23 Responses to For Rachel Corrie: Once Again, the Skies are Weeping

1. markfromireland August 29th, 2012 at 1:22 am 1

   Recommended. The Israeli soldier who murdered an unarmed civilian peacefully protesting Israel’s unlawful and barbarically racist policies was upholding that country’s laws, policies, and values. It’s disgusting but utterly unsurprising that an Israeli court would do likewise. This is the same state that illegally attacked an American navy ship I June 8, 1967, killing 34 Americans and wounding another 174 and the state that 31 May 2010 attacked and killed 9 civilians on Mavi Marmara and wounded many more. Attacking anybody who disagrees with them and killing them when they think they can get away with it is Israeli SOP. They also attack and kill anyone who has water, land, or any other resource they want to steal ask the Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, and of course the Palestinians.

   This Nick Hayes cartoon expresses the court’s verdict well.

   mfi

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2. wendydavis August 29th, 2012 at 4:39 am 2

   The coverage I read at the Guardian made it unclear whether the piece’s framing of the events was the judge’s…or the author’s. That in itself was disturbing. The judge’s contention that the driver couldn’t see Rachel was certainly not even close to believable.

   Will her parents appeal the ruling as they indicated?

   Rec’d, EdwardTeller. More tears.

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3. BearCountry August 29th, 2012 at 7:05 am 3

   In the days before the internet and streaming video and phone video, the israeli govt and idf could get away with telling the world how humanitarian and careful they were in dealing with the Palestinians and how the Palestinians “never missed a chance to miss a chance” at peace. The msm did not really give any value to the Palestinian side of the story, nor did they give any value to the Palestinian lives. As the means of communicating became more democratic, the understanding of israel’s perfidy started to come clear and incidents such as Sabra and Shatilla couldn’t be ignored. Now, someone not understanding the israeli land grab and ethnic cleansing is only because that someone chooses not to understand.

   Rachel Corrie really worries the likudniks; they have done everything they can to wipe her memory from the list of heroes of our time. I can only hope that the vehicle driver who killed her will eventually realize the enormity of what he did, just as I can only hope that the evil done by bush and cheney will haunt them.

   Thank’s ET for this rememberance.

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4. Phoenix Woman August 29th, 2012 at 7:11 am 4

   In response to markfromireland @ 1

   And of course we have the commenters claiming that the bulldozer driver couldn’t have seen Rachel Corrie because she was “under the blade”. As if he wouldn’t have seen her beforehand — she wasn’t exactly darting in and out, but standing her ground (in its truest sense) much as the Chinese protesters did in front of the tanks at Tien An Men.

   By the way: Regarding the Book Salon a few days ago, I think Doug Saunders meant “Germany” when he referenced the alleged “European” habit to make pre-teen kids pick their life paths. All Germans have the Grundschule for the first few years of schooling, but then at around age twelve must choose which educational/career path they will take from that point forward, or have it chosen for them. But while the Germans may do this, the French for example do not.

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5. markfromireland August 29th, 2012 at 8:10 am 5

   In response to Phoenix Woman @ 4

   I find myself agreeing with Colonel Lang:

   Sic Semper Tyrannis : Rachel Corrie’s murder and Israeli “justice”:
   

   This American girl was taking part in a protest against IDF demolitions of Palesinian homes when she made the error of mistaking the IDF for a civilized army. She tried to face down the bulldozer driver. In response he ran over and killed her.

   Judge Gershon says the act was justified because this was a “war time situation.” Really? Really? Israel by its own estimation has been at wasr since 1948. That would seem to imdicate that they feel justified in killing anyone, anywhere, any time if they think it is a good idea.

   As to Doug Saunders I was well aware of which country he was referring to. I was utterly unimpressed with his shallow, ill-informed, and often factually incorrect “analysis”. At least I now know to avoid buying any book he writes and not to waste my time on events involving him.

   mfi

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6. homeroid August 29th, 2012 at 8:46 am 6

   Spit. Tears cloud my view.

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7. Ludwig August 29th, 2012 at 9:23 am 7

   In response to wendydavis @ 2

   When justice misrepresents, the wrong defendant is on trial.

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8. SharonMI August 29th, 2012 at 9:26 am 8

   ” Israel by its own estimation has been at wasr since 1948. That would seem to imdicate that they feel justified in killing anyone, anywhere, any time if they think it is a good idea.”

   Sounds like Obama. How anyone can want to vote for him is just incredible to me.

   Thanks for this diary and for keepin’ on. Rachel Corrie will not be forgotten.

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9. elisemattu August 29th, 2012 at 9:28 am 9

   In response to BearCountry @ 3

   I do hope it is some solace, how tiny it might be in light of their huge loss, to her parents family and friends that some of us will not forget her.

   And she has become a representative of everyone who has ever suffered at the hands of the Imperialistic “Homeland Defending” sorry excuses of a brutal military, both that of the USA and of Israel.

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10. Ludwig August 29th, 2012 at 9:36 am 10

    In response to markfromireland @ 5

    Well then, this decision is exemplary of our times – a state of boundless war.

    The evidence is mounting that this is the endgame of capitalism.

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11. EdwardTeller August 29th, 2012 at 10:09 am 11

    In response to elisemattu @ 9

    When I started writing this music in 2003, Tom Hurndall was still alive (movement 2 is “Dance for Tom Hurndall”), the Israelis were still occupying and living (Settler colonies) in Gaza, Hamas had no real power yet, the ground war in Iraq had just started, about 90,000 fewer Israeli colonists had seized Palestinian land, and the issues of growing Israeli racism, and influence of millennialist thinking in far right politics in the USA was much less pronounced than now.

    Since I finished the music, the USA has killed hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere. The Israelis have killed almost 10,000 people in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and aboard relief convoys.

    I am contemplating mounting a new production of it, probably in Seattle, on the tenth anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s murder.

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12. EdwardTeller August 29th, 2012 at 10:14 am 12

    Amy Goodman’s interview Tuesday with Cindy and Craig Corrie. Rachel’s mom is one of the most eloquent peace activists alive today.

    And an interesting panel discussion about Corrie and what the verdict represents on Iran’s Press TV.

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13. Randall Kohn August 29th, 2012 at 10:26 am 13

    Thanks for the update, guy. I’m headed over to IHOP right now.

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14. EdwardTeller August 29th, 2012 at 10:41 am 14

    In response to Randall Kohn @ 13

    May be the least unkind comment you’ve made here recently. I pray for your soul, Randall.

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15. Twain August 29th, 2012 at 12:17 pm 15

    ET, please remind us often of Rachel. She should be remembered and the means of her death should also be remembered. That’s the only way we can honor her.

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16. EdwardTeller August 29th, 2012 at 12:25 pm 16

    In response to Twain @ 15

    It appears that the Corries will be appealing to the Israeli Supreme Court.

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17. CTuttle August 29th, 2012 at 1:03 pm 17

    The smear campaign begins in earnest… Watchdog releases video of Corries’ lawyer comparing Israel’s founding to that of Nazi Germany

    Attorney representing the family of killed activist says his comments were distorted by Palestinian Media Watch as part of smear campaign…

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18. tgs1952 August 29th, 2012 at 1:52 pm 18

    Home demolitions are a war crime. Even if the driver did not see Rachel Corrie (highly improbable) he was committing a war crime. It is far more likely, as I see it, that Rachel Corrie was murdered by the driver in the act of committing a war crime.

    The decision does not surprise me at all – Israel is a rogue state in which ethnic cleansing is official policy. What is disgusting is the complete disinterest of Washington up to now in this issue.

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19. EdwardTeller August 29th, 2012 at 2:23 pm 19

    Carter Center press release on Oded verdict:

    Atlanta….On Aug. 28, the district court in Haifa, Israel, ruled that the State of Israel was not responsible for the 2003 killing of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old U.S. peace activist who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she attempted to nonviolently prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. Israel’s policy of home demolitions has been widely criticized by human rights organizations as a form of collective punishment. It violates Israel’s obligations under the Geneva Conventions. The Corrie family had requested $1 in symbolic damages and legal expenses.

    U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro and human rights groups and have criticized Israel’s investigation of the case for a lack of thoroughness, transparency, and credibility.

    “The killing of an American peace activist is unacceptable,” said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. “The court’s decision confirms a climate of impunity, which facilitates Israeli human rights violations against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territory.”
    Approximately 94 percent of Israeli military investigations of soldiers suspected of violent criminal activity against Palestinians and their property end without indictments, according to the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din. 91 percent of investigations into crimes committed by Israeli civilians against Palestinians in the Occupied Territory also end without indictment. In this case, the district court judge ruled that the drivers of the bulldozer could not see her, despite eyewitness testimony to the contrary.

    In response to the verdict, Rachel Corrie’s parents Cindy and Craig stated “We are deeply saddened and troubled by what we heard today in the court of Judge Oded Gershon. This was a bad day, not only for us, but for human rights, for humanity, the rule of law, and the country of Israel…Rachel was a human being who deserved accountability, and we as her family deserve that too.”

    In contrast, the family of James Miller, an Emmy Award-winning British filmmaker killed by Israeli forces in Rafah two months after Corrie’s death, ultimately received over $2 million in damages from the Israeli government. The government of the United Kingdom had threatened to seek the extradition of the Israeli soldiers in question.

    “I hope that the U.S. government will use all reasonable means to ensure that the rights of American citizens are protected overseas and that justice is done for the Corrie family,” said former President Carter.

    The State Department has pretty much left Ambassador Shapiro out to dry since the court verdict yesterday morning. They haven’t quite thrown him under the bus, but Victoria Nuland, State’s chief spokesperson, is an evil bitch:

    most interesting thing about Nuland is that she was US ambassador to NATO in Sept 2001. Bobbie got most of his material for a book or two while living with the little lady in Brussels, on the government’s dime.

    but beyond that catty bit of gossip — when NATO was created, a number of nations resisted joining because they did not want to have to come to the defense of ‘those fighting Europeans’ again. That’s what the pact required: if a NATO country is attacked, NATO allies must come to its aid.

    It turns out in all its years, NATO had NEVER been called to aid an European ally. The first time the “come to the aid” clause was acted upon was on the evening of Sept 11, 2001, when, unbidden, NATO sent warplanes to overfly Washington DC, and a week later, NATO planes ‘protected’ the skies over California (US has huge nuclear facilities in CA environs).

    Nuland would have been the one who requested/dispatched those planes.

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20. DWBartoo August 29th, 2012 at 3:32 pm 20

    Recommended, ET, and thank you.

    DW

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21. Phoenix Woman August 30th, 2012 at 10:52 am 21

    In response to Randall Kohn @ 13

    Quick note for those who are not US residents or vicious bigots: Randall Kohn, by mentioning “IHOP” or the International House of Pancakes restaurant chain, is referring to the standard Likudnik sympathizers’ terminology for Rachel Corrie: “Saint Pancake”, referring to what the bulldozers did to her body.

    Yes, folks, that’s the level of taste and morality of Likudniks. Neither Gazans nor the people who defend them are humans in the Likudniks’ view, and so deserve cruel and inhuman deaths.

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22. Ludwig August 30th, 2012 at 11:10 am 22

    In response to Phoenix Woman @ 21

    Ah, thanks PW. And thank you, Randall Kohn, for demonstrating how corrupted the Zionist spirit can be.

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23. EdwardTeller August 30th, 2012 at 9:29 pm 23

    In response to Ludwig @ 22

    Pray for Randall, if you consider prayer a way to help others toward some sort of redemption.

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