Latest Israeli Provocation in Jerusalem

On Friday, three Palestinians and three Israelis died after the Netanyahu Administration infringed the status quo of the Temple Mount by installing metal detectors and banning Palestinian men under the age of fifty from entering the holy site.

Thousands of Palestinians were gathered in the area when Israeli security forces began to use force against the demonstrators, who responded by throwing stones at police.

In an ‘attempt to control the situation,’ numerous Israeli policemen used tear gas, water cannons, and fired real bullets randomly against the demonstrators, causing the death of three of them, and injuring hundreds more.

The demonstrations spread rapidly to Gaza and the West Bank, where a young Palestinian stabbed three Israelis to death in revenge for Netanyahu’s decision to violate a Muslim holy place.

Abbas announced, “the suspension of contacts with Israel on all levels and the suspension of coordination until all the measures currently being taken at al-Aqsa mosque are stopped.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres issued statements condemning both incidents. He called “on all to refrain from any actions or words that could further escalate an already volatile situation.”

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said, reporters, that “ultimately, what is important is for all of the people at the holy sites, including all the worshipers at the holy sites, to feel that their religious freedoms are being respected.”

On Saturday, Netanyahu said that the metal detectors will remain at the entrance of the Temple Mount, despite the fact that numerous advisors had recommended their removal. They also believe that Netanyahu’s unilateral action will worsen the Palestine-Israeli conflict, leading to unpredictable consequences.

Despite the different versions of the facts, many still believe that the second intifada began in September 2000 when Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, seen by Palestinians as desecration and which has resulted in the death of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis.

The Temple Mount is one of the holiest places in Islam and in Judaism. According to Judaism, this is the place where God’s divine presence is manifested more strongly than at any other holy site. For Muslims, the site is one of the first places where God was worshiped. They believe it was from here that the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the “Divine Presence” on the back of a winged horse.

Over the last few years, the Palestinians have accused PM Netanyahu of planning to build a Third Temple on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, which is currently illegal under Israeli law. However, Netanyahu’s coalition with the far right-wing leader Avigdor Lieberman, who supports the construction of the new Jewish temple in the compound has many Palestinians concerned that Netanyahu will soon change the law in order to allow it.

Several international human rights organizations have said that the current situation in Jerusalem has deteriorated to the point that if it does not soon improve a new uprising may occur.

Some have suggested that Netanyahu and Lieberman are intentionally instigating the current increase in violence in Jerusalem with the intention of using it as a pretext to occupy the Temple Mount compound and expand what many consider to be their ethnic cleansing operations in Palestine.

The international community, however, has yet to condemn PM Netanyahu’s actions, which are currently illegal under Israeli law.

Over the next several weeks, several countries will likely be involved in the conflict. Until then, more incidents, which could occur in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as well as in Jerusalem, are expected.

 

Netanyahu: The Criminal Who Is Still Free

During the last decade, Netanyahu has been responsible for numerous violations of human rights, war crimes, sexual abuses of children and the death of thousands of innocent Palestinians. For years, the international community led, by the U.S. has ignored Netanyahu’s crimes. However, his recidivism of criminal acts against Palestinians on a regular basis has led several countries and international organisations to condemn Israeli’s war crimes and violation of human rights. The increasing indignation among world MP’s with Netanyahu’s government may soon trigger a prosecution against him at the International Court. Here are some of his atrocities:

-WAR CRIMES

In 2014, Prime Minister Netanyahu launched the Operation Protective Edge based on a 50 days war in Gaza. During the operation, Israel indiscriminately killed over 1500 innocent people, including children. More than 20,000 homes were reduced to rubble or rendered uninhabitable. However, the most shocking event was the assassination of four children of the same family who were playing football on the beach. The Israeli government alleged that they thought they were terrorists.

“It’s a shame they didn’t identify them as just kids with all the advanced technology they had been using,” “I don’t know what justification they will use for what they did, but our boys are now gone,” the uncle said.

“During 50 days of attacks, Israeli forces wreaked massive death and destruction on the Gaza Strip, killing close to 2100 civilians, more than 500 of whom were children,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme Director.

NUMBERS:

Palestinians killed: 2,139
Palestinian children killed: 525
Israeli soldiers killed: 64
Israeli civilians killed: 6
Israeli children killed: 1
Palestinians wounded: 11,000
Palestinian children wounded: 3,000
Gaza residents displaced: Up to 500,000
Homes destroyed in Gaza: 20,000

-Israel’s Settlements Have No Legal Validity, Constitute Flagrant Violation of International Law.

For years, Israel has been occupying Palestinian territories pursuing its expansion and Palestinian ethnic cleansing. Since Trump became the U.S. president, the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has accelerated the expansion of the existing Israeli settlements by authorising the construction of 5.500 new houses in the West Bank. For that to happen, often the Israeli military forces evict Palestinian families from their houses.

In 2016, the UN adopted a resolution reiterating its demand that Israel immediately ceases all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. The resolution was approved with 24 votes in favour and the U.S abstention.

-The Siege of Gaza

Since 2007, around 1.8 million Palestinians in the Gaza strip have been living under a land, sea and air closure blockade imposed by Israel. The impossibility of obtaining external medicines, food, drinkable water and other goods has triggered a humanitarian crisis without precedent. Thousands of Palestinians with serious illnesses are condemned to die due to the impossibility of going abroad to receive their pertinent treatments. As some officials recognised, “the purpose of implementing this blockade is to put Palestinians on a diet”

-Sexual violence against, and torture of, children:

During 2016, the number of cases of Israeli torture of children significantly increased. Often permanent physical disabilities were caused, including amputations. There were over 1300 children arrested and there are still 300 of them in Israeli jails. Around 40% of them were or will be sexually abused by police officers or military men. This degrading Israeli treatment of children violates international human rights law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Israeli security forces have used unnecessary force to arrest or detain Palestinian children as young as 11. Security forces have choked children, thrown stun grenades at them, beaten them in custody, threatened and interrogated them without the presence of parents or lawyers, and failed to let their parents know their whereabouts.”

“Israeli forces’ mistreatment of Palestinian children is at odds with its claim to respect children’s rights. As Israel’s largest military ally, the US, should press hard for an end to these abusive practices and for reforms,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director.

-The defence for Children International concluded:

“Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world that annually systematically prosecutes between 500 and 700 children in military courts that lack fundamental rights to a fair trial.”

-Recruitment of Palestinian children as human shields by Israeli armed forces.

Since 2004, DCIP has documented numerous cases where Israeli forces attempted to recruit Palestinian Children as informants. They are recruited to monitor the activities of people living in their community and pass this information onto Israeli Forces.

The International humanitarian law explicitly prohibits parties to a conflict from directing “the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objects from attacks or to shield military operations.”

During Operation Protective Edge in July and August 2014, DCIP reported one incident where Israeli soldiers forced a 16 year-old-Palestinian to search for tunnels for five days. During that time, he was physically assaulted and deprived of food and sleep.

All these crimes and violations of international law represent a small sample of Netanyahu’s atrocities. Unless the international community proceeds to prosecute him at the International Court, Netanyahu will continue threatening thousands of families, women and children on a regular basis.

The international community will not be able to avoid taking action if Israel continues its persecution against Palestinians. Otherwise, it could create a bad precedent, which could be applied for populist emergent leaders to legitimize their illegitimate actions. For that reason, the international community will sooner or later take action to prosecute Netanyahu. But the issue is when? Palestinians do not have much more time to wait for. They struggle between life and death on a daily basis. They do not know if the next day Netanyahu will order an attack and they will die. People from the world are entitled to take action and push their MP’s to halt these sorts of atrocities as soon as possible.

Every second, day, week, month counts… Palestinian lives depend on you and the international community actions. People’s lives depend upon it.

By Josep

Netanyahu: “the Right of Protection”

Days after the UN (United Nations) condemned the expansion of the Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that Israel will not abide by the UN resolution because it is an attempt against Israeli’s security. Instead, Netanyahu announced mass punishments against the countries that voted for the resolution.

Netanyahu considers that the expansion of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories serves to protect Israel from terrorism. Nevertheless, the international community reflects that the existing dispute between Israel and Palestine will increase.

Netanyahu is leading a radical coalition, considered to be the most right-wing in Israeli history.Avigdor Lieberman, who heads Yisrael Beiteinu – the other major party in the ruling coalition – opposes to recognise Palestine as a state. He has also proposed to transfer the Arabic community (including Israeli Citizens) from Israel to Cisjordania to evade a forthcoming Arabic majority in Israel.

Lieberman demanded to expand the settlements in Palestinian territories, as a condition to enter into a coalition with Netanyahu. Lieberman thinks that the Palestinian territories belong to Israel. It will make improbable the negotiation of the peace with Palestine while he is the Israeli minister of defence. It is in this context that Netanyahu has experienced a sudden radicalization. It worries the international community, who considers that Netanyahu’s actions are undermining the forthcoming negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

The international community recognises the right of Israel to protect the country from terrorists. It also considers that the Israeli occupation kills any possible process of peace in the region. The only possible solution is the mutual acknowledgement of both states.

No one doubts that the Palestinian government made mistakes in the past, which contributed to undermining possible agreements, but not in the last few years. The terrorism from Palestine is also widely rejected by the international community. However, it is not an excuse to avoid negotiating a lasting agreement which satisfies both sides. Netanyahu’s imperialistic vision in collaboration with Lieberman is making it nearly impossible.

Netanyahu should think about why the international community has almost unanimously condemned his policies. In the case that Israel takes more unlawful actions, it will become gradually more isolated from the international community.

Netanyahu expects that Trump’s presidency will halt any sort of international sanctions against Israel. However, the UN resolution opens the possibility for the Palestinian government to invoke the International Court of Justice (ICJ). If it ever happens, Trump will not be able to halt any prosecution or investigation against the Israeli government. In the case that the government is finally found guilty of any crime, the international community will be obliged to implement financial sanctions on Israel. It would have negative impacts on the citizens since the Israeli economy would fall down. Hopefully, the Israeli government will rethink its suicidal positions.

As a consideration, It is impossible to protect a country by imposing violence on your neighbourhood because it provokes more violence. There have been similar scenarios in history with a bad end. Governments should learn from history not to make same mistakes over and over again.

 

 

Threats for 2017, and Global Resistance

In many ways, 2016 will be remembered as the year when society lost its common sense. Fascism became predominant in the world again, with Trump as a visible face; governments increased their violations of human rights; and the right to privacy, free speech and the freedom of the press were eliminated. In 2017, our society will face crucial events which could change this dynamic or make it worse.

Here are some of the global events and threats for 2017:

-Refugees: Millions of refugees are still along our borders waiting for a solution. In many cases, they have been living in precarious conditions for years now. It is provoking a humanitarian crisis that must be addressed as soon as possible. However, the Alt-Right political party and the elitist media are criminalising all refugees to halt their entrance into Western countries.

-Russia: Putin is increasing the nuclear capability of Russia to have more influence in the world. He is also abolishing human rights in Russia. As a result, activists and journalists are criminalised and sometimes assassinated by the government.

-Israel: Netanyahu’s rhetoric against the international community and Palestine is becoming more radical. He is threatening everyone who opposes his genocidal ideas. The potential international isolation of Israel, combined with his deranged actions make him a dangerous person. Everything indicates that in 2017, he will radicalise his rhetoric.

-Europe: In 2017, France, Germany and the Netherlands will hold presidential elections. Marine Le Pen (France), Geert Wilders (the Netherlands), and the tandem Frauke Petry/Jörg Meuthen(Germany) will be the perspective presidential candidates. Boosted by Trump’s success, they will have real chances to win the election in their countries representing a threat to the fundamentals of democracy.

-U.S.: Like Putin, Trump will also try to increase the nuclear capability of the U.S. representing a threat to the world. Trump is the visible face of fascism, and his ties with Alt-Right organisations, represented on his cabinet by Bannon, indicates that his presidency will soon turn authoritarian. It is foreseeable that Trump will try to abolish several human rights in the U.S.

As far as we know, these are threats to our democracy and human rights. It is in this context that, people will have to organise a global resistance to defend their rights. In conclusion, 2017 will be the year of the consolidation of fascism, violations of human rights, authoritarianism or the year that civil society will organise to defeat all these threats.

The UN Demands End to Israeli Settlements

The United Nations Security Council believes that Israel’s continued construction in Palestine is a “flagrant violation” of international law.

The U.S. allowed the UN resolution approval against Israel after Samantha Power decided to abstain during the vote. Of the 15 members with the right to vote, 14 voted in favour. This has already caused friction between the U.S. and the Israeli governments.

The resolution says that the establishment of Israel in occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, which includes East Jerusalem “has no legal validity.” It also calls for a halt to “all Israeli settlement activity” saying it is “essential to rescuing a two-state solution.”

Netanyahu has accused Obama of breaking the historic U.S. policies based on protecting its allies and has announced that Israel will not abide by the UN resolution. Netanyahu will immediately cease Israeli donations to four of the five UN administrations where Israel has representation.This could amount to 7.5 million euros (the equivalent of 7.8 millions US dollars).

Netanyahu has also announced sanctions against New Zealand, Senegal, Malasia and Venezuela since they promoted the resolution. Israel is now scrutinising the current situation to decide whether Israel or not should abandon some UN administrations. Israel has also summoned the ambassadors from 10 countries, which is a controversial decision since it is Christmas.

For his part, Trump expressed his worries and has announced his intention to support Israel “at any cost.” In response, Netanyahu has been assured by Trump’s administration that it will defend Israel from its enemies and that both countries will strongly cooperate to protect each other.

The international community has reacted positively to the final resolution. In considering that the Israeli government has violated the international law with impunity for decades and it is unacceptable.

The UN resolution comes after years of an increasing civil rejection against Netanyahu’s policies. Hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens have already expressed their worries over some of Netanyahu’s decisions.

Netanyahu’s imperialistic vision, combined with his extremist conviction, are a threat to Palestine, which is facing a potential genocide.

Apparently, the international community has finally decided to take actions against such a human disaster. However, it assumes that while Netanyahu is the Israeli Prime Minister, there will not be any solution to the existing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

In addition, there is the hope that civil society and the international community will play vital roles to bring about an end to the existing conflict in the region. For that reason, the international community will probably announce an embargo and sanctions against Israel

Obama’s decision has been good but is long overdue. Unfortunately, Trump will return to reinstate old politics and will probably protect Israel from any military or financial sanction. Unless Trump finds a solution, it will never be solved.

The Jewish community suffered a lot during the second world war, but it does not justify them to cause the same suffering in the Palestinian community. A new future potential government in Israel led by someone who will respect the international law could be the key to solving this conflict.

 

 

Wikileaks: The Last Spark Of True Journalism

The recent election of Donald Trump promises to be a torment for those who support democracy and freedom of the press across the world. Everything indicates that the upcoming government will target the media, with the intent of censoring all sorts of news related to governmental decisions. For that to happen, Trump is plotting with his cabinet the implementation of some controversial measures which aims at scanning all articles before official publication. Disgracefully, it will be adopted by many other governments from around the world, leaving millions of people misinformed. In doing so, journalists will have to choose between being loyal to their public and risking their lives or being puppets of the new government.

Fortunately, there are many honest journalists, who are willing to risk their lives in order to maintain their remain loyalty to their public. To that end, they will have to build a strong network with other brave journalists in order to circumvent the existing censorship, with the intent of informing people about anything related to governmental decisions “in real time”. Sadly, the lack of resources will negatively impact their capacity to do true journalism. Presumably, the government will implement financial measures to punish those journalists who break the new law. In doing so, they will have to seek alternative sources to finance their journalistic projects.

Analyzing the current situation, Wikileaks is the only journalistic organization in the world with the capacity to circumvent governmental censorships. Wikileaks has demonstrated its reliability for a decade and has never been compromised by any governmental body at any point since its launch. They have been able to resist daily threats from a wide spectrum of powerful organizations and governments. Wikileaks is the only organization, which has been able to be unbiased. For that reason, it is important to ensure the full operability of Wikileaks in order to keep ourselves informed about the several governmental “atrocities”.

We know that Wikileaks is very important in our lives, so now, it is time to take action, and work all together to protect it from governmental attacks. There are many ways to help. You could become a volunteer or you could make a financial donation. In doing so, you will be able to keep it running. Thus you must make a decision! Do you want to become a governmental puppet or take actions to prevent censorship?

What is your decision?

My decision is clear. I will always support organizations like Wikileaks because without it I would become and as times fades, my persona would gradually turn into a “vegetative” state.

P.S. If you are an American, you may think that Wikileaks helped Donald Trump to become the next U.S. president. I personally think that Wikileaks did not help Trump, instead, it helped people to be aware about the dark side of politics. I will cover that in my next piece. I will write about facts which dismantles all conspiracy theories surrounding Wikileaks.

Be patient and wait for my upcoming entry….

The Israeli Navy Has Intercepted The Boat Seeking To Break The Gaza Blockade.

Israel has finally sent the navy to intercept the female boat activist that wanted to break theGaza blockade. Thirteen women, including the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mairead Maguire, were traveling aboard the Zaytouna-Oliva sailboat in the Mediterranean towards Gaza. As a result, the thirteen activists have been arrested, and all the aid products that they were carrying with them has been put under custody. However, it is not the first time that the Israeli government has intercepted boats trying to break the blockade. In 2010, the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” formed by several boats were intercepted by the Israeli navy that decided to kill 8 activists.

The Israeli Government’s blockade in Gaza is affecting millions of Palestinians that do not have access to medicine, food, drinkable water, electricity, or construction material. As a result, they are potentially being exposed to several diseases due to a lack of medicine and sanitary conditions.

According to several resolutions from the UN (united nations), the Gaza blockade is illegal,alleging that it affects the human rights of Palestinians. In recent years, the crimes committed by the Israeli Army have greatly increased. As a result, some governments have started to boycott all Israeli products.

The international community through the International Court of The Hague should stop this genocide, and prosecute the Prime Minister of Israel alleging that he has committed crimes against humanity. Therefore, all governments should work together in order to make it possible to impose sanctions against Israel. It is true that the Jewish community suffered a lot during the Second World War, when Hitler killed more than 6 million .However, it does not mean that they can do the same, and kill millions of Palestinians. It is terrifying to see people who were almost exterminated be willing to do the same to other people.

In conclusion, all governments should protect Palestinians from Israeli attacks because they are human beings like you and me and deserve such protection. If governments are unwilling to take such actions; then, everyone should join together to boycott Israeli products all around the world.