Direct action street performance against the war in Gaza

21 activists of Anarchists against the Wall were arrested on Friday while blocking the entrance to the Sde Dov base of the Israeli Air Force.

The activists laid down on the road leading into the base, pretending to be dead, in protest of the killing in Gaza.

Around twenty activists of Anarchists against the Wall arrived early on the morning of Friday, 2 Jan. 2009 at 6am to the entrance of the Sde Dov base of the Israeli Air Force and blocked the entry to the base. The activists laid down on the road, pretending to be dead, wearing a white outfit and covered with red paint, symbolising the blood amply spilled on the streets of Gaza. After some ten minutes, all activists who took part in the protest performance were arrested.

One of the participants, Ayala, explained: "We pretended to be dead bodies in a street performance aiming to make the pilots of the Israeli military tangibly aware of the results of their actions in Gaza. A pilot flying thousands of feet up, aiming at a target and pressing a button, can disregard, forget, maybe even fail to perceive, that he has just killed innocent people. We came here to remind them".

Already in the first week of this war, the Israeli Air Force has carried out 300 raids of Gaza, killing more than 400 Palestinians, hundreds of civilians. One cannot oppose the attacks on civilians in the south of Israel without also opposing the massive killing of civilians in Gaza.

International war statutes require warring parties to avoid harming civilians as much as possible. Israeli Air Force bombings of the densely populated Gaza area unavoidably hit civilians, and constitute a war crime. Any pilot bombing Gaza is bombing a civilian population and is thus a war criminal.

Update: In an uncommon move, a court ruled to keep all 21 arrested activists in custody for 72 hours. Later, the few international participants of the action were deported from Israel. Charges were pressed against the Israeli participants.