Palestine Update 631
Comment
Racist and ruthless
In the New Arab, we read how “collective punishment imposed on Palestinians through the medical permit system and multiple other avenues, is not justifiable by any measure, legally or ethically”. Israel uses its openly racist political lines and ruthless measures of governance to use the permit system as a mechanism of control. Some of the worst oppressive tactics that tyrannical governments have adopted pale in comparison to the Israeli governments methods. Barbarity is the word that fits closest.
Even a sedate source, The State Department’s 2021 report on terrorism, admonishes the Israeli strategy by asserting that Israeli security forces often did not prevent violent attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and almost never held violent settlers accountable. “This is the most serious determination made in an official and public State Department report regarding the issue of settler violence against Palestinian civilians”. It is acts such as this that prompted Sen. Bernie Sanders to describe Israeli democracy as one in peril in Israel. He calls on the US to “revisit the conditions under which it offers financial assistance to the country”.
Meanwhile Israel has created a bunch of ‘fake critics”. They provide a façade from the perspective of largely retired Jewish establishment leaders and a few center-right commentators as newly minted critics of the Israeli government signifies less than it might seem. Their critique is clandestinely in support of the apartheid regime. They hold their “rhetoric within carefully circumscribed boundaries”. They fail to threaten any action to hold Israel accountable.” Counterfeit democracy, you could call it.
Zionist judiciary is co-opted beyond all possible boundaries. The decision of the “Zionist court” to release terrorist settlers demonstrates that the judicial system and courts in the enemy state are an integral part of the enemy’s system itself, and chooses to conceal the “heinous crime of settlers and provide them with legal protection, which encourages elements of Jewish terrorism to commit more crimes against Palestinian citizens”.
The only bit of good news is that the US State Department is considering whether to deny Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich a visa ahead of his expected visit to the U.S. next week after he called for the Israeli government to “wipe out” the Palestinian village of Hawara. If the U.S. denies Smotrich — a senior minister in the Israeli government — a visa, it would be an unprecedented move in the U.S.-Israel relationship. Fingers crossed.
On behalf of MLN Palestine Updates
Ranjan Solomon
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Israel restricting medical permits for Palestinians is a mechanism of oppression
“The collective punishment imposed on Palestinians through the medical permit system and multiple other avenues, is not justifiable by any measure, legally or ethically. Evidence suggests instead, that Israel uses the permit system as a mechanism of control, and to apply pressure on groups like Hamas. It is also used as a means to force individual Palestinians to inform on others…The medical permit system is part of a broader structure of oppression that, because it is bureaucratic rather than overtly violent, often goes ignored by the international bodies that might otherwise moderately criticise or at least question bombing campaigns or raids. This “mechanism of oppression,” however, causes untold harm, including premature mortality, in ways that are harder to measure than those that come from military violence, but are just as destructive.”
Read more in The New Arab
U.S. report: Israel often did not prevent settler attacks against Palestinians in 2021
“The State Department’s 2021 report on terrorism, published on Monday, concludes that Israeli security forces often did not prevent violent attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and almost never held violent settlers accountable. Why it matters: This is the most serious determination made in an official and public State Department report regarding the issue of settler violence against Palestinian civilians. The report says that according to UN monitoring data and also according to the Israeli Shin Bet intelligence agency, there was a significant increase in the number, scale, severity and geographical scope in 2021…According to the report, the characteristics of the attacks also changed. In prior years, attacks were sporadic and conducted by individuals or small groups of four to five settlers, but attacks in 2021 were conducted by big groups of several dozen settlers “indicating that attacks were likely pre-planned.”
Read more from Axios.com
Sanders: Israeli democracy is in peril
“Sen. Bernie Sanders said that he thinks that democracy is in peril in Israel and that the U.S. should revisit the conditions under which it offers financial assistance to the country…Sanders said on Sunday the U.S., which is one of the closest allies of Israel and provides it with billions of dollars of support each year, should add conditions to that assistance. “I think the United States gives billions of dollars in aid to Israel,” Sanders said. “And I think we’ve got to put some strings attached to that and say you cannot run a racist government. You cannot turn your back on a two-state solution. You cannot demean the Palestinian people there. You just can’t do it and then come to America and ask for money.”
Empty gestures
“Yet the emergence of largely retired Jewish establishment leaders and a few center-right commentators as newly minted critics of the Israeli government signifies less than it might seem. While many of these figures are speaking out in uncharacteristic ways, they have kept their rhetoric within carefully circumscribed boundaries. The message of the communal leaders’ joint statement is one of loyalty, not combativeness: It does not threaten any action to hold Israel accountable.”
For more see Jewish currents
Releasing terrorist settlers proves Zionist judiciary is part of system occupation
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the decision of the “Zionist Court” to release the terrorist settlers who were arrested in the attacks on the town of Hawara, south of Nablus, claiming that there was no evidence. It considered that the Zionist judiciary is part of the enemy’s own system. The decision of the “Zionist court” is further evidence that the judicial system and courts in the enemy state are an integral part of the enemy’s system itself, and new proof of its involvement and the Zionist government. In covering up this heinous crime, its perpetrators, and providing them with legal protection, which encourages elements of Jewish terrorism to commit more crimes against Palestinian citizens.The ministry emphasized that the decision of the “Zionist court” is discriminatory and racist par excellence, “If the accused was a Palestinian, they would have invented all the charges for him and forged all the evidence against him in order to prove his accusation even if he was innocent, and in the event that the accused is a Zionist, and with the presence of all the proofs, evidence, pictures and videos, as happened in Hawara, but the Zionist court releases him on the pretext of lack of sufficient evidence.
Read more from Saba.Ei
U.S. may deny Israeli minister visa after call to “wipe out” Hawara
“The State Department held internal consultations on whether to deny Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich a visa ahead of his expected visit to the U.S. next week after he called for the Israeli government to “wipe out” the Palestinian village of Hawara, one U.S. and one Israeli confirmed. If the U.S. denies Smotrich — a senior minister in the Israeli government — a visa, it would be an unprecedented move in the U.S.-Israel relationship. Smotrich, who holds a diplomatic passport, is expected in Washington next week for a conference hosted by the Israel Bonds organization.State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Wednesday condemned Smotrich’s remarks on Hawara, calling them “irresponsible, disgusting and repugnant.” The State Department then began discussing whether to grant Smotrich a visa, the U.S. and Israeli officials said. The officials stressed that no decision has been made. A senior Israeli official told Axios that State Department officials in recent days have “hinted” to Israeli diplomats that they would be happy if Smotrich decided to cancel his trip. A U.S. official said that even if Smotrich decides to visit the U.S., no Biden administration officials will meet him. He has not requested any meetings”.
Read more in Axios.com
5 March 2023
Source: nakbaliberation.com