Israel's Rogue Killing Machine + Israel Terror Bombs Gaza

Stephen Lendman

Israel's entire history reflects depraved, out-of-control targeted and mass killings. Days of unrelenting bombing, murdering and injuring Gazans shows its contempt for law and human life.

Netanyahu exceeds the worst of Ariel Sharon and other rogue Israeli leaders. Gideon Levy says Israel never had one like him before. He governs by deceit, mocks the peace process, and reflects extreme racist hate for Arabs.

Murdering Gazans shows why. So did his comment saying he'll kill as many more as he wishes "as long as necessary" to achieve his degenerate aims.

Four merciless bombing days left at least 25 dead and dozens injured, many seriously. Civilians, including children were victimized. Washington expressed support. Blaming victims for Israeli crimes, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland spoke for war criminal Hillary Clinton saying:

"We condemn in the strongest terms the rocket fire from Gaza by terrorists into southern Israel in recent days, which has dramatically and dangerously escalated in the past day."

"We call on those responsible to take immediate action to stop these cowardly acts. We regret the loss of life and injuries, and we call on both sides to make every effort to restore calm."

America's scurrilous UN envoy Susan Rice also "thoroughly condemn(ed) terrorist rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israeli towns & cities and call(ed) on both sides to restore calm." Obama so far said nothing.

Israel initiated violence. Palestinians responded defensively. Washington and Israel call self-defense terrorism. On March 11, Max Blumenthal asked if Obama green-lighted Netanyahu's attacks in return for delaying action on Iran until America's ready.

As a result, Israel's killing machine rages out of control in day four. International law prohibits extrajudicial and indiscriminate killing. The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said it reflects Israel's "disregard for its moral and legal obligations."

The international community encourages Israeli lawlessness through silence or statements too weak-kneed to matter. Al Mezan called Israel's latest attacks "part of a (longstanding) pattern....that have....caused damage to civilians and civilian property."

With other human rights groups, Al Mezan condemned Israel's attacks and called for international community intervention to stop them.

Israel's Violence Prone, Bloodstained History

Zionism's early history reflected a desire to colonize Palestine, exploit its people as cheap labor, dispossess and disperse them, replace them with Jews, legitimize ethnic cleansing, and remove Palestinians entirely from their land, history and heritage.

Historical records were falsified. Palestinians were re-invented as semi-savage nomads. Mass elimination methods were justified to remove them.

In 1923, hard line revisionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky advocated "an iron wall of (superior) Jewish military force" to dictate future events on its terms and discourage Arab hope of prevailing.

In 1940, Jewish Agency Colonization Department head, Joseph Weitz said:

"Between ourselves, it must be clear that there is no room for both peoples together in this country. We shall not achieve our goal if the Arabs are in this small country. There is no other way than to (get rid of) all of them. Not one village, not one tribe should be left."

The later published secret Koenig Report said

"We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population."

Former IDF Chief of Staff Raphael Eitan (1978 - 1983) said:

"We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel....Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours."

In 1937, future Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion said:

"We must expel the Arabs and take their place and if we have to use force, to guarantee our own right to settle in those places - then we have force at our disposal."

Zionist founder Theodore Herzl said Palestine is "our unforgettable historic homeland" and called for establishing it by dispossessing indigenous Palestinians and replacing them with Jews.

In his book "Overcoming Zionism," Joel Kovel wrote:

[Zionism seeks] "the restoration of tribalism in the guise of a modern, highly militaralized and aggressive state. (It) cut Jews off from (their) history and led to a fateful identity of interests with antisemitism (becoming) the only thing that united them. (It) fell into the ways of imperialist expansion and militarism, and showed signs of the fascist malignancy."

[If you accept] "the idea of a Jewish state," you mix its twin notions of "particularism (and) exceptionalism (that are) the actual bane of Judaism (and give) racism an objective, enduring, institutionalized and obdurate character." It turns Israel "into a machine for the manufacture of human rights abuses."

Its bloodstained history proves it. Early Zionists called for "establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Eretz Yisrael." It began a process of:

• settling Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and tradesmen in Palestine;
• organizing effective action groups in various countries;
• building Jewish consciousness and a national identity; and
• gaining worldwide acceptance for a Jewish homeland.

At issue was replacing Palestinians with Jews. Britain went along. Its 1917 Balfour Declaration "establish(ed) in Palestine (a) national home for the Jewish people."

The 1915 McHahon-Hussein Agreement also guaranteed one for Arabs. Britain betrayed them. So did America and France. Sykes-Picot (1916) carved out Western regional spheres of influence. Ottoman Arab provinces were divided their way. Arabs had no say.

In 1920, Britain's Mandate period began by assuring:

• a liberal Jewish immigration policy;
• immediate provisional citizenship for Jews;
• easy Jewish land acquisition at the expense of indigenous Arabs;
• contiguous settlements to solidify a Jewish presence;
• employment for Jewish immigrants;
• favorable customs policies to develop Jewish commerce; and
• partiality toward Jews overall at the expense of indigenous Arabs.

World Zionism was also involved. It:

• founded the Jewish Colonial Trust in 1899 to buy land in Palestine;
• the Anglo-Palestine (commercial) Bank and investments institute in 1902 within the Jewish Colonial Trust;
• in 1901, the Jewish National Fund was established to buy and develop land;
• in 1909, the Israel Land Development Company for the same purpose;
• the 1907-established Eretz Yisrael Bureau assisted the project; in 1921, the Zionist Executive in Eretz Yisrael replaced it;
• in 1920, the United Israel Appeal was founded to raise funds to finance welfare, health, education, and continued settlement projects;
• in 1929, the Jewish Agency for Eretz Yisrael was established to represent world Zionists in dealings with the British government in administering Palestine; Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann became Israel's first president in 1949;
• in 1942, the World Zionist Organization's official aim was for a "Jewish Community" in Palestine; the Biltmore Program said "Eretz Yisrael will be based as a Jewish (only) community, to be integrated into a new democratic world."

Hard-line militancy used violence to displace Arabs, gain power, keep it, and rule by strength, confrontation, intimidation, and violence.

Premeditated state terror and naked aggression became self-defense. Civilians were legitimate targets. Freedom fighters were called terrorists. Laws don't apply. Only Jews have rights. Arabs were called inferior.

Israel claimed the right to oppress them without restraint or regard for laws of war or humanitarian considerations. Demands replaced negotiations. Israel is all take and no give. Peace process hypocrisy offers nothing. It was stillborn from inception and remains so.

Palestine remains occupied for decades. Israel reigns death, destruction, oppression, immiseration, and loss of land and freedom with impunity.

Judaization through land confiscation, displacement, and settlements is official policy. It's based on the notion that Israel belongs solely to Jews. Arabs must be displaced and forcibly driven from all parts of Judea and Sumaria Israel wants, including Jerusalem as its exclusive capital.

Palestine's 1948 Nakba never ended. Palestinians are seen as existential threats. Israeli Arabs are called fifth-column ones. According to Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, they reflect a demographic problem. Removing them and stealing their land solves it.

Issue one is creating an ethnically pure Jewish state by any means necessary. Zionism justifies Jewish ethnocracy, exclusivity, and superiority. Laws favor Jews. Arabs are denied rights. Violence is policy to check them.

Ideology becomes convenient myths for justification. It claims Israel's struggling for survival against hordes of hostile Arabs. They reject peace, prefer violence, plan Israel's destruction, so conflict's chosen to suppress them.

Israel acts defensively against Palestinian terrorism. Political solutions aren't possible so "fortress Israel" maintains control.

Final solution plans call for dispossession and/or annihilation. Israel belongs to Jews. Arabs have no rights so remove them. Brute force discards peace, reconciliation, equity, and justice. Judaization and de-Arabization are policies.

Treat them like "dogs" so they'll leave, said Moshe Dayan. Ben-Gurion favored "terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation," and violence.

Israel today has total control. Palestinian collaborators Abbas and Salam Fayyad are enforcers. In return, they gain handsomely at the expense of their people.

Palestinians remain isolated on their own. Besieged Gazans suffer horrifically. World attention's turned elsewhere. Israel's free to reign terror, death and destruction with impunity.

Holding it accountable is essential. It's high time Palestinians and Israeli Arabs got long denied justice. It's time world leaders said so with tough policies to assure it.

What can't go on forever, won't. Israeli crimes of war and against humanity can't be tolerated and one day won't be. It's just a matter of time.

Israel Terror Bombs Gaza Stephen Lendman Imagine living years under deplorable isolated siege conditions. Imagine also enduring regular Israeli land, sea and air attacks. Gazan resistance groups launch Grad missiles, home-made rockets, and mortar shells in self-defense. Israel calls them "unprovoked" attacks. Palestinian freedom fighters vow to continue their liberating struggle. Under international law, it's their right, and for them a duty. The latest Israeli attacks came Friday and Saturday. Expect more to follow. Deaths so far number at least 18. Many others were injured, some seriously, according to Gaza medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya. Israel falsely claimed only militants and weapons manufacturing sites were struck. Israel often launches strikes to provoke responses. Hamas was maliciously blamed for initiating attacks. Israel's blame game targets victims. Aggression's called self-defense. Freedom fighters are called terrorists. World leaders don't intervene to stop cold-blooded IDF murder. Four members of one family were killed. Israel treats civilians like combatants. Crimes of war and against humanity are committed regularly. This time in response, Popular Resistance Committees member Abu Mojahid declared an end of truce and vowed revenge. The latest incident began when Israeli air strikes killed Zuhir al-Qaisi, Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) secretary-general. PRC member Mahmoud Hanani was also killed. Both men died when two IDF missiles struck their car. Hanani was released last October as part of the Shalit prisoner swap deal. Israel spuriously claimed al-Qaisi masterminded an August 2011 attack killing eight Israelis, a 2008 incident claiming two more, and planned another on Israel's border with Gaza. Unilaterally maintaining truce for months, Hamas' interior ministry called Israel's "Zionist escalation an unjustified crime. It comes as part of the destabilization of a stable security situation in the Gaza Strip. We hold the international community fully responsible for the attacks." It added that Palestinians have the right to self-defense against Israeli aggression. International law permits it. A PA statement condemned Israel's attacks for "escalat(ing) the circle of violence in the region." Al-Qassam Brigades officials "mourn(ed) the martyr Zuhir al-Qaisi and martyr Mahmud Hanani and (said) their blood will not be wasted. The enemy's crime will be a curse on him." US Weapons Killing Palestinians The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a "national coalition of more than 380 groups." They work together "to end US support for Israel's occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem." On March 6, its policy paper titled, "US Military Aid to Israel" explained that weapons and munitions supplied kill Palestinian civilians. National Advocacy Director Josh Ruebner said "U.S. military aid to Israel is a policy that is running on autopilot and must be reconsidered." "U.S. weapons provided to Israel at taxpayer expense make the U.S. complicit in Israel's human rights abuses of Palestinians living under Israel's 44-year military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip and defeat U.S. foreign policy objectives of halting Israeli settlement expansion, ending Israeli military occupation, and establishing a just and lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace." Israel gets more US aid than all other nations combined. Through 2008, it exceeds $100 billion based on official figures. In fact, they way understate true amounts supplied. What Israel wants it gets. Included are state-of-the art weapons, munitions and technology, as well as direct financial aid for Israel's defense industry, emergency supplemental appropriations, and much more. Regular increases provide more, despite planned deficit reducing budget cuts. Israel's not affected. Supplying its killing machine takes precedence. As a result, thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women and children suffer and die. It's the American way. The Campaign's report said evidence shows Israel commits human rights abuses with US weapons. Supplying them violates US laws. They include the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) and 1976 Arms Export Control Act (AECA). AECA permits military related sales only for defense or internal security. FAA prohibits aiding governments that engage: "in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, or other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, and the security of person, unless such assistance will directly benefit the needy people in such country." The Leahy Law in the 2001 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act (Sec. 8092 of PL 106-259) states: "None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to support any training program involving a unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of Defense has received credible information from the Department of State that a member of such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights, unless all necessary corrective steps have been taken." The 2001 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act prohibits funding foreign security forces that commit gross human rights violations unless its government "is taking effective measures to bring the responsible members of the security forces unit to justice." Israel commits appalling human rights abuses. Washington rewards its crimes. Regular pledges assure whatever more Israel wants, even when US interests are harmed. At issue is generating instability, violence and wars to advance America's imperium along with Israel's regional aims. As a result, Palestinians and Arabs throughout the Middle East suffer and die. No end of conflict looks imminent. Nothing so far is able to stop both countries and NATO partners from ravaging North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. US taxpayers pick up the tab. Daily West Bank Israeli Crimes The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) documents them in weekly reports. Its most recent one replicates most others. In the week ending March 8, Israeli forces conducted 71 lawless incursions in West Bank communities and another in Gaza. Forty Palestinian civilians were arrested, including 13 children. Peaceful protests are attacked violently. Dozens are injured. At times, deaths occur. Settlers assault Palestinians and destroy their property with impunity. In mid-February, Gaza's health minister, Dr. Bassem Naim, declared a state of emergency caused by acute power and fuel shortages. On March 8, a health ministry press release added a pharmaceutical crisis. Hundreds of vital medications are running out. Lives are at stake. The ministry appealed to international relief and health organizations for help. Israel supplies little or none. So far, solutions for recurring crises remain elusive. For patients in dire need of care, they're running out of time and luck. Israel suffocates 1.7 million Gazans ruthlessly. Incursions, bombings, and other forms of violence compound harsh conditions. Those most vulnerable suffer most. A Final Comment On March 10, Gaza City crowds joined mourners burying their dead. They include freedom fighters Israel killed. Families paid their last respects. They viewed covered bodies torn to pieces. They chanted slogans wanting retaliation. Getting it won't bring back loved ones. Palestinians throughout the Territories lose theirs regularly. Some die. Others are abused and imprisoned lawlessly. After nearly 45 years of occupation, their liberating struggle continues. They won't ever stop working for it, nor should supporters weaken in their resolve to help.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Stephen Lendman: I was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. Raised in a modest middle class family, attended public schools, received a BA from Harvard University in 1956 and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of PA in 1960 following 2 years of obligatory military service in the US Army. Spent the next 6 years as a marketing research analyst for several large US corporations before becoming part of a new small family business in 1967, remaining there until retiring at the end of 1999. Have since devoted my time and efforts to the progressive causes and organizations I support, all involved in working for a more humane and just world for all people everywhere, but especially for the most needy, disadvantaged and oppressed. My efforts since summer 2005 have included writing on a broad range of vital topics ranging from war and peace; social, economic and political equity for all; and justice for all the oppressed peoples of the world like the long-suffering people of Haiti and the Palestinians. Also co-hosting The Global Research News Hour, occasional public talks, and frequent appearances on radio and at times television. I also am a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. I live in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit my blog site sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening. My new book "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War" can be ordered HERE.
___________________________________________________________________________________

2nd photo: AFP/Getty
URL: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2012/03/13/israel-s-rogue-killing-machines