The big lie

With the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) acceptance of Palestine as a member, and its agreement to investigate possible Israeli war crimes during last summer’s brutal bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Murderer Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be having fits of rage. His puppet, the United States government, has also denounced the Court’s decisions, and Netanyahu has made the following bizarre statements:
* “It’s absurd for the ICC to go after Israel, which upholds the highest standards of international law. Our actions are subject to the constant and careful review of Israel’s world-renowned and utterly independent legal system.”
* “But this decision is even more preposterous given that Israel is legitimately defending itself against Palestinian terrorists who routinely commit multiple war crimes. They deliberately fire thousands of rockets at our civilians, while hiding behind Palestinian civilians whom they use a human shield.”
* “It is the democracy of Israel, a world leader in fighting terrorism, which is to be hauled to the dock in The Hague, while the terrorist war criminals of Hamas are the ones who are going to be pressing the charges.”
Perhaps we might look at each of these amazing statements, and see how many holes we can punch in them in a short essay. Doing so is not particularly challenging.
Israel ‘upholds the highest standards of international law’. Well now, isn’t that interesting? International law forbids the movement of the occupying nation’s citizens into the occupied nation. Israel has moved over 500,000 Israelis onto Palestinian land, and Netanyahu has stated that not one of them will ever leave.
During last summer’s brutal attack on Gaza, press vehicles, schools, hospitals, mosques and private residences were all targeted; each is forbidden by international law.
Further: “Our actions are subject to the constant and careful review of Israel’s world-renowned and utterly independent legal system.” The fox, when protesting the farmer’s actions against it after it raided the henhouse, might have said the same thing. We often read, after some abomination committed by Israel, that Israel is ‘investigating’. However, we very seldom read about the outcome of such investigations, and when we do, it is to say that the perpetrator has been exonerated.
“Israel is legitimately defending itself against Palestinian terrorists who routinely commit multiple war crimes.” One worries about sounding like a broken record, when one points out again that there is no legitimate ‘defence’ by an occupier against the occupied. There is only greater enforcement of the occupation. An occupied nation, by international law, has the right to resist the occupation.
If Palestinians have, in fact, committed war crimes, Israel can file charges at the ICC. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has stated that he will cooperate fully with any such investigation. Netanyahu, on the other hand, has said he will not cooperate at all.
In this astounding statement, Netanyahu rolls out the old canard of Palestinian resistance fighters “hiding behind Palestinian civilians whom they use a human shield”. There is no evidence to support this claim, although there is ample evidence, including on video, of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) terrorists using Palestinian children as human shields. What was that Netanyahu said above, about upholding ‘the highest standards of international law’?
Lastly, Netanyahu refers to ‘the democracy of Israel’. Well, this is a most unusual democracy, where all Israelis are afforded equal rights, but Palestinians and people of African descent are not. This sounds more like apartheid.
He further calls Israel ‘a world leader in fighting terrorism.’ Palestinians are subjected daily to night raids, during which their homes can be ransacked, their possessions stolen and anyone can be arrested without charge. Israel also bulldozes homes, and routinely prevents people in desperate need of medical care from receiving it. If this isn’t terrorism, what is?
Excerpt from: ‘Netanyahu and the Big Lie’.
Courtesy: Counterpunch.org