On Monday, April 11, 2016, Dan Cohen went to Jerusalem’s Zion Square to ask Israelis for their thoughts on Bernie Sanders, the Jewish-American presidential candidate. Nearly all of the Israelis he spoke to had strong dislike for Sanders, and many disparaged him, even disqualifying him as a Jew.
Over the last month, members of Israel’s African Hebrew community have begun to organize over an apparent cover-up in the death of Toveet Radcliffe, a nineteen-year-old soldier who was found shot in the head in February 2015.
Dan Cohen visits the site Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif was executed in Hebron and finds a representative from the IDF Spokesperson Unit stationed there to prevent journalists from speaking to combat soldiers. As locals tell Cohen what occurred during the killing a young Israeli settler tells a Palestinian showing Cohen the area, “My father will kill you.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bentzi Gopstein, far-right settlers and followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, have filed a complaint with Israeli police against Emad Abu Shamsiya, the Palestinian videographer who captured the execution of an incapacitated Palestinian suspect in Hebron. In their letter to the police, they claim that Abu Shamsiya’s presence during the killing is no coincidence, but was coordinated with the alleged attack in order to capture damning video.
Elor Azraya, the soldier who summarily executed Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif as he lay immobile and unarmed on the street in Hebron yesterday is suspected of murder.
In his defense, his lawyer Eyal Beserglick said Azraya “acted in accordance with the rules of engagement as suggested by his superiors.”
He’s right.
Today an Israeli soldier executed a wounded Palestinian man on the ground in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron’s old city in the occupied West Bank. In a graphic B’Tselem video capturing the killing, the man can be seen semi-conscious on the ground, when a soldier cocks his rifle and fires, killing him on the spot. The Israeli military spokesperson said the filmed execution “contradicts the IDF’s ethical code and what is expected from the IDF’s soldiers and commanders” and that the soldier has been suspended while the military conducts a probe, but in fact the policy of summary executions has been ordered as a directive from top political and military officials.
Last December, an Israeli medic announced on his Twitter account that he would not treat injured Palestinians he deemed “terrorists.” This is not an aberration, rather, it is an instance of increasing turmoil in the Israeli medical community over the concept of triage, the internationally recognized protocol for medical treatment based on severity and likely benefit from immediate treatment. Politicians, religious leaders and doctors are all calling for Israeli Jews to be prioritized when it comes to emergency medical treatment. Deputy Minister of the Interior Yaron Mazuz told Israeli news, “The first priority should be give in to the residents of Israel, mostly to those who were injured from the attacks. Is it unacceptable that we would treat terrorists before residents of the state.”
Eight months after the firebombing that killed five-year-old Ahmad Dawabshe’s baby brother and parents in the occupied West Bank village of Duma, he is still undergoing treatment in the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan. In a heartbreaking video Dan Cohen talks with Ahmad’s grandfather, Hussein Dawabshe, who has devoted his life to taking care of Ahmad, “I am willing to stay and keep taking care of Ahmad for one, two, three or ten years. What matters is that Ahmad is not in danger. I want him to live without trouble and fear.”
Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, has released a new report (PDF) on discriminatory and anti-democratic legislation being considered by the Israeli Knesset. “We are being introduced to new laws and bills that in some way are narrowing the meaning of democracy here,” Adalah legal advocate Nadeem Shehadeh tells Mondoweiss.
“If the day comes and I have the opportunity to lead the country, not to mention become the prime minister, I will build the temple on the Temple Mount,” rookie Likud lawmaker and Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Oren Hazan announced last Thursday night at a panel in Petach Tikvah, an Israeli city 20 kilometers east of Tel Aviv. After the panel discussion organized by the group Students For The Temple Mount, Dan Cohen and David Sheen asked Hazan how he would demolish Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock in order to make way for a temple, he replied, “It would not be responsible at this point in time to tell you how we would do it, but I will say it clear and loud: When I have the opportunity to do it, I will.”