Israel

Israel's Rogue Killing Machineby Stephen LendmanIsrael's entire history reflects depraved, out-of-control targeted and mass killings. Days of unrelenting bombing, murdering and injuring Gazans shows its contempt for law and human life.Netanyahu exceeds the worst of Ariel Sharon and other rogue Israeli leaders. Gideon Levy says Israel never had one like him before. He governs by deceit, mocks the peace process, and reflects extreme racist hate for Arabs.Murdering Gazans shows why. So did his comment saying he'll kill as many more as he wishes "as long as necessary" to achieve his degenerate aims.Four merciless bombing days left at least 25 dead and dozens injured, many seriously. Civilians, including children were victimized. Washington expressed support. Blaming victims for Israeli crimes, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland spoke for war criminal Hillary Clinton saying:"We condemn in the strongest terms the rocket fire from Gaza by terrorists into southern Israel in recent days, which has dramatically and dangerously escalated in the past day.""We call on those responsible to take immediate action to stop these cowardly acts. We regret the loss of life and injuries, and we call on both sides to make every effort to restore calm."America's scurrilous UN envoy Susan Rice also "thoroughly condemn(ed) terrorist rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israeli towns & cities and call(ed) on both sides to restore calm." Obama so far said nothing.Israel initiated violence. Palestinians responded defensively. Washington and Israel call self-defense terrorism. On March 11, Max Blumenthal asked if Obama green-lighted Netanyahu's attacks in return for delaying action on Iran until America's ready.As a result, Israel's killing machine rages out of control in day four. International law prohibits extrajudicial and indiscriminate killing. The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said it reflects Israel's "disregard for its moral and legal obligations."The international community encourages Israeli lawlessness through silence or statements too weak-kneed to matter. Al Mezan called Israel's latest attacks "part of a (longstanding) pattern....that have....caused damage to civilians and civilian property."With other human rights groups, Al Mezan condemned Israel's attacks and called for international community intervention to stop them.Israel's Violence Prone, Bloodstained HistoryZionism's early history reflected a desire to colonize Palestine, exploit its people as cheap labor, dispossess and disperse them, replace them with Jews, legitimize ethnic cleansing, and remove Palestinians entirely from their land, history and heritage.Historical records were falsified. Palestinians were re-invented as semi-savage nomads. Mass elimination methods were justified to remove them.In 1923, hard line revisionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky advocated "an iron wall of (superior) Jewish military force" to dictate future events on its terms and discourage Arab hope of prevailing.In 1940, Jewish Agency Colonization Department head, Joseph Weitz said:"Between ourselves, it must be clear that there is no room for both peoples together in this country. We shall not achieve our goal if the Arabs are in this small country. There is no other way than to (get rid of) all of them. Not one village, not one tribe should be left."The later published secret Koenig Report said "We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population."Former IDF Chief of Staff Raphael Eitan (1978 - 1983) said:"We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel....Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours."In 1937, future Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion said:"We must expel the Arabs and take their place and if we have to use force, to guarantee our own right to settle in those places - then we have force at our disposal."Zionist founder Theodore Herzl said Palestine is "our unforgettable historic homeland" and called for establishing it by dispossessing indigenous Palestinians and replacing them with Jews.In his book "Overcoming Zionism," Joel Kovel wrote:Zionism seeks "the restoration of tribalism in the guise of a modern, highly militaralized and aggressive state. (It) cut Jews off from (their) history and led to a fateful identity of interests with antisemitism (becoming) the only thing that united them. (It) fell into the ways of imperialist expansion and militarism, and showed signs of the fascist malignancy."If you accept "the idea of a Jewish state," you mix its twin notions of "particularism (and) exceptionalism (that are) the actual bane of Judaism (and give) racism an objective, enduring, institutionalized and obdurate character." It turns Israel "into a machine for the manufacture of human rights abuses."Its bloodstained history proves it. Early Zionists called for "establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Eretz Yisrael." It began a process of:• settling Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and tradesmen in Palestine;• organizing effective action groups in various countries;• building Jewish consciousness and a national identity; and• gaining worldwide acceptance for a Jewish homeland.At issue was replacing Palestinians with Jews. Britain went along. Its 1917 Balfour Declaration "establish(ed) in Palestine (a) national home for the Jewish people."The 1915 McHahon-Hussein Agreement also guaranteed one for Arabs. Britain betrayed them. So did America and France. Sykes-Picot (1916) carved out Western regional spheres of influence. Ottoman Arab provinces were divided their way. Arabs had no say.In 1920, Britain's Mandate period began by assuring:• a liberal Jewish immigration policy;• immediate provisional citizenship for Jews;• easy Jewish land acquisition at the expense of indigenous Arabs;• contiguous settlements to solidify a Jewish presence;• employment for Jewish immigrants;• favorable customs policies to develop Jewish commerce; and• partiality toward Jews overall at the expense of indigenous Arabs.World Zionism was also involved. It:• founded the Jewish Colonial Trust in 1899 to buy land in Palestine;• the Anglo-Palestine (commercial) Bank and investments institute in 1902 within the Jewish Colonial Trust;• in 1901, the Jewish National Fund was established to buy and develop land;• in 1909, the Israel Land Development Company for the same purpose;• the 1907-established Eretz Yisrael Bureau assisted the project; in 1921, the Zionist Executive in Eretz Yisrael replaced it;• in 1920, the United Israel Appeal was founded to raise funds to finance welfare, health, education, and continued settlement projects;• in 1929, the Jewish Agency for Eretz Yisrael was established to represent world Zionists in dealings with the British government in administering Palestine; Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann became Israel's first president in 1949;• in 1942, the World Zionist Organization's official aim was for a "Jewish Community" in Palestine; the Biltmore Program said "Eretz Yisrael will be based as a Jewish (only) community, to be integrated into a new democratic world."Hard-line militancy used violence to displace Arabs, gain power, keep it, and rule by strength, confrontation, intimidation, and violence.Premeditated state terror and naked aggression became self-defense. Civilians were legitimate targets. Freedom fighters were called terrorists. Laws don't apply. Only Jews have rights. Arabs were called inferior.Israel claimed the right to oppress them without restraint or regard for laws of war or humanitarian considerations. Demands replaced negotiations. Israel is all take and no give. Peace process hypocrisy offers nothing. It was stillborn from inception and remains so.Palestine remains occupied for decades. Israel reigns death, destruction, oppression, immiseration, and loss of land and freedom with impunity.Judaization through land confiscation, displacement, and settlements is official policy. It's based on the notion that Israel belongs solely to Jews. Arabs must be displaced and forcibly driven from all parts of Judea and Sumaria Israel wants, including Jerusalem as its exclusive capital.Palestine's 1948 Nakba never ended. Palestinians are seen as existential threats. Israeli Arabs are called fifth-column ones. According to Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, they reflect a demographic problem. Removing them and stealing their land solves it.Issue one is creating an ethnically pure Jewish state by any means necessary. Zionism justifies Jewish ethnocracy, exclusivity, and superiority. Laws favor Jews. Arabs are denied rights. Violence is policy to check them.Ideology becomes convenient myths for justification. It claims Israel's struggling for survival against hordes of hostile Arabs. They reject peace, prefer violence, plan Israel's destruction, so conflict's chosen to suppress them.Israel acts defensively against Palestinian terrorism. Political solutions aren't possible so "fortress Israel" maintains control.Final solution plans call for dispossession and/or annihilation. Israel belongs to Jews. Arabs have no rights so remove them. Brute force discards peace, reconciliation, equity, and justice. Judaization and de-Arabization are policies.Treat them like "dogs" so they'll leave, said Moshe Dayan. Ben-Gurion favored "terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation," and violence.Israel today has total control. Palestinian collaborators Abbas and Salam Fayyad are enforcers. In return, they gain handsomely at the expense of their people.Palestinians remain isolated on their own. Besieged Gazans suffer horrifically. World attention's turned elsewhere. Israel's free to reign terror, death and destruction with impunity.Holding it accountable is essential. It's high time Palestinians and Israeli Arabs got long denied justice. It's time world leaders said so with tough policies to assure it.What can't go on forever, won't. Israeli crimes of war and against humanity can't be tolerated and one day won't be. It's just a matter of time.Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.