza. I entertained the idea of joining it as a journalist because I believed the presence of journalists and of Israelis would make its journey safer. I gave up the idea because the pressing chores of life were more demanding and also – I wonder if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for this sentiment – I was somewhat horrified by the idea of spending a lot of time on a ship with a bunch of Kumbaya-singing hippies.
I did not think the IDF would attack the ships. I thought Israel was too clever, too PR aware, to jeopardise the lives of foreign nationals for the whole world to see. I didn’t for a moment foresee anything resembling the murderous carnage the world witnessed on Monday morning. Little did I know.
I must have forgotten that even though Likud and Labour governments might be prone to identical behaviour when it comes to land grabbing, settlement building and Palestinian human rights oppression, there is still a great difference in their levels of stupidity, and their disregard of international public opinion. The one good thing about traditional Labour governments is that, on occasion, a raised cautioning finger from the US administration or an international outcry might make them stop and think for a minute.
What harm would have come to Israel if it had let the protesters embark in Gaza and deliver their goods? The world media generally yawns at such initiatives, and all the activists could have rationally hoped for would have been a photo op in an obscure back page of a number of broadsheets. Israel could have come out of it looking majestically generous.
But Israel has moved into a new stage in the last few months. The defiant and paranoid spirit emanating from Binyamin Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman and their opportunistic and violent Labour ally, Ehud Barak, is poisoning the internal public discourse. Ministers and members of parliament are openly inciting against Palestinian citizens of Israel and their political representatives in the most racist manner, and against leftwing activists – Jewish as well as Arab. The talk about “traitors”, “backstabbers”, “snitches” and “fifth column” are increasingly reminiscent of the Weimar republic.
It is not just Hamas and Hezbollah, or even the whole of the Palestinian people that seems to be the enemy, it is everybody: from “hypocritical and Muslim-infested” Europe to the soapy liberals among the Israelis, from the journalists to the lawyers. Journalist Anat Kam is facing trial on spying allegations for leaking military documents when serving as a soldier, and journalist Uri Blau has gone into exile in London under intimidating threats of facing similar charges for publishing them.
Ameer Makhoul and Dr Omar Saeed (human right activists and Israeli citizens) were arrested in the middle of the night at their homes some two weeks ago, and were unlawfully prevented from conferring with their lawyers for 12 days. Now they are facing trial on extremely controversial spying allegations. In this atmosphere, no wonder the government now starts killing European human rights activists and protesters in an act of terrorist piracy.
The international peace movement has shown that it consists of much more that “Kumbaya-singing hippies”. It showed immense courage and solidarity with Gaza’s people, and paid an incredibly heavy price in the lives of heroic activists. They have followed the footsteps of Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall, in sacrificing their lives while exposing the evils of the Israeli occupation forces.
Any decent Israeli citizen is faced with very clear choices today. The first is to support the government and the army, to pretend to buy into their stories about “gunfire coming from the ship”. The second is to align ourselves with the people who died on board the Gaza flotilla, and to back their struggle for a better future in Israel in Palestine.
The Israeli government proves day after day that when you start robbing human rights off someone, you end up robbing them off everyone. The savage attack in the Mediterranean should be a wake-up call for every Israeli. If we do not speak up now, nobody will be left when the Netanyahu-Lieberman-Barak thugs come for us.
At least nine people have been killed and more than 30 wounded when an Israeli commando stormed the biggest boat of a flotilla carrying 800 humanitarians, peace activists, and aid workers. The flotilla was trying to break through the three-year blockade put in place by Israel after Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 and seized control of Gaza. The ships were carrying some 10 tons of humanitarian aid. The commandos boarded the ship from helicopters at 4 a.m. Video from , who can be heard clearly shouting, “We are being attacked in international waters,” and audio from , a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald, show that the ship was boarded while still in international waters. The last known coordinates of the flotilla was latitude: 32.64113, longitude: 33.56727–approximately 65 miles off the coast of Netanya. Israeli police have also imprisoned 16 passengers.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said he was confident that the aid workers opened fire first on the commandos. But the aid workers have noted that all the ships were searched at port by both the Turkish and the Cyprus governments and no weapons were found. Video of the siege shows some of the passengers armed with marbles and slingshots.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given his full support to the operation but has cut short a trip to Canada and canceled completely the meeting that was to take place on Tuesday with President Obama at the White House. Last June, Obama sent a note to the Israeli government officially protesting the blockade and demanding that the border crossings into Gaza be opened to facilitate reconstruction. The U.S. demanded that the Israelis allow more food and medicine into the territory, that cash transfers to banks in the Gaza Strip be permitted, and that construction materials such as cement and iron be allowed in.
. Read The Daily Beast’s complete coverage of the crisis in Israel.The names of the dead are not yet known, but passengers aboard the ships included retired U.S. diplomats Amb. Edward Peck and Col. Ann Wright, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, and former U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Denis Halliday, as well as humanitarian aid and human-rights workers, several MPs from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, Malaysia, and Palestinian members of the Knesset.
This is not the first attempt by the group, known collectively as the , to break through Israel’s blockade. In the summer of 2008, the organization set sail from Cyprus on two small wooden fishing boats carrying 44 activists from 17 different countries. That mission successfully docked at Gaza–the first international ships to do so since 1957. Bolstered by their initial success, leaders of the Free Gaza Movement organized four more successful trips in 2008, transporting tons of aid and dozens of United Nations workers, international activists, and members of European parliaments to the Gaza Strip.
But circumstances changed after the devastating war in December of 2008 between Israel and Hamas (Operation Cast Lead, as the Israelis called it). When the Free Gaza Movement organized an emergency delegation to deliver three tons of medical supplies and a handful of doctors and surgeons to Gaza, they were intercepted by the Israeli Navy, which rammed their ship, almost sinking it. In January 2009, the group bought another ship and once again set sail to Gaza. Once again they were turned back by the Israeli navy. Last June, the organization tried a third time to break through the blockade, this time taking with them Nobel Peace Prize winner Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. The Israeli navy boarded that ship, confiscated the materials on board, arrested the passengers, including Maguire and McKinney, and detained them in an Israeli prison for a week. Although the ship was never returned, the Israeli government claimed to have delivered the medical supplies on board to Gaza, though all the other material, including the food, toys, and reconstruction material were seized and, presumably, destroyed.
The Israeli government has instructed the Free Gaza Movement to try to deliver its supplies through official channels. But considering that those channels are strictly controlled by the government itself, it is difficult to take the suggestion seriously. If such “official channels” were actually effective in delivering aid to the Gazans, then there would not be the massive starvation and malnutrition that we are seeing today in Gaza.
Then again, according to the Israeli government, everything is just fine in Gaza. No need to worry. Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak has made the extraordinary claim that there is absolutely no shortage in humanitarian aid to the Gazans and that food and supplies are regularly and freely transferred to the area.
That will come as a surprise not only to the hundreds of thousands of starving Gazans living on piles of rubble that used to be their homes, but to just about every single human-rights and international aid organization in the world, including the United Nations, all of which have repeatedly reported that the blockade is causing extreme hardship, severe malnutrition in children, and increased poverty in Gaza. The World Health Organization recently passed a resolution demanding that Israel end the blockade, claiming that it has caused a devastating shortage of medicines in the Gaza Strip. (Predictably, the United States opposed the WHO resolution, saying that it “stirred up tensions.” Heaven forbid!)
Amnesty International has written numerous reports about how the blockade has destroyed the livelihoods of Gaza’s farmers and fishermen and limited access to medical care. The U.N.’s Association for International Development Agencies has documented the disastrous impact of the blockade on Gaza’s health services. According to one report, long delays for those seeking medical treatment in Israel caused the deaths of 28 people last year alone. The Vatican has called Gaza “one big concentration camp.” The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that the blockade has imposed “unacceptable hardships” on innocent civilians while “empowering extremists.” Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who has called the blockade a “crime and an atrocity,” echoed Ban’s statement. “I think politically speaking [the blockade] has worked even to strengthen the popularity of Hamas and to the detriment of the popularity of Fatah,” Carter said.
Confronted with these statements and statistics, the response of the Israeli government has been as predictable as it is absurd. After all, all of these international aid and human-rights organizations are against Israel, didn’t you know? Amnesty International is “borderline anti-Semitic,” as Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League has declared. Human Rights Watch has an “anti-Israel bias,” according to AIPAC. And please don’t get Israeli politicians started on the United Nations! Whatever criticisms these organizations have against Israel are obviously biased and need not be taken seriously.
As to why continue the blockade in Gaza? Well that’s an easy question for the Israeli government to answer. “Hamas, which rules Gaza, is a terror organization supported by Iran,” said Defense Minister Barak. “It smuggles weapons and rockets with the sole purpose of harming Israelis, as it has done many times in the past.”
OK, fine. Hamas is bad. We get it. But what about the rest of the 1.5 million men, women, and children living in what has become the most densely packed region on earth? How can the cutting off of food, medical supplies, gas, and electricity to the entire population of Gaza be understood in any other way except as an act of collective punishment?
Despite the unprecedented humanitarian crisis facing Gazans, Israel’s blockade has gotten very little international attention. Despite a promise by the international community to pledge over $4 billion of aid to help rebuild Gaza in 2009, almost none of that money has reached Gazans. Most Americans, it seems, could not care less about what is taking place in Gaza. Ask the average pundit on TV about it and the response will inevitably be, “Hamas.”
End of conversation.
And yet, do we not all have a moral obligation to put politics aside and stand up for the suffering of our fellow human beings no matter where they are? Are we not obligated to work toward overturning the profoundly immoral policies that have made the situation in Gaza intolerable for its inhabitants? And if the world’s governments are not willing to take action to address this unprecedented crisis, then does it not fall on the citizens of the world to do something about it?
“When the tsunami hit Indonesia, the world came together to provide aid for those affected,” said Ramzi Kysia, a volunteer who has been with the Free Gaza Movement since 2006. “When the earthquake hit Haiti, again, the world came together to help those who were suffering. And yet what we have in Gaza is a man-made disaster, a man-made humanitarian crisis. But it is every bit as bad as any natural disaster.”
Responsibility Is With Hamas For Attack On Gaza Flotilla! Yochanan Plesener
Johan Christian Tandberg movies injured people, destruction, panic and chaos in the ministries 22 July 2011.
The defiant and paranoid spirit emanating from the likes of Binyamin Netanyahu is poisoning the internal public discourse. Photograph: Bernat Armangue/AP
