Opinion Editorials, March 2016

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Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom

Treating Israel with kid gloves

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom created a maelstrom in Israel by merely demanding a “credible investigation into the deaths of Palestinians in order to clarify and bring about possible accountability”.

Israel declared the Swedish official persona non grata for daring to demand (which no Arab official has done until now) investigations into the extra-judicial killings of Palestinian children.

Since 1948 Israel has been empowered by the international community’s indifference to the plight of Palestinian refugees. In the last four months alone, Israeli vigilantes have murdered close to 170 Palestinians. It is indisputable that Palestinian defiance to Israel’s malevolent occupation has reached unprecedented levels. After nearly a quarter century of negotiations, and more than quadrupling of the number of illegal settlers in Jews-only colonies, the Palestinian people have taken the initiative into their hands.

Since 1948 Israel has been empowered by the international community’s indifference to the plight of Palestinian refugees.

Almost 50 per cent of the murdered Palestinians were under the age of 20, girls and boys born after the Oslo agreement. If at all a Jewish settler was killed at the hand of a frustrated lone wolf Palestinian, the Israeli police would target the whole community. Apart from executing the accused, in most cases they would also demolish the house where he or she lived. The same doesn’t apply if the terrorist is Jewish.

Israel has succeeded, to a great extent, in neutralising the tired traditional Palestinian leadership. Hamas is content with its fictional empire in Gaza, and members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) are more concerned with preserving the special VIP privileges granted by the occupation power.

While the number of murdered Palestinians is edging closer to 200, the PA continues its security coordination with the military occupation. Deeming Palestinian life worthless, they are providing Israel with unofficial licence to continue the onslaught against those resisting occupation.

Many videos circulating online show the tyranny of Jews. In one, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl is shown dying soaked in her blood on the pavement. She was murdered by a “Jewish hero” who sacrificed another Palestinian soul.

With great help from the Zionist-dominated international media, Israel has been able to portray the oppressed as the aggressor, and present the occupier as a benevolent victim.

There were only two instances when brutal murders received media attention. The first was of an Israeli vigilante shooting an Eritrean migrant, who was then lynched to death by a Jewish mob. The other was the gunning down of an Israeli Jew. In both cases, the victims were mistaken for Palestinians.

With great help from the Zionist-dominated international media, Israel has been able to portray the oppressed as the aggressor, and present the occupier as a benevolent victim. The New York Times, in its media hyperbole coverage, uses vivid language to describe Israeli fatalities – for example, in a report on 23 January inserting the phrase “amid a wave of Palestinian stabbings and attempted stabbings, car rammings and gun attacks” in a report about a Palestinian girl killed by an Israeli guard. In contrast, in the following sentence, it shifts to a flat, matter-of-fact-style to downplay Israeli murders, stating simply: “About 150 Palestinians have been killed during the same period.”

In the midst of all these, the outgoing UN chief has finally realised the evils of the Israeli occupation, telling the UN Security Council last month that Palestinians under Israeli occupation demonstrate what “oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation”.

Eight years under Hillary [Clinton] and Netanyahu, Jews will gobble up whatever land is still left for the future Palestinian state.

Current conditions are not likely to change under Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He came to office on a pledge that if he were to be re-elected, a Palestinian state would not be created.

Meanwhile, leading US Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has kowtowed to her Zionist benefactors, promising to reward Netanyahu by inviting him “to the White House in first month in office”.

Eight years under Hillary and Netanyahu, Jews will gobble up whatever land is still left for the future Palestinian state. On the bright side, however, they may inadvertently bring us one step closer to a one-state solution or force Israel to own up to its Jewish apartheid character.

A version of this article was first published by the Gulf Digital News. The version here is published by permission of Jamal Kanj to Redress.

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah & ccun.org.

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