"Washington has always blocked accountability for Israel". Not just
Israel. Washington has always blocked accountability to what US did
globally. It resents UN rules, and applies only "international
rule-based order" which benefited US and allies. This of course is not
universally recognised as these countries don't represent the world but
US and selected few. It is so arrogant that it sanctions the UN
prosecutors looking into US war crimes in Afghanistan. UN is impotent
because there are no international court judges that US agreed to and
even if it has, US will unilaterally ignored that. The rest of the world could only murmur faint protest lest they crossed path with US.
The
ultimate bully. A nation that behaves like the proverbial schoolyard
nemesis who will not change his behavior until something happens to
force his hand. No respect for the human beings that it keeps
imprisoned; no respect for borders or boundaries; no respect for
international laws. Its crimes are only compounded by its disingenuous
claims of prejudice toward any who raise their voices in protest.
Sadly, in the United States, not one of our legislators dares criticize the world's leading rogue state as endless checks are signed to arm this monster.
No,
it's not American folks that are to blame here, it's those politicians
that ignore their own country and advocate for another. At least 1500 US
politicians hold dual nationality with Israel, this would be 'conflict
of interest' in any other country.
The big elephant in the room,
that EVERYBODY refuses to look at, is that I*sr*ael is unsustainable as a
colonizing instrument. it WILL end at some point. when that happens no
one in the west will protect them, and all will hope Muslims give them mercy, they will as they has ALWAYS done and history is their witness though.
"Israeli youths provocatively make their way through Muslim areas, chanting and singing patriotic songs"
What
can be more "patriotic" than to shout your pride for having stolen a
whole country and committing crimes against humanity on the population
that is left after you send millions into exile, imprisoned some in the
largest open air prison in the world and continue to kill theor children?
The world is to blame for Israel by turning a blind eye to their atrocities. Ditto the US.
Israel is the first open air concentration camp. Invented by the west as a trap to destroy the people while giving them hope
America is to blame for the bloody violence in Jerusalem – & it just shows that state-led oppression is fine if you’re a US ally
Tom Fowdy
RT, 10 May, 2021
Trump’s overzealous pro-Israel policy – endorsed by Joe Biden – emboldened Tel Aviv to push ahead with new settlements in East Jerusalem, which are the root cause of the clashes. But there’ll be no rebuke from Washington.
So, who is really to blame for the violent clashes in the city that intensified today as Israeli police oppressed Palestinian demonstrations, following a month of growing tensions surrounding controversy over an eviction order in favour of settlers in East Jerusalem?
Police attacked the demonstrators with stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets, injuring hundreds. Things were anticipated only to worsen, given that today is 'Jerusalem Day' – the holiday marking when the east of the city was captured in the 1967 war, leading to its present disputed occupation – and usually sees hundreds of flag-waving Israeli youths provocatively make their way through Muslim areas, chanting and singing patriotic songs.
Not surprisingly, there have been no calls from Washington to “stand with the Palestinian people” or to “push sanctions” on their behalf against Israel to “hold them to account” for their international obligations, as we frequently hear in relation to adversarial countries, such as, of course, China. But with the United States and Israel, that’s how it has always been. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan expressed “concerns” to his Israeli counterpart but only urged Tel Aviv to “ensure calm.” Obviously, there will be no serious or direct condemnation involved.
The situation, of course, is one of America’s own making. One must question how and why did Israel become emboldened to accelerate settlements in East Jerusalem and other disputed territories? And how did this lead to the current spree of violence? The answer lies in the unilateral and illegal foreign-policy shifts forced through by the preceding administration, arguably the most one-sided in favour of Tel Aviv ever. It even recognised Jerusalem as the capital of all Israel, and Mike Pompeo visited the West Bank to state that settlements do not contravene international law. This has allowed Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to essentially have a free hand, more so than usual, in doing whatever he pleases.
When the Trump administration came to power, it took the opportunity to lead the US into a new foreign-policy epoch and completely rewrite its strategy on a number of issues, largely by ripping up that of the Obama administration.
Alongside the above, this influenced Trump’s unusually hard-line stance on Iran and the cancellation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as well as the diplomatic spree to push Arab countries throughout the Middle East to give diplomatic recognition to Tel Aviv, the “Abraham Accords,” including Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. Pompeo claimed that by expanding the political space and clout of Israel, peace could be brought to the Middle East. The agreements also aimed to geopolitically isolate more hard-line, anti-Israel states such as Iran, and thus strengthen the clout of American influence and its security umbrella over the Middle East.
However, despite the wording of the Abraham Accords vowing peace, the opposite has, in fact, happened. By emboldening the Israelis so dramatically by giving them huge diplomatic and political concessions, they inevitably saw no reason to compromise themselves and have avoided accountability for their actions. The Trump administration has rewarded and strengthened Israel for its aggression; as an op-ed in the Atlantic dubbed it: “Israel gets something for nothing.”
And it is no surprise that, according to a report from the PLO, “transgressions against Palestinians in the West Bank since the September agreement have only grown.” It claims that Israeli forces have opened fire more than 240 times, killing two Palestinians, wounding more than 90, and detaining more than 480 people, including children. From September 15 to October 15, 25 homes and facilities in Palestinian settlements were demolished “without significant reason,” as Netanyahu pressed ahead with new settlement-building, which has served to increase Palestinian unrest and set the scene for the current violence.
In this case, the unrest we see now is a direct accumulative product of the Trump administration’s zealous pro-Israel policy, something which Biden has, by and large (like all Trump foreign policies), simply sought to sustain rather than challenge. Washington has always blocked accountability for Israel, even if some presidents were more inclined to make them negotiate. However, the previous White House took this to a new level, crossing new red lines concerning Jerusalem and the West Bank, which are now generating instability.
The fundamental message? State-led violence and oppression is perfectly fine when you’re an American ally. As Muslim nations watch the situation in Israel, US commentators and foreign-policy makers unwittingly scratch their heads and just don’t get why these countries won’t join the outcry of a “genocide” in Xinjiang. Because when has America ever truly stood up for the rights of Muslims? The US and its allies might be blind to the fate of the Palestinians, but the rest of the world isn’t.
Tom Fowdy is a British writer and analyst of politics and international relations with a primary focus on East Asia.
What is surprising is not why Biden’s administration is staying silent on this issue. What is surprising is why anyone ever expected them to do anything else.
Yes, they did say things about two state solution and all that jazz, but between all of them put together, they do not pose an ounce of integrity, they don’t even know the meaning of the word. Why is anyone surprised?
At the same time, behaviour like this from the Israeli government and the especially the Israeli Judicial system, is something that belongs to the stone ages and not in any civilised society.
Can
you image what an uproar there would be, if the Iranian judicial system
had evicted some Jewish families from their home in Tehran on the basis
that in 1948 the same house belonged to some Muslim family. That would
be such big news that BB would stand up at the next UN meeting with a
big annimated picture showing people wearing turbans and holding a whip,
dragging these poor innocent people and their children out of their
home, with a big title saying: “It does not matter where you live on the
planet, the Iranians are only 6 months away from coming to take away
your home”.
Where are the sanctions against Israel for stealing
Palestinian homes and lands? Where the EU and the US? How about the
UN? So fast to sanction Russia and China, but too afraid to sanction
Israel? Looks like Biden will also take his orders from BiBi. Nothing
really changes. The hypocrisy of the West is staggering. The selling
out of the Palestinians is shameful. A good place to send in the UN
troops to protect the Palestinian people. The new holocaust the West
watches in silence. BiBi and the Israeli judicial system learned alot
from Hitler and are using what they learned against the Palestinian people. They cannot claim victimhood any longer.
As Israel plans to evict up to 550 Palestinians from East Jerusalem, Biden admin remains silent
Robert Inlakesh
18 Mar, 2021
Igniting tensions in East Jerusalem, Israeli settler organisations are seeking to uproot up to 550 Palestinians from the city, to the complete silence of a Biden administration that claims to seek a two-State solution.
In what could become one of the largest expulsions of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, Israeli settler organisations are working with the country's legal system to evict 24 families from their homes.
During October, 2020, the Israeli magistrate court of Jerusalem ordered the expulsion of 12 families, out of the 24 living inside the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. In addition to their expulsion from their homes, the Palestinian families were also ordered by the court to pay $20,000 in legal fees.
The expulsion order, which is likely to be completed with the destruction of Palestinian property, after it is seized to make way for illegal Israeli settlers, is set to be enforced as early as May. As it stands, four Palestinian households – comprising 27 people – will be forced out onto the street no later than May 2, while three other families are set to be forced out in August.
Israeli settler organisations based in the Karm al-Jaouni area are behind the expulsion orders, claiming that the land on which Palestinians live, in Sheikh Jarrah, was once owned by Jews prior to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Despite Palestinian attempts to present their legal case that the settler organisations are lying about this and have no proof, Israeli courts refuse to see the evidence. It is also important to note that, while the Israeli legal system will recognise the claims of Jewish Israelis to land allegedly owned previously by Jews, this right is not granted to Palestinians.
On the issue of the Sheikh Jarrah evictions, Fadi al-Hidmi, Palestinian Authority Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, stated that the international community is obligated to step in. “What is taking place is a systematic, programmed process of replacing the Palestinians expelled from their land and property with foreign settlers,” he said.
Last night, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement also released a statement, vowing a response to the actions of Israel in Sheikh Jarrah. The PIJ proclaimed that Israel “will pay the price for this aggression.”
In the 1970s, following the June 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem, Israel began implementing a “demographic balance” policy. The aim for the Israeli authorities is to limit the percentage of Palestinians living in the city to 30% or less. While Israel claims that Jerusalem is its undivided capital, the Palestinian Authority only seeks to gain back East Jerusalem, which is considered under international law to be an illegally occupied territory.
Despite the Biden Administration having stated consistently that it seeks a two-State solution and that this is the only solution in the Palestine-Israel conflict, it continues to ignore the ongoing ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem. Not only does Biden not confront Israel on the issue of its illegal settlements and home demolitions in Jerusalem, but it has worked to attack the International Criminal Court (ICC) which is poised to investigate the settlement issue.
Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is a supporter of the notion of a two-State solution weighed in on the announcement from the ICC that it would investigate alleged Israeli War Crimes, stating “The United States firmly opposes an @IntlCrimCourt investigation into the Palestinian Situation. We will continue to uphold our strong commitment to Israel and its security, including by opposing actions that seek to target Israel unfairly.”
Along with Sheikh Jarrah, Israeli Settler organisations are also heavily targeting the area of Silwan, from which at least 36 families have been expelled since the beginning of 2020, according to Israeli NGO Peace Now. In East Jerusalem as many as 200,000 Israeli settlers live, with about 2,500 hardline settlers residing in properties surrounding Palestinians in areas like Silwan.
Earlier this week, 11 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police forces, who reportedly raided the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Kafr Aqab as a bulldozer made an opening in the wall surrounding the area. Local youths then acted to tear down the fences built around the construction site, for what has been described as a Judaization project in the area.
An Israeli NGO called Grassroots Jerusalem states that the presence of illegal Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem causes great agitation to Palestinian residents. The NGO claims that settlers have “been responsible for forced evictions and terrorism.”
Last year almost 1,000 Palestinians were made homeless due to Israeli house demolitions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with over 10,000 settler units having been approved.
If the Biden Administration continues to remain silent and shield Israel from prosecution for its violations of International Law in East Jerusalem, the two-State solution that the US claims to seek will only become more difficult to achieve. In order for there to be a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, Israel’s illegal settlements have to halt further construction, evacuate all settlers and the annexation of the territory – since 1980 – has to be reversed. None of the steps necessary to facilitate a two-State solution includes shielding war crimes, and what we are seeing is exactly that.
Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and currently works with Quds News and Press TV.
Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump's Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’.
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