On 31 May 2010, a humanitarian flotilla en route to Gaza and carrying seven hundred passengers came under attack in international waters from Israeli commandos. By the end of the Israeli assault, nine passengers were killed (a tenth passenger died later from his injuries), scores were injured, and possibly hundreds suffered outrages upon their personal dignity, inhuman treatment or torture.
In 2013, the Government of the Union of the Comoros, the registered state of the flagship Mavi Marmara, referred the “Flotilla Situation” to the International Criminal Court. ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda initiated a “preliminary examination” in order to ascertain whether the incident warranted a full-fledged investigation. In 2014, the Prosecutor issued the results of her preliminary examination. She found that, whereas there was a “reasonable basis to believe that war crimes … have been committed,” the incident was not of “sufficient gravity” to justify further deliberation by the Court. The Prosecutor accordingly “decided to close this preliminary examination.”
The Prosecutor reached her decision by leaning on the Israeli account of the assault while denigrating the testimony of passengers and the findings of a UN Commission. Her shameful and shameless whitewash of Israeli crimes has engulfed the Court in a veritable civil war, whereby the Prosecutor has repeatedly declared the case closed, only to suffer mortification when it was reopened by other elements of the ICC. The “Flotilla Situation” is still pending before the Court.
In the meantime, the State of Palestine has opened a second front at the ICC as it too charged Israel, in a separate referral, with war crimes. In a bizarre development, the Chief Prosecutor has now switched sides as she prepares to launch an investigation of Israeli crimes despite the indignant opposition of Israel, the United States, and a phalanx of prominent international lawyers attempting to insulate Israel from legal accountability for its crimes.
The webinar on 30 May 2020 will present a concise account of these extraordinary events.
When: May 30, 2020 at 10:00 PDT
What: Zoom discussion with filmmaker Iara Lee, author Norman Finkelstein, and survivors of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on the 10th Anniversary Of The Israeli Attack On The Mavi Marmara
Access: Register for the Zoom webinar at the following link: https://bit.ly/3brBQqZ
Contact: Iara Lee and Norman Finkelstein are available for interviews in advance of the event. contact Iara Lee’s press liaison Tamara Shvelidze at outreachdepartment@culturesofresistance.org and for Dr Finkelstein, contact: Sana Kassem at sanakassem61@hotmail.com