# Does the International Solidarity Movement support terrorism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 17, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-international-solidarity-movement-support-terrorism/169305 "2003-04-17T14:18:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-international-solidarity-movement-support-terrorism/169305/1 "2003-04-17T14:18:11Z")
[They say they are a non-violent organization.](http://www.palsolidarity.org/). > [@](#): > > The International Solidarity Movement is a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and International activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation. We utilize nonviolent, direct-action methods of resistance to confront and challenge illegal Israeli occupation forces and policies. On the other hand, this [article](http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=7361) says they have directly supported terrorism and that their word is not to be trusted. > [@](#): > > On Friday, April 11th, 2003, Tom Hurndall was shot in the head. Tom was injured in Rafah, a Palestinian settlement on the border of Egypt…Tom was a twenty-one year old university student from Manchester… also an activist for…the International Solidarity Movement. > > At the time of his injury, Tom Hurndall was armed, wearing tiger fatigues, and shooting at a Israeli Defense Force outpost, taking cover behind a nearby building between shots. [according to a Sunday, April 13th report of the Israeli Defense Forces.]… > > At the time of his injury, Tom Hurndall was unarmed, dressed in the bright orange jacket of the International Solidarity Movement, and steering two Palestinian children away from a firing Israeli tank-mounted machine gun. [according to the ISM] > > One event, two radically stories. Two radically different Tom Hurndalls. But which is true? We simply don’t know. Right now an inquiry is underway, but conclusions have not been reached. > > …Another member, Brian Avery, was wounded on April 5th while breaking a curfew in the Palestinian settlement of Jenin. Milling with young men throwing rocks at the Israeli Defense Forces, Avery was wound by the debris thrown up by a warning shot near his feet. While Avery will live, some of the debris tore into his face, and he will require plastic surgery for his wounds. > > The first incident was the most serious,… the March 16th death of twenty-three year old Rachel Corrie, crushed beneath a bulldozer in Rafah when its operator failed to see her…But most of the press…failed to report the presence of extensive tunnels underneath the homes of Rafah, used to deliver arms across the Egyptian border to the terrorist Hamas and Islamic Jihad…And when Corrie was killed, according to a Israeli Consulate media officer in San Francisco, the bulldozer was not even attempting to raze a home - just remove shrubbery used to hide a tunnel…An inquiry into her death found that she and other members of the International Solidarity Movement had engaged in “illegal, irresponsible, and dangerous” behavior. > > …On March 27th, a counterguerilla squad of the IDF’s Golani bridage was in close pursuit of a leading member of Islamic Jihad, Shadi Sukia, responsible for recruiting several suicide bombers, laying land mines, and sniping. They traced him to a building in Jenin holding an ISM office, but the coordinator, Susan Barcley, refused to let them in. Unfortunately for both ISM and the terrorists, the Israeli Defense Force was not requesting. They entered the office, found the hiding terrorist, and arrested both him and Barcley. > > While the International Solidarity Movement coordinator later claimed she did not know Sukia was a terrorist, this does not excuse her refusal to cooperate with the IDF. And it most certainly does not excuse what the IDF found in a search of the International Solidarity Movement’s premises - a pistol and a cache of Kalashnikov rifles… > > Representatives of the International Solidarity Movement can be found in Ann Arbor, Boston, Colorado, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York City, San Francisco, Washington state, and Washington D.C… > > Other branches of the International Solidarity Movement hide behind more ‘mainstream’ Palestinian support groups… These organizations use their more respectable front to funnel money to the more extreme International Solidarity Movement… > > The Muste Memorial Institute has adopted the Colorado Coalition for Middle East Peace as a ‘fiscal sponsor,’ accepting tax-deductible donations for the coalition and passing them on… > > Unfortunately, the International Solidarity Movement’s disinformation campaign has had a certain amount of success, both in America and in Israel. So, which view of the ISM is accurate? Are they working for Palestinian freedom through peaceful means or are they supporting terrorism and lying about it? ---
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-international-solidarity-movement-support-terrorism/169305/2 "2003-04-17T16:43:46Z")
The representatives of the\*\* International Solidarity Movement\*\* are naive, ignorant people, and ignorant, naive people are more more dangerous to the safety of the peace loving people of the world than fanatical terrorists. (I just wanted to say that. I didn’t answer your question because it is obviously retorical. Even Baghdad Bob couldn’t say \* “the International Solidarity Movement is promoting freedom and peace in the middle East.”\* Bob is good but he has limits. Just mentioning the \*\*ISM \*\*would crack him up.) ---
**Author:** ![McDuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@McDuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDuff)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-international-solidarity-movement-support-terrorism/169305/3 "2003-04-17T23:35:11Z")
Hold on, **Milum**. You’re saying that people who don’t throw bombs are more of a problem than people who throw bombs? I see. Tell me: is there any problem in the world that isn’t the fault of “The Left”, or however it is you characterise people who don’t agree with you? ---
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-international-solidarity-movement-support-terrorism/169305/4 "2003-04-18T01:43:40Z")
Aw let it go, \*\* McDuff\*\*. Do you think that people throw bombs in a vacuum? Do you really think that these people are merely deviates? It takes a supporting cast of thousands of ignorant misguided people to inspire, instigate, and direct, a single baby-killing suicide bomber. Suicide and baby-killing are abnormal traits, maybe even more so over here in the States. And by-the-way **McDuff** I characterise people by the soundness of their ideas, not by their politics. And from time to time you surprise me with your good judgement. But not this time.