16 mar 2015
Visiting Netiv HaAsara near the Gaza Strip, Yisrael Beytenu chairman criticizes Netanyahu's 'weak leadership' which allowed Palestinian terror group to rearm.
Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman said Monday afternoon during a visit to Natif HaAsara near the Gaza Strip that "when I am defense minister, we will have the last campaign against Hamas."
Lieberman used the visit to criticize Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu's policy towards Hamas. "What we are seeing is that just a stone's throw away, Hamas people are not hiding – they're building fortifications and arming," he said. "It shows that they apparently understood that we had a weak leadership that doesn't know how to be decisive, so they're allowing themselves to build fortifications and restore themselves."
"The elimination of Hamas is the primary mission of the Israeli government and as defense minister I will carry it out," said Lieberman. "We will not reach agreements and understandings with them. The only agreement that can eb reached with Hamas is when they are buried in the ground. Everyone knows what my opinion was in the government. I didn't hide it. Unfortunately, my opinion wasn't heeded.
I was a minority in the cabinet. It's important that after elections we form a strong coalition and not a coalition of nerds – a coalition that will give an order to eliminate Hamas." Videos on Ynet showed Hamas members on the Gaza side of the border fence building posts or training facilities as well as digging. Two masked armed individuals were seen helping another person descend – possibly into the ground.
This all occurred scores of meters away from the homes of Netiv HaAsara residents – where the settlements of Elei Sinai and Nisanit stood before being evicted during the disengagement from Gaza.
The residents of Netiv HaAsara are accustomed to seeing Hamas men setting up outposts and levees near the border fence, but in recent days the men working have been armed and masked, with Hamas flags flying visibly overhead.
Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman said Monday afternoon during a visit to Natif HaAsara near the Gaza Strip that "when I am defense minister, we will have the last campaign against Hamas."
Lieberman used the visit to criticize Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu's policy towards Hamas. "What we are seeing is that just a stone's throw away, Hamas people are not hiding – they're building fortifications and arming," he said. "It shows that they apparently understood that we had a weak leadership that doesn't know how to be decisive, so they're allowing themselves to build fortifications and restore themselves."
"The elimination of Hamas is the primary mission of the Israeli government and as defense minister I will carry it out," said Lieberman. "We will not reach agreements and understandings with them. The only agreement that can eb reached with Hamas is when they are buried in the ground. Everyone knows what my opinion was in the government. I didn't hide it. Unfortunately, my opinion wasn't heeded.
I was a minority in the cabinet. It's important that after elections we form a strong coalition and not a coalition of nerds – a coalition that will give an order to eliminate Hamas." Videos on Ynet showed Hamas members on the Gaza side of the border fence building posts or training facilities as well as digging. Two masked armed individuals were seen helping another person descend – possibly into the ground.
This all occurred scores of meters away from the homes of Netiv HaAsara residents – where the settlements of Elei Sinai and Nisanit stood before being evicted during the disengagement from Gaza.
The residents of Netiv HaAsara are accustomed to seeing Hamas men setting up outposts and levees near the border fence, but in recent days the men working have been armed and masked, with Hamas flags flying visibly overhead.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday that, if reelected, he will build thousands of settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem to prevent future concessions to Palestinians.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's general election on a whistle-stop tour of Har Homa, a contentious settlement neighborhood of annexed East Jerusalem, the PM vowed that he would never allow Palestinians to establish a capital in the city's eastern sector.
"I won't let that happen. My friends and I in Likud will preserve the unity of Jerusalem," he said of his ruling right-wing party, according to AFP, vowing to prevent any future division of the city by building thousands of new settler homes.
"We will continue to build in Jerusalem, we will add thousands of housing units, and in the face of all the (international) pressure, we will persist and continue to develop our eternal capital," he added.
During the 2013 negotiations, Israeli officials announced, and, eventually, carried out in full force, plans to build thousands of additional homes in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, while continuing to further seize lands, demolish homes and agricultural resources and, thus, leaving scores of Palestinian families severely disenfranchised and without so much as a roof over their heads to shelter them from inclement weather.
Gazans were already surviving on a mere 8 hours per day of electricity when the Palestinian negotiating team finally resigned in protest, in mid-November. Israel, soon after, made quite clear its position on securing peace with Palestinians when Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, during a meeting with young Likud Party supporters, boasted:
“I was threatened in Washington: ‘not one brick’ [of settlement construction] … after five years, we built a little more than one brick…”
Asked about "peace talks with the Palestinians”, the PM reportedly replied, according to +972 online Israeli magazine: “about the – what?” to which his audience responded with a round of chuckling.
Critics of Israel's aggressively right-wing regime assert that such peace negotiations are simply used as a front for continued settlement expansion and military occupation, noting that settlement activity clearly increases during negotiations, while daily acts of violence against Palestinians, by both Israeli civilians and soldiers alike, remains as of yet unchallenged by the powers that be.
Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
Israel refers to both halves of the city as its "united, undivided capital" and does not see construction in the eastern sector as settlement building.
Successive Israeli leaders have vowed that Jerusalem will never again be divided -- in war or peace.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's general election on a whistle-stop tour of Har Homa, a contentious settlement neighborhood of annexed East Jerusalem, the PM vowed that he would never allow Palestinians to establish a capital in the city's eastern sector.
"I won't let that happen. My friends and I in Likud will preserve the unity of Jerusalem," he said of his ruling right-wing party, according to AFP, vowing to prevent any future division of the city by building thousands of new settler homes.
"We will continue to build in Jerusalem, we will add thousands of housing units, and in the face of all the (international) pressure, we will persist and continue to develop our eternal capital," he added.
During the 2013 negotiations, Israeli officials announced, and, eventually, carried out in full force, plans to build thousands of additional homes in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, while continuing to further seize lands, demolish homes and agricultural resources and, thus, leaving scores of Palestinian families severely disenfranchised and without so much as a roof over their heads to shelter them from inclement weather.
Gazans were already surviving on a mere 8 hours per day of electricity when the Palestinian negotiating team finally resigned in protest, in mid-November. Israel, soon after, made quite clear its position on securing peace with Palestinians when Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, during a meeting with young Likud Party supporters, boasted:
“I was threatened in Washington: ‘not one brick’ [of settlement construction] … after five years, we built a little more than one brick…”
Asked about "peace talks with the Palestinians”, the PM reportedly replied, according to +972 online Israeli magazine: “about the – what?” to which his audience responded with a round of chuckling.
Critics of Israel's aggressively right-wing regime assert that such peace negotiations are simply used as a front for continued settlement expansion and military occupation, noting that settlement activity clearly increases during negotiations, while daily acts of violence against Palestinians, by both Israeli civilians and soldiers alike, remains as of yet unchallenged by the powers that be.
Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
Israel refers to both halves of the city as its "united, undivided capital" and does not see construction in the eastern sector as settlement building.
Successive Israeli leaders have vowed that Jerusalem will never again be divided -- in war or peace.
Settler groups tried to take over a Palestinian-rented house of Sub Laban family in Jerusalem Old City’s neighborhood of Aqabat al-Khalidiya Monday morning in the presence of the Israeli police, local sources said.
The settlers demanded immediate eviction of the house under the claim of being owned by Jews according to a decision of the Israeli Jerusalem District Court.
Tensions have been running high as dozens of Israeli settlers arrived at the scene and attempted to evacuate the Sub Laban’s house by force amidst heightened presence of police, locals, and foreign peace activists.
The spokesman of the neighborhood Basim al-Qadoumi told QPress that the house is located within a historic building dating back to the Ottoman and Mamluk era. The Sub Laban family has inhabited the house for a very long time as the family rented it before 1967, he added.
The tenant along with a group of foreigners and locals are sitting-in inside the house in solidarity with the family which refuses to evict its home. The Israeli Jerusalem District Court postponed Monday noon the eviction of the house until May.
Israeli police raided the house early morning and ordered the Sub Laban family to evict it, granting them only ten minutes to leave the apartment.
The evacuation was delayed following attempts by the family’s lawyer who managed to delay it for two hours in a successful attempt to obtain a court ruling to halt the eviction.
Jewish settlers last February attempted to evict the house, claiming that the house belongs to a Jewish family and that settlers have the right to inhabit it instead of a Palestinian family.
Rafat Sub Laban said his family rented the house in 1956 from Jordan’s then Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP), 11 years before Israel occupied the eastern part of Jerusalem.
The house was originally owned by Jewish migrants before the CEP assumed control of Jewish-owned property upon the Israeli-Arab war in 1948.
The Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property was established to handle property taken from Jews in the West Bank in 1948. In 1967, this function was disbanded.
The Jewish organization Ateret Cohanim filed a lawsuit at the Israeli magistrate court to seize the property one year and a half ago, and won it. Nevertheless, the family appealed the decision before the District Court, which is due to return with a verdict on May 31, 2015.
It is not the first time that settlers raid Arab houses in Occupied Jerusalem for evacuation purposes. More than 20 housing units have recently been taken over forcibly by Jewish settlers in Silwan neighborhood.
The settlers demanded immediate eviction of the house under the claim of being owned by Jews according to a decision of the Israeli Jerusalem District Court.
Tensions have been running high as dozens of Israeli settlers arrived at the scene and attempted to evacuate the Sub Laban’s house by force amidst heightened presence of police, locals, and foreign peace activists.
The spokesman of the neighborhood Basim al-Qadoumi told QPress that the house is located within a historic building dating back to the Ottoman and Mamluk era. The Sub Laban family has inhabited the house for a very long time as the family rented it before 1967, he added.
The tenant along with a group of foreigners and locals are sitting-in inside the house in solidarity with the family which refuses to evict its home. The Israeli Jerusalem District Court postponed Monday noon the eviction of the house until May.
Israeli police raided the house early morning and ordered the Sub Laban family to evict it, granting them only ten minutes to leave the apartment.
The evacuation was delayed following attempts by the family’s lawyer who managed to delay it for two hours in a successful attempt to obtain a court ruling to halt the eviction.
Jewish settlers last February attempted to evict the house, claiming that the house belongs to a Jewish family and that settlers have the right to inhabit it instead of a Palestinian family.
Rafat Sub Laban said his family rented the house in 1956 from Jordan’s then Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP), 11 years before Israel occupied the eastern part of Jerusalem.
The house was originally owned by Jewish migrants before the CEP assumed control of Jewish-owned property upon the Israeli-Arab war in 1948.
The Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property was established to handle property taken from Jews in the West Bank in 1948. In 1967, this function was disbanded.
The Jewish organization Ateret Cohanim filed a lawsuit at the Israeli magistrate court to seize the property one year and a half ago, and won it. Nevertheless, the family appealed the decision before the District Court, which is due to return with a verdict on May 31, 2015.
It is not the first time that settlers raid Arab houses in Occupied Jerusalem for evacuation purposes. More than 20 housing units have recently been taken over forcibly by Jewish settlers in Silwan neighborhood.
Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman
Israeli right-wing politician and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Sunday afternoon, broke into Hebron's Al Ibrahimi mosque. His provocative "visit" came to claim that the mosque had a Jewish identity, and counts as an election campaign for the Knesset elections coming in two days.
According to the PNN, Israeli forces around the mosque have tightened the security, closed a number of gates and blocked the citizens from entering, for fear of clashes.
Lieberman earlier stated that a speech to be given in Tel Aviv, today, should assure "destroying Hamas" instead of setting any prisoners free.
Hebron governor Kamel Hamid condemned the visit, calling it part of a "growing call for desecration of holy places and the creation of chaos," Ma'an News Agency reported.
He also accused Lieberman -- the second Israeli leader to visit the flashpoint Palestinian city this week -- of "sabotaging the stability that the Palestinian National Authority has created in the city."
Israeli right-wing politician and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Sunday afternoon, broke into Hebron's Al Ibrahimi mosque. His provocative "visit" came to claim that the mosque had a Jewish identity, and counts as an election campaign for the Knesset elections coming in two days.
According to the PNN, Israeli forces around the mosque have tightened the security, closed a number of gates and blocked the citizens from entering, for fear of clashes.
Lieberman earlier stated that a speech to be given in Tel Aviv, today, should assure "destroying Hamas" instead of setting any prisoners free.
Hebron governor Kamel Hamid condemned the visit, calling it part of a "growing call for desecration of holy places and the creation of chaos," Ma'an News Agency reported.
He also accused Lieberman -- the second Israeli leader to visit the flashpoint Palestinian city this week -- of "sabotaging the stability that the Palestinian National Authority has created in the city."
15 mar 2015
Israeli
soldiers attacked, Monday, a 10-year-old Palestinian child as dozens
of Israeli fanatics stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque yards, in occupied
Jerusalem, and also assaulted a mosque guard while trying to stop
them.
An employee with the Islamic Waqf and Endowment Department said the soldiers attacked the 10-year-old girl in the area between the al-Qibli Mosque and the al-Magharba Gate, as dozens of Israeli extremists stormed the mosque’s yards.
A local mosque guard tried to stop the soldiers and prevent them from further beating the child, but they also assaulted him before dozens of worshipers gathered around the soldiers while chanting Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest).
The Islamic Waqf Department denounced the latest attack, the daily Israeli invasions into the mosque quarters, and the continuous assaults against local worshipers.
On Sunday, a large group of Israeli fanatics stormed the mosque quarters from the al-Magharba Gate, under heavy Israeli police and army deployment.
The latest developments come amidst ongoing similar Israeli violations, and invasions into the mosque, especially by fanatic groups that are calling for demolishing it “in order to rebuild the temple.”
Israel imposes numerous restrictions on the entry of Muslims into the Al-Aqsa mosque, such as imposing a minimum age for entry, withholding ID cards, and continuously besieging it in addition to closing all of it gates while extremist Israeli groups stormed the compound.
The restrictions, and age limitations, differ between males and females, in addition to marital status and whether the person is a parent or not.
An employee with the Islamic Waqf and Endowment Department said the soldiers attacked the 10-year-old girl in the area between the al-Qibli Mosque and the al-Magharba Gate, as dozens of Israeli extremists stormed the mosque’s yards.
A local mosque guard tried to stop the soldiers and prevent them from further beating the child, but they also assaulted him before dozens of worshipers gathered around the soldiers while chanting Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest).
The Islamic Waqf Department denounced the latest attack, the daily Israeli invasions into the mosque quarters, and the continuous assaults against local worshipers.
On Sunday, a large group of Israeli fanatics stormed the mosque quarters from the al-Magharba Gate, under heavy Israeli police and army deployment.
The latest developments come amidst ongoing similar Israeli violations, and invasions into the mosque, especially by fanatic groups that are calling for demolishing it “in order to rebuild the temple.”
Israel imposes numerous restrictions on the entry of Muslims into the Al-Aqsa mosque, such as imposing a minimum age for entry, withholding ID cards, and continuously besieging it in addition to closing all of it gates while extremist Israeli groups stormed the compound.
The restrictions, and age limitations, differ between males and females, in addition to marital status and whether the person is a parent or not.
14 mar 2015
Jewish settlers uprooted on Saturday olive saplings in al-Khalil and Bethlehem agricultural lands.
The Coordinator of the Popular Committee against Wall and Settlement in Yatta, Ratib al-Jabour, told the PIC reporter that the Palestinian farmers in Yatta town in al-Khalil were shocked when they discovered that more than 70 olive saplings, which were implanted last week, have been uprooted.
Jabour said the uprooting of olive saplings was carried out by the settlers of the nearby Maon settlement under Israeli occupation forces’ protection.
In the same context, Jewish settlers under the protection of the IOF uprooted olive seedlings in al-Kheder town to the south of Bethlehem on Saturday.
The Coordinator of the Popular Committee against Wall and Settlement in Khader town Ahmad Salahat said, in press statements, that a number of settlers forced a Palestinian farmer to leave his land to the west of the town and uprooted his olive seedlings.
The land is located near a Jewish settlement outpost, Ahmad Salahat highlighted.
The IOF along with settlers escalate harassment and aggressive practices against the Palestinians in those areas in order to force them abandon their land in favor of settlement expansion.
The Coordinator of the Popular Committee against Wall and Settlement in Yatta, Ratib al-Jabour, told the PIC reporter that the Palestinian farmers in Yatta town in al-Khalil were shocked when they discovered that more than 70 olive saplings, which were implanted last week, have been uprooted.
Jabour said the uprooting of olive saplings was carried out by the settlers of the nearby Maon settlement under Israeli occupation forces’ protection.
In the same context, Jewish settlers under the protection of the IOF uprooted olive seedlings in al-Kheder town to the south of Bethlehem on Saturday.
The Coordinator of the Popular Committee against Wall and Settlement in Khader town Ahmad Salahat said, in press statements, that a number of settlers forced a Palestinian farmer to leave his land to the west of the town and uprooted his olive seedlings.
The land is located near a Jewish settlement outpost, Ahmad Salahat highlighted.
The IOF along with settlers escalate harassment and aggressive practices against the Palestinians in those areas in order to force them abandon their land in favor of settlement expansion.
A Jerusalemite young man suffered moderate injuries and bruises all over his body after a group of settlers brutally attacked him on Friday evening outside his home in occupied Jerusalem.
The Jerusalemite citizen Ahmed Abu Ta’a was talking on his cell phone when three settlers suddenly appeared between the trees and tried to stab him, family sources said.
He suffered facial injuries and bruises all over his body after being severely beaten with a stick, the sources added.
Abu Ta’a was transferred to Hadassah hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, a group of settlers attacked overnight Palestinian vehicles passing along the Jenin-Nablus road near the evacuated settlement of Homesh.
Local sources reported that the settlers stationed near the evacuated settlement and stoned the passing vehicles under Israeli forces protection.
Israeli settlers’ attacks have notably intensified after their repeated attempts to re-occupy Homesh settlement that was evacuated in 2005.
The Jerusalemite citizen Ahmed Abu Ta’a was talking on his cell phone when three settlers suddenly appeared between the trees and tried to stab him, family sources said.
He suffered facial injuries and bruises all over his body after being severely beaten with a stick, the sources added.
Abu Ta’a was transferred to Hadassah hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, a group of settlers attacked overnight Palestinian vehicles passing along the Jenin-Nablus road near the evacuated settlement of Homesh.
Local sources reported that the settlers stationed near the evacuated settlement and stoned the passing vehicles under Israeli forces protection.
Israeli settlers’ attacks have notably intensified after their repeated attempts to re-occupy Homesh settlement that was evacuated in 2005.
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Saturday at dawn, the as-Sammoa’ town, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and kidnapped a Palestinian after breaking into his home. Soldiers also installed roadblocks near Hebron.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers kidnapped Yousef ‘Oqeil Abu ’Oqeil, after violently searching his home, and took him to the Etzion military base.
In addition, soldiers stormed the home of Rami al-Jo’ba, in Hebron, and searched his property before handing him a military order for interrogation.
The army also invaded various neighborhood in the city and in Sa’ir nearby town, and installed roadblocks on the main entrances of Sa’ir and Halhoul, before stopping dozens of cars and searching them, while inspecting the ID cards of the passengers.
On Friday evening, a number of Israeli extremists attacked Palestinian farmers, and prevented them from plowing their own lands, in the al-Khader town, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committee in al-Khader Ahmad Salah told the Radio Bethlehem 2000 that the farmers face constant harassment and attacks, but remain steadfast and determined to plow and plant their lands.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers kidnapped Yousef ‘Oqeil Abu ’Oqeil, after violently searching his home, and took him to the Etzion military base.
In addition, soldiers stormed the home of Rami al-Jo’ba, in Hebron, and searched his property before handing him a military order for interrogation.
The army also invaded various neighborhood in the city and in Sa’ir nearby town, and installed roadblocks on the main entrances of Sa’ir and Halhoul, before stopping dozens of cars and searching them, while inspecting the ID cards of the passengers.
On Friday evening, a number of Israeli extremists attacked Palestinian farmers, and prevented them from plowing their own lands, in the al-Khader town, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committee in al-Khader Ahmad Salah told the Radio Bethlehem 2000 that the farmers face constant harassment and attacks, but remain steadfast and determined to plow and plant their lands.
13 mar 2015
Leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party Naftali Bennett stormed Thursday evening the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil city under heavy security protection.
Bennett's visit was unannounced for security reasons.
He desecrated the Mosque along with several members of his party and entered Yitzhak hall, which had been closed before Jews for almost a year.
During his visit to the city, Bennett, who is also the minister of the economy, met with army commander in al-Khalil Yariv Ben Ezra.
The visit took place just a few days ahead of the Israeli Knesset election and weeks after Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu announced his plan to visit the Islamic holy site.
Bennett's visit was unannounced for security reasons.
He desecrated the Mosque along with several members of his party and entered Yitzhak hall, which had been closed before Jews for almost a year.
During his visit to the city, Bennett, who is also the minister of the economy, met with army commander in al-Khalil Yariv Ben Ezra.
The visit took place just a few days ahead of the Israeli Knesset election and weeks after Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu announced his plan to visit the Islamic holy site.
11 mar 2015
By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has been indulging in Nazi-like incitement against Palestinians, with a call for those objecting to Israeli policies, particularly the ongoing violent ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, to have their heads chopped off.
“Anyone who’s with us should be given everything – up to half the kingdom. Anyone who’s against us, there’s nothing to do – we should raise an axe and cut off his head; otherwise we won’t survive here,” Lieberman reportedly said at an election event this week, in reference to Palestinian citizens of Israel.
According to Israel’s Mako news website, Lieberman made his comments in an interview with journalist Udi Segal during the “Electing Democracy in 2015” conference at IDC Herzliya, an Israeli college.
Lieberman is no stranger to controversy. On numerous occasions, he made extremely virulent remarks against Palestinians, including calling for drowning Palestinian political-resistance prisoners in the Dead Sea and calling for a systematic aerial bombing of Palestinian population centers for the purpose of getting as many Palestinians as possible to flee their homes. His current election platform is centered on enacting a law whereby "Palestinian terrorists" (but not Jewish terrorists) would be executed.
Lieberman, who would be dumped behind bars if he were living in any Western country, is by no means a strange, exotic weed in an otherwise sane society.
To many outsiders, he may seem as representing a small minority of extremists. But in truth, Lieberman more or less represents the ideological and political mainstream in a country where racism is equated with religious piety and fascism with patriotism.
Some Israeli leaders and spokespersons do occasionally object to Lieberman's gung-ho discourse. But let us be honest. Their objection is not over the essence of his ideas, however criminal and evil these ideas might sound. They rather object to the manner in which these ideas as presented.
They would call him "a public relation disaster." They would say he is hurting Israel's PR image on the international arena and harming its hasbara efforts. But they would never call the spade a spade, e.g. call him fascist, racist and Nazi or demand his prosecution or dismissal. But Lieberman has not even been rebuked in Israel for his brash racism and fascism. On the contrary, he is constantly courted by Prime Minister Netanyahu to the point that he (Lieberman) has been voicing his desire to becoming Israel's next “Defense” minister.
The reason for this unrelenting orgy of fascism is simple: The bulk of the Israeli political and military establishment readily and deeply accepts Lieberman's criminal racism against the Palestinians. Indeed, virulent racism and violent ethnic cleansing of Palestinians have always been and continue to be Israel's modus operandi towards the Palestinian people.
Shameful silence
Imagine, just imagine the vitriolic reactions that would come from Jewish circles if a Palestinian or eminent Muslim leader were to call publicly for chopping the heads of Jews who are disloyal to Palestine!!!!!
Jewish leaders would immediately invoke Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen and the holocaust, demanding a swift action against the Arab emulators of Hitler!!!!!
But we barely hear any moral Jewish voices distancing Jews and Judaism from the evil remarks of this thug. Are they acquiescing to his remarks? Do they support him in their hearts? Where is their moral consistency? Where is their intellectual honesty?
Don't say words are innocuous and don't kill. No, words can kill and do kill. A few months ago, a number of Jewish settlers, who had been brainwashed by this type of venomous incitement, burned alive Muhammad Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian boy from the Jerusalem area.
This grisly crime was the inevitable result of the incessant virulent incitement by Israeli politicians and rabbis as well as the media.
The Western, especially American media, is also decidedly guilty for ignoring the fascist discourse in Israel. This is more, much more, than just lack of professionalism. It is actually an expression of a willful betrayal of the journalistic profession which is based on honesty first, honesty second and honesty last.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has been indulging in Nazi-like incitement against Palestinians, with a call for those objecting to Israeli policies, particularly the ongoing violent ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, to have their heads chopped off.
“Anyone who’s with us should be given everything – up to half the kingdom. Anyone who’s against us, there’s nothing to do – we should raise an axe and cut off his head; otherwise we won’t survive here,” Lieberman reportedly said at an election event this week, in reference to Palestinian citizens of Israel.
According to Israel’s Mako news website, Lieberman made his comments in an interview with journalist Udi Segal during the “Electing Democracy in 2015” conference at IDC Herzliya, an Israeli college.
Lieberman is no stranger to controversy. On numerous occasions, he made extremely virulent remarks against Palestinians, including calling for drowning Palestinian political-resistance prisoners in the Dead Sea and calling for a systematic aerial bombing of Palestinian population centers for the purpose of getting as many Palestinians as possible to flee their homes. His current election platform is centered on enacting a law whereby "Palestinian terrorists" (but not Jewish terrorists) would be executed.
Lieberman, who would be dumped behind bars if he were living in any Western country, is by no means a strange, exotic weed in an otherwise sane society.
To many outsiders, he may seem as representing a small minority of extremists. But in truth, Lieberman more or less represents the ideological and political mainstream in a country where racism is equated with religious piety and fascism with patriotism.
Some Israeli leaders and spokespersons do occasionally object to Lieberman's gung-ho discourse. But let us be honest. Their objection is not over the essence of his ideas, however criminal and evil these ideas might sound. They rather object to the manner in which these ideas as presented.
They would call him "a public relation disaster." They would say he is hurting Israel's PR image on the international arena and harming its hasbara efforts. But they would never call the spade a spade, e.g. call him fascist, racist and Nazi or demand his prosecution or dismissal. But Lieberman has not even been rebuked in Israel for his brash racism and fascism. On the contrary, he is constantly courted by Prime Minister Netanyahu to the point that he (Lieberman) has been voicing his desire to becoming Israel's next “Defense” minister.
The reason for this unrelenting orgy of fascism is simple: The bulk of the Israeli political and military establishment readily and deeply accepts Lieberman's criminal racism against the Palestinians. Indeed, virulent racism and violent ethnic cleansing of Palestinians have always been and continue to be Israel's modus operandi towards the Palestinian people.
Shameful silence
Imagine, just imagine the vitriolic reactions that would come from Jewish circles if a Palestinian or eminent Muslim leader were to call publicly for chopping the heads of Jews who are disloyal to Palestine!!!!!
Jewish leaders would immediately invoke Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen and the holocaust, demanding a swift action against the Arab emulators of Hitler!!!!!
But we barely hear any moral Jewish voices distancing Jews and Judaism from the evil remarks of this thug. Are they acquiescing to his remarks? Do they support him in their hearts? Where is their moral consistency? Where is their intellectual honesty?
Don't say words are innocuous and don't kill. No, words can kill and do kill. A few months ago, a number of Jewish settlers, who had been brainwashed by this type of venomous incitement, burned alive Muhammad Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian boy from the Jerusalem area.
This grisly crime was the inevitable result of the incessant virulent incitement by Israeli politicians and rabbis as well as the media.
The Western, especially American media, is also decidedly guilty for ignoring the fascist discourse in Israel. This is more, much more, than just lack of professionalism. It is actually an expression of a willful betrayal of the journalistic profession which is based on honesty first, honesty second and honesty last.
A number of Israeli extremists attacked, Tuesday, a Palestinian worker in Tel Aviv, causing various injuries that required hospitalization.
The worker has been identified as Mousa Hasan Shawahin, 44, years of age, from Yatta town, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
His cousin, Mohammad, said a number of Israelis attacked him while working in Tel Aviv, causing various cuts and bruises to different parts of his body, before he was moved to an Israeli hospital for treatment.
Mohammad called on different media, human rights and legal organizations, in Palestine and abroad, to expose the ongoing Israeli violations against the Palestinians, to seriously act on ending them, and to provide protection to the people, living under occupation.
The worker has been identified as Mousa Hasan Shawahin, 44, years of age, from Yatta town, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
His cousin, Mohammad, said a number of Israelis attacked him while working in Tel Aviv, causing various cuts and bruises to different parts of his body, before he was moved to an Israeli hospital for treatment.
Mohammad called on different media, human rights and legal organizations, in Palestine and abroad, to expose the ongoing Israeli violations against the Palestinians, to seriously act on ending them, and to provide protection to the people, living under occupation.