The Jewish state’s genocidal rampage against Gaza appears unbound by any tenets of law or morality. Many Israeli Jews do not even heed their own holocaust mantra of “Never again.” It makes one wonder: does that mantra only apply to crimes against Jews and not by Jews?
The criminality of Israel includes:
- massacres of civilians
“Doctor Decries Israeli Attacks,” YouTube, 5 January 2009. Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert tells of the bombing of a market place and an apartment house with children playing on the roof. He said 50 percent of the casualties are women and children. He called this “hell” “an all-out war against the Palestinian population, and we can poof that with the numbers… They are bombing one-and-a-half million people in a cage.” and families;Tim Butcher, “Gaza medics describe horror of strike which killed 70,” Telegraph, 8 January 2009. - interfering with medical personnel;
Frank Jordans, “Red Cross: Israel delayed access to Gaza wounded,” Yahoo, 8 January 2009. “The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded,” the international Red Cross said. “Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red Crescent to assist the wounded.” Craig Whitlock and Reyham Abdel Kareem, “100 Survivors Rescued in Gaza From Ruins Blocked by Israelis,” Washington Post, January 2009. - targeting and killing UN staff
Shashank Bengali, “Israeli troops kill U.N. truck driver at Gaza crossing,” Miami Herald, 9 January 2009. It is reported, “Israeli soldiers opened fire Thursday on a truck attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the beleaguered Gaza Strip, killing one United Nations-contracted driver and seriously wounding another, U.N. officials said.” to continue the Israeli policy of starving the Gazans;“UN halts aid to Gaza, citing Israeli attacks on staff,” CBC News, 8 January 2009. Reuters, “Red Cross: Israel breaking int’l law, letting children starve in Gaza,” Haaretz, 8 January 2009. - humiliating UN personnel;
“Days After Calling Israeli Blockade of Gaza ‘A Crime Against Humanity,’ UN Human Rights Investigator Richard Falk Detained, Expelled from Israel,” Democracy Now!, 17 December 2008. - targeting of schools,
“UK Sky News video: Israeli bombing of UN Gaza schools Jan609,” YouTube, 7 January 2009. “Airstrikes Hit Gaza Schools, Dozens Killed” CBS News, 6 January 2009. mosques,AFP correspondents in Gaza City, “Deaths as missile hits praying crowd,” The Australian, 4 January 2009. hospitalsMa’an news, “Gaza hospitals under fire,” Uruknet, 5 January 2009. , homes and shelters;“Israel ‘shelled civilian shelter,'” BBC News, 9 January 2009. and - crackdowns on domestic dissent.
“Israeli intel targets Israeli protesters,” the Real News, 9 January 2009. The enormity of the massacres has led to fissures in Israeli Jews’s solidarity.
Corporate Media Complicity and Gore
A tired editorial eye revealed the complicity of the corporate media in the crimes of Israel. At first, CBS ran a headline that read: “Airstrikes hit Gaza schools, dozens killed.” The headline was later softened to: “Israel OK’s Gaza ‘Humanitarian Corridor’: Amid Increasing Carnage, Israel Agrees To Suspend Attacks In Certain Areas To Allow People To Get Vital Supplies,” shifting the focus away from Israel as a killing machine and recasting it as humanitarian.
The original version of the story reported, “John Ging, head of Gaza operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said three U.N. schools have been hit in the last 24 hours and the ‘indications are that these strikes originated from Israeli weapons.'” The article also featured a photo of a Palestinian child with a blood-drenched face. The quotation from Ging identifying Israel as the perpetrator and the graphic photo were deleted from the later version online.
Screen shot of original story at CBS
A headline and story featuring Israeli atrocities in contemporary corporate America media is rare indeed. So it was not a surprise when the incriminating headline, quotations, and photo were removed.
The Telegraph reported, “Growing evidence … of the bloodiest single incident of the Gaza conflict [sic] when around 70 corpses were found by a Palestinian paramedic near a bombed-out house.”
The account related that Israeli soldiers “had ordered about 100 members of the [al Samouni] clan to gather in a single house … around dawn on Sunday. At 6.35am on Monday the house was repeatedly shelled with appalling loss of civilian life.”
Shame
Horror and outrage characterize these vile, premeditated murders. But there is another indelible trait exposed: shamelessness — in particular, the shamelessness that reveals the cowardice among Israeli “warriors.”
The shame is so intense that Jews abroad are seeking to estrange themselves from Israeli Jews.
Pianist Anton Kuerti said, “Israel’s behavior makes me ashamed of being a Jew, and Canada’s servile support of the United States’ position
Indeed. While the Canadian government has been standing solidly behind Israel during the slaughter, it realizes that people in Gaza are in danger and seeks to have Canadians there repatriated to safety.
Dissidents with Montreal-based Palestinian and Jewish Unity expressed outrage at “Israel’s latest assault on the Palestinian people and by the Canadian government’s refusal to condemn these massacres.”
CTV said, “They are deeply concerned that Canadians are hearing the views of pro-Israel groups who are being represented as the only voice of Jewish Canadians. The protesters have occupied the consulate to send a clear statement that many Jewish-Canadians do not support Israel’s violence and apartheid policies.”
Jewish Media Focuses on Its Own Manufactured Victimhood
The wanton killing by Israeli forces seems to have incited vehemence directed at Jews outside Israel.
The JTA focused on the beating of a single Jewish girl, which is absolutely deplorable, but it hides and propagandizes over the genocide of Palestinians. The contrast in the value placed on Jewish life versus non-Jewish life is stark.
The Audacity of Valor
W (World Wide Weekly), a culture and current events program on MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation) in Korea, showed a video depicting the courage of an unarmed woman using her body to prevent Israeli soldiers from shooting at Palestinian children. That adult men would raise weapons against an unarmed woman and rock-throwing children betrays the cowardice of the soldiers.
The Korean announcer states: “Sometimes Palestinians’s thirst for freedom leads to intense confrontation. Armed soldiers attack. The Palestinians defy them with stones and run away. They are the targets of Israeli soldiers. Rubber bullets with high killing power sometimes threaten lives. But then, a girl’s voice cries out, “Stop, stop, stop.”
This she shouts as she places her body in front of a soldier to prevent him from a getting a line of fire on the children.
She tries to reason with the soldier, asking him if he understands. “You are shooting at kids.” She offers the simple way for the soldiers out from the situation: “Just pull back.”
The Korean announcer comments, “One Palestinian woman blocks the muzzle of the gun. Her action surprises the soldiers. She resolves to stop the Israeli gunfire even with her unarmed body.”
“What are you shooting at? Why are you shooting at them?” the courageous woman asks as the soldier tries to position himself above her. She raises her arms.
In the background other soldiers begin shooting. The woman flinches at the sound of gunfire, but she holds her ground. World View News Service identifies the woman as Huwaida Arraf. Arraf is a Palestinian-American who co-founded the International Solidarity Movement in Jerusalem. Since she is a Palestinian-American activist, she probably knows of American solidarity activist Rachel Corrie and her fate, further boosting the valorous credentials of Arraf.
The Korean announcer says, “Despite her last ditch effort in throwing her body before the guns, even a slight peace is hard to come by. This is the cold reality of this land.”
Apart from ill-gotten booty, those who wield preponderant power are in a no-win situation. There is no gain from using violence on someone smaller or weaker. If clever, the powerful counterpart will withdraw, status still intact. To use violence on the weak and lose would make one a laughingstock. To use violence and beat the weaker counterpart would expose oneself, at best, to be a bully and a coward — and worse, a craven war criminal.