More comment from Cindy and Craig Corrie, on the Israeli judge’s verdict that neither the state nor the army bears any responsibility for the murder of their daughter Rachel.  Thanks to Leehee Rothschild and the Mondoweiss blog for this:

While not holding their hopes high, the family is intent on pursuing the case and appealing to the Israeli Supreme Court. The Corries are seeking to draw attention to the story through the process and they feel obliged to continue promoting Rachel’s message of “building connections” through all possible means, among which the legal system is but one.  [MR: same reason I’m sharing the story here.  Please pass it on.]

Cindy and Craig Corrie.  (Photo: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.)

“We started this trial seeking truth, but we also seek changes,” Cindy said.  Throughout the conference Rachel’s family continually stressed that their struggle for acknowledgment is inseparable from the Palestinian struggle.  They put Rachel’s presence in Rafah that day in the context of 16,000 who had lost their homes in the prior months, as well as the family of Rachel’s Palestinian friends, amongst them children, who were hiding behind the walls of the house that Rachel was protecting.  The Corries emphasized that many more Palestinians killed by the Israeli military cannot seek justice in the Israeli court systems, as they do, and that their struggle for justice is done in the name of Palestinians as well.

The family also highlighted, as did Israeli activists in a protest vigil outside the Tel Aviv court, that Israel’s impunity from international law must be ended.  Cindy Corrie stated, “My family and I personally, as well as the Rachel Corrie Foundation, are in full support of BDS [boycott, divestment, sanctions]”, as a means to this end.  She specifically voiced her support for the campaign targeting Caterpillar, manufacturers of the D9 bulldozer that killed Rachel, with whom the family has tried to communicate throughout the years, to no avail.

In the final question at the press conference, a reporter asked the Corries how they feel about the judge’s comment that Rachel should have moved out of the bulldozer’s way.

Cindy Corrie replied, “I don’t think that Rachel should have moved.  I think we should all have been standing there with her.”