Let's revisit the Israeli raid on Ketziot Prison, please. Two days ago we ran the 2:24 minute Al Jazeera report of Israel's Channel 2 coverage; but later it came to my attention that a fuller 15:22 minute version of the original video was available thanks to Kate's List and Noam Sheizaf @ +927.
(For English subtitles, press arrow, then “CC” on the lower-right corner of the player)
This 'operation' was intended to be a morale-booster for the elite Israel Prisons Service unit Masada, to “increase morale and motivation” among prison guards. Yet a spokesperson for the Prison Service, Yaron Zamir, later categorized it as "a riot by hundreds of security prisoners...a riot that included the burning of the compound, endangering the lives of the warders".
I urge everyone to watch the entire episode.
Vile humiliating language including degrading laughter paints a shockingly vivid portrait of a mind frame one may find hard to otherwise conceptualize without seeing and hearing it yourself. And when you're done, read excerpts of Gideon Levy's '07 Haaretz article (yes, Levy was way ahead of others, as usual) below about the violent attack on Mohammed Ashkar that took place during that operation, and my own comments/questions about his killing.
Mohammed Ashkar, severely wounded, was transferred unconscious to a hospital where he was handcuffed to his bed and died, still manacled to his bedpost. His father Sati and his brother Lo'ai, himself half paralyzed as a result of torture at the hands of Shin Bet, would not ever see Mohammed alive again because they were not allowed to enter Israel. Mohammed's mother and his wife reached the hospital after being delayed for two hours at the checkpoint. Levy reports:
The door of Mohammed's room in the hospital was closed; two policemen stood guard next to it. Each relative was given five minutes to visit. Mohammed's mother went in first. She relates that her son was unconscious and on life-support. His head and one hand were bandaged, and both hands and both feet were in iron handcuffs. Hijer says she started to tremble and shout: "Why is he handcuffed? Do you really think he will get up and attack you?"The police, she says, told her she was doing her son harm. After time ran out, she begged to be allowed to stay - "Maybe he will wake up" - but the policemen told her to leave. An hour after they left, the phone call came: Mohammed is dead.
While Yamir from the prison service implies this was a 'riot' initiated by the prisoners the video released supports the reports from the prisoners as reported by Levy.
What happened on the night of October 22 in Ketziot prison? Lo'ai has taken testimony from prisoners who have since been released and visited him at home. "Suddenly, at two in the morning, we heard people shouting and sounds of gunfire, and we went out into the yard to see what was going on," one of the prisoners, Omar Salah, relates. "Everyone who went into the yard was shot at from across the fence. Afterward the forces opened the gate and went through it, shooting at everyone in their way." "They threw stun grenades at the prison wing," another prisoner, Majid Salit, says. "When they saw us, they told us to get into the wing. We refused, and they jumped us ... When they opened fire at us, we started to throw things at the forces ... They kept on shooting until they pushed us into a corner ... We all came out crawling on the ground. We were not allowed to look at the forces. Our heads were in the ground. "They chose a group of 10 every time and started to hit them with big truncheons and they got us back into the prison wings. When they got to me, I said I was wounded ... They took me to the side and started to hit me with truncheons. They put me into the visitors' wing, where there were 400 prisoners ... We sat there for two hours, bleeding ... On the way to the ambulance they hit us, and they also hit us with truncheons when we were in the ambulance." According to the prisoners, the tents caught fire in the wake of the warders' gunfire. There was no air in the grossly overcrowded visiting room, Omar Salah relates, and the inmates broke a window so they could breathe. "The forces arrived and started to shoot into the room," he says. Prisoner Sufian Jamjoum describes the ammunition: "From a distance of one meter a warder shot me in the leg as I was talking to him. His weapon looked like a hunting rifle. It was the first time I ever saw this type of bullet. It was a bullet the size of an egg and there were about 200 small iron bullets inside it ... I was left in the tent even though I was bleeding, and afterward I was taken to the visiting room, wounded and bleeding, with another 400 prisoners in a small, closed room." Salah explained the circumstances of Mohammed Ashkar's death. "The shahid [martyr] ran and entered his tent. The soldiers went into the tents. Mohammed was next to the door of tent No. 3, on the inside, and the soldier was about one meter away ... When the shahid was shot and fell, he was opposite the soldier. I saw him." Salit: "[Mohammed] stood by the door of our wing and watched what was going on. A masked man from the security forces arrived. He aimed his pistol at his head and shot him. Mohammed collapsed. The other prisoners shouted that he had to be taken to the hospital. They took him only after the tents burned." .
There is nothing in this just released horrifying video contradicting the depiction of events as related by these prisoners. A later report from Hareetz reported the commander of Ketziot, Shlomi Cohen claimed "I am glad this operation fell to me in Ketziot.....If we manage to surprise the prisoners, all the better. If it is uncovered [beforehand], there will be shouting.....the population is expected to respond in any case."
This was an attack on prisoners.
The Masada unit, since its founding in 2003 to replace the army and police who previously were called in to quell prison riots, has built an international reputation for riot control. It has developed a variety of controversial, so-called "no-kill" weapons such as the firing of salt pellets that burn the skin and cloth bags with metal balls, intended to injure rioters but not kill them.
Is this a prison, or a laboratory?
After Mohammed's death the family requested he be returned to them and attempted to prevent the autopsy, but "it quickly turned out that it had already been performed". What kind of experimental weapons were being used on these prisoners? Why did a witness report he saw the guard lift a pistol and shoot it into Mohammed's head? Levy reports his brother Lo'ai has a video on his laptop showing "two wounds on the front skull area, a wound on his hand, eyes and mouth wide open". Why did the guards instigate this raid in the middle of the night armed with lethal weapons? What are the chances the MSM in the US will ever report this story and give it the attention it deserves? Zilch. Mohammed was about to be released. His crime? Being a member of 'Islamic Jihad'. Well I guess that settles it.
Mohammed Ashkar, 30, from the village of Tzaida, was jailed most recently on January 18, 2006 after being convicted of membership in Islamic Jihad. His father, Seti Ashkar, told Haaretz yesterday that the authorities first told the family Ashkar had been shot while trying to escape but shortly thereafter changed their story and said he had been accidentally shot while fire was aimed at the legs of other prisoners during the riot. The father also said the family had been told by Physicians for Human Rights that a team of doctors from abroad had investigated the circumstances of Ashkar’s death and had carried out an autopsy. The autopsy revealed that Ashkar had been killed by a live bullet from a distance of half a meter to three meters, his father said
Thank you Bijou
Thank you Annie!!!
;)
you inspired me!
This is truly disturbing footage. I just want to make sure it’s clear that this footage was not found and smuggled out of the country against Israel’s wishes. This news report went out on Israel’s main news program (60 minutes) watched by more people than probably any other news program. The reason it was shown on the news is because Israelis are horrified by this behavior. No one is sitting at home and giggling proudly over what they’re watching. This is Abu Gharaib and Lynndie England and every other kind of messed up horror that can only occur when young people are given unreasonable and unjustifiable power over others.
I am glad this story has come out. These are the things that will convince Israel of the harm occupation does to both the occupied and the occupier.
These shameful acts bring dishonor to us all, but our willingness to report them and acknowledge that shame will help bring the end to the occupation.
Cough “Goldstone” Report cough. Not to mention literally hundreds of other reports by UN agencies and human rights organizations that have piled up. You have a long way to go. I guess brownie points for admitting that this happens but you know, Americans generally don’t buy the “few bad apples” argument after Abu Gharib.
Because Abu Gharib happened because of directed US policy. It didn’t “just happen” and wasn’t “just reported.”
You can’t write this off as a singular event. These sort of atrocities are commonplace in the Israeli occupation.
And the U.S. is guilty of this type of very serious abuse and much more at Abu Gharib other black sites as well as in our own prison systems. But this type of treatment for some who have barely committed crimes, along with the ongoing and persistent stealing of Palestinian land, destruction of homes, the wall, destruction of olive groves, daily humiliation this clearly adds up. Hot bubbling lava looks for a place to escape
Just as they are commonplace by US soldiers in the various Muslim countries we occupy. Our media goes out of its way not to report these everyday atrocities and the public curses the leakers who are charged with risking military security which is a different kind of crime than reminding Americans of our depravity.
i definitely applaud the program for airing this video, even if it is 4 years later. i am not so sure the term ‘our willingness’ is appropriate. no doubt there were people who tried to suppress this information and lie about it.
somewhere in my research yesterday i read this program has revealed other embarrassing news and has been sued for it. off the top of my head i can’t recall what it was but the info is out there and not a secret.
The reason it was shown on the news is because Israelis are horrified by this behavior.
some of them anyway. obviously some israelis are of the same ilk that as the people carrying out this ‘operation’. the warden should be fired. is he still in charge of prisoners? are they still using experimental weapons and treating palestinians like guinea pigs?
It would make sense that someone got hold of a copy and was going to release so the Israeli government trumped and released first. A guess but bet it is a good guess
Who exactly released this?
i think it was the lawyers for the inquiry into mahammed’s death. i would have to review the end of the video. the orthodox woman as i recall. i will check.
How many years ago did this happen? Bet someone with a conscience was going to release or had. Israel does not let go of things like this unless they know the evidence is going to slip out somewhere else.
Bases on what you claim “Israelis are horrified by this behavior” guilty feat when will Israel release all of the documented footage that Israeli soldiers confiscated of the massacre on the Mavi Marmara? Your claim is complete bullshit
at 11:52 in the video it shows lawyer naama kalmanovich and informs she was the first to get the prison case and learned mohammed had died chained to the bed unconscious. she said ‘for me it representes the attitude the prisoners are not really seen as human beings. it says she decided not to ‘stand still’ and brings the ‘material’ to a person named smader ben nathan who appealed the court to investigate mohammed’s death.
it says ben nathan then ‘starts a war with the whole system’ (12:37)which underscores the cover up in place. obviously no one is “giggling proudly” , GF’s point. although people in the video were laughing proudly. i think it is just getting caught they are not giggling about.
Some reactions from Israeli English language website (American Zionists, I guess)
8. The solution
A decent society has capital punishment. A considerable number of those over-fed over pampered terrorist thugs deserved to be put to death. Executed criminals don’t riot.
3. Why any terrorists are alive in the first place? (N”C)
John, (10/22/07)
That’s hilarious. GuiltyFeat would have all the gullible readers believe that this video is some kind of new revelation for Israelis, as though Israeli audiences are learning of such policies thanks to a Channel 2 exclusive.
It’s “60 Minutes”, he said. And all the non-Israelis have yet to pick up on the fact that he’s selling snake-oil.
So, let’s set the record straight.
Such programs have been airing in Israel for decades, programs that show the violence inflicted on Palestinians, the discrimination within Israeli society, etc.
For every atrocity or cruelty, the Israeli government and the media have an explanation, a justification. And so do millions of Israelis, the vast majority.
But, GuiltyFeat is spinning this news, trying to spin them as though they will cause everyone in Israel to reflect and question the system.
No. It won’t. Israelis have been aware of such abuses for so long, that to pretend this TV program is a revelation is to urinate on readers’ feet and tell them it’s raining.
Incidentally, this trick falls under the Few Bad Apples defense. It’s no better than the Twinkie defense.
It reminds me of the days I worked in the Israeli radio. A friend of mine who worked in the news department used to file reports concluding that, “The military is investigating the circumstances behind this incident”.
I asked him once about that phrase as it sounded all-too-standard boilerplate. He confided that it was just BS, so as to create the veneer that protections are built into the system.
our willingness etc.
gawd, you’d give a healthy man diabetes!
You know, I have to wonder what goes on in the minds of Zionists when an article like this crosses Mondoweiss. They almost never comment on articles like this, and if they do it’s always diversionary in nature (“School bus! Gilad Schalit!”) and they never confront the elephant in the room that is the main topic of the article itself.
Do they actually tell themselves, “This is unimportant. I won’t comment anywhere near it because I want other people to ignore this completely like I do and deny that it ever happens,” or is there some sort of semi-conscious knee jerk that causes them to bypass the article just by reading the headline and being at a complete loss for how to pretty it up and hasbarize it?
i rarely use the term never. i suppose what goes on in the minds of zionists isn’t that different than the rest of us when evidence like this presents itself. it is gruesome.
“it’s always diversionary in nature” Dershowitz, Netanyahu “look over there no over there” This strategy has been the way for six decades now
Where is that arrow on the screen for english subtitles
as soon as you push play there appears a little red box in the bar below the video to the right side of the time (00:00 15:22). click it and the option presents itself.
Yeah got it sorry I did not come back on and say so. All ready sent it out to many as well as linking it at a few other sites.
First the language “sons of bitches, cunts of your mothers, morons” That language is sure to settle down individuals woken from a deep sleep. Then out of the soldiers “shoot, don’t shoot, shoot” Which is it all ready?
Someone down at 9:03 “one of the Arabs is down” Then they get semi nicey nice “what is your name”
Who is that who is saying “lovely, lovely” Is that the camera man or a soldier?
Christ all mighty that young man died cuffed to the bed. Cuffed to the fucking bed. And the objective of the raid was to cuff these people to the bed in their sleep? Do I have that right? WTF is that all about?
i think the objective of the raid was to get them all laying prostrate on the ground or something. i have no idea. to boost the morale of the guards or something sadistic like that. to further their reputation as awesome crowd controllers. whatever it is it is sick. to test the new weapons?
If the eye witness is telling the truth and a masked man shot Mohammed Ashkar in the head at close range. It would appear the rest was all a charade set up to target him and make it appear like an accident. Have I read this right that this young man was shot in the head by a masked man and there was an eye witness?
i watched the video again, it does say that originally the plan was to cuff all the prisoners. but how they were trained to carry out that plan seems very perverse. it sounds like they are taunting them to come out and then shooting them. they enter the tents and start shooting when it is dark.
i don’t know why they do the night raids when people are sleeping. at 12:56 in the video it said the lawyer found out from examining the ‘material’ the masada was shooting prisoners when they were under no life threat which is born out in the video. but i would not go so far as to say the objective was to carry out a hit.
i think all the masada wore coverings on the heads, it is their uniform.
at 13:32 in the video after he says he would score the operation as a ’10′ because they didn’t have the purpose of killing anyone. so it is not a bother they killed anyone as if this is insignificant because he still scores it as a 10. then at 14:42 in the video they say ‘great’ excellent’ ‘ this is just what you wanted’ as they are filming the place burn. it seems almost incomprehensible but i guess this is the objective all along. to initiate and frame this as a ‘riot’, to make an announcement to the press you got all the prisoners under control and then to brag about how israel’s masada is the most awesome-ist security ever and then maybe sell them to train other countries. but to train they need these prisoners.
i wonder what the words to the song he starts singing @ 14:29 is?
“lovely” “get the fire” seems so scripted. The laughing is so sick.
If the objective was to see if they could cuff prisoners in their sleep. Uh it would seem you would want to be a bit more stealth. Fucked up in the first place but if that were actually the objective shouting out “sons of bitches, from your mothers cunt” etc would not sound like a lullaby to those sleeping.
And if that had actually been the objective who did they actually cuff to a bed? Muhammed was the only person killed right? Sounds like that was the objective. An execution made to look like it was a training operation gone wrong.
That officer who said the operation was “a ten” is hopefully put on the stand
i am guessing here but it appears to me this was a drill. and the drill was to ‘contain’ rioting prisoners. so if prisoners are sleeping and not rioting circumstances need to be applied to get them rioting so that they can finally be subdued otherwise it doesn’t test the techniques or the weapons.
on the other comment section someone posted a like to real TV, (grit i think) with interviews of the prisoners on cell phones smuggled in. i have to watched it yet.
By the way Annie you are such an honorable lady giving credit to those who lead you somewhere. Smart and honorable. Team player
i should have given you credit too kathleen, since i grabbed your text from the video
;)
thanks!
“The door of Mohammed’s room in the hospital was closed; two policemen stood guard next to it. Each relative was given five minutes to visit. Mohammed’s mother went in first. She relates that her son was unconscious and on life-support. His head and one hand were bandaged, and both hands and both feet were in iron handcuffs. Hijer says she started to tremble and shout: “Why is he handcuffed? Do you really think he will get up and attack you?”
The police, she says, told her she was doing her son harm. After time ran out, she begged to be allowed to stay – “Maybe he will wake up” – but the policemen told her to leave. An hour after they left, the phone call came: Mohammed is dead.”
five minutes, five fucking minutes with your dying son. What the fuck is wrong with these people? And yest I say “these people” because it really seems that from watching many clips of Israeli soldiers that compassion and empathy have been wiped out. Where is their fucking humanity for gods sake. Its as if every ounce has been squeezed out of their bodies or they are just all completely fucking racist and never started with any sense of humanity running through their veins. Thoroughly disgusted
I have three older daughters. If this would have been one of my daughters they would have had to drag me out of that room. They might have had to kill me. I have been up close when a few friends and family members have died. All of your death and dying books say hearing is the last to go, all hospice folks will tell you that. How that mother would have liked to sit by her son whispering into his ear that he was loved, that they wanted him to make it, but if it was not to be let him go knowing and hearing his mother or sister telling him that he was loved.
That Palestinian mother is no different than an Israeli mother. No different. Well except that it seems many Israeli mothers seem to think they deserve more in all ways. Safety and security for their children. Water, food, education. God all mighty Israel has become a racist state
So sad. crying
But one can understand why people who have been so beaten down for so long or thought maybe the young man would survive that the mother would give in. This is so tragic so brutal
“Salah explained the circumstances of Mohammed Ashkar’s death. “The shahid [martyr] ran and entered his tent. The soldiers went into the tents. Mohammed was next to the door of tent No. 3, on the inside, and the soldier was about one meter away … When the shahid was shot and fell, he was opposite the soldier. I saw him.” Salit: “[Mohammed] stood by the door of our wing and watched what was going on. A masked man from the security forces arrived. He aimed his pistol at his head and shot him. Mohammed collapsed. The other prisoners shouted that he had to be taken to the hospital. They took him only after the tents burned.” .
” A masked man from the security forces arrived. He aimed the pistol at his head and shot him”
This sure appears as if the whole murder was set up to spin as an accident. Why did they target him like this? From what this eye witness is saying this was another Israeli execution.
Kathleen, you wrote
“This sure appears as if the whole murder was set up to spin as an accident. Why did they target him like this? From what this eye witness is saying this was another Israeli execution.”
Can I offer an alternative?
Just because the murder is set up to spin as an accident it does not follow that Mohammed Ashkar was targeted. Indeed, I would argue that it would be difficult to ensure the beyond the doubt identification of a person in the raid.
Someone felt like killing a person by shooting them in the head. They either used the raid to accomplish it, or raid was set up for them to be able to do it.
My bets are as follows:
someone who got kicks out of killing unarmed person by shooting them in the head,
someone who is meant to prove their manhood,
someone who is taking part in initiation ceremony
A paying guest – partaking in a safari…………..
A paying guest – partaking in a safari…………..
i have to admit this thought never crossed my mind.
Well, if using live ammunition on humans to “boost morale” is not a hunting party, I don’t know what is.
If the eye witness account of a masked man coming out to target Muhammad turns out to be true. Then one has to wonder
“The autopsy revealed that Ashkar had been killed by a live bullet from a distance of half a meter to three meters, his father said”
“Mohammed’s mother went in first. She relates that her son was unconscious and on life-support. His head and one hand were bandaged, and both hands and both feet were in iron handcuffs. Hijer says she started to tremble and shout: “Why is he handcuffed? Do you really think he will get up and attack you?”
The police, she says, told her she was doing her son harm. After time ran out, she begged to be allowed to stay”
Mother fuckers telling the mother “she was dong her son harm” Harm? How fucking dare these cold human beings. What do they have running through their veins? Ice cold nuclear waste? Telling a mother that she was “doing her son harm”. A young man lying there close to dead because an Israeli “masked man” or someone had put a bullet in his head. I’m telling you I would have grabbed one of these mother fuckers by the neck. They would have had to shoot me on the spot .
The Palestinians have been so beaten down. I just keep thinking about how the racist Israeli “elites” entered that prison “sons of bitches, cunts of their mothers, morons” These prisoners woken from deep sleeps listening to these racist mother fuckers shouting “get down on the ground” “don’t talk” Listening to them shouting “shoot, don’t shoot, shoot”
How many eye prisoners witnessed the shooting? Have there been other autopsies other than the Israeli autopsy?
Keep thinking about the questions around Rachel Corries autopsy.
link to palsolidarity.org
Dr. Yehuda Hiss, the former head of the Israel Forensic Institute who conducted the autopsy of Rachel Corrie at the request of the Israeli military, admitted that he violated an Israeli court order requiring that an official from the U.S. Embassy be present during Rachel’s autopsy. Hiss also stated that his policy was not to allow entrance to the autopsy to anyone who is not a physician or biologist. Dr. Hiss stated that he spoke by phone with the US Embassy after receiving the court order and was told they would not be sending a representative, and that the Corrie family had agreed to the autopsy. Dr. Hiss admitted there was no documentation in his file of this conversation with the Embassy. The U.S. Embassy has repeatedly told the family that this was not the conversation that occurred.
- Dr. Hiss also disclosed that he had kept samples from Rachel’s body for histological testing without informing her family. Dr. Hiss admitted that he did not inform the family about their right to bury the samples and that the samples were likely to have been buried with other body samples from the Institute, but he was uncertain. This was the first time that the family of Rachel Corrie received confirmation that the Israeli Forensic Institute had indeed kept samples of her body, despite prior attempts to receive this information. Dr. Hiss has been the subject of a prior lawsuit in Israel brought by families for whom he did not return body parts and samples.
i just sent these exact 2 paragraphs to a friend thru email the other day. from the corrie site. dr hiss has such a sorted history. how he kept his job thru it all is beyond me. one might think any coroner might loose his job by keeping his own museum of thousands of organs. after the first court case he kept his job. i can’t remember which eruption it was he was finally demoted, but still not fired. gross.
Annie, twenty years ago keeping parts of bodies for research was a common practice in histopathology circles. Dr. Hiss in addition harvested parts for transplants: corneas, if I recall.
The Palestinians have been so beaten down.
this is how they train the elite forces to do it, then it gets passed down. it is not enough they are in prison, they must also be docile while they are imprisoned and being shot at.
Our dear deceased friend Art Gish as well as many other activist that I have talked with who have spent time in the Gaza, living with Palestinians, walking kids to school, etc have described one scene after the next where Israeli soldiers as well as illegal Israeli settlers harass, humiliate Palestinians as a matter of daily habits.
That singing at the end of the clip is so weird. What is that “elite” Israeli soldier singing.
Also watch that illegal settler lawyer smile while she speaks about Muhammed dying while being cuffed to a bed. Something really wrong there.
Just watched again. These Israeli “elite” are some very sick sick individuals reflecting a very sick nation.
First they say the objective is to look for “forbidden objects” Then the settler lawyer says the objective was to cuff prisoners to their beds in their sleep. Then the head pig says it was to increase “morale” How many times can the objective change?
The scene at the end with the guard who is filming “how lovely film it film it, film the pictures” Film a bit of the fire so some can see what happened” The insane and diabolical laughing while they are filming
And then at the end. Flip the script “judge them, punish them and make them pay for the damage” For what the Israeli ‘elite” had done.
Seems like the script that the Israeli state is on. Imprison, incite, kill (seems like their target was Muhammed make it look like an accident) and then flip the script and place the blame on the people you are oppressing.
How did this film end up in the hands of a settler lawyer? Has this woman stood on the side of real justice before? Is this part of the script?
It is quite obvious from afar I do not trust any person brought up in an illegal settlement?
Was this settler lawyer all ready representing the family of Muhammed? How did she end up with the tape?
Something about the way that settler woman is smiling while she is saying that he had died while being cuffed to a bed. Is not right. Something way off there. The other lawyer woman seems for real
This is terrible Annie, but would you accuse me of trying to lighten up such horrid activity by pointing out this is somewhat the norm in “civilized” societies? Just in case you think I am joking, watch this (you will note, it begins with a “raid”) –
TORTURE INC., AMERICA
Once again I reiterate this is not excusing what is taking place there, it is showing that the atrocious behavior is more wide spread than you suspect. Someone might point out that this is an illegal occupation, and the treatment, even the prisoners are part of political bloc imposed by Israel. I would reply a similar system exists here, most of the prisoners are non-violent and we have the largest prison population of any industrialized country in the world. Even if a crime has been committed should people be subjected to such treatment?
There are more “crimes” being hatched every day by the stroke of a pen, who knows perhaps some day what we are doing (exposing these atrocities) will become a crime some day. So what I am saying is that these prison systems are endemic to the societies we have created, whether it is a settler colonial state as Israel, or a so-called “democracy” as in the USA – which supports and extends this treatment of the Palestinians by the Israelis. It is meant to perpetuate an underclass – whether by way of colonial theft, or by common capitalistic class creation (with the “privatized” for profit prison industrial complex, where profit is measured by the number of bodies incarcerated). This trend shows no sign of stopping, it is getting worse – so keep an eye on what is happening in Israel and sound the alarm, while watching your own back.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Does this sort of stuff happen in Europe? Seriously, honest question. I was already aware that the United States was slipping into barbarity when prominent journalists on every news network and politicians on both sides of the aisle started talking about waterboarding as “not torture” or “unfortunately necessary” and suddenly political talk shows started sounding like what you’d expect to find in the DVD commentary for 24.
This is terrible Annie, but would you accuse me of trying to lighten up such horrid activity by pointing out this is somewhat the norm in “civilized” societies?
this is an apartheid state and these are holding pens for non citizens. that doesn’t excuse what goes on in other prisons.
I would reply a similar system exists here
okkkay
Okkkay, apartheid is not merely a racist entity (that is merely the surface), no matter what you have been taught in our woefully inadequate schools annie. Racism is always a cover for economic class division , of course, the really dumb participants believe the racist BS (same happens with religion, gender, etc.) and are used like tools. Whether you are looking at the USA or Israel both are apartheid, and that is because this is all about theft and the advancement of one group or class above another – whether it is South Africa, Israel, or the USA.
They are all creations of class elite groups, all of them have ignorant populaces that believe the tripe, and all have benefited by the destruction of others either foreign (non-citizens) or domestic (citizens, actually citizenship is rubbish) either consciously and unconsciously (every bit of wealth here in the USA is by foreign and domestic exploitation). It is the inability to understand and perceive this pervasive reality globally that causes it to persist. So the seeming division that causes you to make your artificial difference between the USA and Israel is merely a facade, an invisible hood over your head, it is a fantasy. Many people live in a bubble like dream world, you can tell by how they argue and reason.
ILLUSIONS CREATE DELUSIONS
The real question is, what are we the people who are aware of this going to do about it?
A further explanation above, because I understand that this is not what people “believe” in many instances, is the classic example in South Africa. Even though “political” apartheid and the visible separation was removed, economically very little changed. Of course, there was a bit of a broadening of some black managerial class (which is receding), but the wealth in the country remains in the same hands. This is because Apartheid has never merely been racist expression, it is economic –
APARTHEID DID NOT DIE
Excerpt –
It is played up as a major victory, the overcoming of Apartheid in South Africa, but was it REALLY defeated? Perhaps in part, its most prominant feature, the face of Apartheid – the exterior, what attention was drawn to. You could call what happened in South Africa a “partial” victory, that is, in the political realm. However, in the all important economic well being of the majority in South Africa they still languish.
You might ask – “but how can this be?” Did not Nelson Madella promise – with the ANC the RDP – reconstruction and development programs? Well, they just disappeared early on after the “victory.” There were these amazing “reconciliation” gatherings, spurred on by Tutu sporting “forgiveness,” and zero prosecutions for unbelievable murderous activity of the white apartheid regime. The plight of the people worsens, it gets no better.
After all of this study I asked myself “has no one else seen this?” South Africa is just another cog in the wheel of white supremacy, is no one aware? Sure enough, early on someone had covered it and left a large footprint – it was once again, John Pilger. Did anyone listen to him? No? In the late 1990′s he does this documentary “Apartheid Did Not Die,” that is so obvious and searing bringing out all of these points that have done nothing but gotten worse since that time. Even the little hope he tries to wring about the tiny houses sprouting up here and there, and medical clinics at the time have disappeared with few and far between, and people stacked upon one another hopelessly dying, those lucky enough to be seen.
I would recommend, in order to get the full impact of the post that you listen to the full video of John Pilger’s, which is the title of the post – Apartheid Did Not Die. The free speech one is also excellent Fourth World War, you can see the follow-up intermittently in Africa after the “fall” of Apartheid. I know it is quite a bit to digest, but it is worth it.