Common Grounds
Our Wednesday News Analysis | Israel’s War on Children
Source: Common Dreams
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-s-war-on-children
By Ramzy Baroud
Published September 9, 2023
The problem for Palestinians is not just that of Israel’s violence, but also the lack of international will to hold Israel accountable.
A group of five Palestinian children ages 8 to 13 were gathering wild vegetables near the illegal Jewish settlement of Havat Maon on March 10, 2021 when they were arrested by Israeli troops. (Photo: Nasser Nawaj'ah/B'Tselem/Twitter)
Israel kills Palestinian children as a matter of policy. This claim can easily be demonstrated and is supported by the latest findings of a Human Rights Watch report.
The question is: why?
When the police or military shoot a child anywhere in the world, though utterly tragic, it can be argued, at least in theory, that the killing was an unfortunate mistake.
But when thousands of children are killed and wounded in a systematic, 'routine' and comparable method within a relatively short period of time, the killing of children must be deliberate.
In a recent report, entitled ‘West Bank: Spike in Israeli Killings of Palestinian Children’, HRW reaches a strong conclusion based on an exhaustive examination of medical data, eyewitness accounts, video footage, and field research - the latter pertaining to four specific cases.
One is that of Mahmoud al-Sadi, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy from the Jenin Refugee Camp. He was killed last November, 320 meters away from any clashes in the camp between invading Israeli forces and Jenin fighters.
Mahmoud was on his way to school and carried nothing that could be seen, from the soldiers’ point of view, as threatening or suspicious...
Read more: Israel’s War on Children
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OPINION | DEAR PARENTS OF ISRAELI SOLDIERS, DON'T SACRIFICE YOUR CHILDREN ON THE ALTAR OF MESSIANISM
Source: Haaretz
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-09-03/ty-article-opinion/.premium/dear-parents-of-soldiers/0000018a-5746-d845-adfe-f766c5630000
By Iris Leal
Published September 3, 2023
IDF soldiers.Credit: Itay Ron
Why does an exemption for the ultra-Orthodox on the basis of the belief that Torah studies protect the people of Israel evoke rage and contempt, but sending our sons to sacrifice their lives for the last five decades
on the altar of the notion of a divine promise –
a belief that’s equally foreign to those protesting women –
is perceived as reasonable and logical?
An officer and three soldiers were wounded last week by an explosive device while guarding worshippers at Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus. If you think you’ve been hearing about this location with growing frequency in recent years, you’re not mistaken. Over the last decade, the number of organized visits to the site has doubled, as has the volume of visitors.
Lawmaker Zvi Sukkot, a target of Shin Bet security service investigations, elicited much rage after he tweeted, “One cannot blink for a moment when facing terror” – while someone else’s children were being evacuated to the hospital. “Our thanks go to [Israel Defense Forces] commanders and soldiers for guarding the [tomb’s] entrance even when confronted with erupting terror. Terror will not win, thanks to the righteous Joseph!”...
Read more: Opinion | Dear Parents of Israeli Soldiers, Don't Sacrifice Your Children on the Altar of Messianism
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WHY BIDEN WILL MEET NETANYAHU WHEN THE EXTREMIST VISITS THE U.S.
Source: Jews for Justice for Palestinians
https://jfjfp.com/why-biden-will-meet-netanyahu-when-the-extremist-visits-the-u-s/
Philip Weiss writes in Mondoweiss September 8, 2023
Even as the Israeli government pushes Palestinians out of large portions of the West Bank, Joe Biden seeks to normalize Netanyahu. It's the Democratic Party line. And liberal Zionists go along.
Netanyahu meets an AIPAC-sponsored delegation of Democratic U.S. Congress members, Sept. 3, 2023. Group includes Ritchie Torres of NY (2nd from l) and Lucy McBath of GA (to l of Netanyahu).
There is growing pressure on Joe Biden from Israel and its lobby to meet Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister comes to the States later this month.
“Netanyahu is trying to con his way into the White House,” writes a Haaretz columnist.
The conventional wisdom today is that Biden will meet Netanyahu at the United Nations, though not invite him to the White House.
Netanyahu and the lobby desperately need a presidential meeting to try make Israel normal again, and get past all the frightful news of the democracy protests and of his fascistic ministers. “He will exploit his meeting with President Biden, he will employ the use of endless lies – All to validate his attempted regime coup,” Israeli journalist Orly Barlev writes.
So, former Israeli intelligence chiefs and the democracy protesters in the U.S. are urging Biden not to meet Netanyahu. In fact, there are a great number of Israelis urging Biden to downgrade Israel, to recognize apartheid, and cut off military aid. Just like the U.S. left has been saying for many years...
Read more: Why Biden will meet Netanyahu when the extremist visits the U.S.
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