Religious Jews around the world should be outraged when their rabbis call for Palestinians to be shot as part of “religious duty”
STEPHEN LENDMAN | Special to Caravan Daily
[dropcap]Z[/dropcap]ionist zealot rabbi Meir Kahane’s pure evil lives, founder of the Arab-hating Jewish Defense League (JDL). Israel banned it in 1988, calling it a “threat to national security.”
Even the Islamophobic Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said its membership includes only “thugs and hooligans” – dedicated to hate-mongering and violence against Palestinians.
Its poisonous ideology persists in Israel. Radicalized rabbis preach it. Nothing is done to stop them. Hate-mongering rabbis responded to questions including: “Am I allowed to kick the insurgent, hit him or shoot him in order to kill him after he has been arrested or is this prohibited?”
Rabbi Rabbi Rav Benzion Mutzafi said “(i)t is not only desirable to do so, but it is a religious duty that you hold his head down to the ground and hit him until his last breath.”
City of Safed chief rabbi Shmeul Eliyahu said it’s “prohibited to keep (Palestinian ‘vandals’) alive after (their arrest), because if (they’re) left alive, there is a fear that (they’d) be released and (be able to) kill others.”
Since October 1, Israel arrested around 700 Palestinians, many held uncharged, others accused of stone-throwing and/or threatening public security.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club said half of those detained are children, denied contact with family and legal counsel, subjected to brutal torture, forced to confess to whatever charges Israel concocts.
Other children are being lethally shot. Defense for Children International-Palestine’s Accountability Program director Ayed Abu Eqtaish said:
“It’s now a matter of when the next Palestinian child fatality will occur and not if it will take place. The complete disregard for human life that Israeli soldiers exhibit suggests that the use of lethal force is their standard operating procedure whatever the circumstance.”
Hamas and Islamic Jihad called for Palestinian solidarity against Israeli repression and occupation. They saluted brave martyrs, sacrificing their lives for freedom.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) called on Palestinians to condemn US support for Israeli viciousness. Be wary of John Kerry’s upcoming visit, it stressed – aimed only at ending resistance against repressive occupation, issuing a statement, saying:
“The United States presents a strong barrier in front of our people and our rights in all international forums, and uses the veto as a weapon wielded dozens of times to prevent our people from exercising their right to self-determination.”
“The United States was and still is the head of the snake which spreads poison and sectarian wars to the Arab nation.”
On Friday, John Kerry’s spokesman issued a statement saying, he “strong(ly) condemn(ed) (Palestinian) terror attacks against innocent civilians, and (expressed) support for Israel’s right to defend its citizens.”
An Islamophobic Wall Street Journal editorial accused Palestinians of being knife-wielding terrorists – calling their heroic self-defense “terrorism in its most exact and repulsive form.”
Journal editors endorsed Israeli state terror, saying if its “critics…think they could do better under similar circumstances, they ought to explain how” – ignoring Netanyahu-ordered provocations, then unleashing violence, Israel’s usual tactic, brutalizing defenseless civilians.
Meanwhile the following statement was issued by human rights groups listed below:
“Since the beginning of the current wave of violence, there has been a worrying trend to use firearms to kill Palestinians who have attacked Israelis or are suspected of such attacks.”
“Several incidents have been documented and reported, raising concern that the chosen response to such persons is the harshest possible, with lethal or – at the very least – unnecessary consequences.”
“In instances when Jews have been suspected of attacks, none of the suspects has been shot. Politicians and senior police officers have not only failed to act to calm the public climate of incitement, but on the contrary have openly called for the extrajudicial killing of suspects.”
“They have also urged civilians to carry weapons. For example, Jerusalem District Police Commander Moshe Edri was quoted as saying: ‘Anyone who stabs Jews or hurts innocent people is due to be killed.’ “
“Interior Security Minister Gilad Arden declared that ‘every terrorist should know that he will not survive the attack he is about to commit.’ MK Yair Lapid stated that ‘you have to shoot to kill anyone who pulls out a knife or screwdriver.’ “
“Much of the media joined in and encouraged a similar approach. The bodies responsible for supervising police operations – the State Attorney’s Office and the Department for the Investigation of Police – remained silent in the face of these comments.”
“No-one disputes the serious nature of the events of recent days, nor the need to protect the public against stabbing and other attacks.”
“However, it seems that too often, instead of acting in a manner consistent with the nature of each incident, police officers and soldiers are quick to shoot to kill. The political and public support for such actions endorses the killing Palestinians in the Territories and in Israel.”
“Rather than imposing collective punishment on Palestinians in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government should act to end the reality of ongoing and daily oppression faced by some four million people who live without hope of any change in the situation, without any horizon for the end of occupation, and without prospects for a life of liberty and dignity.”
Signed by:
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel
Amnesty International-Israel Branch
B’Tselem
The Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
HaMoked Center for the Defence of the Individual
Yesh Din Volunteers for Human Rights
Adalah – The Legal Center for the Rights of the Arab Minority in Israel
Physician for Human Rights-Israel
A Final Comment
Maan News said an Israeli settler lethally shot a Palestinian teenager around midday on Saturday – near the Beit Haddassah outpost.
Area resident Mufeed Sharabati said “paramedics of the Palestinian Red Crescent (Society) arrived, but Israeli soldiers didn’t allow them to access the (victim).”
“The soldiers then covered (his) face and took him in an ambulance to (an) unknown destination.” Settlers celebrated his death by “distributing candies.”
Witnesses saw Israeli soldiers place a knife by his lifeless body – to be able to claim he attempted to stab his assailant.
The incident came shortly before soldiers lethally shot another Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem. As of midday Saturday local time, the Palestinian death toll stands at 40 since October 1.
