Palestinian families bear brunt as Israel hunts teens (via AFP)
It was the sound of the front door being kicked in that woke the Izrayqat family early Wednesday as Israeli troops barged into their home in Taffuh village near Hebron. Even the four children were sleeping because school had ended and the summer holidays…
This post was republished using Repost. Please read it on Informed Comment directly: https://www.juancole.com/2014/06/occupation-harasses-palestinians.html
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With the US government, as well as the US president, focused on Iraq, Prime Minister Netanyahu is using the diversion of attention and the occasion of the three kidnapped teenagers to destroy Hamas in the West Bank.
According to the Jerusalem Post, in November of 1989, Mr. Netanyahu, then Deputy Foreign Minister, told an audience at Bar Ilan University, that the government had failed to exploit internationally favorable situations, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre in June of 1989 when world attention and the media were focused on China, to carry out ‘large scale’ expulsions at a time when ‘the danger would have been relatively small’. Later, when Netanyahu denied making these statements, the Jerusalem Post produced a tape recording of this speech
The Operation Cast Lead episode in Gaza in 2008-2009 was perfectly timed – commencing on December 27th, 2008 to avoid the Christmas tourist season in Israel and when most Western governments were closed – and terminating on January 18th, 2009 when lame-duck President Bush was leaving office – but well before Barack Obama took his oath on January 20th.
Netanyahu is now totally out of control. The kidnapping of innocent youths, for whatever purpose, is a dastardly crime that should be pursued and the criminals punished. But the pogrom that Bibi Netanyahu has started is beyond all reason. The illegal, immoral, and inhumane searches , harassment and killing of innocent Palestinians is clearly a war crime and a crime against humanity. All those responsible for these acts of state terrorism should be brought to account in world justice, starting with Netanyahu, whose motive is simply political self-preservation at any cost.