Did Israel Overstep This Time?

by Stephen Lendman

Rogue states get away with murder only so long. Eventually their crimes catch up with them. Israeli policies are self-defeating. How long can killing civilian men, women, children, infants, and the elderly be called self-defense?

Palestinians and eyewitnesses explain best. Mondoweiss contributor Adie Mormech saw smoke rise after Israeli bombs exploded.

"Words fail me," he said. Bombing feels almost constant.

"I can barely write a sentence with more news."

Six injuries from one bombing.

A four-year old child struck playing in the street.

An elderly Zaytoun neighborhood man killed. Four others injured.

The same scenario plays out across Gaza. Trapped civilians have nowhere to hide. Israel terrorizes them. World leaders blame Palestinian victims. They're complicit in Israeli crimes.

Adie teachers 12-year old Abdullah Samouni. "We're really scared," he said. He lost his father. During Cast Lead, his four-year old brother was shot. "In three days, Abdullah was injured and lost 29 members of his extended family."

How much more can he and others take? Al Shifa Hospital admits patients constantly…."an elderly man, a young man, a child, two more children."

A 10-month old child with brain damage and a fractured skull. Her tiny body wasn't strong enough to survive.

Who knows what's next. "The complete madness of this violence makes me wonder what we have done to ourselves. How do we allow humanity to manifest itself in this way."

On November 14, Israel launched Operation Pillar of Cloud. Sunday is day five. Over 1,000 sorties were flown.

Ground and offshore shelling supplements them. Mostly civilians and non-military targets are attacked. Israel prioritizes noncombatant killing and destruction. Civilians comprised over 80% of Cast Lead casualties. Media scoundrels pretend otherwise.

Reality is Gaza is as follows. Around 1.7 million people are trapped under siege. Humanitarian crisis conditions are longstanding.

Prior to Operation Pillar of Cloud, Israel launched intermittent air, ground, and offshore attacks. Wives lose husbands. Husbands lose wives. Parents lose children. They lose siblings. Extended family members perish. So do good friends.

No one's safe anywhere anytime. No one's sure who'll live or die. When Palestinians respond defensively, they're called terrorists. Israeli aggression is called justifiable self-defense.

How many Palestinian deaths and injuries will prove otherwise? How much wanton destruction is needed to expose Israeli state terror?

How much human suffering will be permitted before leaders able to stop it say no more? How long will Israel be allowed to get away with murder?

Israel's partnership with America threatens world peace. One day expect a tipping point to be reached. When public rage crosses a threshold of no return, all bets are off.

World outrage about Israeli crimes grows. Did Israel overstep this time? Millions of ordinary people say so. They support Palestine. They're outraged about daily bombing, shelling, slaughter, and destruction.

Civilians are willfully targeted. Innocent men, women, children, infants and the elderly are dying. Many others are injured. Many are in serious condition. Some won't survive. Others will be maimed for life.

Illegal terror weapons are used. Injuries sustained are horrific. Doctors see charred, scorched, ripped apart patients.

Some show up with horrible burns, lost limbs, brain damage, or other major injuries. Others arrive dead.

Every day is Kristallnacht in Palestine. Besieged Gaza replicates Warsaw ghetto conditions. Under attack, it resembles early days of its uprising. For European Jews, it was a seminal historic moment.

They were sealed off behind high walls 10 feet high and 11 miles long. Peak population exceeded 400,000. Overcrowding crammed residents into an area about two and a half miles long by a mile wide.

Conditions were horrific. Food was scare. Little was available. Hunger and malnutrition were extreme. Starvation was common. Sanitation collapsed. Disease was rampant. Medical treatment was nonexistent.

Thousands died monthly. Corpses lay in streets. By early 1943, only 60,000 remained. Others starved to death, perished from disease, or died in concentration camps.

In mid-February, final "resettlement" was ordered. Residents knew it meant gas chamber death. Many decided to resist at all costs. Positions were fortified in sewers, cellars, vaults, and other areas.

Residents had some small arms and homemade grenades. Mostly, they were determined to resist. In April, emptying the ghetto was ordered. Its size was reduced to about 1,000 by 300 yards.

On April 19, 5,000 SS and regular army troops stormed the ghetto. They were heavily armed with tanks, artillery, flame throwers and dynamite squads.

Against great odds, Jews stood their ground heroically. They resisted involuntary resettlement. Men and women fought together. Nazi ferocity increased.

Germans were vicious. Captives were tortured. Mother had babies torn from their arms. They watched helplessly as solders smashed their heads against walls to save bullets.

By May 16, resistance collapsed. Most held firm to the end. Captured survivors were murdered in Treblinka and other camps. Final resolution was never in doubt. Symbolically the Jews won. They fought Nazi viciousness because it mattered.

One observer said they "knew that they might not overcome their enemies but refused to suppress their recognition of what they were undergoing or deny their lack of hope while they resisted being overcome by despair and anguish."

News of their struggle spread across Europe. Other ghetto residents, labor camp inmates, Eastern front partisans, and death camp victims were inspired by their example.

Courageous Gazans won't surrender to Israeli viciousness. What's ahead remains to play out. Unfolding events may have a long way to go.

If Israel invades, will ordinary Gazans resist the way Warsaw ghetto Jews did from April 19 to May 16 1943 against long odds? Perhaps now is their moment of truth.

Occupied Warsaw Jews were isolated on their own. Gazans have millions of worldwide supporters. Resistance will make alternative media headlines. Heroism will be too evident to hide.

Media scoundrels will try. Others will expose their lies, duplicity, and support for Israeli terror. Now's the time to resist. Ordinary Gazans have a chance to make history.

What they do may hasten Palestinian liberation. Future generations will thank them. So will many others who believe might never makes right, and equity and justice matter most.

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"

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

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.

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