"If a goy kills a goy or a Jew he is responsible; but if a Jew kills a goy he is not responsible." Tosefta. Abodab Zara 8, 5.
Israeli Officer Held for Stealing, Selling Gaza Flotilla Laptops
20/08/2010 An Israeli occupation army officer suspected of stealing laptop computers from passengers on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that the navy raided in May, and then selling them to other officers, was remanded by a military court Thursday.
Two other soldiers, who had been detained for questioning on suspicion of buying the computers, were released.
The Israeli officer, a second lieutenant, was arrested along with six other soldiers earlier this week on suspicion of stealing at least six laptop computers from the aid flotilla.
The officer sold some of the computers directly to other soldiers and sold the remainder with a mediator's help. The mediator allegedly bought a laptop for himself from the officer for NIS 1,200, then brokered deals to sell the others to three other soldiers.
The suspected mediator was one of the two soldiers released Thursday. His attorney denied the allegations and claimed his client did not know the laptops had been stolen from the Turkish ship.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported in June that an Italian journalist detained by the Israeli occupation army following the flotilla raid said his credit card was used to purchase items after it was confiscated by the Israeli authorities.
Manolo Luppichini was aboard the Sfintoni-8000, one of the smaller boats in the flotilla, when naval commandos took it over. The soldiers searched every passenger and confiscated everything they found, he said.
"They took two cameras, microphones, a stand and other equipment from me and my photographer," he said. "They took my wallet, passport, bag and all my personal effects."
Meanwhile, a BBC documentary screened this week that investigated the Gaza flotilla incident is causing a storm of protest – from critics of Israel, who are furious that the program was not as hostile to Israel as they thought it should be.
The critics, including an activist from the Free Gaza movement who was aboard the Mavi Marmara, are organizing demonstrations on Sunday outside the BBC’s London headquarters and other BBC offices, and are calling for a mass campaign of complaints to the BBC in general and the program makers in particular.
In Death in the Med, the BBC’s flagship documentary series Panorama examined the ill-fated Israeli interception of the Mavi Marmara, the only ship from the Free Gaza flotilla which saw confrontation between activists and Israeli occupation troops.
The half-hour program had exclusive access to the Israeli navy unit that took part in the raid and interviewed a number of the Israeli commandos, as well as members of the Free Gaza group and the IHH movement that organized the flotilla.
Using previously unseen video footage from the Israeli army and confiscated passenger tapes, mostly recorded by members of a group called Cultures of Resistance, the program concluded that the main aim of the activists had not been to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, but rather to “orchestrate a political act designed to put pressure on Israel” and the international community.
The program also concluded that the Israeli commandos encountered a violent, premeditated attack by a hardcore group of activists organized by IHH members. Nine Turkish nationals were killed by the commandos after they came under attack when boarding the Mavi Marmara.
Sunday’s demonstration outside BBC headquarters in west London is being organized by Ken O’Keefe, one of the Free Gaza activists from the Mavi Marmara, who was interviewed in the documentary, and a group called the Muslim Defense League.“Enough is enough, we all know the truth of the terrorist attacks committed by Israel on unarmed peace activists! The BBC needs to know that it cannot continue airing lies as the truth,” this group says on its Facebook page.
Other protests are being organized at regional BBC offices in Manchester and Belfast.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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