MK: Israeli troops came to kill activists

Israeli-Arab Knesset member Hanin Zuabi

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/140756.html

A member of the Knesset has testified before a UN panel probing the Tel Aviv attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy, saying Israeli troops boarded the ship intending to kill.

"It was evident from the beginning that the commandos viewed all of us activists as terrorists," member of Knesset (Israeli Parliament) Hanin Zuabi told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

She testified before the three-member UN team headed by Karl Hudson-Phillips, former judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

In late May, Israeli commandos attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters, killing nine Turkish activists and leaving dozens of others injured.

Zuabi, who was accompanying the aid convoy when it was attacked, said Israel's use of large numbers of troops with sophisticated weaponry showed that the regime's intentions were to kill the passengers.

"We were very peaceful activists, but the commandos came to kill," said Zuabi.

The Israeli lawmaker earlier charged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi with bearing personal responsibility for the "criminal and pirate takeover."

Israel has refused to cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council probe, which is expected to prepare a report at its next session, due to take place from September 13 to October 11.

Tel Aviv, however, accepted to work with a separate UN group led by New Zealand's ex-Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and Colombia's ex-President Alvaro Uribe.

'Murdering Israelis not afraid to steal'

Zuabi has been stripped of her parliamentary privileges for her
presence in the Flotilla

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/139352.html

An Arab Israeli politician speaks out against an alleged theft by the Israeli forces of the Flotilla activists' personal belongings.

Hanin Zuabi, who is a member of the Israeli parliament, Knesset, joined the humanitarian campaign to break Israel's three year old siege of the Gaza Strip under the banner of Freedom Flotilla.

Israeli commandos stormed the aid convoy on May 31, killing nine Turkish activists.

In addition to the killings, servicemen enlisted with the Israel Defense Force (IDF) have been blamed for stealing the activists' possessions and some of the confiscated properties are feared to have been used for unauthorized purposes.

Zuabi, who has been stripped of her parliamentary privileges for her presence in the Flotilla, said on Thursday, "People who come to kill have no problem stealing," the Israeli website, Ynetnews reported.

"I'm not surprised at all,” she added.

"Everything that happened on board the ship was an act of pirates…the state cultivates a culture of criminality," she said. "If such culture grants legitimacy to killing people, is it any wonder that belongings are being stolen from passengers?"

The British daily The Guardian wrote in late June that besides appropriating the relief supplies, the Israelis seized most of the activists' personal possessions.

The article added that the soldiers had used confiscated debit cards to buy items such as iPod accessories. Mobile phones have been used for calls and three of the seized passports had still not been returned.

Israeli MP: Gaza blockade to fall soon

Palestinian member of Israeli parliament (Knesset) Hanin Zuabi

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=131355&sectionid=351020202

Israel's Palestinian MP who was onboard the attacked Gaza Flotilla vows resistance against Tel Aviv's "scare campaign," saying the blockade of Gaza will soon collapse.

A member of Israeli parliament (Knesset), Hanin Zuaba accompanied the aid convoy which came under a deadly attack by Israeli navy commandos on May 31, and was accused of treason by angry fellow Knesset members upon return to Israel.

"I have already said I would not be deterred by political persecution and the scare campaign launched against me," the lawmaker for Balad party told Ynetnews website on Sunday.

Zuabi said that Tel Aviv's recent decision to ease its years-long closure of the Gaza Strip and allow civilian goods into the impoverished territory "proves that it is not a security blockade, but a political one."

Zoabi described the aid convoy as "the beginning of the blockade's collapse," adding that "the objective of the Flotilla and of the future struggle…is to completely break the blockade."

The Israeli Arab lawmaker said the Flotilla "succeeded in undermining the blockade's legitimacy" by encouraging more aid convoys and forcing Israel to review and consequently change the conditions of the siege.

Despite the harsh criticism from her colleagues in the Knesset and death threats from extremist Israelis, Zuabi said she planned to take part in the next flotillas.

"Israel thinks the whole world ends at its borders…Israel is under siege as far as (global public opinion) is concerned…because Israel is applying its own moral code and does not adhere to the universal code," she stated.