Israeli soldiers say 'shoot to kill' orders put civilians in firing line [Archive]

View Full Version : Israeli soldiers say 'shoot to kill' orders put civilians in firing line

panopticon

4th May 2015, 13:41

I've just been reading through a report from the Israeli ex-service persons group Breaking The Silence. In places it's very confronting and indicates that the Israeli military during last years assault on Gaza... Nah, not playing that game.

The report is available here (http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/pdf/ProtectiveEdge.pdf) if anyone's interested.

Article on it (title of which I've used for this thread) is below.

-- Pan

###

Israeli soldiers say 'shoot to kill' orders put civilians in firing line (http://www.smh.com.au/world/israeli-soldiers-say-shoot-to-kill-orders-put-civilians-in-firing-line-20150504-1mza1r.html)
By Ruth Pollard, May 4, 2015

http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/t/q/x/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.1mza1r.png/1430730085353.jpg
An Israeli soldier stands on top of an armoured personnel carrier near the Israel-Gaza Strip border during Operation Protective Edge in July 2014. Photo: Getty Images

Jerusalem: Israel's decision to use indiscriminate fire in heavily populated residential neighbourhoods caused the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians in last year's Gaza war, a months-long investigation has found.

Soldiers who served in the Gaza Strip say they received orders to shoot to kill every person they saw in what the army classified a "combat sector", while being led to believe - wrongly - that the area had been cleared of civilians.

In reality, the armed forces entered areas in which "innocent civilians, and sometimes even entire families, remained", the veterans' group Breaking the Silence found.

Casting "grave doubts" on the ethics of the Israel Defence Forces, the soldiers' testimonies indicate that in some cases, the military's open-fire policy was not "directly related to the combat itself or to defending the troops in the field, but rather served political and diplomatic interests", the report found.

The group collected testimonies from just under 70 soldiers, from sergeants to those as high up as lieutenant and major, from the air force, navy and army who served during the 50-day war in Gaza that the IDF called Operation Protective Edge.

As former serving soldiers in the IDF, the researchers from Breaking the Silence say they were shocked by what they heard.

http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/x/l/s/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.1mza1r.png/1430730085353.jpg
A Palestinian girl walks past a house destroyed during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza City. Photo: Reuters

"Ask the soldiers who participated in the operation 'what were your rules of engagement before entering one of the most densely populated areas in the world', their answer was 'there were no rules of engagement'," says Avihai Stollar, the director of research and testimony collection at Breaking the Silence.

"They were told ... every person that you see on the ground in neighbourhoods that you are about to enter, you are supposed to shoot and kill him or her."

The impact of two key military strategies - known as the Dahiyeh Doctrine and the Hannibal Directive - have been most devastating to civilians in Gaza, Mr Stollar says.

http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/t/r/6/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.1mza1r.png/1430730085353.jpg
Mohamed al-Hajj, whose sister and her family were killed in an air strike on their home in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Ruth Pollard

The Dahiyeh Doctrine, named for the southern Beirut neighbourhood all but destroyed by Israel during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, calls for an unprecedented level of destruction as the cornerstone of military operations against militia such as the armed wings of Hamas or Hezbollah.

What drives this approach, Mr Stollar says, is an understanding that in a war against militia, unlike a war against a conventional army, there is no decisive victory.

"You are never going to get a chance to climb a hill, stick the flag in and say we won," he says. "So in order to achieve some kind of victory . . . if they shoot a rocket at us, we retaliate . . . with 100 and if they attack us and attack our towns, we destroy their cities . . . we leave after us an immense level of destruction."

http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/t/q/x/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.1mza1r.png/1430730085353.jpg
An Israeli tank moves along the border with the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge. Photo: Getty Images

Then there's the Hannibal Directive, that requires troops to do "whatever is necessary" to prevent a fellow soldier from being abducted, even if it entails killing the soldier or killing many Palestinian civilians.

Mr Stollar points to the situation in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 1 last year, when it was feared a soldier had been kidnapped by Hamas operatives (it was later revealed that he had been killed in action).

"Immediately an immense amount of fire was fired in the area ... officers told us once you implement the Hannibal Directive you just throw away the safety precautions" regarding sensitive locations like schools and hospitals and attack with huge force.

http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/t/s/4/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.1mza1r.png/1430730085353.jpg
The grandmother of Israeli soldier Jordan Bensimon cries over his coffin in Ashkelon, Israel, during Operation Protective Edge. Photo: Getty Images

"The bottom line is that once they believed this soldier in Rafah ... was abducted they fired thousands of artillery shells and caused the death of ... anywhere between 40 to 150 civilians on that day," Mr Stollar says.

"The tragedy here is that once you implement doctrines that entail such use of force ... then the killing of civilians is inevitable - you cannot expect not to kill civilians when you are bombarding with cannons a neighbourhood of more than 100,000 people."

Grim toll of a war

http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/t/r/3/8/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.1mza1r.png/1430730085353.jpg
A Palestinian boy in a car drives past destroyed buildings in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, in August 2014. Photo: Reuters

United Nations figures indicate that at least 2102 Palestinians were killed - at least 1470 of those were civilians, including more than 500 children. At least 19,000 homes were completely destroyed, 400,000 people were displaced and 100,000 have been left homeless.

Sixty-seven Israeli soldiers died as well as six civilians, and militants from Gaza fired more than 3360 rockets into civilian areas inside Israel.

The IDF says it struck nearly 4762 terror targets during the 50-day conflict, most of them rocket-launching sites, nearly 1000 of them command and control centres as well as weapons storage and manufacturing facilities, terror training compounds and other sites.

http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/x/k/w/c/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.1mza1r.png/1430730085353.jpg
A Palestinian child walks past a mural of children using an Israeli army watch tower as a swing, said to have been painted by British street artist Banksy, on the remains of a house destroyed during Operation Protective Edge in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. Photo: AFP

The IDF also said that thorough investigations were carried out following the operation, and soldiers and commanders were given the opportunity to present any complaint, with exceptional incidents referred to the Military Advocate General for further inquiry.

For many soldiers who provided testimony, it was the clear disregard for established rules of engagement that prompted them to speak out.

"You are permitted to shoot any person you see," one soldier from the IDF's armoured division told Breaking the Silence of his official briefing from military commanders. "The rules of engagement during Operation Protective Edge were pretty vague."

http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/t/r/3/b/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.1mza1r.png/1430730085353.jpg
The explosion of an Israeli strike rises over Gaza City in July 2014. Photo: AP

A first sergeant serving in an infantry division in the northern Gaza Strip described firing "ridiculous amounts" of ammunition that resulted in the complete devastation of a residential area.

"The level of destruction looked insane to me," he said. "Houses with crumbled balconies, animals everywhere, lots of dead chickens and lots of other dead animals. I knew there used to be a street there once, but there was no trace of it left to see."

Still more raised problems with Israel's "precautionary measures" designed to warn civilians of an impending attack - via phone calls, leaflet drops or the controversial "knock on the roof", where a small warning missile is fired to alert householders to an imminent, larger attack.

http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/t/r/3/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.1mza1r.png/1430730085353.jpg
Palestinian Olympian Nader al-Masri and his father beside the rubble of their home in Beit Hanoun in Auust 2014. Photo: New York Times

"The problem with all these things is that there's always the possibility that there's some old man who can't get out, who has difficulty evacuating," a soldier from one of the IDF's mechanised infantry divisions said.

One of the more senior officers to provide testimony to Breaking the Silence spoke of his deep concern regarding Israel's decision to classify so many civilian houses as hostile locations.

"According to intelligence reports and military communications, you're talking about a situation in which all the houses are classified as some type of hostile location. Are all the houses really hostile locations? I don't know," a major serving in an infantry unit in Gaza's north said.

"I do know that the practical result was flattened areas where houses had once stood."

The IDF's guiding military principle of "minimum risk to our forces, even at the cost of harming innocent civilians", led to massive harm to the population and the civilian infrastructure, Breaking the Silence found.

The lenient open-fire policy was accompanied by "aggression and at times even racism", with some soldiers describing statements by senior commanders calling for brutal and unethical conduct.

Legal principles

Michael Sfard, one of Israel's most high-profile human rights lawyers and the legal representative of Breaking the Silence, says the common thread in the testimonies was that the soldiers were told that there were no civilians in the areas in which they were operating.

"This produced rules of engagement that to say they were lax would be an understatement," Mr Sfard told Fairfax Media.

It also allowed the IDF to act without taking precautionary measures to protect civilians as it is obliged to do under international law, he said.

International law also states that the presence of combatants in civilian areas does not change the status of those areas - they are still civilian areas, as are the homes of Hamas operatives or activists unless there is actual military activity occurring there, Mr Sfard stressed.

One testifier, a sergeant first class from the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps who operated in the north of Gaza, described a debriefing in which an officer listed the "accomplishments" of the operation.

"They spoke about numbers: 2000 dead and 11,000 wounded, half a million refugees, decades' worth of destruction. Harm to lots of senior Hamas members and to their homes, to their families. These were stated as accomplishments so that no one would doubt that what we did during this period was meaningful."

Another soldier, whose rank and unit were marked "not for publication", told Breaking the Silence that it was not obligatory to ensure civilians had left a house before it was targeted.

"It's not obligatory. Say the target was [Hamas'] deputy battalion commander in Shuja'iyya [a district of Gaza City], an attack would be launched if the number of civilians wasn't too high. By too high, I mean a two-digit number."

Then there is the issue of whether Israel is capable of conducting a thorough, independent investigation into its own military - a key step for any country trying to avoid prosecution by the International Criminal Court, a body to which Palestine acceded in January.

Mr Sfard says the military justice system, as it stands, cannot conduct such an investigation: "The army cannot investigate superior commanders and it definitely doesn't even have the jurisdiction to investigate the civilian political leaders.

"Israel does have a mechanism for such investigations and a very good one - the National Committee of Inquiry, as well as Governmental Commission of Inquiry - but in order for those to be launched you need political will.

"This is not about a certain soldier who did the wrong thing ... this is about a system and a chain of command."

'Where does the buck stop?'

One of several military analysts contacted by Fairfax Media described the IDF's actions in Gaza as "completely disproportionate".

"To use artillery against a densely populated urban area just doesn't make sense," the senior analyst, who asked not to be identified, said. "Even if the area wasn't populated it is against the rules of war to destroy civilian homes, and it is unnecessary, especially with today's technology where you have weapons systems that are incredibly accurate and can be fired from a great distance."

The IDF is facing significant questions over its chain of command, the analyst said: "I have seen numerous alleged atrocities in Gaza and taking them one by one, you think 'how was this allowed to happen', but if you take them over the last decade, you have to ask the question 'where does the buck stop?'."

Every army in a developed country has very strict rules of engagement, he says, that are drummed into soldiers from the moment they join and are public documents, under the scrutiny of that country's citizens.

"Everybody from the senior air formation commander down to the most junior private is expected to know these rules by heart ... but Israel has always refused to release its rules of engagement."

Fairfax Media put a series of questions to the IDF, asking for detail on its rules of engagement in Operation Protective Edge and whether those rules were different from its other operations.

We also sought detail on its military doctrines that call for heavy fire in civilian areas, the selection of targets and whether soldiers were told there were no civilians in the areas in which they were operating.

The IDF did not address those specific questions. Instead, it said in an emailed response: "The IDF is committed to properly investigating all credible claims raised via media, NGOs, and official complaints concerning IDF conduct during operation Protective Edge, in as serious a manner as possible.

"Today, as in the past, the organisation 'Breaking the Silence' has been asked to provide any evidence or testimony related to IDF activities prior to publication, in order for genuine investigations to be carried out.

"Unfortunately, as in the past, 'Breaking the Silence' has refused to provide the IDF with any proof of their claims."

Breaking the Silence denied that it refused to share material with the IDF, saying it requested a meeting on March 23 to share the soldiers' testimonies. It released the letter it sent to the IDF's Chief of Staff, General Gadi Eizenkot, seeking the meeting.

Not everyone agrees the IDF went too far.

An analysis of the IDF's practices in the Gaza Strip by Michael Schmitt, a professor of international law at the US Naval War College, and John Merriam, a US Army Judge Advocate serving as the associate director of the Stockton Center at the US Naval War College, found the IDF's actions aligned with those of the US military.

"Even when they differ, the Israeli approach remains within the ambit of generally acceptable State practice," they wrote on April 24 in the online security journal Just Security.

"While there are certainly Israeli legal positions that may be contentious, we found that their approach to targeting is consistent with the law and, in many cases, worthy of emulation."

The Breaking the Silence report follows the release last week of a United Nations investigation into attacks on UN schools were civilians had taken shelter during the Gaza war.

Ordered by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the inquiry found the IDF was responsible for the seven strikes, in which 44 Palestinians died and 227 were injured.

Source (http://www.smh.com.au/world/israeli-soldiers-say-shoot-to-kill-orders-put-civilians-in-firing-line-20150504-1mza1r.html)

panopticon

4th May 2015, 13:53

IDF soldier testimony

###

#60

You don’t spare any means
Unit: Infantry
Rank: Lieutenant
Location: Rafah

So I heard that the reconnaissance platoon got into a confrontation, and that it looked like we were talking about two dead and one captured. That’s when the mess got started. The minute ‘Hannibal Directive’ is declared on the radio, there are consequences. There’s a fire procedure called the ‘Hannibal fire procedure’ – you fire at every suspicious place that merges with a central route. You don’t spare any means. A thousand shells were fired that Friday morning, at all the central intersections. The entire Tancher [Route] (the continuation of Highway 4 in Gaza) was bombed. The air force attacked places inside Rafah City, places in which we knew there were Hamas militants. Was there collateral damage to houses? I’m sure there was. It was very intense, that incident. After the area was hit by 1,000 shells that Friday morning, I saw Tancher in ruins. Everything totally wrecked.

How long did this shelling last?
Three hours.*

* Note: As a result of the IDF bombings in Rafah, between 41-150 Palestinians were killed, many of them civilians.
Source: Breaking The Silence, 2015. [I]This is How We Fought in Gaza (http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/pdf/ProtectiveEdge.pdf), pp 145-146.

panopticon

4th May 2015, 14:12

IDF soldier testimony.

###

#106

If you ask me, we need to level their entire area over there

Emotionally, it was a very difficult period for me. I had a very hard time with the atmosphere going on, and I had a very hard time with the things being said by the people serving with me in my unit. It was very hard for me mostly because I felt like I totally didn’t understand what was going on, and that lots of us were just acting on ‘automatic’ mode, like we just didn’t get it. I felt like I had no idea what... Whether the targets I was analyzing – and I decide if they should be hit again or not – whether it’s really imperative we hit them, or if it’s just something we do ‘casually,’ because there’s already an attack underway, there’s already a war underway, so you can hit lots of stuff as part of the fighting. There’s like, ‘an opportunity.’ And I felt that the atmosphere was hyper militaristic. There were things said by commanders that... That is, things like, “If you ask me, we need to level their entire area over there. If you ask me, that’s where stuff is coming out of.” Or saying things like, “I don’t understand this regulation and that regulation, and I don’t get why there’s hesitation over attacking again, why not throw more bombs in there?” Stuff like that, very, very militaristic and totally out of line. The atmosphere was very difficult, and every so often we would be updated about what was going on with the fighters who were inside – which is something that’s not supposed to be done, it influences our work.

How?

Let’s say there’s a [soldier] who knows there are friends of hers inside [the Gaza Strip], and she’s a soldier on regular duty, and she hears something like that and her thoughts are all going in the direction of, “Man, just level their entire place,” and so she marks every target as “suspicious, suspicious, suspicious,” and maybe manages to prove to her commander – who at that exact moment isn’t really focused on her work because he’s under a lot of pressure – he isn’t paying special attention to that area so he’s kind of skimming through it, and he tells her, “OK, all right, call in for another attack in there.”

And stuff like that happened around you?

Yes. And I, for example, was one of the only ones who really did take the time to open up lots and lots of angles, lots and lots of footage, to prove that there’s no need to strike again. Me, I was really looking for reasons not to attack – and maybe that, too, is immoral, maybe that, too, is wrong – it’s all a question of perspective. I was really looking for ways to see how the buildings, how one sees, from which angle you can see a certain floor, the damage that was inflicted to the building. These are grey areas – it’s not like you go, “If you see only three columns left, that’s enough damage, if you see more than that – it’s not enough damage.” There aren’t definitions for these things, why such-and-such counts as significant damage to a structure, and stuff like that – each person takes it in his own direction.

Source: Breaking The Silence, 2015. This is How We Fought in Gaza (http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/pdf/ProtectiveEdge.pdf), pp 224-226.

panopticon

4th May 2015, 14:27

IDF soldier testimony. 'Strive for engagement'...

###

#111

What the hell, why did you have to shoot him again?
Unit: Infantry
Rank: First Sergeant
Location: Northern Gaza Strip

We were in a house with the reconnaissance platoon, and there was some soldier stationed at the guard post. We were instructed [during the briefings] that whoever’s in the area is dangerous, is suspect. Especially if it’s a vehicle – in that case you really pound it with bullets, everybody stationed in the posts. [There was one case where] a soldier who was in one of the posts saw an old [Palestinian] man approaching, so he shouted that some old man was getting near. He didn’t shoot at him – he fired near him. What I know, because I checked this, is that one of the other soldiers shot that grandpa twice. A big hoopla got going, everyone got their gear quick and wanted to go outside because, like they say in the IDF, ‘strive for engagement.’ I went up to a window to see what was going on out there, and I saw there was an old man lying on the ground, he was shot in his leg and he was wounded. It was horrible, the wound was horrible, and he looked either dead or unconscious to me. So we went down and told that entire force – these guys were all truly twisted – “Enough, there’s no reason to shoot him, get a grip, he’s dead.” And so an argument starts up [between the soldiers]: “What makes you an expert on death? What are you, some doctor?” And then after that, some guy from the company went out and shot that man again, and that, for me, was the last straw. I don’t think there was a single guy in my platoon who wasn’t shocked by that. It’s not like we’re a bunch of leftists, but – why? Like, what the hell, why did you have to shoot him again? One of the problems in this story is that there was no inquiry into it, at least none that I know of. Not a word was spoken to us about it later on – nobody told us how we were expected to behave. So we hashed out our own conclusions – that the first two bullets were justified because if he had an IED on him, then what?

What was it for, really?

Dead checking. I don’t buy it. You leave [the Gaza Strip] and the most obvious question is, ‘did you kill anybody?’ What can you do – even if you’ll meet the most left-wing girl in the world, eventually she’ll start thinking, “Did you ever kill somebody, or not?” And what can you do about it, most people in our society consider that to be a badge of honor. So everybody wants to come out of there with that feeling of satisfaction. That’s what shocked me the most. We have guys in our company walking around with X’s marked on their straps, it’s a sort of culture. Maybe it sounds to you like I’m exaggerating, but... I’d like for this whole thing of X marks – even if it’s somebody who just saved an entire Israeli family – to be forbidden. Because when it comes down to it, when we don’t need to use fire, then people – even if they are very good people – something in their mind just jerks.

Source: Breaking The Silence, 2015. This is How We Fought in Gaza (http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/pdf/ProtectiveEdge.pdf), pp 235-237.

PathWalker

4th May 2015, 14:37

I am amazed this information is published in Israeli MSM in Hebrew. 20 years ago these soldiers could be imprisoned.
I wonder what other "Democratic" MSM would allow such publication.

These are the happy days of uncontrolled alternative media (really? - sarcastic).

panopticon

4th May 2015, 15:14

IDF soldier testimony.

#90

This area, there haven't been any civilians in it for a long time

Unit: Infantry
Rank: Lieutenant
Location: Northern Gaza Strip

The whole thing about civilians comes down to, “What are civilians?” and “Are there civilians in there?”Debating that is nice and all, but the moment your entire mode of awareness is that there are no civilians in there, then maintaining a safe range from civilians is not something you consider, even if you’re shooting at something that’s very likely to have civilians inside it. It’s as if [you say to yourself],“This area, there haven’t been any civilians in it for a long time,” that’s irrelevant to us by then– we’ve been fighting for two days already.

So the safety ranges, too, are of no importance?

You pay no attention to that. Civilian presence is not something that’s on your mind, so you don't give it any attention in any consideration. In operational considerations, in safety considerations.

Source: Breaking The Silence, 2015. This is How We Fought in Gaza (http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/pdf/ProtectiveEdge.pdf), pg. 197.

lucidity

4th May 2015, 19:32

panopticon A+

(excellent name too!)

Cidersomerset

4th May 2015, 20:18

Good report Pan there are reports daily on David Ickes headline page
as you would expect and I cannot see a resolution to the Palestinian
problem while the Israeli lobby has so much power and influence over
the west. I do not want to see Israel abandoned , but the policy against
its neighbours with Saudi backing seems to have the eventual goal
of attacking Iran.

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/tag/israel/page/2/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel criticized for touting Nepal rescue while Gaza is still in ruins

Tuesday 28th April 2015 at 08:38 By David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Untitled-420-587x384.jpg

‘The director of Human Rights Watch has criticized Israel for touting its
emergency aid efforts for earthquake-devastated Nepal while it continues
to block reconstruction in Gaza.

“Easier to address a far away humanitarian disaster than the nearby one
of Israel’s making in Gaza,” Kenneth Roth tweeted in reference to Israel’s
announcement that it was flying 260 Israeli army medical and military
personnel to Kathmandu.

“End the blockade!” Roth demanded. Earlier this month, 46 international
aid agencies urged sanctions on Israel if it did not end the tight siege on
Gaza that has prevented the rebuilding of a single home in the eight months
since Israel’s devastating assault last summer.’

http://electronicintifada.net/sites/electronicintifada.net/files/styles/large/public/idf-nepal.jpg
Carrying the flag: A photo published by the Israeli army shows its personnel
preparing to deploy to Nepal (via Twitter).

The director of Human Rights Watch has criticized Israel for touting its emergency aid
efforts for earthquake-devastated Nepal while it continues to block reconstruction in Gaza.

http://electronicintifada.net/sites/electronicintifada.net/files/styles/large/public/2014-11-4-anne-paq-gaza.jpg
Israel’s ongoing blockade of devastated Gaza amounts to “war crimes,” aid agencies say .

Read more: Israel criticized for touting Nepal rescue while Gaza is still in ruins

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-criticized-touting-nepal-rescue-while-gaza-still-ruins

=======================================================
=======================================================

Amnesty International browbeaten by pro-Israel propaganda outfit

Monday 4th May 2015 at 08:26 By David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/The_Israel_Project_440.jpg

‘The petition against Amnesty has been got up by The Israel Project (TIP), which
describes itself as “a non-partisan American educational organisation dedicated to
informing the media and public conversation about Israel and the Middle East”.
TIP, it says, “does not lobby and is not connected to any government. TIP informs,
providing facts, access to experts and keen analysis.”

Oh really? Not long ago TIP produced a training manual to help the worldwide
Zionist movement win its propaganda war, keep its ill-gotten territorial gains in
the Holy Land and persuade international audiences to accept that its crimes are
necessary and actually conform to “shared values” between Israel and the civilised West.’

Read more: Amnesty International browbeaten by pro-Israel propaganda outfit

http://www.redressonline.com/2015/05/amnesty-international-browbeaten-by-pro-israel-propaganda-outfit/

=====================================================
=====================================================

Israeli navy attacks Palestinian fishing boats off Gaza

Sunday 26th April 2015 at 10:33 By David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/12c407aa-4a4f-4f15-b3fa-292b8ddcb593-587x330.jpg

‘Israeli navy forces have once again opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the
besieged Gaza Strip’s coast, reports say.According to local media sources, Israeli
gunboats fired at Palestinian boats while they were within Gaza’s territorial waters,
on Sunday.’

Read more: Israeli navy attacks Palestinian fishing boats off Gaza

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/04/26/408143/Gaza-fishing-boats-Israeli-navy-fishing-zone-blockade

======================================================
======================================================

Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian youth in Jerusalem

Saturday 25th April 2015 at 08:23 By David Icke

‘Israeli soldiers have shot and killed a young Palestinian man after an incident near a
checkpoint in the East Jerusalem area, police say.Israeli police said the young man wielded
two knives and had tried to attack the soldiers on Saturday, however the dead man’s
relatives have denied the claim.’ The youth was aged 16, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The incident occurred around midnight near the A-Zayyim checkpoint at the outskirts
of East Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank.The dead man's cousin, Haitham Abu
Ghanam told the Reuters news agency that his cousin was killed for no reason.

Read more: Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian youth in Jerusalem

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/04/israeli-soldiers-kill-palestinian-youth-jerusalem-150425015527211.html

======================================================
======================================================

THE INDEPENDENT.......

Lancet medical journal under attack for 'extremist hate propaganda' over its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

http://i2.wp.com/worldtribune.com/life/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hip-implant-recall-lancet.jpg

http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article10199897.ece/alternates/w620/v2palestinian-man-afp.jpg

Exclusive: Hundreds of doctors and academics express outrage at Lancet over coverage of Gaza conflict
Jeremy Laurance Author Biography
Friday 24 April 2015

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/major-medical-journal-lancet-under-attack-for-extremist-hate-propaganda-over-its-coverage-of-the-israelipalestinian-conflict-10199892.html

=======================================================
=======================================================

Many other articles on......http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/

Tesseract

4th May 2015, 22:12

Taking the OP article at face value, that qualifies the IDF to be listed as a Terrorist Organisation under Australian law.

Cidersomerset

5th May 2015, 12:16

Kill Gazans ‘armed or unarmed,’ Israel told soldiers

new Tuesday 5th May 2015 at 10:23 By David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/get-attachment-196-587x440.jpg

==============================================

PRESS TV...

Kill Gazans 'armed or unarmed,' Israel told soldiers

Mon May 4, 2015 9:49PM

http://217.218.67.233/photo/20150504/4dfb22fa-c521-4c05-a98a-4b5da6d15474.jpg
Israeli soldiers aim at Palestinian protesters during clashes following a
demonstration against Palestinian land confiscation to expand the Jewish
Hallamish settlement on March 28, 2015 in the West Bank village of
Nabi Saleh, located near Ramallah. (AFP)

‘Israeli soldiers have testified that they were ordered to “kill any person”
they saw in the latest Israeli aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip.

The testimonies by as many as 60 Israeli soldiers have been collected and
released in a 237-page report entitled “This is how we fought in Gaza” by
the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence.

“The instructions were to shoot right away. Whoever you spot — be they
armed or unarmed, no matter what. The instructions are very clear. Any
person you run into, that you see with your eyes — shoot to kill,” the NGO
quoted an Israeli soldier as saying in the report.’

A Palestinian girl sitting in the rubble of her destroyed home, on August 2,
2014 following an overnight Israeli strike on Gaza City. (AFP photo)

A testimony by another Israeli soldier disclosed that Israeli forces shot and
killed two Palestinian women talking on the phone around one kilometer
away from the war zone. A subsequent probe showed that the women were
unarmed, the soldier said, adding, "We moved on, and they were listed as terrorists.”

Another Israeli soldier said that the soldiers involved in the onslaught on the
Gaza Strip had been instructed to "open fire everywhere, first thing as you
go in... the assumption being that the moment we went in, anyone who
dared poke his head out was a terrorist".

An account by another Israeli soldier revealed that Israeli tanks had also
been ordered to select at random and target buildings.In excess of 100
examples of misconduct by Israeli soldiers during the summer onslaught
have been documented in the report.

"The guiding military principle of 'minimum risk to our forces, even at the cost
of harming innocent civilians' alongside efforts to deter and intimidate the
Palestinians, led to massive and unprecedented harm to the population and
the civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip," the NGO said.

An Israeli report in March said that more than 350 Israeli soldiers who took
part in the deadly Israeli war had received treatment for symptoms related
to post-traumatic stress, including disorientation, low productivity, and
recurring nightmares.

At least 10 Israeli soldiers were also reported to have committed suicide last
year, including four who had taken part in the latest Gaza war.

http://217.218.67.233//photo/20150504/653abe52-61c0-4d15-843e-b49a37d11917.jpg
Heavy smoke billows following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City on July 29,
2014. (AFP photo)

Israel started its airstrikes against the Palestinian territory in early July 2014 and
later expanded its military campaign with a ground invasion. The war ended in
late August that year.

Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in Israel’s 50-day
onslaught and over 11,100 others, including nearly 3,380 children, 2,088 women
and 410 elderly people, were injured. Scores of Israelis were also killed during the
war. Moreover, the UN said up to 1,500 children were orphaned in the Israeli war.

Last September, Palestinian experts said it costs more than USD 7.5 billion to rebuild
the besieged Gaza Strip and that the process would take "five years if Israel removed
its blockade on Gaza entirely."

Experts estimated the direct losses caused by the Israeli onslaught at USD 4.4 billion.
They also believe that a total sum of USD 3.02 billion is needed for the development
of the enclave, which has been under a blockade since June 2007.

IA/NN/AS

Read more: Kill Gazans 'armed or unarmed,' Israel told soldiers

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/05/04/409469/Isarel-Gaza-war-Israeli-soldiers-Gaza-Strip-Hamas

Cidersomerset

5th May 2015, 12:23

Palestine UN envoy demands justice over Israel child abuse

new Tuesday 5th May 2015 at 08:39 By David Icke

http://217.218.67.233/photo/20150503/a9677065-e6f2-485e-961a-80a87e25ff4e.jpg

A file photo of a Palestinian child walking past a mural of children using an Israeli army
watch tower as a swing ride, painted on the remains of a house that was destroyed by
Israeli forces during their 50-day war on the besieged Gaza Strip last summer. (© AFP)

‘The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations (UN) has submitted an open letter to the UN
Security Council, demanding justice over the Israeli regime’s persisting violations and
abuse against Palestinian children.

“Every single day and in countless ways, Palestinian children are victims of Israeli human
rights violations, with no child considered too young to be spared the oppression being
meted out by the Israeli occupying forces and extremist settlers,” Ambassador Riyad
Mansour wrote in the letter released late Saturday, Ma’an News Agency reported on Sunday.

The letter further added, “These crimes committed against our children are intolerable and
unacceptable,” pointing out that abusing children by Israel is in violation of international
humanitarian and human rights laws.’

The complaint came just days after a seven-year-old Palestinian boy, Ahmad Zaatari, was
interrogated by Israeli regime forces for nearly eight hours, in what Mansour described as
“a horrifying and traumatic ordeal for a child of any age.”

According to the report, the seven-year-old was detained along with his 12-year-old cousin
Muhammed Zaatari on April 29 in the neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

http://217.218.67.233//photo/20150503/ce6f08c6-2d98-47dc-a15f-6296261ff57b.jpg
Arrest and kidnap of Palestinian children is among daily Israel abuses against Palestinian
communities in occupied territories. (File photo)

Neither of the children’s families were notified about where the boys had been taken until more
than three hours after their detention, the letter added, saying that Ahmad was released four
hours later, “terrified and hungry.”

In the letter, Mansour also called on the international community “to uphold its responsibilities
and provide the necessary assistance and protection to Palestinian children and hold accountable
the violators of international law.”

At the end of March, there were 182 Palestinian children in Israeli prisons, 26 of whom were 15
years old or younger, according to rights group Military Court Watch.

Another group, Defense for Children in Palestine, found that Palestinian children often arrive at
Israeli interrogation centers blindfolded and bound; and over 75 percent of the children detained
in 2014 endured some form of physical violence during arrest.

The Israeli regime detained 1,266 Palestinian children below the age of 15 in East al-Quds and the
West Bank in 2014, according to a report by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which
added that over 10,000 Palestinian children have been detained by Israeli forces since 2000.

MFB/HJL/SS

Read more: Palestine UN envoy demands justice over Israel child abuse

Cidersomerset

6th May 2015, 11:03

Robert Martin in Palestine Exposing Israeli brutality.

new Wednesday 6th May 2015 at 09:50 By David Icke

qfboJTWt-CE

Published on 30 Apr 2015

Robert Martin, Advocate on Children’s Rights under Armed Conflict speaks on
the conditions Palestinian children face under armed conflict. Mr. Martin calls
on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to put Israel on the UN List of Serious
Violators of Children’s Rights under Armed Conflict.

=====================================================
=====================================================

Israeli Soldiers Admit to Shooting Palestinians for ‘Fun’ in Gaza War

new Wednesday 6th May 2015 at 09:51 By David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/get-attachment-139-587x390.jpg

‘Israel’s war with Hamas last summer left more than 1,200 Palestinians dead and reduced
the Gaza Strip to rubble. Tel Aviv has maintained that much of the damage resulted from
Hamas’s use of civilians as human shields, but a recent report consisting of testimonies
from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) tells a very different story.

The report was released by the Israeli human rights NGO Breaking the Silence, made up of
active and reserve duty soldiers. The group’s mission is to shed light on the IDF’s war practices.

Titled “This is How we Fought in Gaza,” the report paints an alarming picture of how the
Israeli military’s lenient and permissive rules of engagement led to the senseless death
of unarmed civilians and much of the carnage in the Gaza Strip, during the 50-day
“Operation Protective Edge.”‘

Read more: Israeli Soldiers Admit to Shooting Palestinians for 'Fun' in Gaza War

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20150505/1021711335.html

Earthlink

6th May 2015, 15:14

This is Miko Peled, the grandson of one of the original founding Zionists from 1947, and the son of an Israeli general. This speech is a little over an hour, 45 minutes if you skip the question/answer period at the end, and, this is from the horses mouth more than anything else I've ever seen or heard on the subject.

TOaxAckFCuQ

Rocky_Shorz

6th May 2015, 17:19

Rocky_Shorz

6th May 2015, 17:32

Candy for Israeli soldiers, cancer for Gaza’s civilians

http://electronicintifada.net/sites/electronicintifada.net/files/styles/large/public/shifahospital.jpg?itok=HrtCqQ49

" (Ismael Mohamad / United Press International)
Candy for Israeli soldiers, cancer for Gaza’s civilians
Submitted by Adri Nieuwhof on Tue, 07/29/2014 - 13:46
shifahospital.jpg

Staff in al-Shifa hospital, Gaza City, treat a wounded man; doctors say that some of the injuries they have observed appear to have been caused by DIME bombs. (Ezz Zanoun / APA images)

In an especially grotesque piece of propaganda, an Israeli weapons manufacturer has boasted of distributing candy to soldiers attacking Gaza.

Israel Aerospace Industries, the company in question, is a leading supplier of drones to the Israeli military.

Such drones are, of course, not bringing candy to Palestinians. They are being used to drop weapons which cause horrific injuries.

A new briefing from Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights group, details how Hellfire rockets connected to drones are firing DIME (dense inert metal explosives) into residential areas of Gaza. Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor working in Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital, has spoken of how injuries he has seen in recent weeks appear to have been caused by DIME.
Bodies cut in half

A DIME bomb usually contains a mixture of explosive material, cobalt, nickel, iron and tungsten alloy. The bomb leaves almost no metallic fragments in the human body.

The injuries of victims who have been hit by DIME bombs are therefore distinguishable from injuries from traditional, metal-coated weapons. Physicians in the Gaza Strip have observed how entire bodies have been cut in half, bones shattered, and skin, muscle and bones turned into charcoal due to the heavy burns caused by these bombs.

Furthermore, DIME bombs have dangerous biological effects on the victims and cause tissue to be torn from flesh. Amputations caused by the bombs are extremely difficult to treat and frequently result in death. Work on treating such injuries has been made all the more difficult by how Israel has attacked more than twenty health facilities.

Palestinians who survive the DIME injuries are at high risk of contracting cancer. Exposure to a mixture of tungsten and cobalt are linked to early signs of lung cancer, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Criminal

Al-Haq argues that Israel’s use of DIME bombs against the people of Gaza violates international humanitarian law.

A key tenet of international law, the principle of proportionality, prohibits the causing of death and injuries to civilians. More than 80 percent of all Palestinians killed so far have been civilians, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. Children comprise one-fifth of the victims.

In addition, the 1980 convention on chemical weapons prohibits the use of weapons which “cause superfluous injury or excessive suffering.” Israel has signed that convention.

The convention also prohibits the use of any weapon which aims to injure by placing fragments in the human body that escape detection. Al-Haq argues that Israel is using Palestinian civilians in Gaza to test DIME bombs. By doing so, Israel violates the principle of humanity in international law, which requires that all persons be treated humanely in all circumstances.

Conducting experiments on civilians is also recognized as a war crime by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

This leads to an inescapable conclusion: Israel must be prosecuted for its cruel and criminal behavior in Gaza." link (http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/candy-israeli-soldiers-cancer-gazas-civilians)

Rocky_Shorz

6th May 2015, 17:36

'Israel drops cancer-inducing bombs on Gazans'

"A Norwegian doctor in the besieged Gaza Strip has strongly criticized Israel for using cancer-inducing bombs against Palestinian civilians.

Dr. Erik Fosse told Press TV that the majority of patients hospitalized in Gaza are civilians injured in attacks on their homes and about thirty percent of them are children.

Dense Inert Metal Explosive, known as DIME, is an explosive device developed to minimize collateral damage in warfare.

Experts say it has a relatively small but effective blast radius and is believed to have strong biological effects on those who are hit by the bomb’s micro-shrapnel.

Fosse, a department head at a university hospital in Oslo, also says some Palestinian in the besieged enclave have been wounded by a new type of weapon that even doctors with previous experience in war zones do not recognize.

Israel also used depleted-uranium and white phosphorus shells in the besieged region during their previous assaults.

This comes as Israel continues to pound the Gaza Strip for the sixth straight day. The latest Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 32 Palestinians in the besieged territory.

Palestinian sources say Israeli fighter jets have hit nearly 200 targets over the past 24 hours.

At least 167 people have lost their lives and more than 1100 others injured in Gaza since Tuesday when the Israeli attacks began.

People have held a funeral in Gaza for the Palestinians who have been killed in Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave. The participants in the funeral condemned the US support for Israel. " link (http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/07/13/371162/israel-drops-cancerinducing-bombs-on-gaza/)

Rocky_Shorz

6th May 2015, 17:48

Banned Israeli Weapons Lead to Rise of Cancer in Gaza
author Thursday March 19, 2015 01:57 author by IMEMC News & Agencies Report post

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has revealed a sharp increase in the number of registered cases of cancer, of various types, where the infection rate in the last three years amounted to 73.1 new cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.

"According to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, the director of the information center at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Atef Mosa’d, showed these results from a report introduced during a workshop held by the ministry about health services for diseases and tumors.

Khaled Thabet, director of the tumors department at al-Shifa hospital, stressed that the increasing number of cancer patients is due to pollution caused by the prohibited weapons used by Israel against the Gaza Strip.

Related: 08/01/14 Israeli Military Announce They Will Bomb al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza

The participants in workshop recommended the establishment of a cancer treatment center, in which the patient receives a comprehensive therapeutic service instead of having medical treatment in different places. Most of cancer patients are forces to leave the Gaza Strip to receive medical treatment since the Gaza Strip lack proper medical equipment due the Israeli blockade." link (http://www.imemc.org/article/70940)

Cidersomerset

6th May 2015, 19:42

A Bold Proposal: Palestine Should Give Its Refugees Citizenship

Wednesday 6th May 2015 at 06:15 By David Icke

iYGj1BVwRwg

‘Now that Palestine is recognized as a state, the next bold step for Palestine is to
confer citizenship on its stateless refugees and enter into bilateral agreements with
other states regarding the status of Palestinian citizens in each country. In making
the case for such a move, Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Fateh Azzam is well aware of
the treacherous political waters that this proposal entails.

However, he argues that it is worth considering from all its aspects, including the
potential problems, as it could be a long over-due move to strengthen the legal
status of Palestinian refugees – in particular the stateless refugees – and to improve
their situation in their countries of current residence. It would also create facts on
the ground, which may become the building blocks for national liberation.’

Read more: A Bold Proposal: Palestine Should Give Its Refugees Citizenship

http://al-shabaka.org/briefs/refugees-citizenship/

Cidersomerset

6th May 2015, 21:30

‘Fire at every person you see’ Report casts doubt on 'surgical' IDF strikes on Gaza

bFh6otpUAE4

Published on 5 May 2015

Israeli soldiers were ordered to ‘fire at every person you see’ during the Gaza war,
while civilian areas were deliberately targeted with inaccurate weapons, a report by
the Israeli group Breaking the Silence NGO asserts. READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/gy0pb1

RT LIVE http://rt.com/on-air

Cidersomerset

7th May 2015, 06:06

on a related topic....

Palestine: More Than 11,000 Demolition Orders Pending in West Bank

new Thursday 7th May 2015 at 06:38 By David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/get-attachment-538-587x384.jpg

===========================================

More than 11,000 demolition orders pending in West Bank .

Tuesday, 05 May 2015 11:27

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/images/article_images/middle-east/israeli-soldiers-gaurding-israeli-bulldozer-after-it-demolished-a-palestinian-home-in-al-aroub-refugee-camp-near-hebron.jpg

‘There are more than 11,000 currently outstanding demolition orders
issued by Israeli authorities against Palestinian-owned properties in
the Occupied West Bank, according to new figures.

The official data, as presented by UN OCHA in a recent report, shows
that Israeli authorities issued 14,087 demolition orders in ‘Area C’ of
the West Bank between 1988 and 2014, on the basis that they lacked
the required permit.

The number of affected structures is higher, however, as some orders
target several structures.’ According to the figures, some 20 percent
of these orders have been implemented, and just one per cent cancelled,
leaving a total of 11,134 outstanding.

Some 60 percent of the Occupied West Bank is designated as 'Area C',
where Palestinians require building permits from Israel. There are around
300,000 Palestinians living in Area C, alongside approximately 341,000
Israelis living in illegal settlements and settlement outposts.

Israel has long made it almost impossible for Palestinians in Area C to
obtain the required permits for construction, even as settlements expand.

Of the outstanding demolition orders, 570 are described by the Israeli
authorities as "ready for execution." Most of the orders are concentrated
in the Hebron governorate (3,669) orders, then Jerusalem (1,756),
Ramallah (1,173) and Bethlehem governorates (1,145).

UN OCHA notes that there is also "a correlation between the distribution
of the orders and the location of main roads in Area C: the closer a
structure is to a main road, the higher the possibility of it receiving a
demolition order."

Read more: Palestine: More Than 11,000 Demolition Orders Pending in West Bank

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/18438-more-than-11000-demolition-orders-pending-in-west-bank

====================================================
====================================================

South Africans apologize over forest planted on Palestinian village

new Thursday 7th May 2015 at 07:23 By David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/150505-lubya-school-587x398.jpg

‘Many donors to the South Africa Forest in present-day Israel probably do not
realize that they are helping to cover up the results of ethnic cleansing. Such
details have been omitted from a Jewish National Fund website promoting the
Lower Galilee project as environmentally sound and offering a certificate to anyone
who finances the plantation of at least two trees.

Campaigners with the group Stop the JNF in South Africa are trying to highlight
how the land where the forest is located was once the site of the Palestinian village
of Lubya. It was destroyed by Zionist forces during the Nakba (Arabic for
catastrophe), the forced displacement of Palestinians in 1948.

In a novel ceremony on 1 May, a number of South Africans who have previously
given money to the JNF issued a public apology.’

Read more: South Africans apologize over forest planted on Palestinian village

http://electronicintifada.net/content/south-africans-apologize-over-forest-planted-palestinian-village/14494?utm_source=EI+readers&utm_campaign=e0c956b1bb-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e802a7602d-e0c956b1bb-290660781

PathWalker

7th May 2015, 07:49

Here is where the current issues are:

http://www.drybonesproject.com/blog/D13505_2.gif

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a PR spin, to divert you from the real issues.

http://media.cagle.com/49/2013/04/14/130227_600.jpg

panopticon

7th May 2015, 10:42

Yep, kind of expect that from the Jerusalem Post.

Typical obfuscation and distraction.

The Israeli government presents itself as the shining light of democracy and decency in the Middle East.

By that standard they have a higher bar to reach for.

This also applies to the US and all the other war mongering western liberal democratic countries.

To on one hand say "we abhor the injustices perpetrated by [insert regime]" but then follow that on with "yep, we tortured some folks" shows a disconnection from reality.

That's why the message gets changed to 'look at how bad they are, they are bad, we a not bad, they are bad'. This of course leaves the listener with the impression that their country is not bad and leading to (using the human natural tendency for dualism) their country is good.

Anyway, while a bit off topic, it is interesting how some cartoons are used to reinforce the Nation States agenda through attempting to control/modify the direction of public discourse...

Cases in point. Using Dry Bones cartoons (which, by the way, has now formed an academy of cartoon activists imaginatively called the Dry Bones Project (http://drybonesproject.com/)) during various IDF related conflicts.

Cartoons during Israel's Protective Edge (2014):

http://www.mrdrybones.com/blog/D14729_1.gif

http://www.mrdrybones.com/blog/D14730_1.gif

Operation Pillar of Defense (2012):

http://drybonesproject.com/blog/D12B15_2.gif

Gaza War (2008-09):

http://www.drybonesproject.com/blog/D09201_1.gif

http://www.drybonesproject.com/blog/D09118_3.gif

Lebanon War (2006):

http://www.drybonesproject.com/blog/D06730_2.gif

http://www.drybonesproject.com/blog/D06730_1.gif

http://www.drybonesproject.com/blog/D06716_3.gif

For more Dry Bones propaganda the blog site is here (www.drybonesblog.blogspot.com).

Now :focus:

-- Pan

Earthlink

7th May 2015, 14:19

I respect what Miko Peled has said of this, since, he is related to one of the "founders".

And this video below, well, this is the first time in my life that I'd ever even heard an actual Palestinian speak.

And just because one white racist (balfour) decided to give Palestine to another white racist (rothschild), doesn't make it right or acceptable. In my mind Israel is a fictional place, and Palestine is currently an occupied territory, occupied by an idea and occupied by those who are gullible enough to accept free land, free housing, whatever they needed to do to get people to move there, so now all those known as Israelis are living a lie sold to them by their media.

It is just like calling the Native North Americans the bad people because Europeans came to their land and claimed it as their own.

"We teach Life, sir."

aKucPh9xHtM

Earthlink

7th May 2015, 14:45

To the uncluttered mind they are playing the victim card, repeatedly, ceaselessly.

Just like those poor settlers in America who had to endure the savages who tried to prevent them from living a free and god fearing life then ...

Incidentally my two favourite old proverbs of the last several years have been a Turkish one and a Jewish one. The Turkish one says "It doesn't matter how far you have walked down the wrong road, turn around." and the Jewish one says "A half truth is still a whole lie."

Cidersomerset

10th May 2015, 11:58

Israeli Crimes in Gaza, 2014: Amnesty Whitewashes Another Massacre

Sunday 10th May 2015 at 06:58 By David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/AI1.jpg

============================================

Global Research....

Israeli Crimes in Gaza, 2014: Amnesty Whitewashes Another Massacre
By Paul de Rooij

Global Research, May 09, 2015
Middle East Monitor

Amnesty International has issued four reports on the Israeli massacre in Gaza in 2014.
1Given the scale of the destruction and the number of fatalities, any attempt to document
the crimes committed should be welcomed. However, these reports are problematic, and
raise questions about the organisation itself, including why the reports were ever written
at all.2They also raise questions about the broader human rights industry that are worth
considering.

Basic background

July 2014 marked the onset of the Israeli massacre in Gaza (I will dispense with the Israeli
sugar-coated “operation” name). The Israeli army trained for this attack for several months
before finding a pretext to attack the Gaza Strip, shattering an existing ceasefire; this was
the third such post-”disengagement” (2004) attack, and possibly the worst so far. At least
2,215 people were killed and 10,000+ wounded, most of them civilians. The scale of
destruction was staggering: tens of thousands of houses were rendered uninhabitable;
several high-rise buildings were struck by huge American-supplied bombs; schools and
hospitals were targeted; 61 mosques were totally destroyed; water purification and sewage
treatment plants were damaged; Gaza’s main flour mill was bombed; and all chicken farms
in the territory were ravaged. There was incalculable devastation.3

Israeli control over Gaza has been in place for decades, with violence escalating over time,
and the Palestinians there have been under siege for the past eight years. The Israelis have
placed Gaza “on a diet”,4 permitting only a trickle of strictly controlled goods to cross the
border, enough to keep the population above starvation levels. The whole Gaza Strip is
surrounded on all sides, blocked off from the outside world: military bulldozers raze border
areas, snipers injure farmers, and warships menace or destroy fishing boats with gunfire.
Periodically, the Israelis engage in what they term “mowing the lawn” massacres and large
scale destruction. It is this history that must serve as the foundation of any report that
attempts to describe both the intent of the participating parties and the relative consequences.

Read more: Israeli Crimes in Gaza, 2014: Amnesty Whitewashes Another Massacre

http://www.globalresearch.ca/israeli-crimes-in-gaza-2014-amnesty-whitewashes-another-massacre/5448406

Cidersomerset

10th May 2015, 12:03

Ex-U.N. Official John Dugard: Israel’s Crimes are ‘Infinitely Worse’ Than in Apartheid South Africa

Sunday 10 May 2015
By David Icke

Posted in:
War and Terror

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/get-attachment-58-587x415.jpg

Short Vid on link.....http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/5/6/ex_un_official_john_dugard_israel

‘As Palestine joins the International Criminal Court, former U.N. Special Rapporteur John Dugard
talks about how an apartheid case could be brought against Israel in the ICC. “I’m a South African
who lived through apartheid,” Dugard said. “I have no hesitation in saying that Israel’s crimes are
infinitely worse than those committed by the apartheid regime of South Africa.”‘

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/5/6/ex_un_official_john_dugard_israel

Cidersomerset

11th May 2015, 17:58

Israeli settlers assault Palestinian woman and her kids in al-Khalil

Monday 11th May 2015 at 05:22 By David Icke

PRESS TV....

Israeli settlers assault Palestinian woman and her kids in al-Khalil

http://217.218.67.233/photo/20150510/7fd66792-00bf-49d6-b85d-5e28eb4b618a.jpg

‘A group of Zionist settlers have physically assaulted a Palestinian woman and
her young children in the Old City of al-Khalil (Hebron) in southern West Bank.

The assault occurred on Saturday when the illegal settlers waged an attack on
Palestinian homes in the Old City’s Tel Rumeida neighborhood, Ma’an news agency
reported citing an al-Khalil-based rights organization called Human Rights Defenders.

The report further quoted the group’s spokesman, Badee Dweik as saying that the
Palestinian woman, Mirvat Abu Tuama, was walking home with her children Hazim,
10, Rahaf, 8, Lujayn, 5, and Liyan, 4, when a group of Israeli settlers chased and
assaulted them.’

According to Dweik, the attacking settlers also attacked the home of Yasser Abu
Markhiyya in Tel Rumeida by hurling stones at it.

This is while another group of settlers attacked a Palestinian female teenager
Madlin Abu Shamsiyya while she tried to film them as they were attacking the
home of another area resident, Itidal Qiwar.

The latest attack by the Zionist settlers comes less than a week after another
group of the Israeli occupiers harassed a delegation touring al-Khalil's Old City
that included the head of the Palestinian National Union for Football, Jibril
al-Rajoub, and South African politician and anti-racism activist, Tokyo Sexwale,
the report added.

Nearly 700 settlers live in 80 homes in the center of al-Khalil, surrounded by
nearly 200,000 Palestinians.The settlements, illegal under international law,
remain protected by the Israeli military forces in the tightly controlled city,
where many streets are off limits to Palestinians.

MFB/SS

Read more: Israeli settlers assault Palestinian woman and her kids in al-Khalil

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/05/10/410408/Middle-East-Palestine-Israeli-settlers-Hebron-Palestinian-woman-physical-attack-Human-Rights-Defenders

Cidersomerset

11th May 2015, 18:03

Netanyahu deputy charged with administering Palestinians says they are ‘beasts, not human’

Monday 11th May 2015 at 08:25 By David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Untitled12-587x410.jpg

‘Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finalized the formation of a new government
this week when he signed a coalition agreement with far-right settler party Jewish Home.
As part of the agreement, Rabbi Ben-Dahan will be Israel’s next deputy defense minister,
responsible for the army’s “Civil Administration.”

The Civil Administration is responsible for all aspects the occupation that don’t involve
boots-on-the-ground security operations — it administers planning, building, and
infrastructure for both Jews and Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank. It also administers
the Palestinian population database and is responsible for granting and revoking entry and
travel permits for Palestinians, controlling every aspect of their movement.

In other words, the man slated to take charge of an organization entrusted with supervising
the theft of Palestinian land and supervising Palestinians’ lives, is a racist who said he does
not see them as human, but rather as animals (nothing against animals, of course, but we
can be fairly certain Ben-Dahan didn’t mean it as a compliment).

Read more: Netanyahu deputy charged with administering Palestinians says they are ‘beasts, not human’

http://972mag.com/next-head-of-civil-administration-said-palestinians-are-sub-human/106533/

=======================================================
=======================================================

Israel orders eviction of Bedouins near East Quds for settlement expansion

Monday 11th May 2015 at 05:16 By David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/68f8a608-7639-484e-81c8-2bc6e91de6fc-587x330.jpg

‘Israeli authorities have issued eviction orders to Palestinian Bedouins living in a
village east of al-Quds (Jerusalem), telling them to leave their homes within weeks.

Local residents said they would be forced from their land in less than a month,
Maan News Agency reported on Saturday.

The residing Bedouin families said, however, they would remain on their land.

The forced evacuation is part of Israel’s plan to expand a settlement located
near the Bedouin village of Abu Nuwwar.’

Read more: Israel orders eviction of Bedouins near East Quds for settlement expansion

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/05/10/410347/Israel-Palestinian-Bedouin-East-Quds-settlements