Brutalizing Palestinians is longstanding. Crimes of war, against humanity, and slow-motion genocide reflect it.  

So do colonization, apartheid and daily state terror. Militarized occupation is lawless and brutal. Previous articles explained.

Torture, inhumane and degrading treatment reflect official Israeli policy. Children are treated like adults.

In July, Israeli soldiers terrorized a five-year old Palestinian boy. They threatened him and his parents.

They handcuffed and blindfolded his father. They handed the boy over to police. They wrongfully accused him of stone-throwing. Many other children face similar charges.

Each year, about 700 West Bank children are arrested, detained, interrogated, terrorized, and prosecuted in Israeli military courts.

Israel systematically spurns human rights and humanitarian law. It does so with impunity. Due process and judicial fairness don't matter. Israel does what it pleases. It remains unaccountable.

Palestinian children are routinely terrorized. It's done for any reason or none at all. They're arrested at checkpoints, on streets, heading to school, coming home, helping parents plant and harvest crops, at play, and while sleeping pre-dawn.

Family members are threatened not to intervene. They're beaten if they try. Regardless of weather, they're forced onto streets in their nightclothes. Their homes are disruptively ransacked.

Arrests are lawless. They're violent. Residences are broken into unannounced. Property is damaged or stolen. Children are blindfolded and shackled. They're terrorized. Beatings are commonplace.

They're held at times for weeks. Legal counsel often is denied. Guilt by accusation is policy. It's cruel, unforgiving and unjust.

Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners languish in Israel's gulag. It's one of the world's worst.

Land theft and dispossessions persist daily. Homes are bulldozed and lost. Water and other valued resources are stolen. Leaders and freedom fighters are assassinated.

Palestinian children are shot for target practice. Farmers are wounded or killed in their fields. Settlers abuse them with impunity. Fishermen are accosted at sea.

Gaza remains lawlessly besieged. Humanitarian activists are massacred trying to relieve their suffering. Others are brutalized and arrested.

Israel attacks Palestinians for any reason or none at all. Military orders deny them all rights.

Millions of diaspora Palestinians are denied their lawful right of return. Praying to the wrong God is criminalized. Palestinians wanting to live free on their own land in their own country are called terrorists.

Israel systematically violates core international laws, treaties and conventions. It does so with impunity. It literally gets away with mass murder. It does so repeatedly.

It considers Palestinian lives and well-being unimportant. Longstanding brutalizing policies show it. Lost Palestinian lives go unnoticed.

Israeli ones alone matter. Rare victims of Palestinian violence make headlines. Highlighting them reflects double standard hypocrisy.

On September 20, IDF Staff Sgt. Tomer Hazan was killed. Palestinian Nidal Amar was charged. Allegedly he confessed.

Israel claimed he wanted to exchange Hazan's body for his imprisoned brother. The story makes no sense. Israel brutalizes Palestinians during interrogations.

Amar perhaps confessed to stop the pain. Palestinian detainees are given documents to sign. They're in Hebrew. They don't understand what they say.

Sign or else is ordered. Israel said more arrests are likely. Innocence or guilt doesn't matter.

Israeli Likudniks and other hardliners reacted to Hazan's killing. It proves Palestinians have no intention of supporting peace, they claimed. Blame the victims is official Israeli policy.

On September 22, Haaretz headlined "Israeli soldier killed in apparent sniper shooting near Hebron," saying:

Staff Sgt. Gal Kobi was shot. He was rushed to Hadassah Hospital Ein Karem for treatment. It was too late. He "died of his wounds," said Haaretz.

He was near the Tomb of the Patriarchs Pharmacy District checkpoint. "Clashes erupted" nearby. "A bullet was fired from a distanceâ¤|(It) struck his upper body."

Following his shooting, Israeli soldiers sealed off Hebron. They did so entirely. Dozens of roadblocks followed.

So did intensive house-to-house searches. Homes were broken into violently. Cars were stopped and inspected. Dozens of Palestinians were assaulted.

About 150 were arrested. They were lawlessly detained. Brutalizing interrogations followed. Most were released. At least 15 remain in custody.

Soldiers blocked a Palestinian ambulance. They prevented a woman in labor from receiving hospital care.

Kobi's shooting followed clashes between residents and soldiers. At issue was lawlessly shutting all Palestinian shops in the Bab Az-Zawiya area.

These type incidents occur often. Israel bears full responsibility. Palestinians are blamed for its ruthlessness. Israeli hardline minister Naftali Bennett wants Israel's prisoner release policy reconsidered.

On October 5, a nine-year old Israeli girl was shot and injured. She lives in Psagot settlement. It's located near el-Bireh Palestinian village. It's in central West Bank.

She was standing outside her home. She was identified as Noam Glick. A single bullet struck her. She was hospitalized. She's in stable condition.

Israeli soldiers stormed el-Bireh, al-Jalazun refugee camp north of Ramallah, and surrounding areas. Two Palestinians were wounded. Numerous others were rounded up, detained and interrogated.

On October 7, soldiers arrested three more Palestinians south of Hebron. Several others were abducted Sunday night. Four children were taken into custody separately. One was eight years old.

On October 6, Mondoweiss contributor Annie Robbins discussed double standard media reports. She compared Noam Glick v. six-year old Palestinian Musab al-Sarahneh's shooting.

Glick's expected to fully recover. Al-Sarahneh lost his right eye. Israeli soldiers bear full responsibility.

Family members were traveling peacefully in their car. As they approached the al-Fawwar refugee camp, a soldier opened fire indiscriminately.

He used rubber-coated steel bullets. Musab was holding his mother's hand. He was struck in the eye.

He later said he went to visit his uncle. En route home, he was shot. "Why," he asked? "I lost my eye, and I am still so young."

His father added:

"I left the house and my son had two eyes, and I came back home and now (he) has one" left. It was painful for him to witness his son's suffering.

Glick's shooting got prominent major media coverage. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, AP (picked up by USA Today), Huffington Post, and numerous other global news sources reported it.

The New York Times headlined "Gunfire Wounds Israeli Girl, 9, Playing in Yard in West Bank," saying:

IDF spokeswoman Libby Weiss said the incident's "being investigated as a possible terrorist attack."

Housing Minister Uri Ariel was quoted, saying:

"We've returned to a situation in which talks with the Palestinians equal murderous terrorist attacks. This situation cannot be allowed to continue."

The Times added:

"The shooting came two weeks after the killings of two Israeli soldiers in the West Bank: one was lured there while off duty by a Palestinian co-worker at a restaurant outside Tel Aviv; the other was shot by a sniper while guarding the Jewish settlement in Hebron, where thousands of Jews were making a pilgrimage."

"The recent episodes are part of an uptick in violence against Israelis reported since the beginning of the new peace talks."

"Israel's General Security Services, known as the Shin Bet, counted 91 attacks in September in the West Bank and Jerusalem, compared with 51 in August."

Israel considers young Palestinian children and youths throwing stones in response to major Israeli provocations terrorist incidents.

Biased Times coverage doesn't explain. Israeli misinformation is regurgitated as fact. Readers are lied to. They're willfully deceived. They're betrayed. Doing so is longstanding Times policy.

Other US major media operate the same way. Truth and full disclosure are verboten. Misinformation substitutes.

Netanyahu called Glick's shooting hateful. He blamed PA officials. They had nothing to do with it.

The Jerusalem Post blamed Palestinian incitement. "This attack came after two separate" West Bank incidents, said Robbins.

She referenced Israeli soldiers Tomer Hazan and Gal Kobi. As discussed above, they were shot and killed. Palestinian deaths precipitated what happened.

Distorted major media coverage reported things one way. At the same time, Musab losing his right eye was ignored.

"Why," asked Robbins. "Because (Palestinian shootings) are all too common, and (their) li(ves) (aren't) valued here like Jewish life."

Longstanding militarized occupation is ruthless, brutal and lawless. Jewish lives and welfare alone matter. Palestinian children learn early in life the hard way.

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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