Sunday, July 27, 2014

Netanyahu lies, outed

'The first eye-witness accounts of the war by serving Israeli reservists and conscripts describes the Israeli use of Palestinian civilians as "human shields". They detail the killing of at least two civilians, the vandalism, looting and wholesale destruction of Palestinian houses, the use of deadly white phosphorus, bellicose religious advice from army rabbis and what another battalion commander described to his troops as "insane firepower with artillery and air force".' (Independent)
Via Richard Silverstein:
I guess that puts the casus belli for the Gaza incursion up there with the 2003 US invasion of Iraq as one of those Big Lies.

Because the attack on Gaza has always been about the three Israeli kids, Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel, who disappeared in the West Bank on the night of June 12,
“We are focusing on returning the abductees, on finding the kidnappers and on striking at the organization to which they belong. We have unequivocal proof that this is Hamas,” he told ministers at his government’s weekly cabinet meeting. ”We are sharing this proof and information to this effect with several countries. Soon this information will be made public.” (Algemeiner, June 22)
But that unequivocal evidence wasn't, somehow, forthcoming. What was forthcoming was the corpses of the boys, who were dead in spite of the omniscience of Israeli intelligence, which "knew" they were alive. Not that they acknowledged having made any mistakes; on the contrary,
Netanyahu said in a statement: "In great agony, we found three dead bodies  this evening, and all signs are that these are the dead bodies of our three kidnapped youths – Eyal, Gilad and Naftali.
"They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by beasts," he continued.... "Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay." (Haaretz, June 3o)
Meanwhile, Operation Brother's Keeper, initiated on the night of June 12 to locate the three teenagers, carried on after they had been found, now apparently focused on collecting that payment:
As part of the operation... Israel's military killed five to ten[20] Palestinians[21][22] and arrested between 350 and 600 Palestinians,[20][23][24][25]including nearly all of Hamas' West Bank leaders.[26][27][28] On the night of 6 July, an Israeli strike killed seven Hamas militants.[29] (Wikipedia)
In response to that last strike, the Hamas organization made its usual futile response, firing 100 amateur missiles harmlessly into Israeli territory, and the IDF swung from punishment mode into "self-defense".

Now we learn that there was no evidence, equivocal or otherwise:
The operation which has so far killed over a thousand Palestinians, 80% of them civilians, and 32 45 Israelis, most of them soldiers, is based on a bald lie from Netanyahu and the IDF, an accusation that they knew to be baseless.

So there's a murder case or two here, but not one against the Hamas organization; it's against that psychopath Israeli prime minister and his henchmen. I hope, without much hope, that they are prosecuted.
From Islamic Timeline Cover Photos.
Corey Robin offers an indispensable reading list. Including a citation of Gideon Levy at Haaretz going full Godwin—I wouldn't have dared to do it myself, but I think it may be justified for once:
The youths of the Jewish state are attacking Palestinians in the streets of Jerusalem, just like gentile youths used to attack Jews in the streets of Europe. The Israelis of the Jewish state are rampaging on social networks, displaying hatred and a lust for revenge, unprecedented in its diabolic scope.... These are the children of the nationalistic and racist generation – Netanyahu’s offspring.
Meanwhile in Israel the suffering is incalculable, even including air raid sirens at the beach. Oh the humanity.
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