If you go out on the campus today...2

Update: In my first post of the same name (18/4/08), I analysed some of the campus carry-on of the US Zionista vigilantes over at StandWithUs.com, a self-styled "pro-Israel advocacy organization" now taking root here in collaboration with the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).

I made the point, in reference to an exhibition currently touring US campuses, Breaking the Silence, that the SWU Zionistas had no compunction in targeting fellow Jews deemed to have deviated from the (Kadima/Likud or worse) party line. Another, nastier, example of SWU anti-Jewish activism may be found at http://www.richardsilverstein.com/. Under the heading Jewish Organizations Harass Jewish Peace Activists you can read how an "associate director of Stand With Us" was caught out sending an email to a Jewish peace activist at his home email address, asking him why he hated being a Jew and why he was in favour of murdering Jews.

In that post I also described the SWU travelling exhibition Inside Terrorism: The X-ray Project, a propagandist exploitation of x-rays of Israeli civilian victims of Palestinian suicide bombings, showing nuts, bolts and nails lodged in their bodies by the force of the blast. I made the point that the oft-heard Zionist call for 'balance' was not, in this case, met by the inclusion in the exhibition of x-rays of Palestinian victims of Israeli state terrorism.

An example of what might have been seen, if they had practised what they preached, are x-rays of Palestinians killed by flechette shells. The recent death by flechette in the Gaza Strip of Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana is relevant here. The following paragraphs are from Donald Macintyre's 18/4/08 report, Tank shell that sprays deadly darts killed cameraman in Gaza, say doctors, in the UK Independent:-

"Bordered by lemon trees on one side and an olive grove on the other, the country lane leading to Joher Al Dik, where Fadel Shana was killed doing his job, was all but deserted yesterday afternoon. But two teenage boys from the Nusseirat refugee camp displayed half a dozen of the dull, black, inch-long darts which they said they had found amond the cactus growing along the verge opposite where Mr Shana had parked his unarmoured SUV to film a tank on Wednesday afternoon.

"According to doctors who examined [Shana's] body...at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, it was controversial darts like those, fletchettes, fired from an Israeli tank shell that explodes in the air, that caused his death. X-rays displayed to Reuters showed several of the flechettes embedded in the dead man's chest and legs, and more were found in his flak jacket, clearly emblazoned, like his vehicle, with 'TV' and 'Press' signs...

"The Israeli military was silent last night on whether it planned to launch the 'swift, honest, and impartial investigation' into Mr Shana's death, urged by David Shlesinger, the editor-in-chief of Reuters News, who said the medical evidence underlined the case for such an inquiry. While expressing 'sorrow' for Mr Shana's death, a military official said the area was one in which there was 'ongoing fighting against armed, extreme and dangerous terrorist organisations on a daily basis'. The presence of media, photographers and other uninvolved individuals in areas of warfare is extremely dangerous and poses a threat to their lives'. But Mr Shlesinger said: 'The markings on Fadel Shana's vehicle showed clearly and unambiguously that he was a professional journalist doing his duty. We the military must work together urgently to understand why this tragedy took place and how similar incidents can be avoided in the future. This tragic incident shows the risks journalists take every day to report the news.

"The military would only say that all its weapons 'are legal under international law'. Israel's Supreme Court rejected a 2003 petition arguing that the use of flechettes as an anti-personnel weapon contravened a 1980 UN convention, but the Israeli human rights group Btselem said last night that the flechettes violated international law and demanded a criminal investigation."