By Stephen Lendman
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Israel brutalizes defenseless Palestinians as viciously as Nazis mistreated Jews.
Since creation of the Jewish state, they’ve endured virtually every form of indignity, degradation, and crime against humanity imaginable, including land theft, political imprisonments, brutal torture in detention, and cold-blooded murder, among other serious offenses.
Law Professor Francis Boyle earlier accused Israel of “heinous war crimes inflicted every day…against the Palestinian people,” including “willful killing” and state terror.
The late Law Professor Michael Mandel called illegal Israeli settlements “war crimes,” citing the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Geneva Conventions, along with other international and Canadian law.
Israel gets away with murder and much more because the world community fails to hold it accountable, largely turning a blind eye to its high crimes of war, against humanity, and daily apartheid persecution of a long-suffering people – illegally blockaded Gazans harmed most of all.
Last May, Israel’s High Court rejected petitions by the Adalah and Al Mezan human rights groups, demanding Israeli soldiers stop using live fire against peacefully demonstrating Gazans.
A three-justice panel lied, ruling protesters endanger Israeli soldiers and civilians. Throughout 27 straight Great March of Return Friday protests, Gazans alone were grievously harmed, no Israelis.
The justices turned truth on its head, claiming Israeli and international law permits live fire against peaceful Gazan protesters because Hamas controls the Strip.
In response to giving Israel “a green light to its continued use of snipers and live fire against Palestinian protesters,” petitioners Adalah and Al Mezan issued a statement, condemning the ruling, saying:
“The Israeli Supreme Court completely ignored the broad factual basis presented to it by the petitioners, which includes multiple testimonies of wounded and reports of international organizations involved in documenting the killing and wounding of unarmed protesters in Gaza,” adding:
The justices “refused to watch video clips, documenting Israeli shootings of demonstrators and, rather than actually examining the case, fully accepted the claims presented to it by the state.”
“The extreme nature of the ruling is also highlighted by the striking absence of any mention of the casualty figures that had been presented to the court…”
On September 30, Adalah accused Israel of “blatantly ignoring domestic and international law…demand(ing) accountability and prosecution of those responsible for gross violations of right to life,” adding:
“From October 2000 (start of the Second Intifada) to Gaza 2018, Israeli snipers continue killing unarmed Palestinian demonstrators with Israeli Supreme Court’s approval.”
In October 2000, Israeli police killed 12 Arab citizens and one Palestinian.
Israel’s Orr Commission of Inquiry said police and other security forces must alter the way they treat Arabs.
It called use of live fire, toxic tear gas, rubber bullets, and similar tactics against nonviolent demonstrators illegal.
“It should be unequivocally clear that live fire, including by snipers, is not a means for the police to disperse crowds,” it stressed.
“These universal norms apply equally and without discrimination to citizens and non-citizens alike, regardless of the content of the protest, their slogans, their location, their organizational affiliation, and the ethnic and national affiliation of the participants.”
The commission said police must renounce its culture of lying. It called for ending racist discrimination. Its report focused on Israeli Arab citizens. Its findings hold for Occupied Palestinians.
Adalah said 18 years after the October 2000 massacre, “despite solid condemnation of this practice on both the national and international levels – the Israeli military continues killing unarmed Palestinian civilian protesters with snipers and live fire in the Gaza Strip, with the approval of Israel’s Supreme Court.”
Adalah’s call for “immediately” halting this practice fell on deaf ears in Israel. The world community ignores the plea.
Not a single Israeli political or military official has ever been held accountable for crimes of war, against humanity, and cold-blood slaughter of peaceful Palestinian demonstrators.
Adalah: “Israeli armed forces backed up by the Supreme Court’s ruling, continue to target unarmed Palestinian demonstrators with snipers and live ammunition today in Gaza just as they killed Palestinian citizens of Israel protesting in October 2000.”
On October 1, Israeli Arab citizens engaged in strike action, commemorating the October 2000 massacre, along with protesting against Khan al-Ahmar village’s illegal demolition and Israel’s new apartheid Nation State Law.
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