- It begs the question why Israelis put up with lawless
governance harming them as well as Palestinians. When will weeks of social
injustice outrage arouse them to embrace universal equity?
-
- Why haven't Martin Luther King's words hit home that,
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In Israel
and Occupied Palestine, Arabs and Jews both are harmed. Injustice to anyone
denies it to all.
-
- Since the 1980s, destructive neoliberalism plagued Israel
like the West. A race to the bottom followed, producing social injustice,
inequality, and growing human need. Israelis finally reacted, demanding
change, at the same time showing a hint of solidarity with Arab citizens,
far more gravely impacted than themselves.
-
- It's high time that spirit addressed 44 years of Occupied
Palestinian torment. Permitting that to go on betrays core Judaic tenets.
In their own time of need, will Jews embrace the universal struggle for
justice everywhere, especially a few kilometers from their own backyard.
Turning a blind eye to that injustice no longer can be tolerated.
-
- What's now ongoing bears witness. Overnight, Israeli
jets bombed Gaza, killing at least one resident and wounding seven or more
others (including a child) in a series of lawless raids.
-
- Gaza's medical emergency spokesperson, Adham Abu Salmiyya,
said three residents were seriously injured after Israel bombed the Al
Zeitoun neighborhood, Rafah tunnel areas, and an alleged Al Qassam Brigades
training center in Gaza City's At-Tuffah community.
-
- Further attacks struck eastern Khan Younis, causing extensive
damage but no injuries. Israel targets Gaza regularly by air, land and
sea, falsely claiming self-defense every time. It long ago rang hollow.
-
- Imagine if instead Israeli neighborhoods were bombed
regularly, killing innocent civilians? Western leaders would express outrage
in response.
-
- In contrast, when Palestinians are killed, it goes unnoticed,
notably by major media sources more focused on supporting NATO aggression,
slaughtering people in the name of "liberating" them.
-
- The hypocrisy is stark and galling, yet commonplace backing
wrong over right. The horrors need volumes to explain.
-
- Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli forces also razed Palestinian
farmland south of Hebron, bulldozing fruit trees belonging to several Palestinian
families. At the same time, several Hebron neighborhoods were raided. In
addition, residents of Yatta, Tarqomia, and other Palestinian communities
face regular Israeli incursions, harassing and aiming to displace them.
-
- Israel Welcomes Glenn Beck
-
- On August 14, Israel National News writer Tzvi Ben Gadalyahu
headlined, "Israel Rolls Out Red Carpet for Glenn Beck" ahead
of his "Restoring Courage" tour in Jerusalem, saying:
-
- He scrapped plans to hold it at the Temple Mount after
being warned about Muslim outrage. Instead, he'll hold two Jerusalem events,
"at the Davidson Center at the southern edge of the Western Wall and
the other in Safra Square," near municipal offices and city hall.
-
- A previous article explained Beck's demagoguery, right
wing extremism, and racism, accessed through the following link:
-
- http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2009/09/glenn-becks-demagoguery-right-wing.html
-
- No longer on Fox News, he continues his hatemongering
diatribes against disadvantaged minorities, Muslims, Latino immigrants,
and anyone to the left of his views, meaning he'll fit right in among Israeli
extremists who arranged his visit.
-
- Beck claims it's "time to Stand and Restore Courage.
We ask those of you who value freedom honor and faith to travel to Israel
and stand with Glenn Beck and leaders from around the world with one united
voice."
-
- Palestinians, anti-war activists, and opponents of Israel's
illegal occupation aren't invited. Nor were they included on a July Beck
visit when extremist Knesset members let him address the Aliyah and Absorption
Committee, saying he came "to speak the truth" about efforts
to delegitimize Israel.
-
- He also claimed PA demands exacerbate anti-Semitism that's
"going through the roof," when US and European studies show it
in steep decline.
-
- Now he's back, endorsed by Rev. John Hagee, a fellow
demagogue, supporting racial hatred, white Christian supremacy, imperial
wars, apocalyptic violence, gay bashing, male gender dominance, and fanatically
wanting Israel exclusively for Jews.
-
- They're a matched set, Hagee writing Beck, saying:
-
- "I'm writing to express my strong support for the
Restoring Courage events to be held in Israel....Those of us who love Israel
(see) especially ominous thunder clap to come down in September, when the
(UN) will most likely support a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood."
-
- He falsely claimed the General Assembly has no power
to do it, at the same time railing against "the symbolic impact"
he called "extremely dangerous."
-
- "I look forward to seeing you" in Israel, he
said, "the land God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in an eternal
covenant that is binding to this day."
-
- Hagee knows because God told him so, communicating directly
he apparently believes. So do his parishioners sadly and other followers
of his demagogic hatemongering misinterpretation of vital truths.
-
- New Settlement Units Announced
-
- In 2004, America's United Methodist Church stood firm
against "confiscat(ing) Palestinian land for construction of settlements
and the building of a separation wall."
-
- It also expressed opposition to other Israeli abuses,
including "intensified closures, curfews, dehumanizing check points,
home demolitions, uprooted trees, bulldozed fields....confiscation of Palestinian
land and water....targeted assassinations," and other Israeli occupation
abuses.
-
- In recent days, Israel announced thousands of new settlement
units, defiant of international law, and a vital need for new construction
in Tel Aviv, Haifa, West Jerusalem, and other Israeli cities, not Occupied
Palestine, to relieve a severe housing shortage, causing prices to skyrocket.
-
- Many human rights organizations express similar views,
including opposition to settlement developments, stealing Palestinian land
for exclusive Jewish use.
-
- No matter. On August 15, 277 West Bank Ariel units were
approved. Earlier, 500 others were announced in Gush Etzion, Ma'ale Adumin,
Ariel, and Kiryat Sefer.
-
- In early August, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights
(PCHR) said 930 more are planned for East Jerusalem's Har Homa C and 42
public buildings in Har Homa B, as well as extensive accompanying infrastructure.
-
- On August 11, thousands more were announced - 1,600 in
Ramat Shlomo, 2,000 in Givat Hamatos, and 700 in Pisgat Zeev. "This
would bring (total East Jerusalem approvals) to over 5,200, and counting,
in August alone."
-
- In 121 illegal settlements and nearly 100 outposts,
around 300,000 settlers populate the West Bank, another 200,000 in East
Jerusalem, and the numbers keep growing.
-
- As a result, over 42% of choice West Bank land and large
parts of East Jerusalem have been stolen by successive Israeli governments,
claiming they want peace.
-
- Compounded by his duplicitous rhetoric overall, Obama
(like his predecessors) stands firmly in support, reiterating America's
"unbreakable" bond with Israel, including its most lawless acts.
-
- According to PCHR and other human rights organizations,
as long as international community leaders grant Israel impunity, Palestinian
justice will lose out.
-
- Will socially oppressed Israeli Jews finally take note
and say No More!
-
- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
-
- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive
Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central
time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
-
- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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