Author

Jonathan Ofir

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The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem is calling on soldiers to disobey “patently illegal” shoot-to-kill orders against unarmed protesters in Gaza. The Israeli policy in Gaza has not been the result of one illegal order, but doctrine of collective punishment endorsed by the entire political and military leadership of the county. Thus, refusing orders to attack nonviolent protesters arguably amounts to a mutiny against the state. In Israel, simply following international law is a radical act.

The Israeli IDF spokesperson released photos of some of the Palestinians shot dead in Friday’s Gaza massacre, suggesting they were “terrorists” because they were affiliated with Hamas. This dubious propaganda campaign eliminates distinctions between civilians and combatants and is an incitement to state terror.

US officials have defended Israel’s massacre of civilians in Gaza as a ‘response’ to terrorism – even before it happened. And afterward, the US “sheriff”, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, again kicked her high heels, blocking a draft UN Security Council statement which called for an “independent and transparent investigation” of the violence. The only answer to official support is grassroots pressure.

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo opines that those who seek to ban circumcision are basically anti-Semites and possibly ‘well-meaning’ but naive Jews. “The attempt to outlaw this rite may not just make Jewish life impossible, but would probably end all Jewish existence. In fact, it is a call to end the State of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people.”

A new organization called The One State Foundation is working to broaden debate over equitable outcomes in Israel/Palestine and build support for a one state solution. Hamada Jaber, co-founder and board member says, “We should stop wasting our time and the time of future generations and immediately start investing all our efforts in the only solution; the one state solution.”