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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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29 September 2010 Last updated at 20:22 GMT
Israeli forces 'Tasered' activist on Gaza aid boat
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11433836
Israeli naval commando boats escort the Irene, 28/09 The Irene was the
latest boat to try to break Israel's three-year naval embargo of Gaza
Jewish activists who sought to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza
say they were treated harshly when Israeli forces seized their vessel.
Yonatan Shapira, an Israeli air force pilot turned peace activist,
said he was shocked with a Taser gun while passively resisting arrest.
And a British journalist said he was "ambushed" and "almost
strip-searched" by commandos on board the vessel.
Israel's military had said the vessel was seized peacefully on Tuesday.
It declined to comment on the activists' accounts.
Earlier this year, Israeli commandos killed nine people in clashes on
board a Turkish ship trying to reach Gaza.
Israel says its blockade is designed to prevent weapons being smuggled
to the militant Hamas movement which runs the territory.
Harsh treatment
Yonatan Shapira, a member of left-wing group Combatants for Peace,
said he was treated "brutally" by Israeli soldiers when the ship was
intercepted some 20 miles (30km) off the coast of Gaza on Tuesday.
"After they boarded, I was standing with my hands around Reuven
Moskowitz, the 82-year-old holocaust survivor," he told BBC News. "We
were trying to protect each other and singing: 'We shall overcome.'
"The Israeli navy captain came closer and pulled out his Taser gun and
said: 'If you don't let go... it will hurt.'
"We continued to hug and he shot me twice on my right shoulder. It was
painful, but not as bad as the third shot.
"He moved the life vest I had on, so he could reach closer to my heart
and shot me, which made me lose control of my body. It felt like an
epileptic attack or something.
"At that point I couldn't hold anything and they grabbed me brutally
to the boat."
British photo-journalist Vish Vishvanath confirmed that Mr Shapira had
been hit by the stun gun.
After his deportation to London, Mr Vishvanath said he had been
"almost strip-searched" by Israeli special forces, who confiscated all
his equipment.
"About three commandos ambushed me and took all my camera gear. They
confiscated my cell phone because it had a camera on it," he told the
Press Association.
He said the activists put up "a lot of resistance", but that no
violence was used.
Activists freed
The Irene, dubbed the Jewish Boat for Peace, was carrying what the
activists called a symbolic amount of medicine, a water purifying kit
and toys.
The Israeli army diverted the boat to the port of Ashdod and said the
gifts would be screened and transferred overland to Gaza.
All five Israeli activists were questioned and released without
charge. Three of the four foreign nationals were deported late on
Tuesday. The fourth, a German nurse, would be deported in the next few
days, organisers said.
Israel and neighbouring Egypt shut down Gaza's border crossings when
an Israeli soldier was captured in June 2006, and tightened the
blockade further when the Islamist Hamas movement gained control of
Gaza a year later.
Israel began allowing consumer goods into Gaza after its May raid on a
Turkish aid ship sparked international outrage. Nine activists were
killed when Israeli commandos intercepted the ship in international
waters.
But it still blocks all exports from the territory, imposes a complete
naval blockade, and severely restricts the movement of people.
Israel says the naval blockade is required to stop arms being smuggled
to Hamas, but critics and humanitarian groups say this amounts to
collective punishment of the territory's 1.5 million people.
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the
weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or
religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It
just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be
absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews,
antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies
or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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