Victory for Argentine Journalists Accused of the Crime of Supporting Palestine!

Case against Carlos Aznárez and Rubén Saboulard has been dismissed  

February 22, 2016

By Carlos Aznarez (Director of Resumen Latinoamericano)

Photo: Bill Hackwell

Photo: Bill Hackwell

In the midst of the ongoing repression against the Palestinian people and while the Palestinian journalist Muhammad Al – Qiq continues to fight for his life on the 89th day of a hunger strike in Israeli captivity, we are happy to report some good news in the struggle for the self determination of the Palestinian people.

Fourteen months ago the Zionist Delegation of the Argentine Jewish Association (DAIA), local promoter of Zionism along with the Israeli Embassy, opened a criminal case against journalists Carlos Aznárez (Director of Resumen Latinoamericano and Rubén Saboulard (Director of the Magazine La Maza) but as of today the acting Prosecutor in the case has decided to drop it for lack of any evidence. The goal of the Zionist representatives was to send the two journalists to jail but today justice prevailed.

As we stated in every opportunity what was under discussion was the defense of freedom of expression and opinion and not an attack on religious or racial beliefs of the Jewish community as the DAIA claimed.

They were unsuccessful in their attempts to neutralize my journalism by confiscating all of my work and forcing Google to release all of my personal emails to the DAIA. They had started by sniffing through our website looking for supposed criminal activity when all they found was objective information about what was really happening in occupied Palestine and elsewhere around the world.

When we initially reported about this repressive maneuver we asked support from justice loving people to help us fight back against what was an obvious attack against those practicing journalism on the side of the people and specifically in this case on the side of the Palestinian nation. Their goal was to suppress our freedom of expression and opinion on any and all incidences where we were exposing the massacres caused by Israeli soldiers in Gaza. They wanted us to stop bringing to light the use of phosphorous bombs against civilians and the summary executions that are occurring in the West Bank. They attempted to silence us for protesting through our words and writings about the decade’s long subjugation of the Palestinian people and the gross human rights violations against them. They went after us for refusing to accept as natural tomb like torture prisons in Israel that holds over 4,500 Palestinians, many of them children.

That we denounced all of this and more, and will continue to do so, is why those of us at Resumen Latinoamericano consider this a victory against repressive power. It brought together many individuals and groups who were not afraid of Zionist arrogance and did not hesitate to stand with us and defend us.

All of this support was important starting with our dear friends of the Lawyers Guild of Argentina and the Argentine Human Rights League that through doctors Eduardo Soares, Roberto Perdia and Ernesto Trastenberg, shouldered the burden of mounting our legal counter attack. And then there were all the contributors and correspondents of Resumen Latinoamericano here in Argentina and in Cuba, in Brazil, in Venezuela, in the United States and in Europe. Other journalists also helped along with human rights and popular organizations, trade unions, students and political movements that sent messages of support. We received signed statements and coverage in their media about what was happening with our case. Also we should make a special mention to numerous non-Zionist Jewish personalities and entities that supported us, many of whom had suffered the same type of Zionist attacks first hand.

And with all of this there is one thing that has particularly moved us and that has been the thousands of signatures gathered in all continents defending our right to think and express ourselves. They have been totally diverse voices and often politically differentiated but never the less united in the defense of Palestine.  Now that this case has been dismissed, we urge all of you not to lower your guard and to continue shouting with us our love for the Palestine resistance. Let’s continue bringing out the information coming from the occupied territories to break the information blockade imposed by Zionism and U.S. Imperialism. And for those of us here in Argentina we must commit ourselves to continue to support our colleague Saboulard who is still facing another similar case opened by the DAIA long ago.

Translated by the North America Bureau, Resumen Latinoamericano

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano