Haaretz Editors Urge Removing Netanyahu with All Urgency

by Stephen Lendman

Israeli media largely march in lockstep with government policy. No matter what coalition holds power.

None rule responsibly. Some worse than others. Netanyahu worst of all. Exceeding Sharonian evil.

Haaretz editors criticized him before. This time more vehemently than earlier.

For important reasons. Omitting others demanding inclusion. More on this below.

Headlining "Israel's two-faced government," Haaretz editors said it's hard imagining why Washington "continues to placate Netanyahu.."

He's "done everything he could to sabotage" good relations. On the one hand, Israeli Defense Minister yearns for a new US administration. To expand settlements more than already.

On the other, Netanyahu wants Obama's help to sabotage Palestinian self-determination. Its Security Council effort to end occupation.

Abbas claims he'll seek International Criminal Court membership if Washington vetoes his initiative.

"This week I will propose to the United Nations a new timetable for peace talks," he said. "The key is to agree on a map to delineate the borders of each country."

He made similar comments before. Bluster without follow-through. Saying one thing. Doing another. Or nothing at all.

Serving duplicitously as Israel's enforcer. Participating in multiple rounds of sham peace talks. Dead on arrival each time.

Abbas more Judas than legitimate leader. Consistently betraying his people. It's hard imagining anything different this time.

Why US officials put up with Netanyahu they'll have to explain, said Haaretz editors.

It's harder "grasp(ing) how Israel dares come out against the Palestinian initiative even as it does everything possible to leave the Palestinian Authority with no alternative," they added.

Netanyahu "true intentions" are clear, they stressed. Recklessly expand settlements.

"(S)abotage relations with" Washington. "Call for…help whenever the Palestinians take political measures in the international arena."

Irresponsible Netanyahu policy "led Israel to a dead end. That is why he must be removed from power with all urgency."

Unusually tough talk. Even for editors critical of his policy. Not tough enough. Ignoring his most egregious wrongdoing. Genocidal high crimes against peace.

Haaretz editors ignored them. Now and earlier. Stealing Palestinian land. Longstanding ethnic cleansing.

Naked aggression at Israel's discretion. Slow-motion genocide. Blaming Palestinians for its crimes. Committing ones too serious to ignore.

Every imaginable one and then some. Violating core humanitarian and human rights laws. Other international ones.

Its own Basic Laws. High Court rulings when they differ from government policy. Governing extrajudicially throughout its history.

Wanting all valued Judea and Samaria areas Judaized. Treating Arabs like vermin. Like Hitler treated Jews. Denying them fundamental rights everyone deserves.

Haaretz editors omitted what most needs stressing. Repeatedly. No-holds-barred. Including denouncing Israel's fantasy democracy.

None whatever exists. Not now. Or earlier. For sure not with Netanyahu in charge. With likeminded hardliners.

Fascists by any standard. Brutalizing Palestinians mercilessly. Jews opposing government policy publicly.

Israel's gulag a testimony to its harshness. One of the world's worst. Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners languish inside.

For wanting rights everyone deserves. Refusing anything less. In December 2014, Israel held 5,873 so-called "security" prisoners.

Including 3,498 wrongfully sentenced. Another 1,905 remand prisoners. Yet to be convicted or sentenced.

Plus 470 administrative prisoners. Indefinitely held without charges or trial. Palestinians comprise the vast majority. The figures include a handful of Jewish prisoners.

Security inmates are different from regular ones. Denied fundamental rights others get. Contrary to international law.

Incarcerating Palestinians inside Israel alone blatantly violates Fourth Geneva. Protecting civilians in time of war. Or under occupation.

Affirming fundamental human rights. Obligating all signatories to observe them. Israel is an international law scofflaw.

Brazenly breaching what it's required to comply with. Committing virtually every high crime imaginable. Unaccountably.

Governing Palestine by military orders. Denying civil justice. Criminalizing legitimate activity.

Including organizing and participating in peaceful protests. Taking part in assemblies or vigils of 10 or more people.

Waving Palestinian flags or other political symbols. Printing political material. Distributing it.

Calling legitimate actions or initiatives it opposes "political incitement."

Prohibiting activities demonstrating sympathy for organizations deemed illegal under military law. No matter how in compliance with international law.

Resisting tyranny is a universal right. America's Declaration of Independence affirmed it. Jefferson called it "obedience to God."

UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/33/24 (November 1978) "Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, particularly armed struggle."

Excluding actions international law prohibits. Including clearly defined crimes of war or against humanity.

General Assembly Resolution A/RES/3246 (XXIX) (November 1974) "Reaffirms the legitimacy of the peoples' struggle for liberation form colonial and foreign domination and alien subjugation by all available means, including armed struggle."

"Strongly condemns all Governments which do not recognize the right to self-determination and independence of peoples under colonial and foreign domination and alien subjugation, notably the peoples of Africa and the Palestinian people."

Self-determination is a universal right. International law affirms it. Including numerous UN resolutions.

Mostly non-binding General Assembly ones. Reflecting views of most nation-states. The basis of customary international law.

Legitimate resistance isn't terrorism. Despite Israel characterizing it this way. Outrageously calling state terrorism self-defense.

Israeli media don't explain. Including left-of-center Haaretz editors. Omitting what's most important.

Demanding accountability for Israeli crimes too serious to ignore. Netanyahu is a war criminal multiple times over.

Haaretz editors didn't explain. Or anything about brutalizing occupation harshness. Lawless by any standard.

Plus high crimes committed daily. Denying Palestinians civil justice. Treating them like subhumans. Including Arab/Israeli citizens.

One-fifth of the population treated like fifth column threats. Denied rights afforded Jews. Former Palestinian legal advisor Diana Buttu says Israel has no centrists.

"Israeli politicians (called) moderate would be considered right-wing extremists in other countries," she explains.

"Zionist(s) support…militar(ized) occupation." Settlement expansions. Blockading Gaza. Attacking it at Israel's discretion.

Mindless of international law. Fundamental human and civil rights.

Israel is "a country based on inequality that either denies or makes excuses for the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland, where the denial of freedom is tolerated and where frequent military attacks against a defenseless, refugee population are accepted," says Buttu.

Regardless of who's elected. All coalition governments operate much the same way. Militarized rule is unforgiving. Lawless in Occupied Palestine.

Israel "continue(s) to steal our land, demolish our homes, strip us of our rights and demand our loyalty and subservience to a system and society that seek to oust us," Buttu explains.

World community failure to hold Israel accountable "cements a mindset that illegality is permissible."

Letting Israel get away with mass murder. Turning large parts of Gaza to rubble. Terrorizing West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinian communities.

Treat children as horrifically as adults. Practice torture as official policy. Like America.

Both countries blame victims for their crimes. Spurn democratic rights. Govern lawlessly.

Wage naked aggression at their discretion. Brutalize their unwanteds mercilessly. Murder them in cold blood.

Unaccountably. At home and abroad. Ludicrously calling themselves democracies.

Police states operate this way. None more ruthlessly than America and Israel.

Partners in high crimes. Haaretz editors didn't explain. What's most important for everyone to know.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

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

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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