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Israeli gov’t support for violent occupation made today’s murder inevitable

Officials in Israel and the U.S. have condemned the murder by arson of Ali Dawabsha, the little boy in Duma in occupied Palestine, last night. Here is a sampling of tweets and links that capture the alternative view: that the atrocity followed from official Israeli policy of promoting and underwriting Jewish colonization of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Daniel Wickham, LSE student:

Extremist settlers are 100% responsible for the consequences of their actions, but let’s be clear about one thing.

Without the occupation, they would not be able to murder and attack Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. They are enabled by it.

Arab Secularist writes:

Don’t let liberals fool you, the murder of that Palestinian baby isn’t just a settler-crime, it’s not disconnected from the Israeli state.

Daniel Seidemann asks:

How can Netanyahu really crack down when he and his own gov’t place settlers above the law, and use dog-whistle racsm?

Jeffrey Goldberg:

Because things can change.

Does Goldberg really believe that? S. Daniela Park links a study published in June

Jewish Israeli teens lean right, many support ‘price tag’

The study showed that

In an alarming trend, only 28% of Jewish respondents said they condemned so-called price tag attacks associated with religious, far-right Jewish groups, with students from a traditional home surprisingly more likely to decry those attacks than their secular peers.

Scott Roth says Goldberg is part of the problem and says:

Unless @Netanyahu is willing to evict those who call for this sort of stuff (Ayelet Shaked et al) from his government, his words are empty.

Shaked– Israel’s Minister of Justice— had posted an essay that called Palestinian babies little snakes, and called “the entire Palestinian people” Israel’s enemy.

And Roth issued this challenge:

@Netanyahu when will you admit that you preside over a state defined by sectarian divisions and that your side is part of the problem?

Here’s another minister who makes racist statements. Dima S. wrote:

Not long ago Israeli “defense minister” promised to kill more Palestinian and Lebanese babies.

She links to EI report by Asa Winstanley:

Israeli defense minister Moshe Yaalon on Tuesday [May 12] said Israel would attack entire civilian neighborhoods during any future assault on Gaza or Lebanon…. “we are going to hurt Lebanese civilians to include kids of the family. We went through a very long deep discussion … we did it in [the] Gaza Strip, we are going to do it in any round of hostilities in the future.”

Israel killed more than 500 children in assault on Gaza a year ago, per the Institute for Middle East Understanding.

Jessica Schulberg at Huffpo:

State Dept condemnation of the murder of a Palestinian baby fails makes ZERO mention of settlements

State Department statement on Duma arson murder
State Department statement on Duma arson murder

 

Yousef Munayyer notes:

Also fails to call on Israel to do more to prevent these attacks

Munayyer:

While @StateDept has identified settler attacks in subsequent annual terror reports, its taken no discernible anti-terrorism steps aginst it

Munayyer:

Israeli settlements like Maale Efraim have security perimeters around them, Palestinian villages like Duma dont

Story initially buried in the New York Times, of Palestinian child's murder
Story initially buried in the New York Times, of Palestinian child’s murder

Scott Roth keys off the New York Times’ first draft this morning:

Buried at the bottom of the page in the world briefing with strange passive language. @nytimes you’re horrible.

If Palestinians had burned a Jewish baby to death I doubt @nytimes would present it this way.

Lara Friedman, Peace Now:

Don’t buy the hype or facile condemnations.Today ‘s W. Bank attack was not unforseeable or a one-off. Learn more: [Link to history of pricetag attacks, 2011 to now]

Elisabeth Tsurkov links to the Facebook picture, above, of Ahmed Sa’ed Dawabsha, the 4-year-old brother of Ali, who was killed in the attack, and says:

When a nation denies millions their basic rights, it needs to dehumanize them to justify it. The attack is the result of this dehumanization

Tsurkov:

Facts speak for themselves – only 7.6% of complaints by Palestinians about settler violence lead to indictments [link to Yesh Din report on “Mock Enforcements”]

B’Tselem:

A burned infant was only a matter of time in view of policy to not protect Palestinians from violent settlers

It links to this statement about the violent nature of the occupation.

In recent years, Israeli civilians set fire to dozens of Palestinian homes, mosques, businesses, agricultural land and vehicles in the West Bank. The vast majority of these cases were never solved, and in many of them the Israeli Police did not even bother take elementary investigative actions.

The fact that the Samaria and Judea (SHAI) Police and other law enforcement bodies have failed to solve these attacks isn’t fate. Rather, it is the result of a policy expressed throughout all levels of the law enforcement system, in particular the political echelons, up to and including the Prime Minister.

Thanks to James North.

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Thanks for pulling this together, MW editors. I hope this is not the beginning of an escalation that Israel has been inciting for:

“Israeli forces shoot, critically injure Palestinian near Ramallah”

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766789
——-
“HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Friday dispersed a march called for by Hamas in Hebron in protest of the killing of an 18-month-old in Duma near Nablus.

Hundreds of protesters held signs condemning the attack, and called for a response against the recent upsurge in crimes committed by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber-coated bullets, and stun grenades at protesters in southern Hebron, while Palestinian protesters threw rocks, witnesses said.

An Israeli spokesperson did not immediately respond for comment.

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766786
———
“GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli forces killed a Palestinian and injured another on Friday after opening fire at them near Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, sources told Ma’an.

Medical sources told Ma’an that Mohammad Hamid al-Masri,17, was shot by Israeli forces and died instantly, and another Palestinian was moderately wounded.

Witnesses said the two were shot suddenly while walking near the buffer zone.

An Israeli spokesperson said “two suspects approached the security fence” near the buffer zone in the northern Gaza strip.

According to the spokesperson, Israeli forces told the two to halt, then fired shots into the air. The spokesperson said one of the men continued toward the fence “in spite of repeated warning, so the [Israeli] forces fired towards the lower extremities of the suspect.””

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766790
———
“Israeli settler runs over Palestinian firefighter near Hebron”

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766787
——–
“RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Four Palestinian youths were injured with live and rubber-coated steel bullets during clashes with Israeli forces at the Qalandiya checkpoint on Friday, witnesses said.
One of the youths sustainedcritical injuries.

According to locals,Israeli forces opened fire with live rounds at one of the youths who was walking towards the checkpoint, hitting him in the back.

Israeli soldiers used rubber-coated steel bullets, tear-gas and stun grenades during the clashes, while youths responded with rocks and empty bottles, witnesses said.

An Israeli army spokesperson did not immediately respond for comment.”

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766777
———
“Autopsy confirms infant was ‘burned alive'”

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766785
———
“BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinian political factions strongly condemned an arson attack carried out by settlers which killed a Palestinian infant on Friday, holding the Israeli leadership fully responsible for the brutal attack and calling for revenge.

Hamas said that the killing of 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha in the Nablus village of Duma makes all “Israeli soldiers and settlers legitimate targets for resistance.”

A spokesperson for the group, Hussam Badran, called for popular action in response to the killing and said Israeli crimes can only be stopped by “comprehensive resistance in all its forms.””

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766766

Thanks for that information ME. The statement from the State Department is not strong enough.
How about “we will stop sending anymore aid and weapons to Israel, if they do not stop these outrageous crimes by illegal settlements. It is time to stop these endless illegal settlements and for Israel to stick to international laws”?

“Israeli defense minister Moshe Yaalon on Tuesday [May 12] said Israel would attack entire civilian neighborhoods during any future assault on Gaza or Lebanon…. “we are going to hurt Lebanese civilians to include kids of the family. We went through a very long deep discussion … we did it in [the] Gaza Strip, we are going to do it in any round of hostilities in the future.”

Yeah? Who is really wiping other people off the map?

Elizabeth Tsurkov:

“When a nation denies millions their basic rights, it needs to dehumanize them to justify it. The attack is the result of this dehumanization ”

That’s right, and the “dehumanization” and action based on it you describe is a natural human somatic state that is relatively easily instilled in otherwise normal people by the “right” [or oh-so-wrong] leadership and social conditions. See Phil Zambardo’s, Stanford Prison Experiment, soon to be new movie.

It’s almost like that moment in Lord of the Flies, just before the rescuing adults arrive, with marooned school-children, recently school-mates, in full warpaint utterly dedicated to killing each other.

I guess that’s why we have international criminal law courts. It should also be why we have a State Department and Congress willing to put enough pressure to force change in awful leadership. Why not have Obama make a case for change in Israeli leadership and West Bank policy based on this incident (and the similar fire-bombing of the Church of the Loaves and Fishes with similar graffitti, for which the likely culprits were released without consequences).

It’s going to get worse until the grown-ups arrive.

Instead, we empower that awful leadership to spew propaganda from our own media and are own elected officials, by never, ever calling them to account!

“JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Several Palestinians were injured, one seriously in clashes with Israeli forces throughout Jerusalem, in the aftermath of the settler attack that killed an infant in Duma village near Nablus, sources told Ma’an.

In Shuaafat refugee camp, a Palestinian was seriously injured with a rubber-bullet to the head and 11 others were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets, five in the head, one in the chest, one in the back and four in their extremities. Another Palestinian suffered injuries to his hand after being hit by a stun grenade, Fatah spokesman for the camp Thaer Fasfous said.

In al-Issawiyah village, clashes continued for several hours at the entrance and center of the village, where Israeli soldiers fired tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber-coated bullets, Monitoring committee member Mohammad Abu al-Homos said.

Abu al-Homos added that Israeli forces also sprayed skunk water at homes, causing Amna Mahmoud,93, and Umm Fadi Mahmoud,48, to have severe difficulty breathing. They were taken to local medical centers for treatment.

Israeli forces fired tear gas at houses and land, in al-Issawiya causing a fire in several trees near a house.

He added that Israeli forces closed the eastern entrance of the village with earth and rocks.

Clashes also broke out in al-Swana neighborhood, where youths launched fireworks at Beit Orot settlement.

In Beit Hanina, fire bombs were thrown at a settlement near the town. …”

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766792

I wonder why one word is not used to describe that crime: pogrom.

From what I read the apt description of what happened here was a Zionist pogrom against Palestinians.

I’m quite sure if the ethnicitiy of victom and perpetrator were the other way round I would have read that one word over and over all again: pogrom.