Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was an American nonviolence activist and diarist.[1][2] She was a member of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM)[3] and was active throughout the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. In 2003, she was in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military was demolishing Palestinian houses at the height of the Second Intifada. While protesting the demolitions as they were being carried out, she was killed by an Israeli armored bulldozer that crushed her.[4][2][5][6]
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Corrie went to Gaza as part of her college’s senior-year independent-study proposal to connect Olympia and Rafah with each other as sister cities.[7] While in Rafah on March 16, 2003, she joined other ISM activists in efforts to nonviolently prevent Israel’s demolition of Palestinian property,[2][8][9] where she was killed by an Israeli bulldozer that crushed her.
Physicians present and fellow ISM activists stated that Corrie had been wearing a high-visibility vest and was deliberately driven over, while the Israeli army said that it was an accident because the bulldozer operator did not see her.[10][11][12][13] Following the incident, an Israeli military investigation concluded that Corrie’s death was the result of an accident and that the bulldozer operator had limited visibility. The ruling attracted criticism from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and Yesh Din.[14][15][16] HRW stated that the ruling represented a pattern of impunity for Israeli forces.[14]
“a pattern of impunity for Israeli forces” back in 2003
In 2005, Corrie’s parents filed a civil lawsuit, charging the Israeli state with not conducting a full and credible investigation into the case and therefore holding responsibility for her death.[17] They contended that either she had been intentionally killed or the Israeli soldiers on scene had acted with reckless neglect.[5] They sued for a symbolic US$1 in damages. However, an Israeli court rejected their suit in August 2012 and upheld the results of the military’s investigation, ruling that the Israeli government was not responsible for Corrie’s death,[5] again attracting criticism from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and various activists.[14][15][16] An appeal against this ruling was heard on May 21, 2014, but was ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court of Israel on February 14, 2015.[18]
And corporate interests too, to make it all really fucked up.
Revelation of Caterpillar surveillance
In 2017, documents emerged that showed Caterpillar had hired private investigators to spy on the family of Rachel Corrie following her killing in early 2003.[126][127]
James Henry Dominic Miller (18 December 1968 – 2 May 2003) was a Welsh cameraman, producer, and director, and recipient of numerous awards, including five Emmy Awards. He was killed by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) gunfire while filming a documentary in the Gaza Strip.[1] Miller worked regularly with Saira Shah for several years, and they formed a business partnership to operate an independent production company called Frostbite Productions in 2001.
The Israeli Military Police investigation into Miller’s death closed on 9 March 2005 with an announcement that the soldier suspected of firing the shot would not be indicted as they could not establish that his shot was responsible, though he would be disciplined for violating the rules of engagement and for changing his account of the incident.[2] On 6 April 2006, the inquest jury at St Pancras Coroner’s Court in London returned a verdict of unlawful killing, finding that Miller had been “murdered.”[1] Forensic experts from London Metropolitan Police concluded that the bullets were consistent with those used by the IDF. After meetings with the Miller family, the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, sent a formal request to his Israeli counterpart in June 2007 for prosecution proceedings to be enacted within six weeks against the soldier responsible for firing the shot.[3] The requests were ignored by the Israeli government and prosecution proceedings have never been held.
Like, didn’t we freak out (justifiably) when North Korea killed an American kid? Is it just acceptable to routinely slaughter non combatants without recourse?
In January 1992, it was revealed that Nayirah had never been a nurse and that she was the daughter of Saud Nasser Al-Saud Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States at the time the testimony was made. She and her father were members of the House of Sabah, the ruling family of Kuwait. Furthermore, it was revealed that her testimony was organized as part of a wider public relations campaign conducted by the Kuwaiti government-in-exile’s Citizens for a Free Kuwait, which sought to encourage American military involvement against Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait through coordination with the American public relations firm Hill & Knowlton. In the aftermath of the Gulf War, the Nayirah testimony came to be regarded as a classic example of modern atrocity propaganda.[1][2]
Israel just loves killing activists, doesn’t it?
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“a pattern of impunity for Israeli forces” back in 2003
And corporate interests too, to make it all really fucked up.
Is Israel a rogue state?
Like, didn’t we freak out (justifiably) when North Korea killed an American kid? Is it just acceptable to routinely slaughter non combatants without recourse?
Hey - anyone remember when George Bush Sr helped spread lies about Iraqis throwing babies out of incubators?