This was not what I had in mind when I hinted that 'peace activist' Vittorio Arrigoni may have been murdered for sleeping with someone. And while I always assumed that Amnesty International (and Human Rights Watch) are in bed with the terrorists in Gaza, I didn't really think it might literally be the case. But in the case of Amnesty, it is. Claudia Milani (pictured at left), whose position has been described on an Amnesty website as "“Israel / Occupied Territories Co-ordinator of the Italian section of Amnesty International,” was Vittorio Arrigoni's live-in girlfriend, and accepted condolences at a condolence tent after his death as per Muslim custom.
Milani and Arrigoni were very close. So close that she has been described in the Italian media as “Arrigoni’s girlfriend”.
Here she “receives condolences” for Arrigoni in Gaza. The man at the end of the row appears to be violent thug and lunatic Ken O’Keefe, a comrade of Arrigoni.
I trust that Arrigoni's Jew-hating views had on influence whatsoever on any of Amnesty's findings regarding Israel during his time in Gaza. None at all.
Why did Tawhid wal-Jihad want Vittorio Arrigoni dead?
Here's an interview with ISM founder Huwaida Arraf about murdered Italian 'peace activist' Vittorio Arrigoni. Watch how she is careful not to blame 'Palestinians' for Arrigoni's death. Well, who else killed him?
Let's go to the videotape.
The theme of not blaming 'Palestinians' - and by implication blaming Israel - for Arrigoni's death has been consistent in the 'Palestinian' reaction.
Here's a picture from a demonstration on Friday that promotes the theme.
Much more on the 'Palestinian' reaction to Arrigoni here.
But maybe there's another connection between Arrigoni and Rachel Corrie. Recall the following that I posted last summer.
She was propelled, in part, by frustration. During the past few days she and the nine other ISM activists had become preoccupied with an anonymous letter circulating through Rafah that cast suspicion on the human shields. "Who are they? Why are they here? Who asked them to come here?" it asked. The letter referred to Corrie and the other expatriate women in Rafah as "nasty foreign bitches" whom "our Palestinian young men are following around." It was a sobering reminder that outsiders -- even international do-gooders -- were untrustworthy in the eyes of some Palestinians.
That morning, the ISM team tried to devise a strategy to counteract the letter's effects. "We all had a feeling that our role was too passive. We talked about how to engage the Israeli military," Richard "Fuzz" Purssell told me by phone from Great Britain. "We had teams working in the West Bank, going up to checkpoints, presenting a human face to soldiers. But in Rafah we'd only seen the Israelis at a distance." And as is so often the case in the Middle East, lack of any humanizing interaction meant that the idf and the ISM knew each other only by their worst acts. Few activists had spent much time in Israel or spoken to soldiers except in moments of conflict; the soldiers experienced the peace activists only as nuisances who were getting in their way in highly volatile situations. That morning, team members made a number of proposals that seemed designed only to aggravate the problem. Purssell, for instance, suggested marching on a checkpoint that had been the site of several suicide attacks. "The idea was to more directly challenge the Israeli military dominance using our international status," Purssell told me.
And the connection to Arrigoni? Consider the following from the Salafists' statement to the news media (Hat Tip: David G).
In a YouTube clip posted earlier by his abductors, Arrigoni was shown blindfolded with blood around his right eye. A hand was seen pulling his head up by his hair to face the camera.
"The Italian hostage entered our land only to spread corruption," an accompanying Arabic text said, describing Italy as "the infidel state." It named the captors' leader as Hesham al-Sa'eedni and demanded he be released from a Hamas prison.
But the demand for al-Sa'eedni's release was gratuitous. Arrigoni was murdered long before the deadline for the exchange came. It seemed that the Salafist group Tawhid wal-Jihad wanted Arrigoni dead for reasons that had nothing to do with a failed prisoner exchange. Why? Look at what I highlighted in the press release, and recall that Italian President Silvio Berlusconi has been under attack of late for paying for sex with a 17-year old prostitute. Could it be that Arrigoni was 'spreading the love' to the women folk of Gaza a bit too generously? Is that why Tawhid wal-Jihad referred to him 'spreading corruption' and described Italy as 'the infidel state'?
Or is there nothing to see here and we should just move on?
The Islamic 'radical groups' (are there any other kind?), including al-Qaeda affiliated Tawhid wal-Jihad, have denied that they had anything to do with the death of Vittorio Arrigoni. Can you guess what comes next? But of course: Blame the Jews (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).
Hamas also condemned the killing, saying that it was a shameful act, contrary to the tradition of the Palestinian people. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that the "goal of this depraved band of outlaws was to spread chaos and anarchy in the Gaza Strip, a desperate attempt to strike at the stable security situation."
He added that the kidnapping and murder of Arrigoni was intended to prevent the next flotilla headed to the Gaza Strip, expected to depart next month. Barhoum explained that he believed the murder was meant to dissuade other foreign activists from arriving in the Strip.
Accordingly, Hamas accused Israel of being behind the attack, noting that Arrigoni had often spoken out against Israeli policies in Gaza, going so far as to compare what he called "Israeli crimes against Palestinians" to Nazi crimes. Additionally, he was twice arrested by Israeli authorities.
Actually, Hamas is just employing Goldstone logic. Someone was killed. We don't know who killed them. Israel has an army. Therefore, Israel must have done it.
Vittorio Arrigoni, who was kidnapped and murdered on Thursday night by 'al-Qaeda-affiliated' terrorists, was a 'famed peace activist' who was much more than the 'useful idiot' I depicted him as when the story broke. Arrigoni was affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, was virulently anti-Israel, and probably would have agreed with the attempt by anti-Semite Ken O'Keefe to blame his death on Israel.
Here are some more facts I managed to glean from the posts of others, most of whom were not up doing Securities Act filings at 3:00 am (yes, that's what I was doing last night).
Elder of Ziyon reports that the name of the group that kidnapped Arrigoni is Tawhid wal-Jihad.
Aussie Dave has several videos of Arrigoni - unfortunately all in Italian with no English translation.
Each of them points to this blog post in Italian from three months ago in which Arrigoni criticizes French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie for expressing solidarity with kidnapped IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit (who is also a French citizen). There's also this post from Arrigoni's blog (this time in Google translate) in which - irony of ironies - he is most unsympathetic to Shalit's plight.
Honest Reporting reports that the ISM acknowledged that Arrigoni is one of their 'activists' (and asked that his name not be used!).
But to really see how virulently anti-Israel Arrigoni was, look at this blog post (which has English translation) written during Operation Cast Lead, and at his Facebook page, which unfortunately seems to be 'liked' by thousands of heirs of Benito Mussolini. You will find complete and unvarnished hate for Israel. (By the way, for those who click through to the blog post, you can find the true story of the Fakhura school here and here).
And one more from the irony department: Here's Arrigoni complaining (in English) that Israeli soldiers kidnapped him and wouldn't let him see a lawyer! He also complained about insects in his cell. I'll bet that he longed for that cell on Thursday.
While we don't have to celebrate the death of an enemy, I don't think there's much for Israelis to cry about here either. The guy clearly hated us.
Arrigoni is not the first Italian 'peace activist' to be murdered in Israel by 'Palestinian' terrorists. But the last one was mistaken for a Jew.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
This was not what I had in mind when I hinted that 'peace activist' Vittorio Arrigoni may have been murdered for sleeping with someone. And while I always assumed that Amnesty International (and Human Rights Watch) are in bed with the terrorists in Gaza, I didn't really think it might literally be the case. But in the case of Amnesty, it is. Claudia Milani (pictured at left), whose position has been described on an Amnesty website as "“Israel / Occupied Territories Co-ordinator of the Italian section of Amnesty International,” was Vittorio Arrigoni's live-in girlfriend, and accepted condolences at a condolence tent after his death as per Muslim custom.
