It is almost a year since Mohammed Omer was brutally beaten, almost to death, by Israeli forces upon reentering Israel on his way back to Gaza. Mohammed was returning from a trip to Europe where he was the recipient of the Martha Gelhorn Prize for Journalism.
The Israelis made it quite obvious by their actions that his honest reporting of the situation in Gaza was not appreciated by them. They did their darnedest to silence the Voice for The Voiceless in Gaza.
Messages of support poured in from all over the world, but not a word from the Israeli Government. Not until they finally issued a statement which called Mohammed a liar! HERE, you can see the account of what actually happened to him, in his own words. Months after the beating took place the United Nations issued a 20 page report on the situation. I have not heard anything that happened since that report was issued.The Award was presented to Mohammed in London, to date the Israeli Ambassador to England maintains his silence on the beating.
In THIS brilliant essay by Kennith Ring, you can see what kind of person Mohammed Omer is. Israel would like you to believe that he is a terrorist. Nothing is further from the truth as can be seen in THIS post.
The Israeli Government was successful in establishing an almost total blackout in the Corporate Media about the situation. AP finally issued THIS report, which might as well have been written by the Israelis themselves. HERE you can see another report issued by the Israeli Government’s Press Office.
Mohammed finally received the proper medical attention required. He has undergone extensive surgery in the Netherlands where he remains for continued treatments.
Two months before the incident covered above, a Palestinian journalist, working for Reuters, was murdered by Israeli soldiers in Gaza. To date, Reuters has not received a report on Fadel Shana’s death. Israel does not have to answer on charges of brutality or murder. They have been getting away with this type of behaviour for sixty one years.
ONLY YOU CAN CHANGE THIS SITUATION!
DEMAND ANSWERS FROM THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT AND FROM YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT THAT OBVIOUSLY SUPPORTS THEM!
Desertpeace 
Barbara said,
June 3, 2009 at 13:44
The problem is that these people do not consider the beating and near murder of a beast worth more than a few hours play for themselves. The fact that this beast can actually read and write and DISPLEASE them by being a truth teller is all the more infuriating.
That he went international, won awards and was heard, was a crime beyond belief in their eyes. That he is probably much more literate and skilled would infuriate the uneducated high school graduates of the military as well. The Israeli school system was not created to produce particularly open minded or intelligent and insightful human beings ~ just more muscle for the powers that be.
The Israeli mindset seems to also be fascinated by dirty sex and fecal matter. The fact that this particular beast was not only successful but also a man, let alone a very handsome and renowned man, would give them a little extra fuel and hatred to work on him with. Sad … pathetic… but true.
Once people understand and accept the idea that to these creatures, we goyim, whether Arab or Christian, are nothing more than “beasts with two legs” to them, things become much easier to understand. We have no rights according to them. They want it, they take it, because beasts cannot own things. Beast women breed, kill it anyhow, she only carries another beast. Alas, there is more truth to that t-shirt “One Shot Two Kills” than we would like to admit.
By “accept” I do not meant BUY INTO, I merely mean to see that is their point of view.
If the world were not watching, this herd would have been culled decades ago. As in the whole herd driven over the edge of a cliff until none remained. It is all about public relations. The only reason Palestinians are still alive today is because of international censure. And it is not because they care about the opinion of others, because they don’t, but it could hurt business and other situations they might need to manipulate to their own benefit.
If this were a few hundred years ago, this herd would have been sold off into slavery if not out and out destroyed by mass murder. After all, the women are quite fine and fertile, capable of breeding more slaves for an unscrupulous owner, and the men are strong, well formed and capable of long hours of labour in the fields. And oh the children. They are not the blonde beauties most desired for ritual, but blood is blood, and a sacrifice is still a sacrifice.
I know this sounds silly, but it is the mindset of these Talmudic Zionists and once we all understand this, the better off we will be because we will know what we are up against and be better able to deal with them.
People call them animals. I maintain no animal on this planet deserves such an insult. All animals are natural creatures who do not kill for fun, or defile for conquest.
Jaundiced? Does this sound bitter and jaundiced? Not really. Once again there are exceptions to this outlook of the Israelis, but they are silenced now, and I do not speak of the many who have broken free of this conditioning. But the rogue state is rapidly sinking deeper into this mire of filth as its desperation and fear increases. They are not even near how low they can go, a long distance yet for them to sink.
Mohammed Omer knows alas, that the things I say are true. He has tasted it in ways that would kill a stronger human being. His light shines strong ~ these beings that crawl from the primordial ooze of Satan’s potty cannot dim his strength and ability to prevail.
omar y said,
June 3, 2009 at 18:23
“People call them animals. I maintain no animal on this planet deserves such an insult. All animals are natural creatures who do not kill for fun, or defile for conquest.”
i suggest the word “demons” instead.
amen.
The Progressive Mind » AFTER ALMOST A YEAR, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT MAINTAINS ITS SILENCE ON THE BRUTAL BEATING OF A PALESTINIAN JOURNALIST « Desertpeace said,
June 3, 2009 at 19:57
[…] AFTER ALMOST A YEAR, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT MAINTAINS ITS SILENCE ON THE BRUTAL BEATING OF A PALESTINIAN…. June 3rd, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment | […]
fourthreichisrael said,
June 3, 2009 at 21:20
Aylin said,
June 3, 2009 at 21:51
A wall, full of shrapnel marks, bombs, and like a flower in a wild field, a little girl, in a kind of princess robe
Two little girls playing with their hands
An elder man kissing a child in a coffin
A man running in a cloud of dust which seems will engulf him
A mother crying like a sort of madonna
A little face looking up, on a school bank, the place near her empty
Two little boys looking through a metallic hole as cutting as their faces are tender
A policeman flying in the air
Prisoners eyes bandaged in line
The colour of the sea, the nests, the fisherboats
There is so much tenderness in these images, that you imagine, at first, that you look at the work of an old wise man who knows humanity on the tip of his fingers
It’s incredible to feel the humanity, the extraordinary touch of Mohammed.
This group of newborns in a hospital, keeping themselves warm…
A little boy with pants too big, probably from a bigger brother, little feet without shoes, lost in thoughts so deep you could hear him sigh…
Well, Mohammed doesn’t take photographs, he creates emotion. Like a painter
You wonder how it is possible, to capture Love, tenderness, Life, among these rubbles
He’s got eyes of another kind this young man
Another sort of mind. Brilliant. A beautiful mind.
You should read him. His blog is now like a sort of encyclopedia of Gaza. You have a sort of chronology of things, lived from inside.
His blog, his photos, his work for different publications … all just denotes the same spirit: feelings, intelligence, humanity.
He’s the most pacific person I ever had the pleasure to read
I love the paper Gideon Levy made of him, too.
He captured something incredible in Mohammed: the fact that he can say the most terrible things, in a sort of surrealist calmness.
I mean, we talk about a young man who began working at the age common little boys aren’t coordinated enough to be able to begin real football training. He was 6.There is a video on you tube I adore because you cannot miss the sort of proudness of the little boy you may see, behind his eyes so dark, when he explains his role as the oldest of all brothers.
You should see him talk about the destruction of his home – his mom was inside – the death of his younger brother …
He saw so many deaths. So much sorrow. When he was 17, at the age youngsters should go and dream about lemonades in nice places, when “nothing is serious” as Rimbaud would say, he began writing about what was happening around him.
Why do I write all this ?
Oh because this man is so decent, so accurate, so objective (he can criticize this party, or encourage another, denounce this point or explain another point of view) that the idea his sense of decency, his courage can be discussed is unbearable. The idea that some people, the same who trash every Palestinian icon, try to harm his honour – as if hurting him was not enough – makes me simply angry.
He tried to cope, bravely, alone. A proud young man who had seen enough to think he could manage this sort of “usual” violence of Israelis on Palestinians.
After having lived the anguish of knowing his family the target of some bombings, being left hours without news, behind “away from action” too, which is not easy, too, for somebody who was so present in it, Mohammed just turned 25 in a country, long away from his people, to try repairing what Israeli soldiers had broken.
Mohammed should have been protected.
As a Palestinian, living under the control of an enemy
As a journalist, Voice of people he had given a voice to
As a human being, simply a human being with the right not to be tortured
Impunity, day after day, years after years, could make it possible that this triple crime remains unpunished
The problem is that the idea Mohammed Omer could again fall in the hands of people who want to silence him, is absolutely unacceptable.
He is in danger because of this impunity
And above him, and his case, the voice of the voiceless, is symbolic of all this shameful impunity regarding all the killings, harming, torturing of a lot of Palestinians
He gave so much to get Palestine out of the silence
He doesn’t deserve silence but a noise so big the walls could tremble.
I wish him the best. A century of it…
Compassion.
That is the word I kept searching during all these lines. This man is able to trigger compassion in any heart, normally even hearts of stone. That’s the magic they wanted to silence. And, go, read him, all his words, images, on rafahtoday.org, Washington reports on Middle East Affairs, IPS news, (everything you can see on videos or read these last days seems to come out from the work he made) he can report, analyse, do all this with no word higher than the other. No hate. He states facts. Simply. An incredible sort of Gandhi power.
Sorry. It’s a bit long.
It’s just a sort of flower. (feel free to cut it a bit 🙂
jocelyn braddell said,
June 4, 2009 at 09:24
DEAR MOHAMMED HOW ARE YOU NOW? I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THAT YOU ARE HEADED HOME AGAIN TO YOUR FAMILY. INDEED AS FRIENDS WE WISH TO HELP YOU BUT KNOW IT IS NOT THE SAME AND CANNOT RELIEVE YOU OF YOUR WORRIES. I LOOK FORWARD TO THE RENEWAL OF YOUR SITE IN GAZA STORIES WHICH HAVE SO OFTEN APPEARED IN http://WWW.THEHANDSTAND.ORG – , LOVE FROM JOCELYN
The Progressive Mind » ISRAEL ATTEMPTING TO SILENCE ‘BREAKING THE SILENCE’ « Desertpeace said,
July 28, 2009 at 19:54
[…] AFTER ALMOST A YEAR, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT MAINTAINS ITS SILENCE ON THE BRUTAL… […]