A Blow to the ISM

In a blow to the ISM tactic of obscuring its true agenda, IMRA reports that the libel lawsuit brought by ISM activist Radhika Sainath against Jerusalem journalist Judy Lash Balint was dismissed.

Sainath was arrested repeatedly for breaking Israeli law and interfering with the IDF’s pursuit of terrorists, but maintains that as a volunteer for ISM, she and her group are committed to non-violent opposition to what she calls “the illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.” To stem criticism, Sainath attacked her critics and sued for libel, claiming Balint defamed her with the “blatantly false” suggestion that her ISM activities involved close contact with Palestinian terrorists.

ISM founders Adam Shapiro and Huwaida Arraf clearly encouraged Palestinian armed violence against Israel in a January 29, 2002 article in Palestine Journal.

[T]he use of nonviolence is about control and power — those who maintain nonviolence and exploit the use of violence by the oppressor maintain control and power, which is something that can be manipulated to present a story, a case or an image.

… we accept that the Palestinians have a right to resist with arms … Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics– both nonviolent and violent…

And ISM members have outrightly admitted to and justified working with terrorists.

In fact, [ISM activist Susan] Barclay said in an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, she knowingly worked with representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad — terrorist groups that sponsor suicide bombings and exist, according to their charters, to demolish the Jewish state entirely.

Barclay acknowledged that in organizing a non-violent February march on an Israel-imposed gate that divided eastern and western Nablus, she worked with representatives from the two groups.

“We are open to working with any political party as long as they are interested in non-violent resistance,” Barclay said. “It’s almost irrelevant who is participating.”

Barclay was an ISM volunteer arrested after sheltering a top Islamic Jihad terrorist in ISM’s Jenin office.

…on March 27, [2003, when] IDF forces launched a manhunt for a top Islamic Jihad terrorist in Jenin.

Intelligence information led the IDF to believe that Shadi Sukia was being hidden in a Jenin compound that holds a bank, a Red Cross office and the ISM office.

After combing the entire building and finding nothing, the soldiers asked two ISM activists if they could search their offices.

ISM coordinator Susan Barcley refused. The soldiers insisted, forcing their way in.

The intelligence information proved correct: Sukia had taken shelter with the ISM. Both he and Barcley were arrested.

Wallace claims that Barcley found Sukia wet and shivering outside the ISM office, “and asked the boy to come in.”

According to the IDF, Sukia is no boy.

“He is a grown man, one of the highest ranking members of the Islamic Jihad in Jenin, responsible for recruiting several suicide bombers, planning bombings himself, laying mines and sniping,” an IDF official said.