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Funeral procession
Muhammad Abu Khdeir’s Funeral

The funeral of 17 year old Muhammad Abu Khdeir, the boy who was abducted, brutally tortured, and burned to death, took place this morning.

The procession came under attack

The question of Who benefits? has reached the pages of Haaretz:

As well as taking advantage of the horrific murder of three Israeli teenagers to torpedo the Palestinian unity government and cut a swathe through Hamas, Israel’s government also used them as a particularly shoddy way of shoring up the bond between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. . . .

But how much of this had anything to do with finding the three boys, whose fate was clearly known very soon after they were taken, I fail to understand. And there is something awfully distasteful about using this horror not only as an instrument of hasbara, or public diplomacy, but also for engineering Diaspora solidarity.

In the territories and across a surprisingly large spectrum of supporters of the Palestinian cause, there was a growing consensus that the whole affair was a false-flag operation. Qui bono, they asked – who benefits from these murders?

I don’t believe for a minute there’s an iota of truth in this absurd conspiracy theory. What I do ask, when I look at the hype and near-hysteria, the cruel succoring of false hope among family and community – is, who sought to benefit? Did the army or the government feed the families a baseless narrative that their children were still alive? If so, that’s unforgiveable.

I fear for what’s to come in the days ahead.

Perhaps we are now seeing the results of the ramping up of public emotion over the course of nearly three weeks in the reports of the first grisly revenge attacks (if you exclude the Palestinian casualties of the “search” operations from that category). These tragedies are a powerful and dangerous tool for nationalism.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is capitalizing on this horror to boost his public support. I guess that is what politicians do. But this cynicism in the name of Jewish unity, and in the name of the Diaspora, is sickening.

I grieve. Here is the story of one boy, just one Palestinian child.

This is Tareq, the 15 year old cousin of Muhammad Abu Khdeir.

Please, pray for Palestine.

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OMG what are these zionist butchers doing?

They are the nazis of our times, the hatred for Palestinians have made them go berserk, and at the instigation of their PM taking their anger on ALL Palestinians, especially children. 1 Palestinian child killed every 3 days, that is a serious statistic.
Damn the US congress for feeding this vicious monster, with aid and weapons, that are used on kids and unarmed civilians.

I am, Annie.

I have always done so, and I always will.

Sheera Frenkel’s report is great…

(You know, I felt almost guilty looking at the clear blue sky this morning and for being free. I remember how very lucky I am, and how so many are suffering, and I thank the stars above.)

It is insufferable that people can be so cruel, heartless and vindictive as the Israelis. How is it possible that they can keep anybody on their side with the welter of evidence about their systematic, deliberate torture of innocent people and in particular children? They should be ostracised from all contact until they acknowledge and implement equal human rights in their squatter’s dystopia.

Mind you, it’s ‘cui bono?’ -‘to whom is this for advantage?’ not ‘qui’.

Israel brainwashing its kids with racism. Sick society!