Tuesday, September 28, 2010

UN Fact-Finding Mission Says Israelis "Executed" US Citizen Furkan Dogan

Seal of the United States Department of State.Image via Wikipedia
t r u t h o u t | UN Fact-Finding Mission Says Israelis "Executed" US Citizen Furkan Dogan

Far be it from me to wade into an analysis of the Israeli-Palestine issue - which, to quote President Obama, would be "above my pay grade" - but.....

The official UN report on the human rights aspect of the boarding of the flotilla to Gaza by Israeli commandos in May of this year has been published. In fact, it was published in July. No, I hadn't heard anything about it either.

Which is surprising, because an American citizen, Furkan Dogan was among those killed during the raid. The UN report on his death makes uncomfortable reading, describing his death as an "execution".

Gogan was shot twice in the head, once in the back and in the left leg and foot before being shot in the face at point blank range while lying on the ground. Based on the "forensic and firearm evidence," the UN panel concluded that Dogan's killing and that of five Turkish citizens, "can be characterized as extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions."

My point in relating this unpleasant story is to highlight the way that, when pursuing their foreign policy objectives, elected governments such as that of the United States will often make use of the death of their citizens overseas as a way of justifying aggressive actions against the offending states.

On this occasion, however, the US administration is pursuing a policy of not commenting on the incident. In a written statement, which appears to have been dragged out of a reluctant State Department by Truthout magazine, we read:


"We urge that this report not be used for actions that could disrupt direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine that are now underway or actions that would make it not possible for Israel and Turkey to move beyond the recent strains in their traditional strong relationship."



There we have it then. And not a hint of the story being reported on the main US media channels.







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1 comment:

Casino Operators said...

Here so history!