In launching Operation Protective Edge, Israel has stated it has a goal of achieving “sustained calm in the region.” To achieve this, they maintained, they needed to destroy the tunnels” and do anything required to protect Israeli citizens.

It is hard to reconcile the destruction of over 134 factories in Gaza (and counting) with sustained calm in the region. A Palestinian Union said recently that Israel’s attacks have caused

“Severe damage to an already fragile industrial sector. The union of Palestinian industries said that most factories stopped operations for over 30 days, with reported losses of at least $70 million. Over 30,000 workers were made redundant due to the closures. “The Israeli war machine deliberately destroyed the infrastructure of the Palestinian national economy by targeting factories which posed no security threat to the occupation,” the union said. The industrial sector had already suffered major damage during previous Israeli military offenses in Gaza in 2012 and 2008. The ongoing Israeli blockade has also severely limited the productivity of the industrial sector since it was imposed eight years ago, forcing factories to close or fire workers to remain in operation. “

According to Mnar Muhawesh, Editor in chief of Mint Press News (interviewed in the video above) these actions and more add up to Israel being a Terrorist and Apartheid state actively engaged in genocide.

Calling Israel a Terrorist, Apartheid state engaged in genocide is not hyperbole, according to Muhawesh; they reflect the situation on the ground. “Netanyahu said he was going to bring darkness on Ramadan for the Palestinian people, and that is what happened in Operation Protective Edge. That is why we saw the killing and murder of over 500 children and the destruction of over 10,000 homes.

Muhawesh went on to cite the what Israel calls a “security fence” in the West Bank” as an Apartheid Wall. When it comes to genocide, Muhawesh said: “Israel has been committing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population since its inception. (…) Israel id doing everything in its power to make sure Palestine does not exist. That is what we have been seeing and it is a part of Apartheid, genocide and essentially, colonialism.”