Israeli soldiers and police kill Palestinians with impunity. Open-fire regulations permit it, authorizing extrajudicial executions. Investigations when conducted are routinely whitewashed.
High-ranking military and police officials enjoy virtual immunity from prosecutions and convictions of crimes just societies don’t tolerate, lawbreakers held fully accountable.
On July 3, 2015, B’Tselem research and security camera video footage showed Binyamin Brigade commander Col. Yisrael Shomer willfully, without just cause, lethally shot 17-year-old Muhammad ‘Ali-Kosba - striking his upper body three times, once in the head.
It was clear cold-blooded murder in response to the youth throwing a stone at his vehicle harming no one.
These type incidents happen with disturbing regularity, Palestinians murdered for any reason or none at all, accountability entirely absent, an appalling miscarriage of justice ignored in the West and by media scoundrels one-sidedly supporting Israel’s worst crimes.
Col. Shomer lied, claiming he feared for his life and acted in “self-defense,” aiming at the youth’s legs, shooting him in the head and upper body at close range.
‘Ali-Kosba was fleeing when gunned down in cold blood. He threatened no one. Shomer lethally shot him from about 10 meters away, eyewitnesses said.
According to B’Tselem, ‘Ali-Kosba’s willful murder “was immediately condoned by military commanders and government ministers…compound(ing) the gravity of the” crime.
It tells soldiers they can kill Palestinians with impunity. “(S)hooting a Palestinian stone thrower is acceptable, even desirable, even if the person is fleeing” and poses no threat.
Condoning murder assures no chance for justice. Palestine is a free-fire zone. Death or serious injury can happen any time.
Shomer and two soldiers with him left “Ali-Kosbi unattended to die. He was taken by private car to Ramallah hospital where he was pronounced clinically dead.
An independent Al-Haq human rights group investigation said ‘Ali Kosbi was a “arbitrarily shot…pos(ing) no threat to Israeli soldiers’ lives at the time of the shooting.”
Israeli soldiers killed his two brothers, Yasser and Samer, in the Qalandiya refugee camp in 2002.
On April 10, B’Tselem said Israel’s Military Advocate General closed the Shomer investigation, absolving murder like so many previous times - proving Palestinian lives don’t matter.
Israel provides virtual immunity for soldiers and police committing cold-blooded murder. Rare exceptions prove the rule - never against IDF officers.
Separately, international outlaw Erdogan demanding a “written protocol” Israeli pledge on lifting Gaza’s blockade as a condition for normalizing ties rang hollow.
Since last summer, he’s been systematically killing Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi Kurds. He abolished press freedom, prosecutes journalists for doing their job and anyone criticizing him.
He supports ISIS and other terrorists in Syria, providing them arms, munitions, and other material support, along with selling their stolen oil and precious artifacts.
His ruthless governance belies any concern about Palestinian suffering. What he really wants in return for normalized ties with Israel has nothing to do with helping them.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
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