- Rogue states spurn international law, treaties, conventions,
and in Israel's case its own laws and Supreme Court decisions.
-
- Daily examples offer proof, including from Ahmed el-Helah
and Mariam Itani's new book titled, "The Suffering of the Palestinian
Child under the Israeli Occupation," saying:
-
- Over a million Palestinian children "live and suffer
every moment of their lives under the painful reality of occupation."
-
- Growing numbers are killed, injured, maimed, handicapped,
arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. Most are impoverished and many hungry.
-
- "What about those who have lost their parents, friends,
brothers and sisters due to" continuous Israeli oppression?
-
- "What about the children who live in fear and who
suffer distress or cannot sleep, who feel unprotected in the face of a
ruthless and arrogant Israeli occupation?"
-
- They're Palestine's children, out of sight and mind to
most people everywhere. Who outside Palestine understands their suffering?
-
- Who can imagine the indifference of world leaders, supporting
a ruthless, racist occupier, disdainful of human and civil rights?
-
- Who understands enduring daily assaults, police state
justice, and fear of being bombed, shot, or otherwise harmed? How do you
comfort young children to hold up in the face of what adults can't tolerate?
-
- From September 29, 2000 (the start of the second Intifada)
through December 31, 2008, Palestinian children witnessed around 5,900
killings and another 35,000 Israeli caused injuries.
-
- During Israel's war on Gaza, another 1,400 died and thousands
sustained injuries, many of them permanently disabling.
-
- Children enduring Israeli atrocities "lose their
childhood and innocence, just as they lose hope and joy in their lives."
-
- The occupation's extreme harshness causes physical and
emotional problems. It also "ignite(s) the spirit of resistance and
deepen(s) hatred" against a rogue oppressor disdainful of their rights.
-
- The authors concluded saying Israel's occupation must
be condemned, ended, and responsible officials "prosecute(d) in international
judicial institutions for committing the most horrific and inhumane crimes
against" young children, wanting only to live free like Jews.
-
- On November 24, Haaretz writer Ari Shavit's article headlined,
"Israel is becoming a bullying and violent place," saying:
-
- "It's depressing" to see free expression compromised.
It's heading perhaps toward prohibiting it altogether to quash political
criticism.
-
- "It's depressing....to make it harder for journalists
to publish in-depth investigative reports." It's unacceptable to gag
the media and criminalize writers exposing vital truths everyone should
know.
-
- It's frightening to see "dark forces....resolved
to undermine the rule of law" and defile democratic values and justice.
-
- Shavit calls it "the bacterium of the end that justifies
the means; the disease of an agenda that bends the rules." No wonder
Israel's not fit to live in, including for most Jews.
-
- Following Palestine's UNESCO membership, Israel froze
Palestinian Authority (PA) tax revenues vitally needed to operate. Doing
so was lawless, malicious and vindictive.
-
- On November 24, the International Middle East Media Center
(IMEMC) headlined, "Israel Won't Release Funds to a Fatah-Hamas Unity
Government," quoting Israel's ultranationalist Foreign Minister, Avigdor
Lieberman, saying:
-
- "Israel will not recognize it, will not negotiate
with it, and will not transfer it even one dime" unless it accedes
to Israeli demands. In other words, only Israel's rights matter, not Palestine's
under any government.
-
- On November 23, IMEMC said Israel again bombed Gaza and
attacked Palestinian fishing boats. No injuries were reported, but terrified
fishermen "suffered anxiety attacks while trying to rush back to shore."
-
- Israel forces also invaded An-Nahda, east of Rafah with
tanks and military bulldozers to destroy Palestinian land and crops. Shots
were fired. Helicopters used flares. No injuries occurred.
-
- On November 24, the Palestine News & Information
Agency (WAFA) said Israeli forces used heavy military machinery to destroy
Palestinian huts and wells in Idhna, west of Hebron.
-
- Samu, Beit Awwa, Halhul, Dora, and Taffuh were also raided
near Hebron. Recently released prisoners were ordered to report to Israeli
intelligence for questioning. Others were targeted earlier. They'll perhaps
be reincarcerated unless agree to spy on their own people. Most refuse
and suffer grievously.
-
- WAFA also said about 14 buses carrying around 1,400 settlers
broke into Joseph's Tomb in Nablus. Protected by Israeli forces, they performed
rituals and prayers lawlessly.
-
- An Israeli military spokeswoman called it a "coordinated
entrance." Palestinians said Israeli soldier fired tear gas and stun
grenades at angry residents.
-
- Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai said Jews "must
restore Israeli control over the tomb because we have to do what is best
for Israel." Palestinian rights don't matter. Neither do rule of law
principles. Might makes right oppresses Palestinians daily.
-
- On November 23, Israel forces raided a Palestinian school
in Khirbet Susiya south of Yatta in Hebron. Its principal got demolition
orders for the school, a water well and three adjacent greenhouses.
-
- Seven teachers and 36 students are affected. After Israel
demolished the school last year, it was rebuilt with bricks and tin. Lawless
demolitions are official Israeli policy.
-
- On November 23, 972mag.com headlined, "Police, protesters
clash in front of Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv," saying:
-
- Angry about anti-democratic Knesset measures, about 200
people "block(ed) King George Street in the center of the city. Police"
used pepper spray. At least one arrest occurred.
-
- Earlier in the evening a larger protest was held near
where summer social justice demonstrators rallied for weeks.
-
- Many covered their their mouths with tape or masks to
symbolize opposition against Israel's war on free expression. Increasingly,
Israelis know even Jews now have fewer rights on the way perhaps to losing
them entirely.
-
- On November 21 in Vienna, a closed-door IAEA meeting
discussed a nuclear-free Middle East. Iran boycotted the session. Syria
attended and called Israel's arsenal a "grave and serious threat."
-
- Attending pro-Western despotic Arab League representatives
declined comment. Nothing came out of the meeting, despite calls for more
Israeli transparency.
-
- Israel refused, saying transparency won't come until
"the threat perception of all regional members is low." In fact,
Israel alone threatens neighbors, including with nuclear weapons.
-
- On November 24, Netanyahu criticized Arab Spring supporters,
saying it reflects "moving not forward, but backward." He added
that history will prove him right about the "Islamic, anti-Western,
anti-liberal, anti-Israeli, and anti-democratic wave" sweeping the
region.
-
- "Israel is facing a period of instability and uncertainty
in the region....I remember many of you urged me to take the opportunity
to make hasty concessions, to rush to an agreement" with Palestinians.
"But I will not establish Israel's policy on illusions. There's a
huge upheaval here. Whoever doesn't see it is burying his head in the sand."
-
- In fact, Israel alone menaces regional neighbors. Democracy's
disappearing at home. Arab citizens are treated like fifth column threats.
Most Israeli Jews are marginalized. Israel's closest Middle East allies
are despots. It's only enemies are ones it creates. It needs them to justify
violence, occupation and severe repression.
-
- Indeed anti-Israeli sentiment is increasing with good
reason. Despots like Netanyahu and extremist MKs make it possible. Kadima
MK Shaul Mofaz accused him of creating an Israeli dictatorship, saying:
-
- "Orwell's world is coming to life under your government's
legislation, which is aiming to enforce elements of oppression and is creating
a vision of horrors the likes of which we've never seen. It is as if 1984
is here."
-
- He referred to life inside Israel. Imagine how much worse
conditions are for Occupied Palestinians, suffering horrific daily oppression.
-
- A Final Comment
-
- Even a broken clock is right twice daily. On November
22, so was The New York Times, giving rare op-ed space to legitimate commentary
for Sarah Schulman's piece titled, "Israel and 'Pinkwashing,' "
saying:
-
- In 2005, American PR firms began a "Brand Israel"
campaign, seeking to portray the Jewish state as "relevant and modern."
-
- "The government later expanded the marketing plan
by harnessing the gay community to reposition its global image."
-
- Tel Aviv's tourism board wants the city branded as "an
international gay vacation destination." Last May, "Prime Minister
Netanyahu told Congress that the Middle East was 'a region where women
are stoned, gays are hanged, Christians are persecuted.' "
-
- "The growing global gay movement against the Israeli
occupation (calls) these tactics 'pinkwashing:' a deliberate strategy to
conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians' human rights behind
an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life."
-
- Israel manipulates hard-won Israeli gay community gains
for PR purposes. It also ignores Palestinian gay rights organizations,
including Aswat, Al Qaws and the Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions.
-
- Improving gay rights doesn't offset gross human rights
violations, especially for Palestinians without "a land to call home."
-
- Imagine if all New York Times articles, op-eds and editorials
featured journalism like this daily.
-
- Imagine if all major media did, including television.
-
- Imagine the better world we'd all live in instead of
one plagued by social injustice, war and environmental destruction endangering
everyone.
-
- 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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