Kenneth Nichols O’Keefe (born July 21, 1969) is a former United States Marine and Gulf War veteran, turned peace activist, who has organized ahuman shield action inIraq and was a passenger on the MV Mavi Marmara during the Israeli commando raid on the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” humanitarian mission.
Biography
O’Keefe served in theU.S.Marine Corp.from 1988-1991, andwas stationedwiththe Second Battalion, Fourth Marine Infantry Division in Kuwait during the Gulf War. As ayoung soldier, O’Keefe was targeted for retaliation by his platoon sergeant aftergoing outside the chain of command to report abuses of authority. While deployed,O’Keefe became concerned forhis physical safety after the offended sergeant began penalizing O’Keefe’s platoonmembers in an effort to induce extra-judicial punishment.According to O’Keefe, “I realised that honour and integrity were virtues which are often punished rather than rewarded and the Marines supplied me with my first serious taste of injustice.”
Upon discharge from the Marines, O’Keefedeveloped an interest inanthropology,racial studies, andhuman rights, discoveringsuchauthorsas Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Malcolm X, which challenged him to examinesome of thecherished beliefs he was taught about the United States.O’keefe states that he was “profoundly impacted” bybooks such asNecessary Illusions (Chomsky);A peoples History of the United States (Zinn);The Auto-Biography of Malcolm X;Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Brown); andBlack Like Me (Griffin).O’Keefe identified as aHawaiian national and served as a legislator with theHawaiian Independence Movement. During his participation with the independence movement, O’Keefeauthored two initiatives: the firstsought tocommit theHawaiian movement to a policy of non-violence and the second sought tooutlawWMDin Hawaii.
In 1996, O’Keefe became involved inmarine conservation. O’keefe began a maritimecampaignto protect Hawaii’s indigenous marinepopulation, which involved conductingghost netrecoveries and rescues of endangered Green Sea Turtles wrapped in monofilament fishing line. O’Keefe became a pioneer in sea turtle rescues in Hawaii and led a campaign to create a marine sanctuary (Pupukea MLCD) on the North Shore of Oahu.In 1998, O’keefejoined the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-whaling campaign based in Hawaii, which he later served as theregional director for.
After moving to London, O’Keefe turned his attention towards humanitarian activism. InDecember 2002,O’Keefehelped organizetheTJP (Truth Justice Peace) Human Shield Action which consisted ofwestern activistsmigrating fromLondon to Iraq toprotect vital civilian infrastructure from the U.S. Coalition’s bombing raids by deploying themselves as human shields.O’Keefe actively recruited individuals to serve as human shields in the hopesthat placingwestern civilians at non-military locations wouldcreate apoliticaldeterrentwhich wouldpreventCoalition forces frombombing Iraq’s civilian infrastructure as part of their Shock and Awe strategy.Although Critics of the human shield initiative argue that the actions of thepeace activists onlyserved toprotect a violent dictator,O’Keefe contends he was motivated by the knowledge that the U.S. led coalitionwould not limit their bombing to military targets, which would lead to theunnecessary suffering of millions of innocent Iraqi civilians. At theheight of the TJP movement, approximately300 human shields were deployed throughoutBaghdad.
In 2010, O’Keefe participated in the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla.” He was amongthe 590humanitarian activistsaboardthe Turkish vesselMV Mavi Marmarawhich wasviolently boardedby thespecial forces unit of the Israeli Navy,Shayetet 13,during the Gaza flotilla raid. At the time, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İHH), was carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials, with the intent of breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government contends thatits Gaza blockade is a precaution against arms reaching Hamas and other Palestinian guerrillas viasea and accuses the activists ofseeking to createa media eventto furtherprovoke hostilities.
On May 31, 2010, nine activists aboard the MV Mavi Marmarawere killed, and dozens more severely injured, afterheavily armed Israeli naval commandos propelled onto the vessel via helicopter to take command of the ship and force it intothe Israeli port of Ashdod for inspection. Accounts of the event are disputed.According to the official version released by the Army of Defense for Israel,the Israeli Naval commandos faced resistance from about 40 passengers aboardthe Turkish ship MV Mavi Marmara, who had armed themselves with bars and knives.Activists aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, including O’Keefe,allege that the naval commandos provoked the violence, and were intent on punishing the activists for willfully violating the Israeliembargo.
During the violent struggle, nine activists were killed and numerouswere others were wounded. A tenth activist who survived the initial incident, eventuallydied from his injuries after a three yearcoma. Ten Israelicommandos also reported injuries. None were killed.The five other ships in the flotilla employed passive resistance, which was suppressed without major incident. Although none of the ships were found to be carrying any illegal cargo, approximately 600 activists were detained for their refusal to sign deportation orders.Israel eventually released theactivists underintense international pressure. However,Israeli authoritiesconfiscated allmedia recordingstaken by the 580survivors of the MV Mavi Marmarawhich documented the ordeal.
The Israeli flotilla raid drew widespread international condemnation, which eventually ignited aUnited Nations probe into the incident. InSeptember 2010, afact finding team assembled to investigate the incident by the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) determinedthat the Israeli naval blockade of Gazaviolated international law.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) contends the blockade also violated the Geneva Convention’s prohibition against placing a military embargo onfoodand medical supplies.
In September 2011, the a four member panel led by Palmer published a UNHRC report upholding the legality of the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The panel reviewed official reports submitted by the Turkish and Israeli Governments,which included “statements from 93 individuals that were appended to the Turkish report, and excerpts of statements by IDF personnel engaged in the incident that were included in the Israeli report.” While the Palmer Reportquestioned“the conduct, true nature and objectives of the flotilla organizers, particularly IHH,” italso concludedthat the Israeli naval responsewas “excessive and unreasonable“,and that the treatment ofdetained crew members violated international human rights law.Although the Report asserted that the activists had placed themselves in harm’s way by challenging the Israeli naval blockade, theIsraeli response was found to be“disproportionate” to the threat, and thatIsraelinaval commandos had engaged in“an unacceptable level of brutality” with evidence of“willful killing.”
An independent five member panel of human rights experts assembled by the U.N.H.R.C. to review the Palmer Report’s findings, confirmed that the Israeli response was unreasonable, but disagreed with the legality of the Israeli naval blockade concluding thatIsrael’s blockade of Gaza amounted to collective punishment in “flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law.”
O’Keefe was among the surviving crew members of the MV Mavi Marmarawho werearrested and detained by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). O’Keefe was accused by Israeli authorities of beingan “anti-Israel extremist” whowas seeking to enter the Gaza Strip in order to “form and train a commando unit” for Hamas. Despite the IDF’s contentionthat O’Keefewas involved in a terrorist plot, hewas released from custody and deported along with his fellowactivists after a briefdetainment. O’Keefe has never been charged, by any governing body, with wrongful misconduct in relation to the incident. During his forceddeportation, O’keefe was allegedly choked and beaten with a truncheonby Israeli Police at the Tel Aviv airport for refusing to sign a deportation order.O’keefe laterreleased avideo documentingthe injuries he allegedly sustained while in custody.
