B’Tselem: Rights Of Palestinian Minors Being Abused
By Kevin Murphy | IMEMC | July 18, 2011
An Israeli robotic arm with a rifle attached to it injures a Palestinian kid in the occupied Palestinian lands. (File photo)
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released a report Monday on the findings of a investigation into the arrest, detention and interrogation of 50 Palestinian minors detained by Israeli military forces for throwing stones. The investigation shows a pattern of consistent abuse of the rights of minors both under Israeli and international law.
B’Tselem’s report into the arrest and detention of Palestinian minors on suspicion of throwing stones by Israeli forces has exposed a system of legal abuses conducted by the Israeli justice system such as beatings, forced confessions and the denial of legal representation and parental presence during interrogation.
The report was based on the testimony of 50 Palestinian minors on their experiences at the hands of the Israeli military justice system.
Thirty of the minors interviewed reported that they were taken during the middle of the night by Israeli military forces.
During the interrogation 47 stated they were not allowed adequate sleep, 23 stated they were not allowed access to the bathroom or to food or water and 19 said they were treated violently.
More broadly the report documents that at least 835 Palestinian miners were charged between 2005 and 2010 for throwing stones of which only one was acquitted.
Imprisonment was the punishment imposed in 93% of cases between 2005 and 2010. 60% of 12-14 year-olds were imprisoned despite this being illegal under Israeli law. Sentences increased with the age of the offender.
Many Palestinian minors enter into plea bargains with Israeli authorities so as to cut down on the time of their detention which is enforced throughout court proceedings.
The human rights organization stated their belief that the Military Youth Court, established in 2009 to hear the cases of Palestinian minors in the West Bank, has not alleviated the situation of accused Palestinian minors despite declarations by the court that it would rule in the spirit of Israeli youth law.
Palestinian youth are tried under adult military law which does not conform with Israeli or international standards for criminal proceedings against minors.
The treatment of Palestinian minors has twice been discussed in recent months in the British Parliament after British MP’s and Lords reported widespread human rights abuses against charged Palestinian minors similar to those reported in B’Tselem’s report following a fact finding mission to the West Bank.
Jewish settlers stab Palestinian farmers
Ma’an – 18/07/2011
JERUSALEM — A group of Israeli settlers attacked three Palestinian shepherds near Jerusalem on Monday, police said.
The shepherds were tending to their sheep on a hillside near Mikhmas east of Jerusalem when they came under a “brutal” attack by the ultra-Orthodox settlers who beat and stabbed them, Palestinian police said in a statement.
They were evacuated to hospital where medics said two victims sustained serious wounds, police said. The statement did not elaborate on their identities or say at which hospital they received treatment.
The alleged attack follows a string of violent events in the occupied Palestinian territories.
A report by the Palestinian Authority found that settler violence increased “dramatically” in June 2011, documenting 139 attacks in the West Bank and the destruction of over 3,600 olive trees and vineyards.
On Friday, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Yizhar set fire to Palestinian land near the village of Burin, south of Nablus, a member of its agricultural committee, Belal Eid, told Ma’an.
Two days earlier, a Palestinian teenager sustained bruises after Israeli settlers pelted his car with stones near the site of the former Israeli settlement of Homesh, which was evacuated in 2005.
Anonymous Soldiers as Medical Experts? Only when the NYT covers Israel killing a Palestinian
By Alex Kane | Extra! | April 2011
This article was originally published in the April 2011 issue of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting’s Extra! magazine. It was only recently put online.
U.S. media coverage of the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah reflected how the corporate press routinely covers high-profile civilian deaths caused by Israel. The Israeli government, it seems, can count on U.S. media to print its anonymous claims—no matter how baseless.
Two days after Abu Rahmah, a Palestinian woman from the West Bank village of Bil’in, died from tear-gas inhalation during a December 31 demonstration against the separation wall, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) went into spin mode. Anonymous “senior officers” in the Israeli army pushed a number of theories about her death—Abu Rahmah wasn’t at the demonstration, she had cancer, it may have been an “honor killing” and more—that the Israeli press dutifully reported. Israeli journalist Noam Sheizaf (+972 Magazine, 1/4/11), who was actually present at the Bil’in demonstration, described these claims as “half-truths and lies.”
U.S. corporate media also used anonymous Israeli military sources to cast doubt on the 36-year-old Abu Rahmah’s killing. In the New York Times (1/5/11), reporter Isabel Kershner characterized the story as a “debate” with “clashing narratives.” Though she noted that the IDF claims were all anonymous while the Palestinian claims were “backed by medical documents,” Kershner went on to give roughly equal time to both arguments.
Among the IDF’s anonymous claims were that they “had never heard of tear gas killing anyone in the open” and that Abu Rahmah may have had “some pre-existing ailment that, alone or compounded by the tear gas, caused her death.” Why anonymous military officials should be treated as experts on medical questions was never explained.
The Washington Post (1/6/11) similarly stated that anonymous military officials “suggested that an existing medical condition might have contributed to 36-year-old Jawaher Abu Rahmah’s death.” The Los Angeles Times’ only brief mention of the case (1/3/11) explained, “Since tear gas is typically nonlethal, it remained unclear whether soldiers used excessive amounts or whether the woman had health problems that contributed to her reaction.”
But the IDF claims were contradicted by extensive eyewitness reports from other protesters, Israeli journalists from +972 Magazine and the family of Abu Rahmah. In a January 4 statement put together by the Popular Struggle Coordina-tion Committee, Abu Rahmah’s mother said her daughter “was not sick with cancer, nor did she have any other illness, and she was not asthmatic,” while the director of the health center that treated Abu Rahmah stated that she “died from lung failure that was caused by tear gas inhalation, leading to a heart attack.”
Furthermore, the claim printed in the New York Times that the IDF “had never heard of tear gas killing anyone in the open”—boosted by Kershner’s own claim that the gas “can be lethal in closed environments but is considered nonlethal in the open air”—was belied by a Ha’aretz report (1/7/11) that noted that a 2004 study conducted by the IDF found that “a high concentration of the gas in a given location could cause serious or even lethal harm.” In fact, a toddler living in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan had died from tear gas just a few months prior to Abu Rahmah’s death (Ma’an News Agency, 9/24/10).
Kershner wrote that the IDF “routinely fires CS tear gas against the protesters to keep them away from the barrier and to disperse stone-throwing youths.” She didn’t mention that the wall has been ruled to be illegal under international law, according to an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (7/9/04); as Human Rights Watch has noted (3/5/10), “85 percent of the barrier’s route lies inside the West Bank, separating Palestinian residents from their lands, restricting their movement, and in some places effectively confiscating occupied territory.”
Moreover, Kershner’s wording seemed to imply that the Israeli army was simply responding to stones being hurled. But as Sheizaf’s eyewitness report stated, “the tear gas was fired by the IDF well before the march got even close to the fence.” Sheizaf wrote that at these demonstrations, “when stone-throwing does occur, it usually begins after the army disperses the march…. As for the soldiers, they are standing on the hill, heavily protected, and the stones normally pose no real danger for them.”
The coverage of Abu Rahmah’s death recalls how corporate media treated the killings of nine civilians by Israeli commandos aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. As Peter Hart wrote in Extra! (7/10), “much of the U.S. media coverage has been remarkably unskeptical of Israel’s account of events and their context.” It appears that half a year later, little has changed.
Alex Kane is a freelance journalist and blogger based in New York City (alexbkane.wordpress.com). He can be followed on Twitter @alexbkane.
Egypt seizes cement bound for Gaza
Ma’an – July 16, 2011
EL-ARISH, Egypt — Egyptian border guards thwarted an attempt to smuggle more than 20 tons of cement into Gaza via tunnels along the border, security sources told Ma’an.
Palestinian and Egyptian smugglers were involved in the effort to bring large amounts of building materials into the besieged enclave, they added. The smugglers fled the scene.
Forces raided the area and seized 430 bags of cement, the security officials said. The cement will be sold at auction and the tunnel will be blocked by stones, they added.
Crackdowns, Torture and Intimidation in Bahrain
By Stephen Lendman | July 16, 2011
Largely ignored by Washington, Western governments, and America’s media, the ruling Al Khalifa monarchy continues cracking down brutally against nonviolent protesters since civil resistance began last February.
On July 14, UK Telegraph writer Richard Spencer headlined, “Bahraini woman poet tells of torture while in custody,” saying:
Incarcerated after reciting a poem critical of government policies, “Ayat al-Qurmezi (age 20) became one of the symbols of the (ongoing) protests…. After she was arrested….she was beaten, electro(shocked) and threatened with sexual assault while in custody.”
On July 11, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) headlined, “Teachers ordeal in Bahrain: arrested, tortured, sacked, suspended and prosecuted,” saying:
Teachers and Bahrain Teachers Association (BTA) members participated in protest demonstrations, demanding respect for human rights and democratic change. As a result, they faced “arbitrary arrests, military prosecution, torture, suspensions, salary cuts, and investigation.”
BTA board members were arrested, held incommunicado with no access to family or lawyers. A month later, some were released. Others are still detained, including BTA President Mahdi Abu Deeb, charged with:
“deliver(ing) speeches haranguing and instigat(ing) protesters and inciting them against the political regime, flouting the real voluntary and lofty goals of the association.”
On June 6, Deeb and BTA Vice President Jaleela Al Salman were tried in military court charged with:
“inciting others to commit crimes, calling for the hatred and overthrow of the ruling system, holding pamphlets, disseminating fabricated stories and information, leaving work on purpose and encouraging others to do so and taking part at illegal practices.”
So far, at least 66 teachers were arrested. In addition, riot police repeatedly targeted 15 or more girls’ schools. Teachers and students were arbitrarily arrested, detained, and “physically abused.”
Other schools were also attacked. Many teachers were arrested, interrogated, intimidated, abused, charged with going on strike, participating in peaceful protests, and inciting anti-regime sentiment.
In custody, they were beaten and tortured. One female teacher said:
“Around 10 policewomen were asking me and beating me at the same time. Then they handcuffed me and kept beating me on the head and back while kicking me and stepping on my feet.”
Others were threatened with rape and beaten. A woman who had major back surgery was repeatedly kicked there after explaining her medical condition.
Many faced secretive military trials and convicted. More trials are expected. Many others were arbitrarily suspended from positions or sacked. More remain under investigation. Intimidation throughout Bahrain is pervasive.
On June 14, Human Rights Watch headlined, “Bahrain: Stop Military Court Travesty of Justice,” saying:
HRW called for ending military tribunal injustice, and “free(ing) everyone (including opposition politicians, medical professionals, students, teachers, journalists, and human rights activists) held solely for exercising their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly.”
HRW’s Middle East director Joe Stork said:
“Most defendants hauled before Bahrain’s special military court are facing blatantly political charges and (unfair) trials.”
Human Rights First (HRF) on Bahrain
On July 14, a HRF press release headlined, “NEW REPORT: Despite National Dialogue Crackdown Continues in Bahrain,” saying:
The Bahraini government “continues to intimidate, torture, and detain human rights defenders, and shoot at civilians.” According to HRF’s Brian Dooley:
“Human rights defenders with whom we spoke are wary that the dialogue is (nothing) more than elaborate play-acting for the international community’s benefit.”
The report titled, “Bahrain: A Tortuous Process” presented findings based on a July 6 – 12 fact-finding mission. It included interviews with human rights defenders, other activists, victims and their families, dozens of recently released detainees, journalists, medical professionals, students, and Bahraini government officials.
In addition, HRF personnel “witnessed riot police firing on unarmed women without warning with a variety of weapons.”
Nonetheless, peaceful marches and protests continue, despite security force attacks, using sound bombs, tear gas, rubber bullets, and live fire.
Human rights defenders are prime targets, facing arrests, detentions, torture, and illegitimate trials. In fact, (on June 21) prominent activist Abdulhadi Al Khawaja received life in prison in one of many show trials.
Others like him express views anonymously, fearing reprisals if go public. They also assume their phones are tapped and goings monitored. A Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights member said:
“We live under the constant fear of arrest. They can come at any time for us.”
Another activist said homes and other facilities are regularly raided, adding:
“I still wake up scared. I have clothes ready, next to the bed. I get up sometimes in the middle of the night and look out the window if I hear a noise, thinking it’s them again. It’s a permanent fear that they could come at any time, day or night.”
Human rights defenders complained about Washington’s double standard, muting its regime criticism, stressing Bahrain’s an important regional partner, ally, and home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
Disingenuously on July 2, Obama welcomed Bahrain’s National Dialogue, calling it “an important moment of promise….The United States commends King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for his leadership in initiating the dialogue.”
In contrast, one participant told HRF:
“There are four halls, each having between 50 to 80 participants” allowed five minutes to speak. “The session ends while some still have not talked. Nothing is known about how all these chaotically dispersed talks will end up….” King Hamad has final say.
“You have it all predetermined and the final document has already been decided. These meetings are nothing more than a camouflage. It is a joke to call it a dialogue to start with.”
Based on numerous interviews, HRF reported “credible, consistent accounts of torture,” other forms of abuse and humiliation, including detainees forced to kiss photos of the king, belly dance, make animal noises, and sign confessions.
One former detainee said he was blindfolded for weeks, forced to stand for hours, wasn’t allowed to wash or pray, and was even beaten when permitted to use the toilet. Others had similar horror stories. Injured detainees were also abused, including on their wounds. Intimidation, humiliation, and forced confessions are routine.
On July 6, HRF’s Brian Dooley witnessed riot police attacking peaceful pedestrians, saying:
“People were standing in doorways, chatting….It was a calm, chatty atmosphere…. (S)uddenly riot police (with) shields appeared behind us.” With no warning, they opened fire, using “sound bombs, tear gas canisters, and rubber bullets.”
People started screaming. Some were struck, including by shrapnel. “I could see people ahead of us running, panicking. The police kept on firing at us….We were not part of a rally, or even near (one). There were a few dozen people spread out along the length of the street in small groups like ours, and the police just appeared and attacked us.”
Others told HRF similar stories, police firing on unarmed, peaceful civilians without warning. People not in detention face harassment. No one feels safe. Abuses continue regularly.
Protected by Washington, Bahrain is a lawless police state, targeting anyone seen challenging regime authority and many others for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Nonetheless, peaceful protests continue, despite punitive reprisals, including arrests, detentions, torture, show trials, and imprisonment. Nary a word from Washington complains.
A Final Comment
A new Zogby International Arab American Institute poll shows unfavorable attitudes about America. In fact, Obama’s 10% or lower approval rating surpasses Bush’s lowest level. In fact, he scores worst on Palestine and engagement with the Muslim world.
In five of six countries surveyed, Washington scored lower than Turkey, China, France or Iran. Specifically, “US interference in the Arab world” is called the greatest obstacle to regional peace and stability after Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Libya perhaps was one war too many. Waging it increased negative perceptions about America and Obama.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
Gaza Rejects Greek Government Charity
The following letter was delivered to the Greek Government on July 12, 2011 making it clear that the people of Gaza seek freedom and respect for their human rights, including their right to lead a dignified life, not charity. Seemingly deaf to their call, yesterday a spokesman for the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Delavekouras, repeated the Greek Government’s “generous offer” to deliver limited humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza – instead of helping them gain the freedom that Israel continues to deny them.
12 July 2011
Dear Prime Minister Papendreou,
Dear Foreign Minister Lambrinidis
We, members of Palestinian civil society in Gaza, have been watching the actions your government has taken to block Freedom Flotilla 2 from setting sail towards the biggest open air prison – the Gaza Strip – to challenge Israel’s criminal blockade. Israel’s closure of Gaza has deprived us of things that most people take for granted, first and foremost, our freedom of movement. We are not allowed to pursue adequate health care or educational opportunities because we cannot travel freely. We are cut off from our families in other parts of the occupied territory and abroad; and we are not allowed to invite people to visit us in Gaza. Now, you have imported this restriction on the people whose main mission is to stand in solidarity with us.
The people of Gaza are not only in need of humanitarian aid because we are prevented from building our economy. We are not allowed to import raw materials or to export; our fishermen and farmers get shot at when attempting to fish or to harvest their crops. As a result of deliberate Israeli policy, 80% of our people have become food aid dependent, our infrastructure is in shambles, and our children cannot imagine a day when they will know freedom.
Your offer to deliver the cargo of the Freedom Flotilla entrenches the notion that humanitarian aid will solve our problems and is a weak attempt to disguise your complicity in Israel’s blockade.
We are so sorry not to accept your charity. The organizers and participants of the Freedom Flotilla recognize that our plight is not about humanitarian aid; it is about our human rights. They carry with them something more important than aid; they carry hope, love, solidarity and respect. Your offer to collude with our oppressors to deliver aid to us is totally REJECTED.
While it is clear that you have been under enormous political pressure to comply with the will of the Israeli regime, to collaborate with Israel in violating international law and legitimizing the siege, we refuse to accept your breadcrumbs. We crave freedom, dignity and the ability to make choices in our daily lives. We urge you to immediately reconsider and to let the Freedom Flotilla sail.
Finally we recognize the historical relations between our people and your country’s support for our legitimate rights. With this history in mind and your previous acknowledgment of the freedoms denied to us, we are calling on you to allow the freedom flotilla boats to leave for Gaza, thus challenging Israel’s illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip and illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
Sincerely,
Palestinian Network of NGOs (PNGO)
Representing over 60 non-governmental organizations in Gaza
Palestinian International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza
General Society for Rehabilitation
Deir Al-Balah Cultural Centre for Women and Children
Maghazi Cultural Centre for Children
Al-Sahel Centre for Women and Youth
Rachel Corrie Centre, Rafah
Rafah Olympia City Sisters
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
Al Awda Hospital, Jabaliya Camp
Ajyal Association, Gaza
Al Karmel Centre, Nuseirat
Local Initiative, Beit Hanoun
Beit Lahiya Cultural Centre
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
Middle East Children’s Alliance – Gaza office
Alshomoa Club for Women
General Union for Public Services Workers
General Union for Health Services Workers
General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers
General Union for Agricultural Workers
General Union of Palestinian Syndicates
General Union of Palestinian Women
Palestinian Congregation for Lawyers
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)
Union of Health Work Committees
Union of Synergies—Women Unit
Union of Women’s Work Committees
Palestinian Association for Fishing and Maritime
Palestine Sailing Federation
Fishing and Marine Sports Association
Palestinian Women Committees
Progressive Students’ Union
Israel navy attacks international boat in Gaza
Ma’an – 14/07/2011
BETHLEHEM — Israeli naval forces attacked an international third party monitor on Wednesday in Gazan territorial waters.
Civil Peace Service Gaza works as part of a non-violent initiative to monitor human rights abuses in Gaza.
Israeli forces fired at the CPS Gaza monitoring boat, the Oliva, with water cannons on Wednesday at 12.05 p.m local time, a statement by the organization said.
There were four people aboard at the time, two CPS Gaza members, the captain and a journalist.
“We were fewer than two miles away from the Gaza coast when they fired at us. We saw them firing water at some fishing boats so we headed to the area. When we got close, the warships left the fishing boats, and turned on us.
“They attacked us for about ten minutes, following us as we tried to head to shore and eventually lagged when we reached about one mile off the Gaza coast,” British human rights worker Ruqaya Al-Samarrai said.
A fishing boat was also fired at and damaged with live rounds.
An Israeli army spokesman said he was unaware of the incident.
The Gazan fishing community is often similarly targeted and the fishing limit is enforced with comparable aggression, with boats shot at or rammed as near as 2 nautical miles to the coast by Israeli gunboats, CBS Gaza added.
A marine blockade imposed by Israel restricts Gazan fisherman from accessing eighty five percent of Gaza’s fishing waters as agreed upon under the Oslo agreements.
Following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 the Israeli navy imposed a complete sea blockade on the Gaza Strip for several months.
After Hamas took control of the coastal enclave in 2007, Israel limited fishing access to 3 nautical miles from the coast.
During the Oslo accords negotiators had agreed upon 20 nautical miles of fishing access along Gaza’s coastline.
Rights groups have condemned the blockade of Gaza as a form of collective punishment of the 1.6 million residents.
Irish delegation to visit Bahrain
Press TV – July 11, 2011
An Irish delegation plans to visit the Bahraini capital Manama to attempt to determine the fate of 47 doctors and nurses arrested during the anti-government protests in the Persian Gulf state.
The delegation, headed by Professor Damian McCormack, includes Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Marian Harkin, Fianna Fail Senator Averil Power, former foreign affairs minister David Andrews, and representatives from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO).
Bahrain has released 34 doctors and paramedics who were detained during the brutal crackdown on massive demonstrations in March but announced that they would soon be tried in special military courts. Many of the doctors have stated that they were coerced to sign confessions through torture while in police custody.
The delegation, which plans to leave for Manama on July 12, has requested to hold talks with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa through Bahrain’s embassy in London.
“It’s quite extraordinary for doctors to be arrested in any country. These doctors were arrested for doing their jobs,” the Herald quoted Senator Power as saying.
One dead as strike halts commerce in Dominican Republic
Dominican Today | July 11, 2011
SANTO DOMINGO. – The barrio organization FALPO on Monday rebuked the Sunday night killing of Julian Felix Plasencia in the central city of Bonao, allegedly by a National Police patrol, prior to the start of the 24 hour strike that began 6 a.m. Monday, as commerce halts to a standstill.
Falpo national coordinator Milcíades Geraldo said he was told that Felix, 52, was killed late last night in the Bonao barrio Prosperidad, when a police patrol violently entered the area firing their weapons.
He said Felix’s death has infuriated Bonao’s residents and created extreme tension in the entire municipality, for which Falpo will intensify the protests to demand justice. “As we had warned the government line is to stoke anarchy and plant violence amid the national strike to traumatize the people, trying to stop this spiraling nationwide fight that we’ll continue.”
“Falpo rebukes the murder of Julian Felix Plasencia and will also demands to investigate the crime and that the members of the patrol are taken to justice,” Geraldo said.
He called on the Government and the ruling PLD party to control its followers and put a stop to the repression in Bonao, and warned that the town will fight them firmly in the streets, by expanding the protests for a dignified life, with justice and fairness.
Palestinian Woman Wounded After Army Fired At Homes In Northern Gaza
By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC & Agencies | July 10, 2011
Palestinian medical sources reported on Saturday night that Israeli soldiers, based near the northern Gaza border, opened automatic fire at a number of Palestinian homes wounding a young Palestinian woman and inflicting damage to property.
Adham Abu Salmiyya, spokesperson of the Higher Committee of Medical Emergency Services in Gaza, reported that soldiers based near the border of Beit Lahia, opened random fire at nearby homes.
Abu Salmiyya added that the young woman was hit by bullet fragments in different parts of her body. Medics rushed to the scene and evacuated the woman to a nearby hospital.
In related news, the Israeli Air Force carried out, on Saturday at night, an air-strike targeting a brick factory, east of Gaza city.
Eyewitnesses reported that at least one missile directly hit the factory causing excessive damage, and also inflicting damage to nearby homes.
68 Hamas members arrested since unity deal
Ma’an – 06/07/2011
GAZA CITY — Palestinian security forces have been cracking down on Hamas members in the West Bank despite the implementation of a reconciliation deal, Hamas leaders said Wednesday.
Hundreds of supporters of the party and Hamas leaders have been summoned by Palestinian Authority forces and 68 members have been arrested, a statement by Hamas said.
“Thirty-nine of those who were arrested were ex-prisoners freed from Israeli jails, while seven political prisoners were brought to military trials.”
The Palestinian Authority has also violated reconciliation principles by dismissing four teachers from Jenin and Nablus schools and by closing down charities in the West Bank, the statement added.
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Israel Is A Genocidal Society
The Israeli Political Spectrum From The “Liberal Left” To The Far Right, Is United In Genocide
The Dissident | May 5, 2026
… The fundamental issue of Israel is not Benjamin Netanyahu, but the fact that Israel is overwhelmingly a bloodthirsty, war-ready, genocidal society.
Historian Zachary Foster has documented that the overwhelming majority of Jewish Israelis have supported every Israeli war since the 2006 invasion of Lebanon, writing:
2006
86% of the Israeli adult population justified “the IDF operation in Lebanon against Hizbollah,” or 2006 Lebanon War, in which Israel killed 1,191 people, the vast majority civilians according to HRW (Note that the % of Jewish Israelis who supported the war was even higher)2008-2009
82% of the Israeli public thought that the 2008-9 war on Gaza was justified (in which Israel killed 1,417 Palestinians, the vast majority civilians.) Note that the % of Jewish Israelis who supported the war was even higher2012
90% of Israeli Jews supported war on Gaza ( in which Israel killed 160 Palestinians, 66% civilians)2014
95% of Jewish Israelis believed the war on Gaza was justified (in which Israel killed 2,310 Palestinians, 70% civilians)2021
72% of Israelis believed the war on Gaza should continue (as of May 21) after Israel had already killed 250 Palestinians in Gaza, vast majority civilians. The % of Jewish Israelis who supported killing more Palestinians was much higher.2024
A January poll found 95% of Jewish Israelis thought the Israeli military was using either the “appropriate” amount of force or “too little” force in Gaza at a time when Israel had already killed >25,700 Palestinians in Gaza.2024
In September, 90% of Jewish Israelis supported the war on Lebanon (in which Israel killed 800+, including hundreds of civilians)2025
In March, 82% of Israeli Jews supported the forced expulsion of residents of Gaza, Israel’s main goal in it’s genocide & war on Gaza.2025
In June, 82% of Jewish Israelis supported the war on Iran known as the “twelve day war”2026
On March 4, 93% of Israeli Jews expressed support for the war on Iran. 97% of “right-wing” Jewish Israelis support it, compared with 93% in the center and 76% on the left.
The overwhelming majority of Jewish Israelis also have openly genocidal views towards Palestinians.
Polls in Israel have shown that:
- 84% of the (Israeli )public gives the IDF an excellent or very good grade regarding the moral conduct of the army
- 75% of Jewish Israelis agree with the idea that ‘there are no innocents in Gaza.’
- A vast majority of Israeli Jews – 79 percent – say they are ‘not so troubled’ or ‘not troubled at all’ by the reports of famine and suffering among the Palestinian population in Gaza.
The fundamental problem in Israel is Zionism, not Benjamin Netanyahu. – Full article
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