29 August 2012

Rachel Corrie contributed to her own (regrettable) death: the judge says so

From the Tablet, and an extremely useful counterweight to the inevitable Guardian whitewash, although, of course, because the article attempts to be balanced, it will, regrettably, be dismissed by many as irredeemably pro-Israel and therefore of little worth.

However, there is this fascinating paragraph from The Tablet on this issue: "Despite the warning by her own country’s state department against travel to Gaza, Rachel Corrie went anyway, entered a closed military zone where the IDF had been attacked hours before, and evaded prior efforts by the Israeli army to move her and other activists from the area. Judge Oded Gershon said as much in his 62-page decision: Corrie had put herself in danger. He also did not see evidence that proved Corrie had been in the line of sight of the driver of the bulldozer that struck her.*"

In British legal terms (thank you, better half), this is known as "contributory negligence" and often results in (in civil cases for damages) reduced damages or even the dismissal of a case.

Just what happened here.

Of course, both the Israeli legal system and the whole of Israel (not just the IDF) is in a no-win situation here: had the Corrie family won, both the bulldozer driver and the whole of the IDF/Israeli society would have been condemned as mindless brutes who care nothing for anyone who isn't an Israeli (or, in the worst cases, Jewish). In the actual situation, no doubt the whole Israeli legal system will be dismissed as biased in favour of the same group.

No-one in the (broadly defined) BDS camp will bother to remind us that the self-same Israeli legal system has sent numerous Israeli soldiers, border policemen and even civilians to prison for carrying out unlawful acts of violence against non-Israelis. Of course not, the truth would terminally undermine their case.

While I'm here, there is this further paragraph from this article that I thinks sums up the whole issue for those of us who believe in Israel's right to exist in peace and security (wherever we are on the conventional political spectrum): "Meanwhile, the Israel that traded 1,000 prisoners for Shalit’s life is the same Israel that still lamented Corrie’s death even while deciding that it was not at fault. It is also the same Israel that, while extremely flawed, investigated the circumstances of Corrie’s death and carried out a long and painful trial that less moral countries wouldn’t have bothered with."

By the way, today's Times (of London) reports that gorgeous George Galloway has accepted a tainted fee from a pro-Assad tv station. You'll have to take my word for it (given that The Times is behind an on-line pay-wall) and I am relying on a brief glimpse of the paper while my wife showed me the article - she's still out and has the paper.

By Brian Goldfarb.

(*) By the editor: not only there was no evidence that proved Corrie had been in the line of sight of the driver of the bulldozer, "four expertsincluding an expert on the behalf of the Corrie family — concluded that the bulldozer driver could not see Corrie."

16 comments:

Brian Goldfarb said...

I've now read the article on Galloway. The tv station is al-Mayadeen, based in Lebanon. "The Arabic-language station, launched in June, presents itself as a counter-weight to channels such as...al-Jazeera, which it sees as biased against Syria and its allies." p 9 of the hard-copy of The Times of 28.8.12. Galloway is going to get £3000 per fortnightly rant, or £78000 a year. Galloway's first piece included, inter alia, him saying "I will never support the invitation to the Crusaders to come back to Syria."


Hmm. It would be nice to know what the benefit will be to his constituents in Bradford, a question asked by Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, who says "...what is this Arabic channel expecting from Galloway and why, as a British MP is he doing it? Are there many British voters watching it?" I suspect that Doyle's first question is answered by that quote from Galloway's first broadcast, and that the answer to second one is "no".

KatieNorcross said...

If you lie down in front of a Bulldozer you will get run over. The good thing is that whore Corrie has received a Darwin Award.

Rebecca said...

Whatever you think about Corrie's politics and actions - and I disagreed with both - it's disgusting to call her a "whore." It doesn't help the pro-Israel cause at all if we dehumanize those whom we oppose.

KatieNorcross said...

Rachel Corrie joined the ISM for college credits. She was to receive them when she returned. Giving up your humanity for college credits make her a whore in any book. It is prostituting herself for a degree.

The ISM sends pretty white women from Europe and the US to Gaza not just to protest, but to "service" the jihadis. And that makes them Prostitutes in any court of law. Or in the vernacular: Whores.

The title on Corrie stands. She whored herself and her principles.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

£78000 per year? Hm... they are overpaying. The vermin will do it for free. He will jump on any oppo to open his mouth on-line...

Stan said...

I agree with you 100 percent.

Stan said...

Can someone point me to where an expert on the behalf of the Corrie family concluded that the driver could not see her?

Stan

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Stan,

There were several articles on the subject, I have chosen a link from Wiki (see in the remark at the bottom), where the quote itself comes from.

At the time of the initial investigation this was common knowledge. But of course, in the story with so much political tension the facts are overwhelmed by raw emotions.

Dick Stanley said...

"If you lie down in front of a bulldozer you will get run over." Heh. I've never quite known what to make of the silly Corrie. Have known a lot of dimwit progressives like her, however. They seem to think the rules of reality don't apply to them and they sure love the fellows with the AKs. Maybe she thought the bulldozer would run out of gas, or something, before it got to her.

KatieNorcross said...

She and the other ISM idiots actually believed (and some still do) that their "whiteness" will protect them from harm. In this bigoted idea the fact that they are European or American is a shield that protects them from harm.

And they call Israelis bigots.

yitzgood said...

As I have said before, if Corrie had played chicken with bulldozers at a regular, non-military, construction site for a few hours, finally meeting the fate that bulldozer toreodoritas are surely tempting, nobody would have any sympathy for her.

David All said...

Rachel Corrie, the winner of a well deserved Darwin Award.

Brian Goldfarb said...

Yitzgood, like I said contributory negligence, approaching 100%.


David All/Katie Norcross: yep, those awarders of the Darwin Awards (for those who don't of them, and are afraid to ask, they are awarded for taking ones genes out of the gene pool by virtue of an act or acts of outstanding stupidity, like the guy who strapped a jet aircraft engine to his car to see how he could go. They never did find all the pieces.

Brian Goldfarb said...

darn it, should have finished, after pieces, knew what they were doing.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

True, especially when a Jooish dozer is involved.

David All said...

Rebecca, like Stan, I completely agree with you. Rachel Corrie was a leftist idiot who earned a well-desrved Darwin Award. However calling her a whore and implying that she was sleeping en mass with the Jihadis is to sink to the worst of Racial hate propaganda of imagining the fair skinned white woman sleeping with the dark complexioned or dark skinned others.