How Many Eyes for an Eye Will Israel Want This Time?

Well, it’s over. And it’s just starting.

The drama of the missing and presumed kidnapped Israeli teenagers, who disappeared in the West Bank hitchhiking home from religious school, has concluded Act One with the discovery of their bodies in a shallow grave near Hebron by civilian searchers. Act Two will be the intensification of the violent Israeli response, which has already claimed the lives of seven young Palestinians (including minors), the rounding up and imprisonment of hundreds (who of course are being subjected to Israel’s version of non-torture torture), mass raids and destruction of property and the demolition of several homes already with all their inhabitants’ earthly belongings inside- homes of two men Israel blames for the killings of the three teens. [1]

The shooting of the Israeli Jewish teens was “brutal,” a “brutal” killing. The shooting of 7 (and counting) Palestinians isn’t “brutal,” aren’t “shootings,” aren’t even killings, in the active verb sense. Palestinians are merely “killed,” as if by a falling tree branch. “Seven Palestinians have been killed” by some unnamed force, is how U.S. and much of the Western media describes it- when they even mention it, which they do barely at all.

"There can be no forgiveness for the killers of children and those who sent them. Now is the time to act," Israel's economy minister, Naftali Bennett, said in a statement.

The “liberal” British paper the Guardian went into detail about the grief and pain of Israelis over the fate of the three youths. They also got around to mentioning what the Israeli military and police were doing in the meantime to the Palestinians, in a brief paragraph, the tenth:

“The hunt for the three missing youths has seen several hundred Palestinians rounded up in a massive operation – often without charge or connection to the kidnapping – and five [as of that writing] Palestinians, including a number of minors, killed.” Check out the anonymizing phrase, “a number of minors.”

That’s it on Palestinian losses and suffering. Then the article returns to the business of focusing on Israeli’s pain, and descriptions of weeping. [1]

Which I am not scoffing at. I am pointing out the selective empathy, where the people of the nation backed by the West is populated by feeling human beings, and their victims, the Palestinians, are ciphers at best and terrorists at worst. The deaths and maimings of Palestinians are mere statistics. The destruction of tens of thousands of Palestinian homes not worthy of mention, except occasionally one at a time as an aside. Focusing on the handful of Israeli Jews who are occasionally killed, and the mostly impotent rockets landing on Israeli soil, paints the picture of the Israeli Jews as the victims of the Palestinians- a grotesque and vulgar inversion of reality that Western publics have been indoctrinated with over decades. Here is an example of lying by selective emphasis, and denying, ignoring, and deemphasizing what needs to be kept concealed to sustain the grossly misleading, fundamentally mendacious narrative.

The Guardian even serves up a quote from a neighbor of the slain teens which neatly inverts reality, and offers nothing to contradict or correct her utterly twisted and delusional statement: "When the Arabs are doing the killing the world stays silent, it is always Israel [who is criticised]."

In some alternate universe, that is. Maybe she’s living in one of those hidden extra dimensions physicists like to speculate about.

Obama issued this fulmination: "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms this senseless act of terror against innocent youth." Namely the Jewish youth. On the Palestinian youths and young adults killed by the Israeli army, not a peep. But then, there never is when Palestinians are killed, as thousands have been over the years by Israel. But why would the U.S., a nation that has murdered millions, complain about that. It only denounces killings by official enemies.

This one-sided outrage has to be called propaganda. If there was genuine humanitarianism and morality operating here, the U.S. media and government wouldn’t be ignoring the slayings of Palestinians. The Western Establishment is continuing its decades-long policy of hostility and demonization of Palestinians and complete backing of Israel.

The head of the U.S. parrot government of “Great” Britain weighed in. British prime minister David Cameron emitted this: "I am deeply saddened by the news that the bodies of the three Israeli boys ... have been found ... This was an appalling and inexcusable act of terror perpetrated against young teenagers. Britain will stand with Israel as it seeks to bring to justice those responsible." Nothing ever said about any of the 7 Palestinians killed. On top of the tens of thousands killed by Israel starting in 1948, I might add. (And not only by Israel, but by Egypt and the U.S. satrapy Jordan too. And of course the U.S. has killed some too, for good measure.)

Israel’s Nazi-type tactics of mass roundups, property destruction, and random murders are simply mentioned in passing, neutrally, by Western media, and ignored by the governments. Not worth paying attention to. The fate of three teenaged colonists is of burning import.

The Israeli political bosses are continuing to insist, as they have since the teens first went missing, that Hamas is “responsible,” they did it, they’re guilty, indeed in the words of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Remorseless One, the culprits are “wild beasts.” (I.e. subhuman and thus worthy of summary execution.) He issued a bone-chilling threat: "Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay."

Hamas, as it has all along, continues to deny they kidnapped, and killed, the teens. Hamas is in the difficult position of trying to prove a negative. The Israelis, for their part, have offered no evidence or factual assertions to back up their claim that Hamas is guilty. Nor do they need to, since as far as Western elites (government and media) are concerned, Hamas has zero credibility so their denials can be discounted. Hamas is, after all, branded a “terrorist” organization by the U.S. and its Eurolackeys. Once an organization or individual is categorized as “terrorist,” accusation equals proof, no evidence or facts required. Thus the accusations of those with the power of life and death becomes a conviction carrrying a death sentence. The chief executive is a self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner. (Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu being two examples of this.) Mere assertion of guilt is proof of guilt. Then the state carries out the “sentence”- generally death by assassination.

Now, I have no idea whether Hamas, as an organization, planned and carried out the kidnapping and slayings of the three teens, or if people associated with Hamas, or lower-ranking members, did it without higher authorization, or if Hamas wasn’t connected with it at all. Let us keep in mind that this occurred in the West Bank, around Hebron. Hamas is in Gaza. The “Palestinian Authority” and Israel itself control the West Bank. (“Judea and Samaria,” in Israeli-speak, a term, redolent of ancient Holiness, which should leave no doubt about their intention to absorb as much of that conquered territory as is practical for them to do.) Secondly, coming so soon after a new unity government between Hamas and the PA, the timing would be profounding counterproductive. Israel has been at pains to keep the Palestinians divided (a divided people are easier to oppress and rule), and went ballistic when the unity agreement was announced just a few weeks before the kidnapping. This has given Netanyahu a pretext to try to smash up the unity government. Thirdly, Hamas has never been shy about taking credit for their acts of violence against Israel and Israelis, on the principle of The Deed as Propaganda. They build up their credibility and reputation (and thus support) among Palestinians by advertising their attacks. An act like this in which they claim to have no responsibility does not bring them any political benefit. It only brings ferocious Israeli assaults. The only theory I can think of which would explain Hamas behaving in such a way would be a desire by them to bring Israeli punishment on Palestinians to radicalize them. But Palestinians hardly need to be convinced to hate Israel at this point. And as I’ve pointed out, the downsides are considerable.

Another possibility, and I am not saying this is what happened, just that it is a hypothetical possibility at least, is an Israeli false flag operation or a manipulation of a radical group or individuals put up or steered to doing this in order to have a pretext to try and violently break up the Palestinian government. I doubt it, but given the ruthlessness and cynicism of governments generally, and certainly of the Israeli government, it can’t be ruled out categorically, although I would put the probability as very low, like one percent or less. [3]

Another benefit for Netanyahu and Israel from the martyrdom of the three teens is it allows a psychological/emotional/propaganda pushback against the Boycott, Divestiture, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which just scored a victory when the Presbyterian church, in a close vote, voted to sell stock in criminal corporations that supply Israel with important weapons of repression, namely Caterpillar (armored home demolition bulldozers), Motorola, and Hewlett-Packard (electronic surveillance and police state computer equipment). This event received prominent play in the New York Times, and evoked howls of outrage and moral indignation from the usual prominent agents of Israel in the U.S. Indeed, some of these American agents, acting as emissaries for the Government of Israel, offered the Presbyterian leadership an audience with Netanyahu himself (apparently this is to be seen as a great privilege) if they would NOT EVEN TAKE A VOTE on divestiture. This oh-so-generous offer was declined by the Presbyterians, and the vote was duly held.

Already Jewish vigilantes, apparently deciding that seven dead Palestinians aren’t enough, have kidnapped, tortured, and murdered a 16-year-old Palestinian boy, whose badly burned body was found. Israeli air raids have been intensified. (A pregnant woman was wounded in one.) The Palestinian firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza, which started as a reaction to the massive Israeli sweep in the West Bank and has continued in defiance of Israeli air raids, is used, as it always is, as the “reason” for Israeli bombing runs (with free jets and bombs supplied by the U.S.).

Past kill ratios of Jews to Palestinians have ranged from 10 to 1 to 100 to 1. Since the current ratio is only up to about 3 to one, there’s a way to go yet before Israel’s thirst for revenge is slaked.

Whatever the Palestinians do, their situation is hopeless. Peaceful protest, negotiation, violence, terrorism, diplomacy- all is futile. Their fate is heartbreaking.

1] “Bodies of three missing Israeli teenagers found in West Bank: Naftali Frankel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach were kidnapped while hitchhiking back from their religious schools,” the Guardian, June 30, 2014.

If you follow Israeli media, you’d have learned that the Israeli police made a huge blunder. One of the teens managed to call the police on his cellphone and tell them he was kidnapped. They just blew it off, didn’t bother locating the call. Cellphones can be located even when they’re off. A number of officers have been replaced at the police call center, including supervisors who blew off the teen’s call. See “Police officers dismissed in wake of botched kidnapping call: Committee probe finds severe misconduct in handling of emergency hotline center on night three teens were kidnapped in West Bank; Police commissioner calls failure 'unforgivable,'” Haaretz, June 30, 2014.

3] Given what we know about what governments HAVE done, we would be foolish to rule out any possibility. The assassination of the president of the U.S. in 1963 by the “security services” with the collaboration of others is a prime example. Remember, also, that entrenched fascist elements of the U.S. state, guided by none other than Richard Cheney, planted nano-thermite explosives in the World Trade Center twin towers and in 7 World Trade Center, blowing them up September 11, 2001, a day that should live in infamy for reasons still unknown to most Americans, indeed to most people on this planet, thereby killing most of the almost 3,000 people who died on that day, plus another 1,000 who subsequently died from illnesses contracted from working in the ruins without respirators, thanks to the homicidal lies by the Bush regime and its Environmental “Protection” Agency head, Christine Todd Whitman, a member of the New Jersey landed gentry, horsewoman, and former Governor of that state, that the air was safe to breathe, which it obviously was not. The ruins in fact gave off noxious fumes that could be smelled miles away, for several months, and that caused me for one to cough. The very notion that pulverized lead, asbestos, concrete, and numerous hazardous substances contained in computer equipment and etc. crushed to dust in the explosions and collapses, was somehow harmless, is ludicrous on its face. So the kind of ruthless people who rule many nations are certainly not inhibited about sacrificing their own citizens in pursuit of their political goals.

This should not surprise or shock anyone. What, after all, is war, but the sacrifice of the citizens for the Great Glory of the Rulers? (Yes, we can make exceptions for defensive wars, but in those cases only one side is fighting in self-defense.)

For the details of the demolitions at the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, see the documentary by 9/11 Architects for truth.