Also see here the problem where mainstream journalists blindly accept statements by ‘Ministers for Misinformation’ like Donald Rumsfeld and Mark Regev.

Michael Brull decisively demolishes Mark Regev’s assertion that there have been 1000 rockets fired on Israel since last year. He did this by using the Israeli Foreign Affairs own website which alleges since January 2009 “164 rockets and 74 mortars have been fired into Israel.”

http://michaelbrull.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/no-sense-of-decency-there-can-be-no-justification-for-israels-latest-terrible-crime/

The great thing about this site is Max continues in the line of journalism that holds our governments to account. Blind acceptance of government media statements is dangerous for democracy, peace and justice. See here:

http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/07/another-idf-lie-exposed-army-attacked-activists-not-the-other-way-around/

Again we should be proactive in critiquing government statements. Not blindly accepting them.

Truth is the basis for peace. Lies from either side only perpetuate conflict.

when anyone chooses to quote an israeli official, that always leads me to use google. lo and behold, i can only find that quote listed on anti israel, and jew hate websites. if you could, please post a link to the official quote made in context. until then, i wont even comment.

in regards to your assertion that israel must prove they acted in self defense, your idea of innocent till proven guilty is rather skewed by your outright animus towards israel.

you say that israel has produced little to no evidence that it is innocent. well, then you know little to nothing about the ihh, ism and free gaza movements.

israel has not doctored evidence…the only thing they have done is again show that they have little grasp on how 21st century pr works. if you are referring to the audio tape…yes, they should have released the entire tape of the conversations from the other ships, and not condensed them. they should also make the raw tape available for analysis.

none of the video tapes that they have released have been proven to be doctored, and the lee tape supports their version of events, which unlike you state, has never changed.

and you say that the idf has been proven to have killed these people because they admitted to it…yet, we have yet to see an independent coroners report….what has been released by the official coroner of the turkish government…who now apparently includes a hunting rifle as one of the weapons used….probelm with that is, the idf doesnt use hunting rifles.

the case only looks bleak to one who has judged israel guilty…which you did the moment you heard about the events.

In 2009, Lawyer representing Israeli Ministry of Justice argued in the Israeli Supreme Court that “The State of Israel is at war with the Palestinian people, people against people, collective against collective.”

Hmmmm, I wonder who is right!

walt kovaks said “so guilty until proven innocent….good one”

walt, you are clearly unfamiliar with the “innocent until proven guilty” concept. The Israeli army is PROVEN to have killed these people. They openly admit that they killed these people. But they claim they did it in self defense. In this case, they are already proven guilty, and the onus is on them to prove their innocence.

This is the case in every country in the world. If in the US you are PROVEN to have murdered someone and you claim you did it in self-defense, the onus is on you to prove you did it in self-defense.

The IDF has been proven guilty, so far it has produced little to no evidence that it is innocent. In fact, it has blocked any credible investigations (insisting that murder suspects have the right to investigate themselves), it has tempered with and doctored evidence, and it has repeatedly changed its official story.

The case looks bleak!

1. Iara Lee video- I have watched the whole video. Again where were the AK47s, the RPGs, the suicide bombers?
2. Knowledge of weapons – I have faith in Mossad, the US and British secret services.
3. So which if the flotilla members were killing civilians or soldiers on the boat? So why were soldiers being taken to the medical room?
4. So why is Edward Peck only to be judged on his past behaviour? Are we all condemned for past misdeeds or mistakes?
5. IDF version of events and consistency….hmm.Kevin Neish – have seen the vids..and….
6. I agree the rocket and mortar fire is a war crime and possible crime against humanity as the Goldstone Report identifies. But quantitative and qualitatively the terror inflicted by Israel is incomparable.
7. UNICEF and WHO will identify that Israel’s blockade is having tragic consequences of the children of Gaza.
8. And what are your figures to say the majority of Jewry are not agnostic or atheist?

2. you know that israel knew there were no weapons on board? how did you come to this conclusion?

3. yes, the terrorists (and ihh is a terrorist org and the ism and free gaza are terrorist front groups) did make sure to not use live fire weapons…just as the arab palestinians have learned….david vs goliath works well with the msm….and as the ism has learned, the injury or death of an international, gets more press than the injury or death of an arab palestinian

4. eff peck….all of a sudden that idiot is a hero to progressives?

5. the idf’s version of events has remained consistent since the incident. the versions (and there are many) told by passengers are the ones that have changed….that is no reason to have an international investigation…in fact, that is reason not to. i suggest watching the interviews of kevin neish and kenneth o’keefe post flotilla. (oh and since you chose not to watch the full lee vid, you missed neish…its important to see him on that vid)

6. the gazans have a natural right to be free…that is true…they dont have a natural right to commit acts of violence on civillians, which they have been doing since 2001. they elected a terror org as their reps…they have made their choice of what they want to do very clear. also, because hamas is their legal reps, article 50 doesnt apply.

7. no children are dying in gaza as a result of the blockade (maybe due to hamas not allowing them out for medical treatment) but not because of the blockade. there is no org that supports this statement, and therefore according to your understanding of what bds is…the blockade is just as humane. and it is also set up to accomplish change. regime change.

8. you are wrong about world jewry. the majority are not athiest or agnostic. they majority may not be religious, but it doesnt make them athiests. there is no polling evidence to back up your claim….you simply made that up. as you did with why jews identify with being jewish and identify with israel.

what has been shown is that a majority of jews, whether religious or not, have at least one passover seder…at the end of that seder, they say what jews have said for the past 2000 years….next year in jerusalem…nothing to do with the holocaust. family heritage, sure….but it is most definitely a real religion

as for the nk….not one rabbinic authority….not one orthodox organization supports their views….so honestly, i dont care what they think….they play to you, the ignorant (pardon me for saying that, but if you see them as any sort of authority, you are ignorant) you see, i understand quite well what the nk are saying. and at the time of the creation of the state, most other rabbinic authorities held the same way (except for rav cook and a few others) however, once the state came into being and many jews moved there, that changed….and now jews cannot actively fight against the state, as doing so could cause the death of other jews…the nk dont really care about that….and because of that, and because they have embraced enemies of the jews, they were all put into cherem (google that)

oh, and when you gain smicha (rabbinic ordination) or g-d comes down from the heavens and makes you a prophet, you can be sure that i will listen to your understanding of phrases from the torah…till then….dont think so.