Murder of US citizen Rachel Corrie ruled an ‘accident’ by Israeli Judge

Crescent International

Shawwal 11, 1433 2012-08-29

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

The US government has not commented on the scandalous verdict even when relating to one of its own citizens killed—crushed to death—by an Israeli army.

Washington DC,

August 29, 2012, 21:15 EST

On March 16, 2003, US citizen Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer as she stood outside a house in the Gaza Strip to prevent its demolition. The bulldozer driver drove over her crushing her frail body, even though she was wearing a clearly visible bright orange vest. And then for good measure, the driver reversed and drove over her again. An Israeli judge in Haifa ruled on August 28 that there was no wrong doing in the action, and that Corrie’s death was an “accident that she brought upon herself.”

“I reject the suit,” the judge Oded Gershon declared. “There is no justification the state pay any damages.” He went on to blame Corrie for her death—“She did not distance herself as a reasonable person would have done.” Corrie’s parents had decided to file their lawsuit in Israel, following Israel’s declaration to conduct a fair investigation on the events that transpired on the ground. Their parents were seeking a symbolic $1 in damages, looking only for a moral admission of wrong doing on the part of the State of Israel.

“I believe this was a bad day not only for our family, but for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law, and also for the country of Israel,” said Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s mother, after the verdict was announced.

“I’m an army veteran,” said Craig Corrie. “In 11 months in Vietnam, I was given nine medals. I think I can talk on some of this. I think that in controlling a military you have to start that before these incidents happen, and we have seen that that’s not the case. We have seen from the highest levels of this military that they thought they could kill people on that border with impunity.”

While not surprising, this verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness,” stated Hussein Abu Hussein, the lawyer representing the Corrie case. http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/trial

However, the case isn’t over yet—Corrie’s parents intend to bring the case to Israel’s Supreme Court even though they have spent more than $200,000 of their own money to pursue the case and seek justice.

Also revealing is the fact that the US government has not commented on the scandalous verdict even when relating to one of its own citizens killed—crushed to death—by an Israeli army bulldozer illegally demolishing a house in Gaza. The US forks out billions of dollars to the Zionist state while this racist regime continues to kill even American citizens with impunity.

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