In its latest manufactured spectacle of horrendous violence, Operation Protective Edge, Israel broke an 18 month truce and fired on Hamas first, although this was just one of many significant breaches Israel perpetrated against Gaza since November 2012.
“Because memories are short. On 29 June, Israel killed a Hamas member in Gaza. On 30 June, this headline” (thanks, Ben White)
Yet the mainstream media one-sidedly have spun Israel’s propaganda that it is merely “defending itself” and “responding to rocket attacks”, and most despicably, the lie that Hamas uses civilians as “human shields“.
Israel has a history of concocting hasbara to pervert the historical record of its unilateral pre-planned attacks on the people of Gaza. As revealed by Wikileaks cables, Operation Cast Lead was cooked up with malice aforethought in concert with the US and initiated by Israel. In November 2012, the zionist state commenced its next attack on the Gazan people, Operation Pillar of Cloud, ‘in order to restore its increasingly frayed deterrent posture vis-à-vis the Palestinians, the region and the world at large.’
Regardless of its duplicitous, traditional posture of ‘self-defence’ which zionists have been utilising ever since their 1947 Plan Dalet conquests were termed ‘counter-measures’, Israel does not have a right to attack the population of Occupied Gaza to ‘defend itself’ or otherwise, and certainly not to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Nor is it sufficient for Egypt in collusion with the US and with the assistance of Tony Blair, to broker a one-sided cease fire and not consult with one of the parties at all. This manouevre attempted to make it look as though Israel was the blameless party seeking peace, when in actuality it provided a rubber stamp for Israel to accelerate its massacres and destruction in Gaza. This is not a “war” or “conflict”, it is a continuance of the settler colonial genocide of and theft from Palestinians which Israel has been conducting assiduously since 1948.
Also pertinent to Israel’s murderous campaign is the fact that Israel has its eyes on Gaza’s gas and this is another reason, besides deterrence of resistance to its hegemony, why Israel is attacking the people of Gaza, to divide the Palestinian people all the better to arrange comfy deals for resource exploitation with neoliberal collaborator PA nepotists.
The US/UK and other imperial cronies have been indulgent, irresponsible ‘parents’, have cossetted, enabled and grown a fascist juggernaut to plague Palestinians and the region. By permitting their sociopathic child, which acts as a ‘farm’ and ‘laboratory’ for imperial arms tech, intel tech and security tech development and testing on live Palestinian targets, to terrorise Palestinians and others, the empire tells the rest of the region that it will never be permitted to be free, unify, enjoy basic human rights or resist the empire’s predations.
Israel’s genocide of and theft from Palestinians must stop and the criminal eight year siege which it has imposed on the people of Gaza end.
Palestinians have called for the international community to oppose Israel’s crimes through boycott, divestment and sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel.
As Jennine Abdul Khalik, Co-editor of Arab-Australian site Sajjeling and Palestinian human rights advocate says:
‘The BDS movement, initialised and endorsed by Palestinian civil society in 2005, is one of the most impactful things we can do to challenge Israel’s impunity and its normalcy. It begins in our streets, in our universities, and amongst our businesses and organisations. We can cut through government silence from below.’
Present at the huge protest for Palestinian rights at Qalandia checkpoint in the West Bank today, Diana Buttu, Palestinian advocate and lawyer highlights the importance of BDS:
‘First and foremost, The BDS movement is growing and needs to grow further … Beyond that there needs to be a push for an arms embargo on Israel and accountability for its actions.
The boycott movement is our way of reclaiming our voices.’
Palestinian academics, writers and public figures emphasise that a cease fire must incorporate the end of the blockade on Gaza:
‘As academics, public figures and activists witnessing the intended genocide of 1.8 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, we call for a ceasefire with Israel only if conditioned on an end to the blockade and the restoration of basic freedoms that have been denied to the people for more than seven years.
Our foremost concerns are not only the health and safety of the people in our communities, but also the quality of their lives – their ability to live free of fear of imprisonment without due process, to support their families through gainful employment, and to travel to visit their relatives and further their education.
These are fundamental human aspirations that have been severely limited for the Palestinian people for more than 47 years, but that have been particularly deprived from residents of Gaza since 2007. We have been pushed beyond the limits of what a normal person can be expected to endure.
…
Likewise, Hamas represented the sentiment of the vast majority of residents when it rejected the unilateral ceasefire proposed by Egypt and Israel without consulting anyone in Gaza. We share the broadly held public sentiment that it is unacceptable to merely return to the status quo – in which Israel strictly limits travel in and out of the Gaza Strip, controls the supplies that come in (including a ban on most construction materials), and prohibits virtually all exports, thus crippling the economy and triggering one of the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the Arab world.To do so would mean a return to a living death.
Unfortunately, past experience has shown that the Israeli government repeatedly reneges on promises for further negotiations, as well as on its commitments to reform.
Likewise, the international community has demonstrated no political will to enforce these pledges. Therefore, we call for a ceasefire only when negotiated conditions result in the following:
Freedom of movement of Palestinians in and out of the Gaza Strip.
Unlimited import and export of supplies and goods, including by land, sea and air.
Unrestricted use of the Gaza seaport.
Monitoring and enforcement of these agreements by a body appointed by the United Nations, with appropriate security measures.Each of these expectations is taken for granted by most countries, and it is time for the Palestinians of Gaza to be accorded the human rights they deserve.
Related Links
Don’t forget the men that the Israeli killing machine is butchering and maiming
On Zionism’s violence against women: “When a state views a population — its dispossessed, disenfranchised and occupied indigenous population — as a ”demographic threat,” that view is fundamentally both racist and gendered. Racist population control relies specifically on violence against women.”
Americans still brainwashed by imperialism and zionism
Extremely disturbing vid footage in this piece, including a bizarre dancing ritual by zionist fanatics as they wish evil upon “the Other”, inscribing deadly artillery shells with curses
On truce: ‘The Hamas official acknowledged that the militants realized that getting Israel to end the eight-year siege in tandem with a ceasefire was unrealistic.
“There needs to be an agreement on the principles, the schedule (for ending the blockade) and the mechanism,” the official said.
Hamas’s chief Khaled Meshaal on Wednesday again insisted on a ceasefire only after an end to the siege, in force since Hamas was democratically elected in 2006.
The official, who works closely with Meshaal, said however that they understood that the blockade would be eased only after the ceasefire, but they required a schedule in place first.’
This is what the US enables in its disgraceful one-sided support for genocidal apartheid Israel – grotesque war crimes against civilians
Two dozen killed as several UNRWA schools hit in Gaza
Solidarity with Muslim leaders boycotting the NSW Premier’s “Ramadan” dinner.
The Liberal Democrat MP David Ward has refused to apologise for saying he would probably fire a rocket into Israel if he lived in Gaza, despite his party “utterly condemning” the comments.
Promoting the Rape of Gaza and Its Women
‘On July 21, Israeli media reported that Dov Lior, Chief Rabbi of the West Bank settlement Kiryat Arba, issued a religious edict on the rules of engagement during wartime, which he sent to the country’s Defense Minister. The edict stated that according to Jewish religious law, it is permissible to bomb innocent Palestinian civilians and “to exterminate the enemy.”’
Why the UK must end its military support for Israel
Israel lies so it can commit and conceal crimes of war
“Both sides” aren’t to blame in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel is
GPO Advisory to Journalists Covering Operation Protective Edge from the Gaza Strip
With a total death toll as at 25 July of 828, at least 70% of which are civilians, the “most moral” military in the world has killed but 10 what it terms as ‘senior terrorists’.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, including staff, are helping Israel’s massacre in Gaza
West Bank rage at Gaza bloodshed as protests erupt over UN school attack
“Thousands of Palestinians took part in a demonstration after more than 15 women, children and United Nations staff were killed and around 200 injured when a UN shelter for those fleeing the Israeli bombing was hit.
The Israel Defence Forces insisted it had given the occupants of the shelter time to leave before shelling the area. But the UN flatly contradicted that, saying it had made repeated attempts to negotiate a window during which people could safely leave the area but none was granted. It said it had given the IDF precise co-ordinates of the location of the school.
Meanwhile reports emerged that the US secretary of state, John Kerry, had presented both sides with a new proposal for a cessation of violence. It centred around a week-long temporary ceasefire with Israeli troops allowed to stay in Gaza to locate and destroy tunnels; and simultaneous negotiations for a permanent deal, with guarantees by the US, EU and UN that the primary concerns of each side would be addressed.
Kerry was said to be awaiting a response from Israel and Hamas before leaving Cairo to return to Washington later on Friday. Israel’s security cabinet was due to meet later on Friday to discuss the plan. It will also discuss the option of expanding its eight-day-old ground operation in Gaza.
Hamas’s leader-in-exile, Khaled Mishal, said a truce must include a guaranteed end to Israel’s eight-year blockade of the Gaza Strip. “We want a ceasefire as soon as possible, that’s parallel with the lifting of the siege of Gaza,” he told the BBC.
The school in Beit Hanoun in the north of Gaza was one of the grimmest incidents of the conflict, now in its 18th day and in which more than 800 Palestinians – mostly civilians – have been killed. Thirty-four Israelis and one Thai worker have died. “
Israel used fabricated images to justify bombing al-Wafa hospital
Freedom and justice For Gaza: Boycott action against 7 complicit companies
Israel does not deny that it killed those Palestinians using modern aerial technology and precise weaponry courtesy of the world’s only superpower. In fact, it does not even deny that they are civilians.
Five Israeli Talking Points on Gaza—Debunked
Israel’s propaganda machine, however, insists that these Palestinians wanted to die (“culture of martyrdom”), staged their own death (“telegenically dead”) or were the tragic victims of Hamas’s use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes (“human shielding”). In all instances, the military power is blaming the victims for their own deaths, accusing them of devaluing life and attributing this disregard to cultural bankruptcy. In effect, Israel—along with uncritical mainstream media that unquestionably accept this discourse—dehumanizes Palestinians, deprives them even of their victimhood and legitimizes egregious human rights and legal violations.
It Turns Out Hamas Didn’t Kidnap and Kill the 3 Israeli Teens After All
Time for Israel’s war criminal genocidalists to meet justice at the ICC:
In a less widely-reported speech, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in Paris on March 20, 2013 reportedly said that the ICC is “waiting” for the Palestinians to “come back,” implying that following the UN vote, she would view Palestine as a state, even though the UN Security Council has not recognized it.
Put succinctly, the threat of criminal allegations against Israelis going anywhere (though there are many obstacles besides the statehood bar) at the ICC are far greater now than they were when the Goldstone Report came out.
Classic fascist newspeak from genocidalist war crim Moshe Feiglin. Israel loves “life and liberty”, Palestinians are just “savages” who resist the glorious zionist entity, so send them to their deaths.
Attacks on hospitals expose Israel’s “self-defense” claims as lies
Gaza is not “a tragedy in which ‘both sides’ share the blame” …
“We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and we want our Government to do the same, to cut diplomatic relations, to sever trade, to boycott Israel until it ends its violent occupation.”
Palestinians working toward a secular democratic one state.
Mob of zionist brownshirts sing songs about Gaza school children not being able to attend school, because there’s no children left.
Will fascist Israel flaunt the directives of the UNSC as it has done countless times before?
Khaled Meshaal to interviewer Charlie Rose:
‘”We are not fanatics, we are not fundamentalists. We are not actually fighting the Jews because they are Jews per se. We do not fight any other races. We fight the occupiers,” he said.
“I’m ready to coexist with the Jews, with the Christians and the Arabs and non-Arabs,” he said. “However, I do not coexist with the occupiers.”‘
Only 27 Australian politicians condemn Israel’s attack on Gaza. Only 27.
‘The onslaught is indiscriminate and unrelenting, with but one possible conclusion: Israel is not fighting the terrorists of Hamas. In defiance of the laws of war and the norms of civilised behaviour, it is waging its own war of terror on the entire Gaza population of about 1.7 million people. Call it genocide, call it ethnic cleansing: the aim is to kill Arabs.
As none other than Malcolm Fraser tweeted this week: “If any other country went to war killing as many civilians, women and children, it would be named a war crime.”‘
If the media reported everything the way they report on Palestine…
Belgian doctors call for sanctions against Israel
‘On the other side of the bargain, and providing the most crucial return in supporting Zionism for the western imperial class, is the furthering of regional chaos, antagonism, and conflict, perpetuating a weakened and subordinated condition of the Arab states and peoples that western capital seeks to repress – to force down the road of political reaction and to exploit. In one form or another Israel has provided western imperialism with its most reliable asset in the repression and exploitation of the Middle East. Until this colonial manifestation of western imperialism is abolished in full, and its racist ideological structure along with it, thereby freeing the Palestinians and Arabs from western imperialism and Zionist oppression, there will be no “durable peace”.
The western “Left” liberals and social chauvinists seeking mere “understanding” of the oppressor and affording it false equivalence aim to mitigate and obscure both the inherently fascistic character of Zionism and the Israeli State, and its critical role in buttressing western imperial domination of the Middle East.’
I have no hesitation whatsoever in stating that what is happening in Gaza is a part of a continuing process of deliberate genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israelis. When I have previously stated this, some commenters have taken issue with the word genocide. I see no other word that fits.