A prelude to Durban II?A Durban-style mock trial of the State of Israel was held in February in Brussels, the capital of Europe. The Court declared "the Israeli authorities in charge of the 2006 war against Lebanon guilty of the following international crimes: war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide." No less!
John Catalinotto, Miguel Urbano Rodrigues and Ángeles Maestro (who coined a new word "falsimedia" for the occasion) complained that the European "corporate" media did not report the trial implying that they take their marching orders from their imperialist paymasters (Ramsey Clark's IA Center website), whereas Al Jazeera TV broadcast the proceedings in full to Arab countries.
What they failed to say is that the progressive anti-imperialist European media and blogs have not reported the trial either. An article by Lebanese journalist Scarlett Haddad may hold the clue as to why the "progressives" thought it wiser not to trumpet their unparalled triumph.
It transpires that the Syrian and Iranian Ambassadors to Belgium were at the trial and that they gave a ten-minute standing ovation to the judges after the reading of the verdict. Such shocking news would probably not have gone down well with European public opinion.
"The Ambassadors of Lebanon, Syria and Iran, as well as the Vice President of the European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, were among the 300 odd attendees who gave the judges a ten-minute standing ovation after the reading of the verdict", excerpt from an article "The "tribunal of conscience" harshly condemns Israel from Brussels" by Scarlett Haddad for L’Orient-Le Jour. Posted on Islam in Belgium, tag: the Empire of Evil.
Let's see what two individuals Pierre Galand and Jean Bricmont who are well known for their obsessive anti-Israeli militancy did or rather did not do:
Pierre Galand is the head of the Belgian-Palestinian Association, which specialises in the most outrageous vilification of Israel. There is no mention whatsoever of the event on the association’s website.
One would be hard put to find a fiercer (and more ludicrous) critic of Israel than Jean Bricmont, a Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. Unsurprisingly, not only was he a member of the Peoples' Court Executive Committee but he also "gave political statements on the issues before the court". Bricmont too has kept silent about the whole pantomime. For someone who relishes the anti-Israeli limelight it is strange indeed.
On the Kangooroo Court:
Lebanon war mock tribunal condemns Israel and U.S.
Israel on trial in Brussels - a prelude to Durban II?
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