Settler violence is terrorism. Even America’s State Department says so. Hypocrisy is saying one thing and doing another.

Israeli setter violence is out-of-control. It’s risen sharply in recent years because nothing is done to stop it. Israeli extremists literally have license to attack Palestinian civilians, destroy their property and crops, inflict bodily harm, and at times kill.

Last March, the London Guardian headlined “Israel ‘turning blind eye’ to West Bank settlers’ attacks on Palestinians,” saying:

Settlers conduct “systematic and expanding campaign of violence against Palestinian farmers, families and children with the Israeli authorities turning a blind eye, according to confidential reports from senior European Union officials.”

Two EU reports the Guardian obtained showed “settler violence (more) than tripled in three years to total hundreds of incidents.”

In February, EU ambassadors in Brussels said:

“Acts of settler violence are becoming a serious concern for the Israeli state which has so far failed to effectively protect the Palestinian population.”

The report said attacks rose from 132 in 2009 to 411 last year. Farmers are most vulnerable. In 2011, about 10,000 olive, almond, and lemon trees were destroyed.

Israeli authorities largely turn a blind eye and do nothing. “Over 90% of monitored complaints regarding settler violence filed by Palestinians with the Israeli police in recent years have been closed without indictment.”

Whitewash is official policy. Settlers are free to attack, injure, and destroy. Why not? Who’ll stop them. Every day is Kristallnacht in Palestine. Israeli security forces and supportive Fatah ones conduct their own reign of terror.

Settler attacks alone are out-of-control. “Discriminatory protections and privileges (they get) compound these abuses and create an environment in which (they) can act with apparent impunity.”

Government failure to act encourages violence. Settlers believe they enjoy “tacit support of the state of Israel.”

Farmers in their fields are assaulted. Children heading to or from school or at play are attacked. Most settlers are nonviolent. Too many others hate Arabs and show it.

“Arguably the single most important deficiency in the provision of an impartial rule of law is the difference in the level of protection afforded to settlers and Palestinians,” said the report.

Around 100 militant settler leaders “mastermind” attacks. Israeli authorities fear electoral fallout by deterring them. “In Israeli terms, there (are) negative political consequence(s) to cracking down on settler violence and no political gain” by doing it.

The EU report was one thing. Failure to act against Israel made it toothless. Follow-through never occurs after similar UN reports. One released in July said settler attacks increased 150% since 2008. Apparently it understated how bad things are.

Incidents include violence and destructive acts against individuals, mosques, crops, livestock, and other property. Former IDF head Dan Halutz said Netanyahu does nothing to stop them. “If we wanted, we could catch them, and when we want to, we will,” he added.

Last February, Israeli television reported Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman caught on tape. He was advising extremist settlers how to seek pardons if charged. He’d approve them, he said.

On issues regarding Palestine, Israeli governments (past and present) pursue similar policies. Settler terrorism continues because no one stops it.

Last July, Haaretz contributor Amira Hass discussed it. She touched important nerves. She headlined “The anti-Semitism that goes unreported,” saying:

“Here’s a statistic that you won’t see in research on anti-Semitism, no matter how meticulous the study is. In the first six months of the year, 154 anti-Semitic assaults have been recorded, 45 of them around one village alone.”

“Some fear that last year’s record high of 411 attacks – significantly more than the 312 attacks in 2010 and 168 in 2009 – could be broken this year.”

Last June, 58 incidents occurred – nearly two a day. They included “stone-throwing targeting farmers and shepherds, shattered windows, arson, damaged water pipes and water-storage facilities, uprooted fruit trees and one damaged house of worship.”

“The assailants are sometimes masked, sometimes not; sometimes they attack surreptitiously, sometimes in the light of day.”

Palestinians got “death” and “revenge” threats. Another said, “We will yet slaughter.”

Merriam-Webster calls Semites “member(s) of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia, including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs.” So are other Semitic-speaking people.

Anti-Semistism affects Palestinians like Jews. It’s no secret who’s more egregiously treated. “It’s no accident (why) diligent anti-Semitism researchers” don’t explain, said Hass.

Palestinian Semites are harmed, not Jews. In response, “Israeli Defense Forces, the Civil Administration, the Border Police and the courts all stand on the sidelines, closing their eyes, softballing investigations, ignoring evidence, downplaying the severity of the acts, protecting the attackers, and giving a boost to those progromtchiks.”

Palestinians face daily terror threats. Who’ll be attacked next? Will their children get to school and return home OK? How many trees and other crops will be destroyed? Is praying in community mosques safe?

On February 24, 1994, Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Muslim worshippers. Palestinians fear similar incidents for good reason. Even the conservative Washington Post commented. Last August it headlined “Settler violence against Palestinians raises alarm in Israel,” saying:

Jewish youths viciously beat an Arab teenager. “(S)oul-searching about the depths of ethnic hatred in Israeli society” followed. Too bad arrests virtually never occur.

“Israeli authorities (made none following) the Aug. 16 daylight firebombing of a Palestinian taxi….” They did little more than say they suspected extremist settlers. Case closed!

Four Palestinian family members and the driver were severely burned. Hospitalization was required. Netanyahu promised to find those responsible but did nothing. It happens after virtually all terrorist incidents harming Palestinians. Israeli authorities don’t care and show it.

Rarely ever do US media report negatively about Israel. Exceptions prove the rule. Left unsaid is how bad things are. Life in Occupied Palestine means having no one to turn to for protection.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other resistance groups do their best to protect Gazans. They’re no match against Israeli F-16s, attack helicopters, missiles, bombs, artillery shelling, heavily armed invaders, and assault vessels attacking Palestinian fishermen.

West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians are virtually defenseless. They face three brutal enemies – extremist settlers, Israeli security forces, and PA ones used against their own people.

There’s nowhere to hide. Security is a four-letter word. Systemic violence is a way of life. No one’s sure from day to day who’ll live, die, stay unharmed and free, or know their homes and other property are safe.

Being Palestinian is their mark of Cain. Praying to the wrong God endangers them. Profound insecurity defines their lives. So do fear, intimidation, and institutionalized violence. Terrorism stalks them daily.

It takes a tolls. Palestinians bear physical and emotional scars. Children are especially harmed. Some end up permanently traumatized. Most people outside Occupied Palestine know or care.

Occasional Israeli policies are cosmetic without teeth at best. On October 12, the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) headlined “Israeli Police Forms ‘Jewish Terror’ Branch In The West Bank,” saying:

Netanyahu “form(ed) a unit” to deal with “Jewish Terrorism….” Allegedly it’s to curb settler violence. Previous measures did nothing. Policies with teeth didn’t follow rhetoric.

Protecting Jews alone matters. Palestinians are on their own. It’s been that way during 45 years of occupation. Netanyahu changed nothing. As they say, the proof is in the pudding. In Palestine, there is none.

On October 11, B’Tselem headlined “Five attacks on olive harvesters and damaged olive groves in four days,” saying:

Events suggest “that Security forces (aren’t) prepared (or don’t care about) protect(ing) Palestinian olive harvesters and their property from settler violence.”

In Ramallah and Nablus regions from October 7 – 10, B’Tselem “document five cases of injury to Palestinian farmers and their olive trees….”

Three other similar incidents occurred. Olive trees were either damaged or stolen. Several attacks occurred in full view of nearby Israeli forces. They witnessed them and did nothing.

In two farmer attacks, they violated IDF and High Court instructions. They “prohibit closing off areas to Palestinian farmers and removing (those) attacked by settlers.” Security forces are supposed to investigate these type incidents. Instead they ignore them.

On October 7, 25 olive trees belonging to Abu Fahaida family members were destroyed. The Zayit Ra’anan outpost lies 500 meters from their land. Extremist settlers infest it.

Some showed up the previous day. They confronted family members. Israeli security forces are stationed nearby. Palestinians asked for protection but got none. Following the incident, they complained to police. They’re assured no help there either.

On October 7, ten masked settlers attacked Beitillu village farmers. They came from the nearby Nahliel settlement. They’re suspected of setting their field ablaze.

On October 9, Farata and Amatin area farmers arrived on their land to harvest olives. It’s located near the Havat Gilad outpost. On arrival, they discovered that unknown persons stole their trees and crops.

About 220 trees were taken. Around 130 belonged to Ibrahim Salah. He complained to police with help from Yesh Din human rights volunteers. More on their new vandalism report below.

B’Tselem said Salah can’t reach his land “without prior coordination with the army due to the proximity of the Havat Gilad outpost.” Jewish settler rights alone matter.

On October 9, Qaryut residents discovered over 80 olive trees owned by 10 families severely damaged. Their land lies two km from the Eli settlement. Rabbis for Human Rights reported the incident. They try to help but have little success. Israeli authorities turn a blind eye.

On October 10, Ratib Na’asan, an al-Mughayir village resident, discovered about 100 olive trees he owns damaged. Most were “denuded down to the trunk.”

In an adjacent plot owned by his brother, Jamil, 40 trees were vandalized.

B’Tselem documented earlier incidents. They happen regularly. The only time charges followed, it said, was when one of its volunteers videotaped settlers stealing olives. Perhaps it was evidence too compelling to ignore. It’s also another example of the exception proving the rule.

Even soil is fair game for theft. On October 12, Maan News headlined “West Bank settlers ‘stealing soil’ from Palestinians,” saying:

Israeli authorities ignore it. An unnamed police official said nothing can be done to curb this type theft. In other words, he doesn’t care. Truckloads of Palestinian soil were reported stolen from various locations. Each load is worth 2,000 shekels.

On October 12, Yesh Din headlined “Investigation of vandalism of Palestinian trees: One indictment in 162 investigations,” saying:

Like B’Tselem, Yesh Din documents vandalism. It’s done it since 2005. Only once did charges follow. They came over four years after the incident occurred.

So-called investigations conducted were whitewashes. Rhetoric substituted for action. Settlers are free to commit “ideological” crimes. Palestinians are fair game. They’re denied inviolable international law rights.

Yesh Din, B’Tselem, and other human rights groups show how egregiously they’re treated. Abuses happen regularly out of sight and mind to most people not paying attention.

Western media largely ignore them. Israeli authorities don’t care. Fatah ones do little or nothing to help. Imagine living this way from day to day.

Imagine not knowing whether your property will be safe, destroyed or stolen. Imagine being unsure from dawn to dusk if you and family members will be safe.

Imagine daily fear and insecurity. For Palestinians, it’s their way of life. Most Israelis and Western residents can’t imagine what they endure. Somehow they persist and press on. One day they hope to live free.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/
http://theintelhub.com/2012/10/16/israel-encourages-settler-violence/

OK, we get it you dislike Israel with an irrational hatred.
Just like Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Islamic Jihad and Neo-Nazis.
Congratulations!!!



http://mingle2.com/topic/show/337858

Don't be absurd Slowhand I dislike what the government of Israel does and those who knowingly turn a blind eye and are a apologists for atrocities and crimes against humanity.

Alleged acts of violence by settlers do not necessarily indicate that the the government of Israel encourages such violence.

I doubt the government of Israel encourages such things more than Hamas does.

and your sources are Absotively and Posilutely impeccable!
B'Tselem,Intelhub etc!
Soros and the European Lefties at their finest.

You sit in the US,and get all your Info from CT-Sites!
Get yourself over there,and see for yourself,or at least be vetting your Sources a bit more careful!

DING DING DING DING we have a winner!!





Settler violence is negligible and is prosecuted if and when it
does happen. Acts of violence are not tolerated by the Israelis.
It is against their laws and Israel enforces their laws.

Acts of violence (by which I mean KILLING AS MANY INNOCENT
CIVILIANS AS POSSIBLE ON PURPOSE) is the main tactic of the
Palestinians. This is who they are. Terrorism is what they do.

and Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Al-Qaida rhetoric is what
the threads (such as this one) at mingle2 advocate when they repeatedly attack
Israel with such propaganda.

Incroyable!

what is absurd is how many people are doing the dirty work for the #1 One-Percenter by supporting those socalled "Human-rights-Groups supported by him for the sole purpose if demonizing Israel!
Amazing how many people still fall for it!

What is absurd and disgusting and vile is that of all the peoples who commit crimes against humanity the jewish people being victims of such should set an example for decency.

Its doubly insulting to me as a US Taxpayer to support such a vile regime.

So, the US government should support Hamas and Islamic extremists and rid the world of the Jews? Because, by withdrawing aid and leaving Israel out in the cold, this is what will happen. Do you sanction this?

It is odd that you never post a thread about the atrocities and transgressions committed by Hamas, or is it?

yep,your support for Soros is amazing!
He is the one who has all the Agencies in his pockets on whom you rely so much!

That's what is vile!
Soros owning those NGOs on which you rely so much!

Zionism reversed Jewish historical passivity to persecution and asserted the Jewish right to self-determination and independent survival. This is why anti-Zionists see it as a perversion of Jewish humanism. Zionism entails the difficulty of dealing with sometimes impossible moral dilemmas, which traditional Jewish passivity in the wake of historical persecution had never faced. By negating Zionism, the anti-semite is arguing that the Jew must always be the victim, for victims do no wrong and deserve our sympathy and support.

Israel errs like all other nations: it is normal. What anti-Zionists find so obscene is that Israel is neither martyr nor saint. Their outrage refuses legitimacy to a people's national liberation movement. Israel's stubborn refusal to comply with the invitation to commit national suicide and thereby regain a supposedly lost moral ground draws condemnation. Jews now have the right to self-determination, and that is what the anti-semite dislikes so much.

Emanuele Ottolenghi is the Leone Ginzburg Fellow in Israel Studies at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and the Middle East Centre at St Antony's College, Oxford


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/nov/29/comment


So, this raises the question, 'Why single out Israel and hold it up repeatedly as a Pariah among the international community?' The answer is, of course, anti-Semitism, for no other nation is subject to such scrutiny. Israel is not infallible, but nor is any other nation, many whose human rights record makes Israel's pale into insignificance, but they are not hated and villified like Israel.

Before this turns into the usual argument regarding 'rights' to the land that is now immaterial as the nation exists, and as such, has the right to exist as any other nation.

Somehow, everything our culture reviles is attributed indirectly, or directly, to Israel or the Jewish people. That says more about our values than it does about Israel and the Jewish people.

BINGO!

I think most people only care because the USA bankrolls all these vile human rights abuses.

By Robert J. Avrech | October 10, 2012
Prominent Saudi Says Israel Is Not The Enemy

The media in the Arab Muslim world is, for the most part, a swamp of victimhood, conspiracy theories, Jew-hatred, blood libels, delusional intellectuals, and fanatic Islamist genocidiers.

But every once in a while a whiff of truth slips past the gate keepers. The following article by Abdulateef Al-Mulhim, a retired commodore in the Saudi Royal Navy, and published in the Arab News, Saudi Arabia, is a remarkable piece of truth-telling. Mr. Al-Mulhim shatters the basic myth of the Arab Muslim world: that Israel is the source of all Muslim troubles, the primal enemy who must be destroyed.

In fact, so articulate is the core message of this article that it would never even be published in today’s NY Times, for it is a direct repudiation of every word ever written by Thomas Friedman.

Alas, Seraphic Secret confesses that as soon as we read Mr. Al-Mulhim’s article, we understood that this honest and courageous man has painted a huge “Kill Me” sign on his back.

http://www.seraphicpress.com/prominent-saudi-says-israel-is-not-the-enemy/

What 'vile' human rights abuses? I don't see Israel sending explosives and rockets into Palestinian territory on a daily basis, do you?

So, 'most people' (argumentum ad populum) feel the US government should support Hamas and Islamic extremists and rid the world of the Jews? Because, by withdrawing aid and leaving Israel out in the cold, this is what will happen. Do they sanction this? So, 'most people' support Hamas in its manifesto to destroy Israel? So, 'most people' have what it takes to direct foreign policy? 'Most people' directing foreign policy destroyed democracy in ancient Athens.

Israel’s propagandists have a training manual that teaches the art of sugar-coating and downright lying so that gullible audiences will easily swallow their poison.

Notice how everything Israelis dislikes, and everything that thwarts their lust for domination, is now labeled “Iranian-backed”. They’d have us all believe we are in mortal danger from Iran and must therefore huddle together in a collective act of aggression orchestrated by Tel Aviv, Washington and London.

The 116-page instruction manual, called the 2009 Global Language Dictionary, was produced by The Israel Project (TIP), which describes itself as “non-partisan” on Twitter but elsewhere says it’s “devoted to educating the press and the public about Israel while promoting security, freedom and peace”. See here for an evaluation.


The manual teaches the propaganda tricks that Israel’s scribblers and drivellers use to try and justify the slaughter, the ethnic cleansing, the land-grabbing, the cruelty and their contempt for international law and UN resolutions, and make it all smell sweet.

Here is a sampling

“Humanize Rockets”: Paint a vivid picture of what life is like in Israeli communities that are vulnerable to attack. Yes, cite the number of rocket attacks that have occurred. But immediately follow that up with what it is like to make the nightly trek to the bomb shelter.

Israelis claim 12,000 rockets were fired from Gaza in the 8 years up to the start of Operation Cast Lead. But they never say how many bombs, rockets and shells (including the illegal and prohibited variety) Israel’s F-16s, tanks, armed drones and navy gunboats poured into the densely-packed humanity that is Gaza in the same period.

And they are careful not to mention that the township of Sderot, targeted by Gaza’s rockets and therefore a major propaganda asset of the Israeli regime, is built on the ruins of an ethnically cleansed Palestinian village called Najd, whose inhabitants were forced to flee by Jewish terrorists in May 1948. Najd wasn’t allocated to the Jews in the 1947 UN Partition – they stole it at gun-point.


http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2012/10/19/israel-hasbara-training-manual/

Worth posting again and again

And they are careful not to mention that the township of Sderot, targeted by Gaza’s rockets and therefore a major propaganda asset of the Israeli regime, is built on the ruins of an ethnically cleansed Palestinian village called Najd, whose inhabitants were forced to flee by Jewish terrorists in May 1948. Najd wasn’t allocated to the Jews in the 1947 UN Partition – they stole it at gun-point.

How terrible, they want to promote "security, freedom & peace".




The rocket attacks are real though, not propaganda. You seem to continually overlook this point.



And you didn't say that this was a response to terrorist attacks. The propaganda continues.




Don't you love rhetoric? 'Relocated' becomes 'Ethnically Cleansed'.