Italian Activist for Palestinians, killed in Gaza

[Soldier of Macedon]

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3193025.htm

MARK COLVIN: In Gaza, an Italian activist kidnapped yesterday by Islamic radicals, has been found dead.

Thirty-six year-old Vittorio Arrigoni had been a supporter of the Palestinian cause for almost 10 years. He was well known on the Gaza Strip.

It's the first time that a foreigner has been kidnapped in Gaza since Hamas came to power in 2007.

The Italian Foreign Ministry has expressed its 'deep horror over the barbaric murder.' Hamas officials have condemned the killing as a "heinous crime that does not reflect our values, our religion or our custom and tradition."

But the killing has raised questions about Hamas' control over the territory.

Jess Hill reports.

JESS HILL: To most people living on the Gaza Strip, Vittorio Arrigoni was known as Victor. He became widely known to locals in 2008 when he assisted Palestinian medics during Israel's offensive against Gaza. He was also a passenger on the aid flotilla that reached the Gaza Strip in August 2009.

(Vittorio Arrigoni speaking in Italian on YouTube)

"I remember this day as one of the happiest and emotional of my life, thousands of Palestinians came to the port to welcome the first international boats since 1967."

That year, he and 15 other foreign activists revived the International Solidarity Movement, which had been disbanded when American activist Rachel Corrie was killed in 2003. George Hale is a journalist with an independent Palestinian news network.

GEORGE HALE: The entire Gaza strip was like his home. There's nowhere he would really avoid, there's no person he would think to avoid. He didn't feel uncomfortable at all, you know moving around in this place that would scare most people from this country.

JESS HILL: Mr Arrigoni went missing on Thursday morning. A few hours later, a radical Salafist group posted a video on YouTube. The activist appeared bloody and blindfolded.

Reporter George Hale:

GEORGE HALE: Text they'd scrawled across the screen listing their demands which were Hamas has arrested people affiliated with them and this group wants them released and this is the way that they decided that they could get Hamas to give in to their demands.

JESS HILL: The group, known as Tawhid and Jihad, gave Hamas 30 hours to respond to their demands. Early Friday morning, less than 24 hours later, police received a tip-off about where Mr Arrigoni was being held hostage. They stormed an abandoned house, and after a clash with his abductors, found the Italian activist dead.

Abu Yazan, a close friend of Mr Arrigoni, had just identified Mr Arrigoni's body when I spoke to him.

ABU YAZAN: Yes, I've seen the body in (inaudible). They didn't shoot him, they just like hanged him. Right now I can't understand why. Why did they kill him? What did he do to those guys?

JESS HILL: Hamas officials say they have already arrested two suspects. Ihab Hussein is a spokesperson for the Hamas Government.

IHAB HUSSEIN (translated): The Palestinian Government condemns this ugly crime which does not show our traditions and habits and we confirm that we will continue to go after all the members of this group and arrest them and implement the law against them.

JESS HILL: Mr Yazan says people in the Gaza Strip will demand a harsh punishment for those responsible.

ABU YAZAN: Vittorio was the greatest one. He was here during the war. He was the resistance. We should reward him by dragging those arseholes in the streets of Gaza trip.

JESS HILL: There are several radical Salafist groups operating in Gaza. They all say that Hamas, which is also an Islamist movement, is too moderate. George Hale describes the Salafist groups as a 'constant headache' for Hamas because they often fire rockets into Israel during Hamas-imposed ceasefires and agitate for a more aggressive form of resistance against Israel.

Mr Hale says that people in Gaza will be unnerved by this killing and that it raises serious questions about how much control Hamas has over the territory.

GEORGE HALE: I think in most civilians' heads they really did think Hamas is in control and maybe it was naïve, in retrospect it sounds ridiculous but everyone that I spoke to today, even the people who are most concerned about him, were sure that Hamas would have this resolved by morning.

And the fact that they didn't and the fact that it ended so horribly, I think is definitely going to have a change, you know going to change people's perceptions. It already has changed mine.

MARK COLVIN: Palestinian reporter, George Hale ending Jess Hill's report.

This will do nothing for external support for the Palestinian cause, except damage it. A terrible turn of events.

[DirtyCodingHabitz]

Italian Activist for Palestinians, killed in Gaza

an Italian activist kidnapped yesterday by Islamic radicals, has been found dead.

Does this make any sense? So he supports Palestinians which are 70% Muslim, and yet he gets kidnapped by "Islamic radicals".

I could come up with better bs than this.

[Soldier of Macedon]

What are you talking abou DCH? Are you equating all Palestinian Muslims with Islamic radicals? If so, you're completely wrong, and I suggest you research the event a little more to clear up your misconceptions.

[DirtyCodingHabitz]

This story doesn't make any sense. Why would Muslims kill him if he's helping Muslim populations? It would make more sense if they wrote Israel had something to do with it.

[fyrOM]

This story doesn't make any sense. Why would Muslims kill him if he's helping Muslim populations? It would make more sense if they wrote Israel had something to do with it.

Don't berri gajle DCH, the obvious is too obvious to be true to SoMe.

[Onur]

Hmm, this is really weird.

A famous activist who works for Palestinians for years gets kidnapped and killed by a more radical muslim group than Hamas.

I don't know but maybe the name of this more radical group might be Mossad if we consider that few more activists has been murdered by Israeli security forces b4, like young American Rachel Corie. I remember that a bulldozer ran over her while she were peacefully protesting by sitting on the road.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Don't berri gajle DCH, the obvious is too obvious to be true to SoMe.

fyrom, spare me your conspiracy theories and keep your rubbish where it belongs.

Why would Muslims kill him if he's helping Muslim populations?

Palestinian Muslims are fragmented in a number of groups, those that are said to have carried out this attack are opponents of the ruling Hamas group. They believe the current government, who has imprisoned some of its members, is not extreme enough.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/...119904369.html

Vittorio Arrigoni was abducted on Thursday. Members of the Tawhid and Jihad, a known Salafist group, posted a video online saying they would kill him unless the rival Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, would release Salafists that are in prison in Gaza.

Within a few hours of the warning, security officials in Gaza say they found Arrigoni's body in an empty house.

Not everything is a UFO story like some bong-induced morons would have others believe.

I don't know but maybe the name of this more radical group might be Mossad if we consider that few more activists has been murdered by Israeli security forces b4, like young American Rachel Corie.

Have Mossad ever pretended to be Islamic radicals and post videos online? Do you really think there is any real similarity to the case with Rachel Corrie aside from the fact that both her and Arrigoni were foreign activitists?

[DirtyCodingHabitz]

posted a video online saying they would kill him unless the rival Hamas

I want to see this video, otherwise it's hard to believe this story as it's told.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Not long ago I watched a documentary on Al Jazeera that was created by Greek supporters of the Palestinian cause. They talk about how all people have the right to self-determination, etc. The irony of it all. These guys live in a country that recognises the right to self-determination for NOBODY aside from the Greek ethnicity. I applaud their assistance to the Palestinians. Perhaps one day they can take a look at the injustices in their own backyard and fight for the rights of their own citizens. The Italian activist that died was also working with them.

I wonder, have these people ever been in contact with the Macedonian activists in Greece? Perhaps the AMHRC can fill us in some more. It was filmed in 2008 and the group is called "Free Gaza Movement". I didn't catch all of their names, one was called Nikos Bolos, who actually lives in Gaza now. I think the surname of another guy was something like Passosis (don't think it is spelled correctly, but it was something similar).

[Phoenix]

Not long ago I watched a documentary on Al Jazeera that was created by Greek supporters of the Palestinian cause. They talk about how all people have the right to self-determination, etc. The irony of it all. These guys live in a country that recognises the right to self-determination for NOBODY aside from the Greek ethnicity. I applaud their assistance to the Palestinians. Perhaps one day they can take a look at the injustices in their own backyard and fight for the rights of their own citizens. The Italian activist that died was also working with them.

I wonder, have these people ever been in contact with the Macedonian activists in Greece? Perhaps the AMHRC can fill us in some more. It was filmed in 2008 and the group is called "Free Gaza Movement". I didn't catch all of their names, one was called Nikos Bolos, who actually lives in Gaza now. I think the surname of another guy was something like Passosis (don't think it is spelled correctly, but it was something similar).

The modern 'greeks' have a long and sometimes violent history of protest, it's been played out on our television screens for decades now.
A day doesn't pass without some group or another exercising their 'democratic' right to protest, unfortunately its rarely anything remotely resembling the notion of self determination or minority rights or equality for that matter.

I think the 'greeks' like to protest for the sake of it, it somehow makes them feel 'democratic' and provides the long bow to the misleading notion that they had something to do with providing the Western world with democracy...

[Zarni]

I too immediately suspected the Israelis doing this to publically smear the Palestinians and with efforts by Israeli legal teams to target Human Rights activists around the World not to mention the Jewish State has kidnapped supporters of the Palestinians before

Google search indexing even before hitting search brought this as the first result

vittorio arrigoni killed by israelis

Mossad no doubt murdered him

[Soldier of Macedon]

There are some things that point towards then, like others on this thread have indicated, but the act itself does appear to be carried out by Palestinians themselves. Perhaps Mossad infiltrated some naive group of Palestinians? Here is the wiki article relating to Vittorio, plenty of references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_Arrigoni#Kidnapping_and_death

Kidnapping and deathArrigoni was kidnapped on April 14, 2011, by suspected members of a Salafi militant group espousing Salafist jihadism operating in Gaza known as Tawhid and Jihad.[6] In a video posted on YouTube in which they identified themselves as belonging to a previously unknown group, "The Brigade of the Gallant Companion of the Prophet Mohammed bin Muslima,"[12] Arrigoni was blindfolded with blood seen around his right eye.[2][13] The captors demanded the release of their leader Walid al-Maqdasi,[6] imprisoned by the de facto government in Gaza a month earlier, as a ransom and threatened Arrigoni's execution if a 30-hour deadline was not met. The captors accused Arrigoni of "spreading corruption" and his home country Italy as an "infidel state."[2][14]

[edit] ExecutionFor uncertain reasons, before the deadline expired, the captors executed Arrigoni in an empty apartment in the Mareh Amer area in northern Gaza.[15][16] "It is believed he was either hanged then laid down, or strangled on the ground".[10] After being led to the house by a member of the suspected Salafi group, Hamas security forces stormed the building and found Arrigoni's body.[6] "The doctor who performed the autopsy said Mr. Arrigoni’s killers had used a plastic cord to strangle him", but "Journalists were not allowed to see the body in the morgue and could not independently confirm the cause of death given by Hamas"[17] Tawhid and Jihad denied responsibility for the killing, but stated it was "a natural outcome of the policy of the government carried out against the Salafi." Iyad ash-Shami, a leader of another Salafi group based in Gaza, denied involvement of Salafi militants and said the killing went against Islam.[12] Security forces in Gaza arrested four suspects in connection to the incident, and Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniya ordered an investigation by the Interior Ministry, and called Arrigoni's mother to send his condolences.[16]

[edit] ManhuntHamas police initiated a manhunt after members of the Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin involved in the murder. Hamas sealed off parts of the Gaza Strip before the beginning of the operation, during which "heavy gunfire and at least one explosion were heard".[18]

Hamas security men laid siege on a house where the suspects were staying,in the Nusseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza. The suspects refused to surrender and a gun battle ensued. Hamas policemen entered the home and killed Balal al-Omari and Hirdani Abbad a-Rahman al-Brizat (one of the two dead men may have committed suicide). A third suspect, Muhammad a-Salpiti, was wounded and detained. Three of the suspects' associates were also captured. Ihab Ghussein, Hamas interior ministry spokesman, reported that five Hamas policemen were injured as well as girl who was caught in the crossfire.[19][20][18]

[edit] Reactions to death
A cartoon of Arrigoni by Carlos Latuff made following his murder.Several hundred Gazans rallied in the Unknown Soldier's Square to mourn Arrigoni while about 100 Palestinians and internationals marched through Ramallah to a house of mourning in nearby al-Bireh in the West Bank.[21] In Bethlehem, a candle-light vigil was held outside the Church of the Nativity.[16] Egyptian authorities offered to allow Arrigoni's family to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing and his body to be sent back to Italy via the crossing.[22]

[edit] Palestinian responseAn official statement from Hamas described the killing as a "disgraceful act" by a "mentally deviated and outlawed group."[23] Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniya stated the killing "does not reflect the values, morals, or the religion of the Palestinian people. This is an unprecedented case that won't be repeated."[16] He also said Arrigoni would be designated a martyr and a street would be named after him.[22] Foreign minister of Hamas told he will get a state funeral. After this the body will be transferred to Egypt.[24] Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum "condemned the killing as 'shameful'.[25]

Various condemnations of Arrigoni's killing were released by other Palestinian factions with Fatah decrying it as an "act of betrayal," the Popular Resistance Committees calling it "cowardly," Islamic Jihad calling it a "grotesque crime," and Mustafa Barghouti saying it was a "shocking criminal act."[21][23] A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned it as an "act of treason".[23]

[edit] International responseThe foreign ministry of Italy expressed "deep horror over the barbaric murder," calling it an "act of vile and senseless violence committed by extremists who are indifferent to the value of human life."[23] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon pressed the Gaza government to bring to justice "the perpetrators of this appalling crime."[23]

[edit] Accusations against IsraelAlthough Arrigoni was executed by the Gaza branch of the Palestinian Salafist group Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin, some blamed Israel for the murder. In spite of the fact that Hamas identified the perpetrators with a Palestinian group affiliated with al-Qaeda,[19] Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said he suspected Israel might be responsible since the death appeared to be timed to deter foreign activists from joining a flotilla due to sail to Gaza in May to break Israel's naval blockade of the area.[25]

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of the Hamas leadership, indirectly accused Israel of engineering the killing of Arrigoni in an attempt to scare off international activists from coming to Gaza.[26] He said that "such an awful crime cannot take place without arrangements between all the parties concerned to keep the blockade imposed on Gaza".[27] Al-Zahar offered no evidence to support his accusation.[26]

German politician Inge Höger said that both Arrigoni and Israeli actor Juliano Mer-Khamis, who was shot dead by masked gunmen in Jenin eleven days before Arrigoni's murder, were actually killed by Israelis. In her website, Höger wrote that "The question one must pose is: Who profits from this terrible crime? First of all, now two of the activists most 'dangerous' for Israel, because they were the most engaged, well known and noted, are eliminated." Based on this[clarification needed] and other[clarification needed] statements Höger was denounced as an antisemite by a fellow politician and the Die Welt daily newspaper.[28]

[Onur]

Mossad is the most active and probably the most "successful" secret agency service in the world. They infiltrate to everywhere in the world, not only to Palestinians.

They are successful but they got caught several times b4. I remember that they killed few Palestinian leaders in Dubai in an hotel last year but they got caught to the cameras and Dubai police proved that the assassins was Mossad agents.

[Onur]

I was talking about Mossad`s oparations yesterday and i just saw this today;

Another undercover Mossad operation revealed, this time because of an earthquake. It looks like Mossad agents hacked in to the New Zealand police`s computer system and they were spying it but their plans has been crushed by the earthquake in Christchurch;

Mossad spy ring 'unearthed because of Christchurch earthquake'

The Israeli secret service Mossad has been accused of conducting an intelligence-gathering operation in New Zealand which was unearthed because of February's Christchurch earthquake.

The operation was interrupted when a van used by a spy cell was crushed by masonry falling from a damaged building, killing one man, it is claimed.

Benyamin Mizrahi, 23, the Israeli man who died in the damaged van, was found to have five passports on his person, the Southland Times newspaper reported.

Three surviving Israelis who were in the van with Mr Mizrahi fled New Zealand within 12 hours, making their way back to Israel.

They reportedly paused only to take photographs of the crushed van and return the dead man’s Israeli passport to officials from their embassy.

The Southland Times also said the police national computer was being audited because of concerns it had been hacked into.

There were fears that other Israeli operatives, in the city after the February 22 quake which killed 181 people, could have embedded malicious software to access intelligence information.

John Key, the New Zealand prime minister, on Thursday confirmed that the government’s Security Intelligence Service had carried out an investigation but he dismissed the concerns.

Speaking during a visit to the United States, Mr Key said the unusual circumstances of the incident were fully investigated and no evidence was found that the people involved were anything other than backpackers.

He said his advice was that the man had only two passports, one of European origin which was found on his body, and the other which his friends had handed in to Israeli officials.

Mr Key said the government took the security of New Zealand and New Zealanders “very seriously”.

“The unusual circumstances which triggered the investigation was the rapid departure from the country of the three surviving members of the group of Israelis in question,” he said.

“Security agencies conducted the investigation and found no evidence that the people were anything other than backpackers,” Mr Key said.

In all, three Israelis died in the magnitude 6.3 earthquake.

Security experts suggested agents for Mossad may have been on an identity theft “trawling” mission for information, so that the passports of unwitting citizens could be cloned.

The false passports would then be used as cover during espionage activities in other parts of the world by Israeli secret agents.

Fred Tulett, editor of the Southland Times, said an “extraordinary” reaction by the Israeli government in the hours after the earthquake had heightened the suspicions of New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service.

They included the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, made four calls to John Key, his New Zealand counterpart, on the day of the earthquake.

Shemi Tzur, Israel’s ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, travelled from his base in Australia to Christchurch, where he visited the temporary morgue set up to cope with earthquake victims.

Meanwhile, Israel’s defence chief also flew to the earthquake-ravaged city.

In a further move, a search and rescue team arrived in Christchurch from Israel, but the squad’s offer of help was rejected by New Zealand authorities because it did not have the necessary United Nations accreditation.

Despite that rejection, members of the Israeli team were confronted by armed New Zealand officers after being discovered in the badly damaged sealed off “red zone” of the city centre, the Southland Times said.

The Israeli government later sent a forensic team to help authorities identify the dead.

The paper said New Zealand officials became alarmed when intelligence information was collated and it was realised that the Israeli forensic team had been given access to the police national database to help with identification work.

The paper quoted an unnamed intelligence officer as saying it would take only moments for a USB drive to be inserted into a police computer terminal and loaded with a program allowing remote backdoor access to the database.

A police spokesman later said: “We are confident that our data and network were not compromised during the Christchurch Earthquake response or subsequently.”

Mr Tzur, the Israeli ambassador, said it was “science fiction” to believe that any Mossad agents had been involved.

10:23AM BST 20 Jul 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...arthquake.html

I wonder what on earth Mossad agents were trying to find in police`s computer system of a remote country such as New Zealand??? Or they are doing this in New Zealand for training purposes of their agents???

So, i wouldn't be surprised if Mossad agents operates even in Brazilian rain forests or taklamakan desert. It`s also quite obvious that the anti-Israel activists has been killed by Mossad agents.

[Soldier of Macedon]

They seem to be spread out far and wide. I remember when that whole scandal occured not long ago where they had actually used false Australian passports. I listened to an Israeli representative in Australia dodge every question he was asked by an interviewer on the radio, and even when it was blatantly obvious they were wrong, he continue to deny everything.