Manuel Tapial and terrorism (I).

Manuel Tapial is one of the three Spanish activists who were on board the Mavi Marmara. On Monday, July 5, 2010, Spanish daily AHORA Leganés published an interview with him about the P.P.'s (People's Party, a right-wing, conservative party) branch for the municipality of Leganés (a city near Madrid, Spain's capital), which refused to condemn the raid conducted by the Tzahal against the so-called Gaza flotilla. During the voting process, Leganés' councillor Dolores Montoro (a member of the People's Party) wore two Stars of David. This is the interview (translated as accurate as possible, between quotation marks):

"Q. Leganés' P.P. has refused to condemn the Israeli assault on the Flotilla during the Voting Process.

A. I think that to affirm we attacked the Israelis comes from a supine ignorance. These statements discredit the P.P. by themselves. P.P.'s spokesman puts himself out of the Law through his words. It sounds like if defense of State terrorism had been made, defending a State which has committed a violation of the Human Rights and which has committed murders.

Q. What do you think about the P.P.'s councillor wearing two Stars of David during this Voting Process?

A. Leganés' citizens must know these facts. We could compare it with a member of E.T.A. showing the photographs of those killed by him during a Voting Process. That's the same indignation our families have been able to feel while seeing it. It's outrageous that somebody can defend a State which has committed a terrorist act, which has put our lives in danger and which has provoked nine deaths. It's outrageous.

Q. What would you tell this councillor?

A. [I'd tell her] to go to live in Israel."

E.T.A. (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, which in Basque means Basque Homeland and Freedom) is a far-left, armed organization which aims to achieve the independence for Euskadi or Basque Country (which would include two Spanish Autonomous Communities, Euskadi or Basque Country and Navarre, as well as the western part of the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques) through the use of force and intimidation; id est, it's a terrorist organization, delegitimized by most of the Basques, which has demonstrated many times it's able to kill, harm and kidnap members of the security forces, politicians, businesspeople, journalists and innocent civilians as a whole, through both selective and indiscriminate actions committed by the use of firearms and explosives.

Since E.T.A. was founded in 1959, it killed more than 800 people.

Before being expelled from the Basque Parliament and municipal councils by law, the members of those political parties supporting E.T.A. were able to defend the organization inside those institutions, showing photographs of E.T.A.'s members, refusing to condemn E.T.A.'s criminal activities and so on.

And for Manuel Tapial, refusing to condemn the Israeli raid on the Gaza flotilla is comparable to show support for terrorism, in spite of all the proofs against many of the activists who were on board the Mavi Marmara and the lack of evidence against Israeli soldiers.

But what really shocks me is that, in his point of view, a Spanish politician wearing a Magen David during a council meeting is comparable to a member of E.T.A. supporting E.T.A.'s terrorism during a council meeting. And he made this statement in a country which has been suffering E.T.A.'s terrorism for decades, as well as anti-Semitism for centuries.

Well, maybe Manuel Tapial should be informed that his own ideas are much more comparable with E.T.A.'s than a person wearing a Star of David, not only because the organization behind the Gaza flotilla, the I.H.H., has been linked with terrorist organizations by the Danish Institute for International Studies and the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, but also because E.T.A. and Manuel Tapial share a common ideology regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Manuel Tapial is a member of the Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe (Solidarity with the Arab Cause Committee). In its website we can find this article, written by Manuel Tapial himself. He states the following (translated as accurate as possible, between quotation marks):

"As an activist, I refuse to assume the official positions and to justify the massacre of civilians, and I refuse to condemn the legitimate resistance of a people under so brutal attacks. The tools of every people are those which are considered the most useful to defend themselves, and in this case I recognize Hamas' moral authority to defend the Gaza Strip, a zone where through free elections most of the people chose it to represent them in the Palestinian parliament. Poor Palestinians who chose the erroneous option. Don't we the Western countries agree on that kind of electoral system of one person, one vote?"

In the next paragraph he proposes to recognize the legitimacy of the armed operations carried out in Lebanon and Palestine, which he dares to compare with the armed resistance against Francisco Franco during the 1936 to 1939 Spanish Civil War and that against the nazis during the Second World War, and ends suggesting the disruption of Spanish-Israeli relations.

He ends his article with the following words: "Viva the Resistance, Viva the struggle of the Palestinian people!"

This comes from a pro-E.T.A. website. It's an article under the title País Vasco, una cultura de resistencia (Basque Country, a culture of resistance) which uses a language similar to Manuel Tapial's:

"E.T.A. continued with its activities after Franco's death.

During these days E.T.A. has attracted the attention of the media due to its car bombs and its actions against the Spanish government, which continuously derive on the escalation of the repression against the Basques, against revolutionary groups of resistance and even anarchists.

In spite of the fact that nationalism is usually implemented by the State to maintain its people in a situation of ignorance, the Basque nation, like others, is still absorbed by the powers of the capitalist western world (Spain and France).

The struggle for the freedom of the Basque people is important, being one of many battles against the fascist opression."

While Manuel Tapial recognized Hamas as a legitimate organization entitled to represent the Palestinians, sympathizers of E.T.A. (and E.T.A. itself) have been denouncing the banning of political parties (such as Batasuna) which support E.T.A. and try to appear before the public opinion as the legitimate representatives of the Basque people. One example is Segi, a pro-E.T.A. youth organization which protested against the aforementioned banning, as can be read in the same pro-E.T.A. website, in an article under the title Segi denuncia la ilegalización de Batasuna y la estrategia aniquiladora contra Euskal Herria (Segi denounces the banning of Batasuna and the destructive strategy against Euskal Herria, being Euskal Herria the country of the euskera, or Basque language).

Furthermore, E.T.A. and its sympathizers, and Manuel Tapial himself, support Hamas in a similar manner. The same pro-E.T.A. website published an article under this title: Solidaridad con la resistencia del pueblo palestino frente a las atrocidades del ejército israelí (Solidarity with the resistance of the Palestinian people against the atrocities of the Israeli army).

So, who are acting like supporters of terrorism, those who refuse to condemn the Israeli raid on the Gaza flotilla due to the proofs against many of the activists who were on board the Mavi Marmara and the lack of evidence against any single Israeli, or those who ally themselves with organizations linked to terrorist groups, while supporting terrorist activities and criticizing a State like members and supporters of E.T.A. usually do?

To portray the Magen David as a terrorist symbol... And then he pretends not to appear as an anti-Semite before the public opinion.

Do Público's journalists know how the world where they live is?

I mean, Público published an article by Eugenio García Gacón on Friday, July 2, 2010, which offered the following information (excerpt from the article below, translated as accurate as possible, between quotation marks):

"Israel rejects outright Turkey's demands. In the first hand, Gaza's blockade which theoretically was lifted last week, according to the Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu actually is going on almost at the same level than prior to the announcement. The Israelis justify their attitude saying that they're avoiding the smuggling of weapons and dual-use materials, though actually they're avoiding the entrance of food, medicines, gas for private use and civil construction materials."

Well, the truth is that food, medicines, gas, civil construction materials and many more items are actually being sent to the Gaza Strip, as shown here, here and here.

A lawsuit is brought against eight Israelis in Spain.

A Spanish N.G.O., known as Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe (Solidarity with the Arab Cause Committe) has brought a lawsuit against eight Israelis due to the boarding of the so-called Gaza flotilla, under the auspices of Laura Aral, Manuel Espinar Tapial and David Segarra, the three Spaniards who were on board the Mavi Marmara during the Israeli assault. The lawsuit consists of accusing those eight Israelis of having committed crimes of less humanity and crimes against people and goods protected in the case of armed conflict, it was sent to the National Court (which is in charge of alleged crimes against humanity, among others) on Friday, July 23, 2010, and it can be read here (in Spanish).

The eight Israeli citizens accused by the Committe are: Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister; Ehud Barak, Minister of Defense; Avigdor Lieberman, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Dan Meridor, Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy; Moshe Ya'alon, Minister of Strategic Affairs; Eli Yishai, Minister of Internal Affairs; Ze'ev Binyamin Begin, Minister without portfolio; and Eliezer Marom, commander of the Tzahal's naval branch.

This is the second time a lawsuit accusing Israel of having committed crimes against humanity is brought against the Jewish State before the Spanish National Court, being the first one about the Tzahal operation which killed Palestinian terrorist leader Salah Shehadeh (at the time member of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades) and fourteen civilians in 2002. This lawsuit is also available here (in Spanish), and it was unsuccessful.

During this summer I was and I'll be busy, but sooner or later I'll write about this new lawsuit against Israel. I already made a response to the lawsuit on the attack against Shehadeh, which is available here (in Spanish), and which I'll translate into English in this blog.

Once finished the current summer, I'll recover my usual rythm here.

Gaza flotilla still defined as Freedom Flotilla by Público.

On Sunday, July 18, 2010, Público published an article written by Eugenio García Gascón under the title La UE insta a Israel a abrir las fronteras de Gaza (EU urges Israel to open Gaza's borders). Excerpt from the article below:

"Israel announced the change of its policy towards Gaza due to the Freedom Flotilla incident, which was boarded by the Israeli Navy on May 31 in front of Gaza's coast. Israeli soldiers caused the death to nine Turkish activists and later announced the partial opening of the borders mainly for food."

Taking into account the evidencies showing the pre-planned violence exercised by the activists, including this video, to write that the Gaza flotilla was a Freedom Flotilla seems to be inaccurate.

Historical inaccuracies by El País.

On Monday, July 11, 2010, an article written by Ana Carbajosa, correspondent for El País in Tel Aviv-Yafo, was published under the title El hilo del que pende Ariel Sharon (The thread Ariel Sharon hangs by). The article deals with Ariel Sharon, former Israeli Prime Minister, who is in a coma since January 2006. Facts about him as a political leader are summarized in the article, and some historical inaccuracies are present. Excerpts from the article below (translated as accurate as possible, between quotation marks):

"[Former Sharon's advisor Raanan] Gissin maintains that, as a friend, he doesn't desire Sharon's death. Involved in his role as an advisor, this fervent admirer of the man who led Israel to the war with Lebanon and in which the Sabra and Shatila massacres were produced thinks that Sharon's political legacy would have enjoyed a major recognition if he had died the day he suffered the cerebral haemorrhage.

In Israel, beyond the aggresiveness deployed by the former prime minister in the battlefield, his role as the one who triggered the second Intifada or the brutality of the Operation Defensive Shield that he ordered, he will be remembered as the father of the colonialist movement, who just before going into a coma surprised [everybody] by ordering the evacuation of Gaza's settlements in 2005."

In her article, Ana Carbajosa makes Sharon the one responsible for the 1982 Lebanon War, when it would be more accurate to explain that the Jewish State went to war there as a response to terrorist actions committed by the P.L.O., consisting of rocket attacks on northern Israel from Lebanon.

Carbajosa also blames Sharon for the al-Aqsa Intifada, a usual accusation which consists of stating that Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount, a Holy Place to muslims as well as Jews, offended the Palestinians to the point that the aforementioned uprising erupted. It's true that Sharon visited the Temple Mount on Thursday, September 28, 2000, but other facts which led to the al-Aqsa Intifada or that extended it should also be mentioned, such as David Biri's death on the same day after being attacked the day before, the shock among Israelis due to the Ramallah lynching in October 2000, Arafat's refusal to a peace plan proposed by Ehud Barak early that same year (which would include some East Jerusalem's areas for a future Palestinian State), or the Palestinian suicide bombings, which began during the 90s; moreover, to begin an uprising just because a Jew has visited a Holy Place to him is not understandable, after all.

Operation Defensive Shield happened in 2002 due to the Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israel during the al-Aqsa Intifada. The aforementioned "brutality" during the Operation consisted of a supposed massacre of Palestinian civilians occurred during the Battle of Jenin. It was initially reported that hundreds of civilians (and even 1,500 ones) had been killed. The truth behind this story is that there were isolated cases of human rights abuses, but any massacre had happened.

Lorenzo Cremonesi, correspondent for Il Corriere della Sera in Jerusalem, while denouncing Israel's military censorship in combat zones, affirmed that he was able to enter Jenin and that any massacre had occurred. Here are his own words:

"The first took place in the Jenin refugee camp in April 2002. Do you remember? The camp was surrounded, and the media was not allowed in. From a distance, one could see pillars of smoke and hear occasional shooting. The Palestinians spoke about 1,500 dead - a toll that later dropped to 500. There were rumors of mass graves, of entire families that had been shot in the streets by Zionist soldiers.

On April 13, I succeeded in crossing through the army barricades on foot and reached the hospital bordering on the refugee camp. I was prepared to see scenes of a bloodbath. Anyone who follows what takes place in the arena of war knows that generally speaking, the ratio of dead to wounded is one to three. That is to say, if there are 500 dead, there will be at least 1,500 wounded. What did I find? Absolutely nothing. The hospital was almost deserted, doctors were playing cards in the emergency room, there were two women in labor and one old man who had had an appendectomy.

In one of the wards I finally saw wounded - 25 people who had been lightly wounded. And the stories they told were indeed heart-rending. 'I saw a woman and three children who were shot close by here', one of them told me. Nonetheless, when they were asked for the names of the dead and to show where the bodies were, the responses became evasive. In short, it was all talk and nothing could be verified, nothing was concrete. At the end of that day, I wrote that the death toll was not more than 50 and that most of them were combatants. And indeed, a few weeks later, following a UN investigation, it was reported that there had been 53 dead."

Time reported the following:

"A Time investigation concludes that there was no wanton massacre in Jenin, no deliberate slaughter of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers. But the 12 days of fighting took a severe toll on the camp. According to the U.N., 54 Palestinians are confirmed dead. An additional 49 are missing; it is unclear how many of them perished in the fighting and how many either fled or were captured by Israeli troops. In the final count, there may well be fewer dead in Jenin than the 78 killed in Nablus Casbah in a battle that took place at the same time. But it is Jenin that has attracted worldwide attention because of the widespread destruction of property and because some of those who died during the fighting were mere spectators.

Human Rights Watch, which in a published report last week also concluded that no massacre took place, nonetheless documented 22 civilian deaths and said the Israelis used excessive and indiscriminate force during the operation. Time found that as Israeli soldiers moved from house to house, they sometimes compelled Palestinian civilians to take the dangerous job of leading the approach to the buildings. On the other hand, a senior Palestinian military officer has admitted to Time that some of those who died were killed by rubble from the exploding booby traps with which Palestinian fighters had honeycombed the camp."

Please compare these death tolls with those attributed to the alleged massacre. Moreover, please watch this video in order to understand how the Palestinians act when they want to blame Israel, or read again about the Palestinian booby traps which killed Palestinian civilians.

Why not all of this is remembered by Carbajosa in her article when writing about the 1982 Lebanon War, the al-Aqsa Intifada and the 2002 Battle of Jenin?

Israeli soldiers are guilty of... dancing?

Israeli soldiers have videotaped themselves dancing Kesha's song TiK ToK in Hebron, and have uploaded the video to YouTube. This story has been covered by La Voz de Galicia, Televisión de Galicia, La Vanguardia, El País, elplural.com and ABC, among others.

It's interesting to see how a video showing how Israeli soldiers are just dancing (without harming any single civilian) attracts much more attention than videos showing, for example, how Palestinian children are indoctrinated in order to make them to become terrorists and how they are used as human shields.

Quiz.

Maybe you came here from Norway, Israel and the jews in order to know what is shown in this picture, but it's not so easy; you'll have to try to find an answer by yourselves. What does this photo suggest you? Please answer in the commentary section.