Cold-Blooded Israeli Murder

By Stephen Lendman
3-23-14

Israeli security forces are licensed to kill, injure and terrorize with impunity. They take full advantage.

On March 22, they murdered three Palestinians in cold blood. Israeli soldiers, Shin Bet elements, and Police anti-Terror Unit forces gunned them down.

Another victim lies critically wounded close to death. Seven others were injured. More on this below.

Israel is no democracy. Right-wing extremists run things. Non-Jews have no say. Palestinians are ruthlessly terrorized.

Colonization, apartheid, institutionalized racism and militarized occupation reflect official policy. So does police state terror.

Merriam-Webster calls it "repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures."

Freedom fighters call it tyranny. Palestinians call it rogue state ruthlessness. They have no control over their daily lives.

Fear is constant. So are daily crimes against humanity affecting them. Collective punishment is official Israeli policy.

Economic strangulation crushes them. Free movement and expression are denied. Fundamental rights don't exist.

Israeli ruthlessness permeates daily life. Palestine reflects open-air prison conditions. Besieged Gazans suffer most of all.

Fundamental rule of law principles don't matter. Israeli militarized rules dominate daily life. Every day is Kristallnacht in Palestine.

Land sea and air attacks, multiple daily neighborhood incursions, separation walls, checkpoints, ethnic cleansing, targeted killings, bulldozed homes, dispossessions, isolated communities, mass arrests, torture, gulag imprisonment, and denial of fundamental civil and human rights reflect official Israeli policy.

Wanting to live free in sovereign Palestine is called terrorism. Imagine being punished for praying to the wrong God.

Imagine not knowing from one day to the next if you'll live, die, stay free, or face arrest, imprisonment, torture and other forms of abuse.

Imagine unaccountable Israeli crimes. Imagine daily Palestinian suffering. Imagine an entire population being suffocated out of existence.

Imagine unemployment, underemployment, poverty, deprivation and despair. Imagine being unable to live free on your own land in your own country.

Imagine an unending cycle of violence. Imagine slow-motion genocide. Imagine Zionist ruthlessness.

Imagine dystopian hellishness. Imagine world leaders able to make a difference turning a blind eye.

Imagine the worst of all possible worlds. Imagine Washington funding Israel's killing machine generously.

Imagine both countries partnering in each other's crimes. Imagine liberation nowhere in sight.

In the week ending March 19, Israel conducted 64 lawless Palestinian community incursions. Fifty arrests followed. Seven children were targeted.

Six more Palestinians were arrested at checkpoints. One child was abducted.

Israeli forces murdered a Palestinian child southwest of Hebron. Multiple air attacks targeted Gaza. Peaceful West Bank protestors were assaulted viciously. Seven innocent victims were injured.

Fishermen at sea were attacked. Imagine criminalizing fishing. Imagine settlers allowed to attack Palestinians freely.

Imagine vandalism called OK. Imagine self-defense called terrorism. Imagine permitting what civilized societies prohibit.

On March 22, Israeli forces invaded Jenin's refugee camp. Residents were terrorized. Three were murdered in cold blood.

Another lies close to death. Seven Palestinians were wounded. Other reports said 14 with two critically wounded victims. Three arrests were made. Hamas member Hamza Abu al-Haija was targeted.

He's wrongfully charged with shootings and other crimes. He's Gamal Abu al-Haija's son. Gamal is a high-ranking West Bank Hamas member. He's imprisoned for life for wanting to live free.

Israeli forces stormed Jenin's refugee camp pre-dawn. They surrounded a Palestinian home. They demanded Hamza surrender. He refused justifiably.

Israeli forces opened fire in response. Occupants returned their own in self-defense. Palestinian deaths and injuries followed.

Hamza perished with Mahmoud Abu Zeina and Mahmoud Basin Jabarin. Al-Haija was a Hamas al-Qassam Brigades member.

Zeina was affiliated with Islamic Jihad's al-Quds Brigades. He was on an Israeli "wanted" list.

He was wrongfully accused of planning attacks on Israelis. No charges were filed. He wasn't warned of the assault that killed him.

Jabarin belonged to Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. He committed no crimes.

A Hamas statement said al-Haija was at the home of a friend. He was identified as Hamza Ballas. Israeli forces surrounded his home.

Al-Haija barricaded himself inside. Israeli forces opened fire. An IDF spokesperson confirmed the incident. He lied claiming Hamza shot first.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon claimed the raid aimed at foiling a terror plot. He cited no evidence proving one. None existed.

He "congratulate(d) (Israeli) forces for their determined and professional activities in a complicated arena, and wishe(d) quick recuperation to the two wounded" Israelis involved.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denounced PA officials for their "security coordination" with Israel.

He rightfully called what happened a crime. It "shamed" the PA, he added.

"We call on (PA) security forces to end security coordination with the Israeli occupation and leave the resistance to act freely," he said.

Islamic Jihad official Nafez Assem condemned Israeli killings. He denounced PA complicity against its own people. "Resistance continues," he added.

"The Palestinian people cannot tolerate this. The West Bank is boiling over because of the crimes of the Zionists," he stressed.

"The United States and Israel want to force the Palestinians and the entire region to surrender, but Gaza and the West Bank resist this," he said.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina issued a toothless statement. It belied his complicity. It condemned the "continuing escalation against the Palestinian people."

"We call on the US administration to move quickly to prevent a general collapse in the region," it said.

Israel's attack occurred on the tenth anniversary of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's death. He was Hamas' spiritual leader. An Israeli air strike killed him.

Since sham peace talks began last July, Israeli forces murdered 57 Palestinians in cold blood. Nearly 900 others were injured.

Hundreds of lawless arrests were made. Police states operate this way. Israel is one of the most ruthless.

On March 4, B'Tselem headlined  "Spike in number of Palestinian civilians killed near Gaza perimeter fence," saying:

On February 28, Israeli forces shot Amneh Qdeih. "She died of a gunshot wound to her abdomen fired at her when she approached Gaza's perimeter fence."

Her relatives said she was mentally ill. She attended a family wedding in Khuza'ah. It's close to the perimeter fence in  southeastern Gaza.

She didn't return home with other family members. They searched for her. They heard gunshots. They found her body close to the perimeter fence.

Israeli extrajudicial assassinations are commonplace. They occur with disturbing regularity. Innocent victims are killed in cold blood.

Israel gets away with murder repeatedly. Rogue state ruthlessness defines official policy. Amneh lay directly across from an Israeli military watchtower.

She was fatally wounded in the abdomen. It's unclear if she died instantly or bled to death. An IDF spokesperson failed to explain why medical aid was denied her. It might have saved her life.

B'Tselem called the incident the fifth one in the last three months. Israeli forces murdered nonviolent Palestinians posing no threat. Israel claimed they were too close to the perimeter fence.

Since December 20, 2013, B'Tselem documented 55 Palestinians injured this way. Forty-three were by live fire. Rubber-coated metal bullets struck 10 others. Two victims were injured by teargas canisters. They sustained head injuries.

OCHA figures show "a sharp increase in the number of incidents in which civilian were injured by live gunfire near the Gaza perimeter fence," said B'Tselem.

Nonviolent civilians were targeted. Disingenuous IDF statements follow. Victims were inside Israel's lawlessly established (no-go) buffer zone.

Sometimes on their own land. Imagine Israel calling it off-limits. It refuses to publish its open-fire regulations given soldiers. They're licensed to kill with impunity.

Nonviolent Palestinians are fair game. Cold-blooded murder follows. It's standard Israeli practice. Palestinian lives have no value. Jewish ones alone matter.

A Final Comment

It bears repeating. America and Israel partner in each other's crimes. It's longstanding policy. A previous article said warmakers win peace prizes. Obama is Exhibit A.

On March 20, the USC Shoah Foundation's Institute for Visual History and Education as well as filmmaker Steven Spielberg will host Obama as featured speaker.

They'll do so at a "20th Anniversary for Humanity Gala." It's scheduled for May 7.

Obama wages war on humanity. He's a war criminal multiple times over. He presides over a homeland police state apparatus. He disdains civil and human rights.

Imagine honoring a world class thug. He'll receive the Ambassador for Humanity Award. It's the Institute's highest honor. Awarding it to Obama mocks its meaning.

He'll receive it "for his global efforts to protect human rights, his commitment to education and expanding educational technology, and his work advancing opportunities for all people," said the Institute.

His record is polar opposite and then some. He's beholden solely to monied interests. He spurns popular ones. His war on humanity rages. He belongs in prison, not high office.

Spielberg established the foundation years earlier. He ludicrously said Obama's "commitment to democracy and human rights has long been felt."

"As a constitutional scholar and as president, his interest in expanding justice and opportunity for all is remarkably evident."

Obama exceeds the worst of his predecessors. He spurns fundamental civil and human rights.

He mocks democratic values. Impeaching him is a national imperative. Don't expect Spielberg or the Foundation to explain.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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