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by Peter A. Belmont / 2010-06-04
© 2010 Peter Belmont
The world has recently seen a transformative event, Israel’s deadly attack and boarding of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in international waters as it sailed in a “Free Gaza” flotilla seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to the suffering people of Gaza, people suffering under 3 or 4 years of Israeli blockade denying them sufficient food, medicine, building supplies, etc.
This much seems agreed: the attack and boarding were conducted in international waters and people died. Much else is in dispute.
That the Israeli stopping of the ships was well planned in advance, and planned as a violent exercise, seems proved by Israeli statements made in advance.
As to most facts, it is likely that the world will never have the sort of evidence we have come to think most reliable—TV footage—because Israel has shown only “selected shorts” from its own footage and has confiscated (stolen) the cameras and films of the people on board the Mavi Marmara (including the reporter from Al Jazeera), thereby making those “reports” unavailable.[1]
I believe that all the world (and here I mean especially pro-Israel politicians) which has made statements based solely on Israel’s statements and “selected shorts” should retract their statements and delay judgment until the missing films are made public.
No credence whatever should be given “in the court of public opinion” to the statements of one “side” where that side has deliberately made evidence from the other “side” unavailable. Spoliation of evidence is a crime and is an action which, within many US courts, will automatically result in a negative inference against the side guilty of such spoliation. [2]
Lacking the films taken by passengers on the Mavi Marmara, we must make do chiefly with verbal reports. These are coming in slowly and cast doubt on Israel’s claims.
However, some “physical evidence” may be available. As (some of) the dead are returned to Turkey (and elsewhere?), their wounds may be examined. People said to have been shot in the head from above (presumably from helicopters) can be examined, although the time of their shooting (presumably) cannot be established in this way. People alleged to have been shot and allowed to die whilst medical aid was requested and denied by Israel’s troops may be examined and, perhaps, shown to have been bleed-out victims who could have been saved if properly treated—but the fact of a request for medical help and its denial cannot be shown by this “physical evidence” alone.
One fact not easy to dismiss is that one person killed by Israeli soldiers, 19-year-old Furkan Dorgan, was allegedly shot five times, including four times in the head. This looks very much like an execution, not like a normal act of war. It makes us wonder who shot him and whether he will be punished or, in another bit of Israeli hubris, honored for this example of close marksmanship.
One very interesting piece of physical evidence is a list said to have been dropped by an Israeli soldier, a “hit list” of people to be assassinated during the raid.[3]
If this story of a “hit list” is substantiated, then we may see this Israeli intervention as, in part, a planned exercise in assassination outside Israel’s territorial waters (as if that matters!). It will be interesting to see if any of the people on that list were [1] aboard any of the ships of the convoy and [2] have not been returned alive by Israel.
Some questions to ask: Would an Israeli blockade of Gaza be legal? If so, did Israel in fact (or in law) establish a blockade? If so, were Israel’s steps to enforce its blockade proper? If Israel’s blockade was legal and was well announced in advance, did any other government acquiesce in the blockade (call it legal) or tell its own ships to avoid breaking the blockade (or tell those ships to submit peaceably to boarding in international waters)?
Were Israel’s steps in stopping the flotilla minimal—that is, the smallest steps which could be regarded as likely to be effective? Were warnings and ultimatums given? Were the captains given time to consult with their own governments or otherwise?
International lawyers, please step up to the microphone!
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[1] In further news, Israel has been accused of sabotaging communication systems on the Irish registered aid ship MV Rachel Corrie which is bound for Gaza on Friday, June 4. This may prevent TV-footage of the anticipated Israeli stopping of this vessel as well(reported here).
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[2] In law, spoliation of evidence is the intentional or negligent withholding, hiding, alteration or destruction of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding. It is a criminal act in the United States under Federal and most State law.[1] Spoliation has two consequences: first the act is criminal by statute and may result in fines and incarceration for the parties who engaged in the spoliation, secondly case law has established that proceedings which might have been altered by the spoliation may be interpreted under a spoliation inference. The spoliation inference is a negative evidentiary inference that a finder of fact can draw from a party’s destruction of a document or thing that is relevant to an ongoing or reasonably foreseeable civil or criminal proceeding: The finder of fact can review all evidence uncovered in as strong a light as possible against the spoliator and in favor of the opposing party.See wiki
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[3] The Turkish media reported that the Israeli troops who attacked Mavi Marmara, one of the Freedom Flotilla ships, possessed a “hit list” containing the names of activists who should be killed and eliminated.
They said on Monday that the Israeli government already prepared this list in order toliquidate certain participants in the convoy.
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