Hero of Gaza: Vittorio Arrigoni, Kidnapped and Murdered

Publisher Bonnie King has been with Salem-News.com since August '04. Bonnie has a wide ranging media background and in her career she has served in a number of positions in the broadcast industry; TV Production Manager at KVWB (Las Vegas WB) and Producer/Director for the TV series "Hot Wheels in Las Vegas", TV Promotion Director for KYMA (NBC), and KFBT (Ind.), Asst. Marketing Director (SUPERSHOPPER MAGAZINE), Director/Co-Host (Coast Entertainment Show), Radio Promotion Director (KBCH/KCRF), and NIE/Circulation Sales Manager (STATESMAN JOURNAL NEWSPAPER). Bonnie has a depth of understanding that reaches further than just behind the scenes, and that thoroughness is demonstrated in the perseverance to correctly present each story with the wit and wisdom necessary to compel and captivate viewers. View articles written by Bonnie King

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A August 24, 2011 11:10 pm (Pacific time)

I love you Vittorio !!!!!! God bless your soul ... Peace on you my friend ... from Ghaza

JP April 20, 2011 6:40 pm (Pacific time)

And I suppose Aljazeera has it all wrong? For God's sake open your eyes, Tim. Yes, there are people who would. They are called extremists, who don't give a rat's you know what whether he was there to help their cause or not. Even Hamas is too liberal for their likes. You do a huge disservice to your and their cause by being in total denial.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011419165045686289.html

JP April 20, 2011 11:34 am (Pacific time)

Wow... the editor's notes are so incredibly professional. You call yourself a reporter?

There ARE extremists out there who would kill you as easily as they killed Vittorio.
Scary.

Editor: Israel loves it when people think the way you do. This isn't a tit for tat; these people are occiupied and the occupation is brutal. They don't occupy Israeli neighborhoods and wreak havoc, yet a Palestinian can't go ten feet in some places without terrible harrassment from Israeli settlers. I never said nobody is extreme, but for God's sake comprehend the gameboard before believing the Palestinians would set out to kill a man like this

Onno Brussels April 19, 2011 10:11 am (Pacific time)

Actually Mizrachi Jews make up approximately 50% percent of the population of Israel. They used to be around 70% until the massive Russian immigration of the 1990's. A large majority of the original middle-eastern jews were evicted from their coun tries after the creation of Israel. Leaving behind most of everything they owned of course. This does not fit your "mostly europeans" story nor does it go well with the evil-western-world-invading-poor-innocent-peoples-countries-idea. It is however based on the truth. Which might be a nice start when you speak about the Israel-Palestine conflict. It is a shame this man died. Any loss of life is tragic. But please stop the everything Israel is evil and everything Palestinean is good. People with views classed as "extreme-left-wing" would have difficult lives in most muslim countries. In a possible future palestinean state that would most like be the same.

mahendra patel April 19, 2011 4:08 am (Pacific time)

sorry to say ..but this is what happens to so called activists who take up the wrong cause for the wrong side .I'm sorry for his family and their suffering ..but this is what muslims do to us "infidels"

Tim King: So-called? what an outlandishly stupid thing to say you so-called human. I don't believe it. I think you aren't human. You are also on the side of evil and everything that is not right, too bad...

Ahmed April 18, 2011 7:04 am (Pacific time)

He was a great man, Vik's legacy will never die and Israel will pay!

Dave April 16, 2011 11:58 pm (Pacific time)

Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall, this man and an endless list of Palestinians who have died, were working for the benefit of mankind.

Rachel Golem April 16, 2011 5:33 pm (Pacific time)

Well, at least he didn't try to stop a bulldozer with his face!!!

Tim King: Why would you say that Rachel? I honestly have a hard time believing one woman could be so awkwardly disrespectful toward the legacy of another who died doing what she believed in. I can think of a thousand ways to replicate that scenario by switching characters out but I would never do that. When you bring Rachel into this, you are way over your head. It is one thing to live for yourself and to serve your own needs, and an entirely different thing to live for the benefit of others; the battered rejected populations who live under great amounts of oppression. You are literally incapable of understanding this and I assume you are an adolescent, you almost have to be. So why don't you get off your mom's computer and give this disrespect thing a rest. You are an embarrassment to humanity and it makes me sad when you write. We are trying to see a better day, you are not.

LairMistress April 15, 2011 6:14 pm (Pacific time)

Why are all Arabs/Muslims/Palestinians being demonized and dehumanized (in these comments and in many other media sources) because Vittorio Arrigoni was murdered by a couple of radical Salafists in Gaza? Why are three murderers being held up as representative of all Palestinians or Arabs generally? Who benefits from demonizing an entire nation or ethnicity in this fashion? I have many Muslim and Arab friends and acquaintances here in the Seattle area; and I have met many more, including from Palestine, over the years. I have also tried to educate myself as well as I can on Islam and Sufism, though I am not a Muslim or Sufi myself. The people I know who are Muslim and/or Arab are certainly NOT "subhuman", "barbaric", "terrorists", excessively violent, or any of the other epithets constantly being hurled in their direction. My current doctor is an Arab-American with family connections in Lebanon. The first Lutheran pastor I ever met (who baptized me and my brother as infants) was an Arab-American named Raymond Shaheen. None of these folks has ever attacked or killed anyone. People I've spoken to who have visited Palestinian communities invariably speak of how amazingly generous and hospitable these folks are, even when they can barely put food on their own tables. Right now, the people of Gaza are struggling like hell just to survive under the economic embargo (similar to the one afflicting Iraq prior to 2003)--no easy task, given that over 90 percent of their water supplies are unusable due to a lack of water purification equipment. Thank God for the Freedom flotillas and smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt; they alone are keeping Gazan civilians from starving to death. It's time that Israel and Palestine got together, drew a clear border between themselves, and stopped both shooting and demonizing each other. And we over here would do well to look at these "insane Arab terrorist" stereotypes a little more critically. Just my two Euros...
--Karen Olsen, Seattle WA

Mick April 15, 2011 5:02 pm (Pacific time)

Clearly, the 'editor' of this publication is a biased person, unable to respond in a sensible and evenhanded manner to the provocations of evil-minded people. On the other hand the 'editor' shows himself blind to reality and truth as well. Take this statement:
"Israelis are 98% European Jews who moved there sometime since the late 40's."

This statement is patently false and even a basic historian would know this to be false.

Editor: Well cite a source, I'm not here to spread misinformation. So you are suggesting that more people were indigenous Jews? They certainly have always been in Palestine and so have Christians and Muslims for a very long time. I have studied this history extensively and prior to Hertzl there were only a small number of Jewish people. Even as the migration took off into the 20th century, we're still talking about mostly European people. Are you being critical over the Russian aspect? Sorry, I should have stipulated 'Russia' also and not just Europe.

So while a lot of hot-headed idiots spew bile here against this murdered person, the 'editor' is himself a man deluded by propaganda and lies.

Editor: No I'm not, I tell the truth and I admit it when I am wrong, what more can a person do? The truth is the harshest thing anyway.

Shame on both of you really.

Editor: Shame on them for disrespecting a great man who died, and me for getting numbers possibly wrong? Same old stuff. Apples and elephants.

gp April 15, 2011 4:00 pm (Pacific time)

Tim,Bonnie,I have so much respect for your coverage of Gaza/Palestine. Nonetheless, I disagree with your policy to print hateful, violent messages from bigots,murderers,threatening people who name call and preach hatred. We know they are out there, we see their delight in mayhem and war and slaughter everyday. That they espouse these things is very sad. It seems to me that you reward their behavior by printing their vile emesis and dung. When people write these things it seems better to just ignore them. Keep their email addresses and pass them on to the local office of hate crimes at the police department. Some wayward child could see this rubbish in print and think that it is socially acceptable or cute and they can copy cat to see their name in print while getting under your skin. Why reward bad behavior? It seems like an attention getting device. Ignore the lost souls.

Tim King: You may be right on target GP, all I can tell you is that we delete far more than we publish. I just think it is important to let people show their faces and their disrespect was intolerable. Anyway good advice, we do toss plenty of them, thanks.

Ghassan April 15, 2011 10:28 am (Pacific time)

I killed Vittorio, I am sorry about this but I admit it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK_DXAf2KWc

alan April 15, 2011 6:13 am (Pacific time)

only arabian'r killers!!

laughing my ass off April 15, 2011 5:56 am (Pacific time)

Boker tov, liberals.

Was Ken butchered yet? LOL

Still haven't heard a clear explanation of why Vittorio wasn't an illegal occupier. LOL End the occupation By Any Means Necessary lmao Fight for your right to Party LOL

Editor: Vik was there to protect innocents from the thugs of the IDF and he has a series of real measurable successes to his credit. You would never understand, never do similar things, etc.

And enough with this bullshit about the Indigenous "Palestinians". The subhuman Muslonazis who illegally occupy Gaza, Israel and the East and West Banks of the Jordan are a rag-tag group of Muslonazi war criminals who come from Iraq ("al-Basri", "al-Tikriti", "al-Iraqi") Nazi Germany ("al-Aryan", "Hitler", etc . . . ) and Egypt ("al-Masry"). And those are the so-called "arabs". The rest are the deterius of the Ottoman conquest.

Editor: You sound like a simple racist fool, that is all.

This far-left research piece has some background on where the "indigenous" Muslonazis oozed. LOL "Indigenous" hoo hee ha ha ha. Yah, Israel is historically an Aryan homeland ha ha LOL
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/israel-palestine/071-inside-gaza-the-challenge-of-clans-and-families.aspx

But what difference does the quantum of blood make? Are we still living in Nazi Germany? Minutemen don't like illegal illegal intruders in Arizona - does that allow them to butcher innocent children? LOL Or only if they do it for Mohammed LOLE

Editor: Too bad you never actually learned about how life works, what Islam is about. As I said before though, you are a simpleton and I wouldn't expect you to pass any tests or anything, that wouldn't be fun anyway right?

Oh - another article you may enjoy

Editor: Yeah right, post it on the JP.

Celebrate the extermination of Evil.

Editor: I feel sorry for you.

Editor: Why not mock my skin tone again. That was real classy last night. Nothing like a liberal racism to get the day started.

Editor: Too easy

Sarah Day April 15, 2011 5:18 am (Pacific time)

First time reading this site; thought it was pretty informative - I can even say I have some of the same thoughts - all sounds fishy - then I read some of the responses of the editor -and despite the disclaimer - because let's face it you are the editor - I realised that if this person is representing the general position of this online newspaper - I might as well go and read one of the British tabloids and listen to the BBC for a better researched and less biased view. We should remember at least - we are all victims of the politicians who are spinning us around on their political carousel and the majority of people just want normality and definitely not murder. Any death is a tragedy and there are many lives just being wasted in the mess of it all.

Claudio April 15, 2011 5:06 am (Pacific time)

Very sad that Vik devoted his life trying to prove these people were not just barbaric, immoral, violent people and in the end he paid with his life being proved wrong. I feel bad that his poor decision making deprived his family of many years with him. I hope someone is still there when the inevitable time comes to make a youtube video of Ken's ambulance ride wrapped in a blanket.

Editor: More bigotry, and you guys don't even try to hide it. As far as your comments about Ken go, go f*ck yourself. Ken is not going to get hurt and scumbags like you are never going to see your little wishes met. Geez, what happens to people like you to make you into who you are? For God's sake I hope you never have kids.

LairMistress April 15, 2011 2:37 am (Pacific time)

Why is it always the best and most inspiring people who get wiped out this way?? This young man's death makes me so sad, and I'd never heard of him until a couple of days ago...May he travel on in Peace! --Karen Olsen, Seattle USA

Julianno's wife April 15, 2011 12:25 am (Pacific time)

"Juliano was murdered in front of his wife by masked men who were immediately assumed to be Palestinian."

As it turns out they were Palestinian and muslim. O'Keefe needs to get real before he ends up with the same fate.

Editor: You're such a sicko, as it turns out. There is no conclusive proof of anything yet or don't you read the papers? If you imply a threat toward anyone here which you border on doing, I get really pissed off and go through some steps to make sure the right authorities know about it. Don't even think about it, mr. keyboard bravery with about eight different names here that you have used at different times. Bye bye.

Molly April 15, 2011 1:26 am (Pacific time)

I'm so sad, so very sad ... and so suspicious about who did this terrible thing. I sincerely hope the true perpetrators are found. RIP Vittorio

friend of the IDF April 15, 2011 12:20 am (Pacific time)

"foreign nationals in Gaza have been operating safely for years."

Please tell us which of these foreign nationals knows about the rocket fire into Israel, supports it, and has aided and abetted the smuggling and launching of these weapons.

Editor: Well let's see, they are unarmed peace activists who are human shields to protect the civilians of Palestine that your 'military' group regularly abuses and kills. So, the terrorists are your friends, as much as anything. I have a story that lists two hundred Israeli war crime suspects and these are people who can't travel freely because they'll be arrested and taken to a war crimes tribunal. They have to 'operate' because of Israel's military presence and its sloppy undisciplined thugs who shoot people and kill little kids. IDF soldiers reading this; you should do what is right, drop that uniform in a garbage can and tell the IOF to forget it. Join the brave list of resistors who refuse to be part of an oppressive occupational force.

mj rosenberg April 15, 2011 12:17 am (Pacific time)

i am ashamed of my self hatred. God Bless Israel

Michael Wright April 14, 2011 11:59 pm (Pacific time)

A tragedy and an absolutely dreadful crime, certainly. I am saddened and appalled by this brutal waste of a decent man's life. But it is a nonsense to blame Israel without proof. Would his friends, people like Ken O'Keefe, prefer simply to use his death as propaganda against Israel at the cost of the truth, whatever it may be? Surely a true friend would want to find who really did this. Doesn't Vik deserve that much? If the Israelis are found to be guilty, hell yes, crucify them, and I'll be happy to hammer in the nails myself. But if it was rogue Palestinians, let's not shy from that, unpalatable as it may be to some. Every nation has its villains as well as its heroes and Palestinians are no better or worse in this regard than the rest of us, to suggest otherwise would be condescending. Of course some Palestinians are capable of doing this, as are some Israelis, but to make our minds up one way or the other on this evidence simply reflects bigotry of the worst kind.

Editor: I think the emotions are just so high and there have been a lot of Israeli F-16 and drone attacks in recent days and weeks. But you make good points, anyone can potentially commit a crime. Just understand that this is an extremely unusual event and that foreign nationals in Gaza have been operating safely for years. Thanks for your comment.

Ivan Brell April 14, 2011 11:34 pm (Pacific time)

This is such a tragedy, it doesn't matter what the Jewish racists think, they want to see all Palestinians and activists from Europe killed and people are pissed! REALLY pissed. This put it over the top. The vile turds posing as human beings above make sure to drive the knife of our sorrow deeper and twist it around and they love it, but maybe some day they will be in Vik's shoes and won't they cry like babies and beg for human mercy when that day comes. Would you give it to any of the people above? I wouldn't, I'd just smile at 'em. And you know what, for the record, I am Jewish. Shame on all of you!

Shamil Awari April 14, 2011 11:23 pm (Pacific time)

A true hero and a martyer in the cause of humanity.. We all can learn from this brother whom placed his life to being equal value to those struggling in palestine. As so many run and look the other way, he stood firm and did not turn his back on them.. He must have been lifted to heaven by the angels.. May God grant him the highest paradise. InshaAllah.

Fakestinian April 14, 2011 11:16 pm (Pacific time)

Fakestinians are a bigger embarassment to the rest of arabia than they are to themselves, thats why they get slaughtered by their brothers the "jordanians", their cousins the lebanese, syrians, egyptians, and even the kuwaitis.

Editor: No way, however you would have an awfully red face vetting that in public, good thing for keyboard bravery. Palestinians are indigenous, they are beautiful people with striking features and they are very kind. I know what I say to be true because I learned about their hospitality first hand in the Middle east. The Palestinians in the Bible are the Philistines (Filistines) and they have been on the land that Israel began stealing in 1948 for thousands of years. Israelis are 98% European Jews who moved there sometime since the late 40's. The Zionists who moved there before WWII were less violent, that really took off in 1947. There is a brand new movie that tells the horror story of Israeli oppression called 'Miral', I suggest watching it and learning a thing. Maybe then you also might be able to tell your ass from a hole in the ground. Maybe not. BTW, how about 'Fakreal', 'Is(n't)treal' and of course everyone's favorite: 'IsraHell'.

The scum off the heel of the arab world will never be able to destroy Israel with their sticks and stones. Technology, brains, things that are usually in the jews' favor, are the future.

Editor: You may be right about the second part, but you show that you are nothing but a simple minded idiot with the 'scum' line. Remember, we hate in others what we most dislike about ourselves. Gee, that would make you an actual 'scumbag' woudn't it? But I would never say that about people who are Jewish for example, because it would be BS. No group is exclusively one thing or another, unless they function in ways that are explicitly violent and dangerous, like the Zionists and the Salafists and the Taliban.

Fred April 14, 2011 10:53 pm (Pacific time)

another terrorist bites the dust.

Editor: Did you fall down again Fred?

GI. Joe April 14, 2011 9:41 pm (Pacific time)

Hi, I am a comment harassment moron and I like to bother Salem-News.com by writing disrespectful garbage about people a million times more important than me. I also use the names Holden and Jesus.

Editor: Wow, that didn't come out as you expected did it? I dislike hating people, you are a challenge.

Al April 14, 2011 8:26 pm (Pacific time)

Usefull idiot...

Editor: Your self description?

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