Tag: Palestinians

No, Mr. President, Israel’s Border Wall Has Not Worked

President Trump regularly appeals to Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims about the supposed success of Israel’s border wall with the West Bank as ironclad evidence in favor of his own border wall plans with Mexico.

The problem is, it’s not true.

The wall dividing Israel from the West Bank has not “worked” to stop terrorism, but then that was never its actual intent.  It has, on the other hand, been very successful in accomplishing its actual purpose, which Israel will never acknowledge in public.

Here’s why:

First, it is true that after Israel began construction of its separation/annexation wall during the Second Intifada in 2000, terrorist attacks within Israel came to a slow but steady halt.  But in 2001, Hamas leaders (the organization headquartered in Gaza largely responsible for the suicide bombings) claimed that their decision was driven by internal, political considerations and had nothing to do with Israel’s wall.  Check out this 2001 article in the British newspaper, The Independent, “Hamas Orders Halt to Suicide Bomb Attacks.”

Of course, Hamas leaders could be lying about their motives in order to save face.  But I suspect not, for the simple reason that Israel’s wall is not much of a barrier to the determined terrorist.

I have seen people climb over the wall quite easily.

Long stretches of the wall are nothing more than a fence, mostly strung up in far-flung, isolated areas.  It would be easy for a would-be bomber to dig under, climb over or cut through this fence at any number of spots where they would never be seen, or long-gone by the time a border patrol appeared.

This is why I believe Hamas is telling the truth.  They chose to stop their bombing campaign because it was costing them support for their cause in the international community and creating division within the membership of the Palestinian Authority.

Second, regardless of all this, touting the awesome success of Israel’s “wall” makes for great P.R. among the Zionist community.  It also provides a good illustration of a classic logical fallacy.  It’s just a shame that logic never stood in the way of a Zionist hoping to score political points – especially when that Zionist’s name is Benjamin Netanyahu.

Perhaps you have heard of the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy.  If not, I’ll clue you in.  It’s a Latin phrase meaning “after this, therefore because of this.”  Its purpose is to point out the invalid assumption that just because one event follows after another event, we cannot assume that the first event was the cause of the other.

Yes, the rooster crows every morning just moments before sunup.  That doesn’t mean, however, that Mr. Sunshine is hovering below the horizon, waiting for Mr. Rooster’s signal.

In other words, correlation is not proof of causation.

Just because suicide bombings ended soon after Israel began building its separation wall is not proof, in and of itself, that suicide bombings ended because of the wall.  We must search for other evidence to prove this claim to be either true or false.

I think that the wall’s easy permeability – any determined bomber could get through if he/she wanted to – tips the scales in favor of believing Hamas’ own explanation:  they chose to stop using that particular tactic.

So, NO.  When president Trump says over and over again that these walls are always 99.9% effective, he is simply one presidential blow-hard mimicking another presidential blow-hard’s propaganda point. But then, both of these men, Trump and Netanyahu, are 99.9% die-hard political opportunists and only 0.1% intelligent thinkers – and I suspect even that figure is too generous for Trump.

Third, without going into the background here, political Zionism has a very, very long history of believing in the need for a literal wall of some sort to isolate Israel from the bloodthirsty Arab hordes around them.  Their current isolation/separation/annexation barrier is the product of Zionist colonial racism.  If you want to learn more about this issue, read Avi Shlaim’s important book, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (W.W. Norton, 2000).

The only way in which this wall has actually “worked” has been its success in illegally expropriating more land for Israel, in stopping Palestinian farmers and herdsmen from tending their flocks, their fields and their orchards, in dividing villages and families.

Israel’s wall is only one more Zionist tactic for stealing Palestinian land and oppressing the people of the West Bank.

In that way, it works marvelously.

Forward Magazine: “Does Israel Have the Right to Exist?”

Yousef Munayyer has an excellent article in the Forward entitled “‘Does Israel Have a Right to Exist’ Is a Trick Question.”  Mr. Munayyer provides an

Yousef Munayyer

excellent demonstration in critical thinking and the value of recognizing a leading question when asked.

Asking this question, do you recognize Israel’s right to exist?, is a favorite “go-to” strategy for Zionist apologists when debating critics of Israel.  It can arise in different forms.  Another favorite is the Zionist accusation that non-Zionist criticisms of Israeli policies “delegitimize” the state.

What does that mean, “to delegitimize Israel”?

The implied answer is that critics of Israel’s Zionist policies are denying Israel’s right to exist.  It’s another rhetorical trap.  Don’t fall for it.

Below is an excerpt from Mr. Munayyer’s article.  You can find the entire piece here.

“The truth is that no state has a ‘right to exist’ — not Israel, not Palestine, not the United States. Neither do Zimbabwe, Chile, North Korea, Saudi Arabia or Luxembourg have a “right to exist.”

“States do exist; there are about 200 in our world today, even though there are thousands of ethno-religious or ethno-linguistic groups.

“And these states don’t exist because they have a ‘right’ to. They exist because certain groups of people amassed enough political and material power to make territorial claims and establish governments, sometimes with the consent of those already living there and, oftentimes, at their expense.

“Most people understand this. I’ve never heard anyone demand to know whether Switzerland, or even the United States, has ‘a right to exist.’ States come and go over time; borders can change, names can change, regimes can change and yes, discriminatory systems underpinning regimes can change, too. But one state demands to be beyond reproach through a mythical ‘right to exist’: Israel.

“Can you imagine asking indigenous Americans and indigenous rights activists — fighting for the rights of a population whose languages, societies, culture and possessions were categorically decimated in the process of erecting the United States — whether the United States has a ‘right to exist’?

“That you can’t imagine this is testimony to the disingenuousness of the question. For this question is asked — almost always of critics of Israel’s policies — not for the purposes of debate and discourse, but rather, to create a gotcha moment, to undermine the credibility of the person questioned.

“It is intellectually dishonest and intended, almost always, to silence critics and criticism of Israeli policies.

“Worse, factors like the unfortunate though all-too-often-commonplace conflation of the State of Israel with Judaism and world Jewry, coupled with the awful history of persecution Jews have faced, mean that anyone who doesn’t answer the question about Israel’s right to exist with an unequivocal ‘yes’ risks being portrayed as an eliminationist radical worthy of labels like ‘anti-Semite’ and otherwise marginalized.

“In other words, it’s a set-up.

“Criticizing Israel’s policies toward the Palestinian people, including during its establishment and since, in the form of discriminatory policies against refugee repatriation, should never be conflated with eliminationism. The policies of all states should be open to criticism.

“…it is humans, not states, that have a right to exist. This includes all people: those who identify as Israelis and Palestinians alike, along with seven billion others.

“People also have a whole set of other rights — human rights, which states cannot deny. These include the right to free movement, the right to consent to being governed, the right to enter and exit their country, the right not to be tortured or collectively punished, and so on.

“It is by guaranteeing these rights and only by guaranteeing them that states derive their moral legitimacy; it is not from some mythical ‘right to exist’ or even the historical need of their people, but rather from the extent to which their policies respect the rights of people.

“The question should not be ‘Does Israel have a right to exist’ but rather, ‘Is the way in which Israel exists right?’”

Congress Should Not Be Criminalizing My Right, And Yours, to Boycott Apartheid Israel

Below is the most recent Action Alert from the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

Please digest this explanation of the first Congressional vote scheduled for tomorrow (1/8/19) and call your  elected officials.  Explain to them that no foreign government, including Israel, can nullify your right to participate in BDS campaigns in your own country.

“Last Thursday, the Senate’s first bill of the new Congress – S.1 – was introduced

Marco Rubio is another senator receiving large contributions from AIPAC

by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and it encourages states to punish people for boycotting for Palestinian rights.

To make matters worse, the Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill tomorrow.

Friend, please click here to get a sample script and phone numbers for your Senators.

Then please pick up the phone RIGHT NOW and tell your Senators to vote NO on S.1.

Sen. Rubio’s new bill incorporates language from the Combating BDS Act, his unconstitutional bill which we defeated in the last Congress. 

The Combating BDS Act calls upon states and cities to enact laws that curtail our constitutional freedoms by denying government contracts to people who boycott for Palestinian rights. In response to lawsuits filed by the ACLU, these types of laws have already been stopped by federal judges in Kansas and Arizona on constitutional grounds, and there are three additional lawsuits currently challenging similar laws in Texas and Arkansas.

Even though courts are siding with us and reaffirming our constitutional right to boycott for Palestinian rights, Sen. Rubio is still trying to pass legislation to deny our First Amendment rights.

That’s why it’s so important for you to call your Senators today to oppose S.1.

Thank you for taking action.”

The Intercept has been following this story closely for some time (see here and here).

The headline of their most recent article is “The U.S. Senate’s First Bill, In the Midst of the Shutdown, Is a Bipartisan Defense of the Israeli Government from Boycotts.”

The title captures the ludicrous nature of this bill and the corruption generated by the pro-Zionist lobby, especially AIPAC, in the US Congress.

Senator Chuck Shumer is also on the AIPAC gravy train

Here is an excerpt:

“…in the 2019 GOP-controlled Senate, the first bill to be considered — S.1 — is not designed to protect American workers, bolster U.S. companies, or address the various debates over border security and immigration. It’s not a bill to open the government. Instead, according to multiple sources involved in the legislative process, S.1 will be a compendium containing a handful of foreign policy-related measures, the main one of which is a provision — with Florida’s GOP Sen. Marco Rubio as a lead sponsor — to defend the Israeli government. The bill is a top legislative priority for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.”

Who do your senators and congressional representatives really represent?  You or Israel?

Haaretz Magazine Explains Another Lost Opportunity in Israel’s History

Adam Raz has a good article in the most recent Haaretz news magazine investigating the debate that raged among Zionism’s leadership immediately after the 1948-49 War, when Israel declared its “independence,” over the future status of Palestinians remaining within the borders of the new state.

I have excerpted selected paragraphs below to give you a sense of the attitudes held by these men. If you want to know more, you can find the entire article here.

There were early Zionist leaders who possessed the remnant of a

Moshe Sharett, Israel’s second Prime Minister

humanitarian conscience.  Men such as Moshe Sharett.

Although, frankly, any leader who failed vociferously to protest against the ethnic cleansing committed by Israel’s military forces in that war – which includes all of the men mentioned here — has abdicated any right to be respected, in my book.

Nevertheless, the article does a good job of showing that Israel did not have to end up where it is today: an oppressive apartheid state.  There were alternatives on the table at the time.  There were men advocating for a multi-ethnic state where Palestinians would have been fully integrated into Israeli society.

Sadly, those humane voices were a minority, and they lost the argument.

David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister

The iron-fisted racism of David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Dayan and their equally savage ilk won the day, dooming both Palestinians and Israelis to the catastrophe that is Israel/Palestine today.

For those who are interested, I highly recommend a book by the Jewish, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel (Yale, 2011).

Pinhas Lavon, Minister of Defense

“(Pinhas Lavon, minister of Defense,) insisted, ‘The State of Israel cannot solve the question of the Arabs who are in the country by Nazi means, he stated, adding, Nazism is Nazism, even if carried out by Jews…’

 “’It is impossible to work among them if the policy is to oppress Arabs – that prevents concrete action. What is being carried out is a dramatic and brutal suppression of the Arabs in Israel…’

 “(Moshe) Sharett maintained that Ben-Gurion had not given consideration to the root of the problem. ‘Terrible things were being done against Arabs in the country,’ he warned. ‘Until a Jew is hanged for murdering an Arab for no reason, in cold blood, the Jews will not

David Hacohen, Knesset member

understand that Arabs are not dogs but human beings…’

Zalman Aharon, Knesset member

 “(Knesset member David Hocohen argued), ‘These laws that we are coming up with in regard to Israel’s Arab residents cannot even be likened to the laws that were promulgated against the Jews in the Middle Ages, when they were deprived of all rights. After all, this is a total contrast between our declarations and our deeds.’..

 “’Zalman Aran compared the situation of the Arabs in Israel with the situation of Jews in other countries. On the basis of what we are doing here to the Arabs, there is no justification for demanding a different attitude toward Jewish minorities in other countries. I would be contemptuous of Arabs who would want

Moshe Dayan, military commander and politician

to form ties with us on the basis of this policy. We would be lying…we are lying to ourselves and we are lying to the nations of the world…

 “He (David Ben Gurion) added, ‘We view them [Palestinian Arabs] like donkeys. They don’t care. They accept it [their subjugation] with love… To loosen the reins on the Arabs would be a great danger,’ he added: ‘You and your ilk – those who support the abolition of the military government or making it less stringent – will be responsible for the perdition of Israel.’”

Let me make two observations on these citations.

First, the hard-line, political Zionists like Ben-Gurion make it very clear from the beginning that they envisioned a nation for Jews only.  There was no room for anyone else to have equal rights in Zionist Israel.

Here we see the essentially racist heart of political Zionism, the strain of Zionism that won these early contests and has controlled Israeli political life ever since.  For nearly twenty years Israel enforced two different sets of laws for its citizens.  Jews were governed by the state’s normal, civil legislation.  Palestinians, on the other hand, were governed by draconian military law stripping them of their civil rights.

When the United Nations passed Resolution 3379 in 1975 declaring that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination” they were absolutely correct insofar as “Zionism” was represented on the world stage exclusively by Israel.

Second, notice that drawing comparisons between Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jews and Zionist Israel’s treatment of Palestinians has a very long history.  Many Jewish critics of political Zionism have made the comparison, as you can see in this article.  It is not, in and of itself, an anti-Semitic slur, but a simple, fair-minded observation of “facts on the ground,” as Israeli politicians like to say.

Evangelicals Share in War Crimes Remaining Blind to Oppression All Around Them

Every time I return to Israel’s Occupied Territory, I am taken aback by the irreversible transformations foisted onto the resident Palestinians by Israel’s illegal settlements project.

Every year, more and more hilltops sprout cookie-cutter apartment blocks, all covered by the same red-brick tiles, stretching end-to-end from one

Ariel settlement in the West Bank

settlement rooftop to the next.  Older settlements have grown.  Newer settlements appear as if by magic.  All of them shamelessly blushing brick-red under heaven’s gaze.

What little forest and greenery once existed in this barren land has been uprooted, plowed under and paved over to make way for more Jewish settlers, a good many of whom come from the United States, happy to take advantage of the many financial enticements Israel offers to this new generation of “pioneers.”

Several weeks ago, the Israeli daily paper Haaretz published an interesting exposé about this settler movement, and its sad ties to American evangelicalism.  It is entitled:  “Inside the Evangelical Money Flowing Into the West Bank.”

The article details the vast sums of money being donated by U.S. Christian Zionists to Israel’s illegal settler movement.

According to Haaretz, “the total amount of funding raised in the past 10 years [is] somewhere between $50 million and $65 million.”

Yep, $50 to $65 million US dollars channeled from Christian coffers into the

An American family of Christian Zionists volunteering in an illegal settlement

last western, settler-colonial project occurring in direct violation of international law.

Believe it or not, it is another of the many bizarre ways in which Israel continues to mimic the behavior of Nazi Germany and every other settler-colonial project in history.  I kid you not.

Check out the Fourth Geneva Convention, if you’ve never read it.  Especially Section III, article 49 dealing with Occupied Territories.  The most relevant portions declare:

“Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.

 “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

Written during a time of rising anti-colonial sentiment, this portion of the Geneva Convention was also drafted in the shadow of Hitler’s massive population transfers throughout Eastern Europe prior to the outbreak of World War II.  After his conquest of Poland in 1939, Hitler announced:

“a new order of ethnographical conditions, that is to say, a resettlement of nationalities in such a manner that the process ultimately results in the obtaining of better dividing lines.” 

Populations would be moved about in order to benefit the expansion of

American volunteers helping with an illegal grape harvest in Occupied Territory

ethnic Germans.

Hitler’s explicit goal was to protect all Germans in Europe who were “threatened with de-Germanization.”

THAT is the primary motive behind the inclusion of Section III, article 49 in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

How tragically ironic that the offspring of Holocaust survivors who found refuge in Israel now implement a similar ethnographic plan intended to “Judaize” Samaria and Judea (aka the West Bank) by means of massive population transfers, i.e. native Palestinians are being pushed out so that foreign, Jewish settlers can move in.

This is why Israel’s settler project in the Occupied Territory is illegal, folks.  It’s illegal because it would make Hitler proud.  It violates the Geneva Conventions, which was spearheaded by the United States.

Only weeks ago, I was driving past many of these settlements as my

Illegal settlements funded by Christian donations from the US

Palestinian friend pointed out the numerous, new expansions now under construction.  In several cases, he also told me the stories of how the Israeli authorities had, once again, used their laughable “laws” of land ownership to “legally” confiscate, i.e. steal, more of this Palestinian real estate.

As I read this article (and another on the same subject) I am struck by the near complete absence of any reference to the native inhabitants of this land – the Palestinian people.  When passing reference is made to the “other” folks who were living here long before the state of Israel, they are noted in passing as the restless hostiles who really ought to give up their struggle, if they know what’s good for them.

One American Zionist, working as a volunteer picking illegal grapes in an illegal vineyard rooted in stolen land, calmly passes judgement, “It’s impossible to remove the settlers from here, as long as they believe in the Bible.  The solution to the conflict will be for the media to stop encouraging the Arabs’ uprising and encourage them to live together with the Jews.”

So, I guess it’s all the media’s fault.  Too many reporters agitating the hapless Palestinians who, apparently, aren’t able to think for themselves.

But it’s hard for anyone “to live together” with the marauders who invaded your property, taken control of your home, pushed you out, made you homeless, and then warns you repeatedly not to put down new roots whenever you try to make a new start.

Another American volunteer confirms the Zionist prejudice that all Palestinians are violent agitators:

“Last February a number of [volunteers in an illegal settlement] found themselves in the midst of a clash between settlers and Palestinians near Har Bracha. According to them, Palestinians from the nearby village of Iraq Burin attacked them with stones while they were in the vineyard.

“The Har Bracha security coordinator came and fired on the Palestinians, who say they were defending their lands, wounding a shepherd.”

But, of course, the American visitor never bothered to learn the first thing about the history of this conflict.  He certainly does not know why he is helping these settlers to break international law.  He knows nothing about the resident Palestinians who have long depended on this very piece of land for their own livelihoods.  He has never ventured beyond the walls and electrified fence surrounding his settlement. He certainly has never asked a Palestinian about the difficulties of living under military occupation while watching strangers pick fruit from your soil.

As with most western accounts, there is no back-story; the narrative begins ex nihilo with a “Palestinian attack” that comes out of nowhere, seemingly for no reason.  It’s just another story about those pesky Injuns doin’ what Injuns do best.  Makin’ trouble, hinderin’ the advance of western civilization.

Christian Zionists are remarkably incurious people, by and large.  Rarely do they ask if the Palestinians might have a good reason to be angry.  If they did, they would hear stories about the many previous assaults launched against them by Israeli soldiers and the very settlers they are now helping to protect.

They might also stop to think about why they are helping Israel do for Jews in the Middle East what Hitler hoped to do for ethnic Germans in eastern Europe.

I encourage you to take a few moments to check out these articles for yourself.

Palestinian Mother Imprisoned for Posting on Facebook

Below is an excerpt from another recent story to illustrate what life is like for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.  It appears in Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

“Susan Abu Ghannam, 39, (see above) the mother of Mohammed Abu Ghannam, 22, who was killed by Israeli occupation forces in July 2017 as he protested against the imposition of electronic gates at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, was sentenced by an Israeli court to 11 months in prison on 17 December. Abu Ghannam was seized by occupation forces in early August 2018, only weeks after the one-year anniversary of the killing of her son. She was accused of “incitement” for posting about Palestine, politics and the killing of her child on Facebook, as prosecutors listed 40 of her social media posts. 

It should be noted that Israeli occupation forces attempted to steal her son’s body after killing him in an attempt to hold it hostage. The imprisonment of the bodies of slain Palestinians is used as a tactic to attempt to suppress Palestinian resistance and popular protest.”

You read the entire article here.

Blog Update

You may have noticed that my posting frequency has diminished significantly over the past month or so.  The reason is that Terry and I have been traveling.

First, we spent most of the month of November in the West Bank of Palestine and Israel.  I was continuing my research by contacting and interviewing the staff of 4 different human rights organizations in both Israel and the Occupied Territory.

I was humbled and encouraged to meet numerous men and women, both Palestinians and Israeli Jews, who are working for justice, peace and equality for Palestinians living in Israel and in the Palestinian Territories.

We also had a wonderful visit with our extended, adopted family in the Aida refugee camp.  The bonds of love and friendship grow deeper with each new visit, and we are beginning to feel as though we are coming to know  the city of Bethlehem beyond the typical tourist understanding.

A Palestinian child being arrested by an Israeli soldier.

Second, I have just returned from a conference in Philadelphia sponsored by the Quaker agency, the American Friends Service Committee (the AFSC).  Learn

Palestinian children held in military detention

more about their work here.

The conference was called “What Does Justice Look Like?  Moving towards a just peace in Palestine and Israel.”  You can read a bit about the conference and the speakers here.

It was a gathering of Christians, Muslims, Jews and others with a shared concern to break the chains of Israeli apartheid.

An 8 year old child arrested by an Israeli soldier

A majority of the conference speakers were Palestinian activists, mainly from Gaza.  It was an excellent opportunity to network with others who share a passion for this cause and to devise numerous action plans for continuing the work of pursuing justice for the Palestinian people.

I intend to return to a more frequent rate of posting now that I am back in NW Montana.

Thank you for continuing to subscribe and taking the time to read what I

Would you like your child to be treated like this?

have to say.

I understand that there is no particular reason why anyone should give two hoots about what I have to say about anything.

Nevertheless, I pray that some of my writing will help to move you closer to Jesus Christ, which in itself is always a step nearer to God’s renewed humanity, a true humanity that yearns to see justice done for the oppressed, freedom for the captives, and a place at the table for those left behind.

Ramallah Is On Lock-down

Terry and I were visiting Ramallah, the provisional capital of the West Bank in Palestine, only a few weeks ago.  We drove with friends from the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem.

Along the entire route my friend pointed out the many, ever expanding Jewish settlements that spring up and grow like pestilent weeds in the Palestinian territories, taking more and more of EVERYTHING for themselves while leaving the native Palestinians with less and less.

Less water to drink.  Less land to live on. Less air to breath.  Less money to spend – on necessities.  Less freedom.  Less respect.

Israel’s goal is to strangle the life out of every Palestinian remaining in Palestine, until the Zionists finally have it ALL to themselves.

Today Ramallah is on lock-down.  Perhaps you’ve heard the news.

Israeli soldiers conduct a search for Palestinian suspects of a terror attack yesterday in the West Bank City of Ramallah, December 10, 2018. 6 Israelis were injured in the drive-by shooting attack, near Ofra. December 10, 2018. Photo by FLASH90

You may have heard about the attacker who killed one Israeli soldier and shot a pregnant woman, leading to the death of her baby.   A number of others were injured.  It was a horrible act of violence, deserving strong condemnation.

But there is more to the story that you may not have heard about.  This lamentable attack was carried out in response to the earlier killing of 3 Palestinians by Israeli soldiers.  Very few news outlets have reported that piece of the story.  But that is par for the course when it comes to the news about Israel/Palestine.  (When you listen to the link above, be sure to notice the blatant assertion of racial privilege expressed by the female settler in the red head scarf.)

And of course, precious few reporters ever remind their viewers about the larger context of the violence that Palestinians must endure EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES.  For the state of Israel has imposed an extremely violent, racist, inhumane military occupation upon the entire population of Gaza and the West Bank.

But, hey…it seems that the Palestinians don’t have enough sense to simply lay down and die quietly, as the Israeli government would like.  Believe it or not, they actually resist and occasionally fight back, in an extremely modest sort of way.  Imagine that!

With an Israeli boot pressed against their throat, strangling the life out of them, the uppity, ungrateful (and, of course, as we all know, “inherently violent”) Palestinian people have the unmitigated chutzpa to resist their occupiers!  Imagine that.  The gall of those people.

And the average Israeli says, “Why don’t you all just DIE already!  Or leave.”  (I am not exaggerating.  That’s the attitude.  Remember the words of the woman settler in the video above.)

So, Israel sends in more soldiers to kill more Palestinian civilians, to wreak more havoc, to tear apart more families.  To blow up more homes in repeated acts of collective punishment (which also violate international law, by the way).

Why?  Because the Palestinians rudely insist, “We will not lay down and die for you so easily, Israel.”

Today, I would not be allowed into Ramallah.  The beautiful, hospitable al-Azzeh family would no longer be free to share their home with my wife and I.  We wouldn’t be able to eat maqluba together while talking, laughing, drinking strong Arabic coffee and sharing our lives with each other.

As I write this post, Israeli soldiers, and rabid, illegal settlers from nearby outposts, continue on the rampage throughout the city.  No one is safe.  No Palestinians have any rights or protections.  Soldiers and settlers may attack anyone they see, kick down any door they choose, shoot at any car or whatever window that happens to tickle their fancy.

Yet, the anchors for U.S. news will continue to repeat the propagandistic lies written for them by the Israeli embassy describing how Palestinian “terrorists” have been attacking innocent Israelis.

Folks, in Israel today:  up is down, black is white, right is wrong and wrong is right.

That, my friends, is the Israel-Palestine “conflict” in a nutshell.

Hear Hagai El-Ad’s Address to the U.N. Security Council

The B’tselem website has posted a video (with a transcript) of Hagai El-Ad’s recent speech to the United Nations’ Security C0uncil.  You may recall from an earlier post that Mr. El-Ad is the current president of B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

This speech offers a clearer description of the systematic racism embedded at the heart of Israeli society than anything you will ever hear or read from a typical American news source.

Mr. El-Ad should know.  He is an Israeli, an Israeli with a conscience who understands that all people, including Palestinians, are created in the Image of God.

Thus, Mr. El-Ad has the courage to call out the racism and the apartheid system that make Israel what it is today — one of the most extensive abusers of human rights in the world.

The paragraph below is an excerpt from El-Ad’s speech.  I encourage you to check out the entire speech when you can.

“Consider these historical analogies: Voter suppression was a cornerstone of the American South under Jim Crow laws, but we [Israel] have gone and done one better, delivering no less than voter obliteration. As the occupied Palestinians remain non-citizens, not only can they not vote, but they have absolutely no representation in the Israeli institutions that govern their lives. Or take a look at the discriminatory planning mechanisms and the separate legal systems in the occupied territories. They are reminiscent of South Africa’s grand apartheid. Granted, neither analogy is a perfect fit, but history does not offer precision: rather it offers a moral compass. And that compass points towards rejecting Israel’s oppression of Palestinians with the same unwavering conviction with which humanity’s conscience rejected these other grand injustices.”

B’Tselem Head Speaks to U.N., Condemned by Netanyahu

B’Tselem is the Hebrew work for “in the Image.”  It appears twice in Genesis 1:27, “So God created humanity in his own image, in the image of God he created humanity.”

B’Tselem  is also the name of an important Israel-based human rights organization (its full name is The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territory) that gives special attention to the inhuman treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories (i.e. the West Bank and Gaza).

B’Tselem is staffed by Israeli men and women of conscience who understand that all people are created as the Image of God.  Building upon this Biblical foundation, they also understand the dehumanization and systematic abuse inflicted upon the Palestinian people by Israel’s illegal military occupation.

As their website explains:

“B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories strives to end Israel’s occupation, recognizing that this is the only way to achieve a future that ensures human rights, democracy, liberty and equality to all people, Palestinian and Israeli alike…”

B’Tselem finds creative ways to inform the world about Israel’s egregious, daily crimes against humanity.  If you want to know the truth about Israel/ Palestinian relations, forget about Christian news outlets.  Turn off the corporate news media.  They only repeat the acceptable lies, misrepresentations and puerile mutterings of Israel’s Zionist propaganda.

Instead, as a first step towards learning the truth, read the regular updates available from B’Tselem.  Subscribe to their newsletter.  Order a few of their many publications.  Watch the numerous videos on their Youtube channel.

Discover the truth for yourself.

Hagai el-Ad is the current head of B’Tselem.  He recently spoke to the

Hagai El-Ad, Executive Director of Israeli NGO B’Tselem.
AFP / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

United Nations about Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people and was instantly condemned by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister.

You can watch Amy Goodman’s two-part interview with Mr. el-Ad here and here.

Mr. al-Ad and his coworkers are a shining ray of light, truth and humanity in an otherwise very dark, oppressive land known as Israel.