The government of the apartheid, Zionist entity known as Israel has decided that it is once again time to ‘mow the lawn’, as they call it, which is a Zionist euphemism for the carpet-bombing of the Gaza Strip. This is supposedly in retaliation for some rocket fire from Gaza.
It is, once again, time for a reality check. We will look at several facts:
- Yes, Hamas fired some rockets into Israel, most of which were intercepted by the United States’-provided ‘Iron Dome’, which exists for that very purpose.
- Norman Finkelstein, son of Holocaust survivors and an outspoken proponent of Palestinian rights (he is no longer allowed in Israel), calls those rockets ‘enhanced fireworks’. Hardly deadly weapons.
- Israel attacks Gaza with the most advanced weaponry in the world, and then markets it as ‘battle-tested’. Some of the weapons it uses against the Palestinians are banned under international law, but what does the government of Israel care about international law?
- Under international law, an occupied people have the right to fight the occupation in any way possible. This includes shooting rockets in the country that is occupying it.
- The brutality of the Israel occupation of Palestine is unparalleled in modern history. But when Palestinians resist, they are only oppressed more brutally.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the rails due to his pending indictment for corruption, and twice unable to form a government following Israel’s two elections this year, is certainly anxious to enhance his bona fides as a Zionist supremacist. This will put him in a good position, he must hope, should Israel require a third election this year.
Now, what is it that the Palestinians want? Not much; just the same basic human rights that all people are entitled to. Those in Gaza suffer the effects of a brutal blockade, preventing the import of basic supplies needed to rebuild following Israel’s bombing episodes. They have limited food and potable water; one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, and are forbidden to leave the beleaguered enclave, even to go visit relatives in the West Bank, let alone to travel the world.
In the West Bank, home demolitions, arbitrarily-manned checkpoints, and the assaults and murders of innocent men, women and children by soldiers and illegal settlers are all the norm. And for Palestinians in the part of Palestine currently known as Israel, they are second class citizens in every sense. It is legally enshrined in Israel that it is the home of the Jewish people; everyone else is governed by an entirely different set of laws. Apartheid, anyone?
This writer has many friends in Gaza, who he speaks to regularly via social media. Today he spoke with one young man, and asked him about the noise he heard in the background. As the reader may have guessed, as the writer did, those were the sounds of the Israeli bombardment. The writer’s friend was brave and wise, saying that they are accustomed to the sounds and destruction of bombs dropping (something no one should ever need to be accustomed to), and, knowing that everyone would die eventually, he didn’t fear death. This is profound bravery and wisdom from a 21-year-old.
Another friend told this writer that he could not go on camera today; his family had all gathered and were attempting to support each other through this genocidal attack.
A third friend spoke of how his married sisters had brought their families to his home, where they tried to comfort the young ones, too young to view the situation from the philosophical viewpoint of the friend mentioned above, and only knowing that there were loud noises and explosions, and sensing the mortal danger they brought.
This writer felt helpless, and did the one thing he could do, useless as it was. Although a U.S. citizen, he resides in Canada (he also holds Canadian citizenship), so he decided to send a message to his generally-useless and more than a little corrupt ‘representative’, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. She is, perhaps, best known for her underhanded efforts to swing the Democratic nomination in 2016 from Bernie Sanders to Hillary Clinton. We all know just how well that turned out.
So he wrote to Ms. Wasserman-Schultz, asking her to condemn Israeli actions in Gaza. He hopes she does not respond; the last thing in the world he could possibly want is some insipid letter listing pro-Israel talking points (Israeli security, the need for negotiations, etc.), but without any regard for international law.
And as long as international law has been mentioned, how is Israel violating it? The various ways are too numerous to mention, but we will list a few:
- International law says that an occupation must be temporary. Israel has occupied Palestine for at least 52 years, and it could certainly be argued that it has actually been 71 years.
- The occupying country is forbidden by international law from moving its citizens onto occupied territory, except as may be necessary in the short term for managing the occupation. There are more than 500,000 illegal settlers in the West Bank, and Netanyahu has clearly said that not one of them will ever leave.
- The rights of the occupied people must be respected. Palestinians are treated by Israel as no one would even treat an animal.
- The property of the occupied people must be respected. Homes, businesses, mosques and churches are routinely destroyed by the brutal occupiers.
With Netanyahu making his last-ditch effort to appear heroic to his racist constituents, as he attempts to cling to office so he can get a law passed preventing his indictment, his chief advocate, the bizarre and equally racist U.S. President Donald Trump, is dealing with his own issues, as the impeachment inquiry enters a more public stage. Netanyahu’s failure to form a government following two elections has delayed the announcement of Trump’s ‘deal of the century’, the few details of which that have been leaked indicate that it, like Trump’s and Netanyahu’s political futures, is dead on arrival.
What’s next for the Palestinians? There may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon. With Britain on the verge of new elections, the possibility of a very pro-Palestinian Prime Minister, Jeremy Corbyn, exists. Some, but not all, of the leading Democratic presidential candidate wannabes in the U.S. have suggested a drastic new way of dealing with Israel, including withholding the vast amount of taxpayer money that the U.S. needlessly gives Israel, until that country adheres to international law. The withheld money, it is suggested, would go to Gaza for humanitarian aid.
The people of Palestine have, very rightly, rejected any further negotiations, always pushed by the U.S., recognizing the truth of the words of Assata Shakur: “Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.”
While the ‘possibility’ of some brighter future exists, Palestinian men, women and children, no different from Canadians, Iranians, the French, British, Germans, Bolivians, etc., suffer under a cruel and barbaric oppression. Every person with an iota of compassion is obligated to fight this oppression in whatever way possible. Doing anything less is a shocking abandonment of our basic moral responsibilities as human beings.
WRITER
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