Israel at War on Fundamental Palestinian Rights
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
Palestinian speech, media, and academic freedoms are threatened daily by Israel’s rage to silence what it wants suppressed - the way all police states operate.
Israel is the region’s most ruthless and dangerous - at war with Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, and Iranians without declaring it.
Any pretext unjustifiably justifies hostile action. On Sunday, a reported drive-by shooting wounded seven settlers, the perpetrator(s) unknown.
Shooting incidents like Sunday’s in the West Bank happen daily in America nationwide - crimes committed by individuals against others and treated that way, called assaults with a deadly weapon or murder when fatalities occur.
In Occupied Palestine, entire communities are punished and held hostage for violence committed by unidentified individuals - falsely called terrorism when Palestinians are involved.
Soldiers rampage through communities in response, locking them down, conducting violent searches, terrorizing families, traumatizing children, arresting innocent individuals, ordering homes demolished - what state terror is all about, often continuing for days or weeks if perpetrators aren’t found.
In response to the Sunday shootings, Israel violently raided the Palestinian Wafa news agency’s offices in Ramallah. Its staff and operations had nothing to do with the incident.
A statement on Wafa’s website said “soldiers (violently) raided the server room in the bureau (without just cause) and went through the camera recordings in the agency. They withdrew from the agency’s office after they took copies of the security camera footage.”
They violently stormed the offices illegally. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported clashes in the area injured around two dozen Palestinians from live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, and toxic tear gas.
A similar action in America constitutes a flagrant Fourth Amendment violation - protecting “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures…”
They’re prohibited without probable cause and judicial authorization. In Israel and the Occupied Territories against Palestinians and Arab citizens, anything goes - most often in flagrant violation of fundamental rule of law principles.
On Monday, Israeli soldiers stormed Ramallah, demanding businesses with security cameras hand over footage.
The Trump regime called Sunday’s incident “disgusting,” ignoring its own horrendous high crimes of war and against humanity, along with daily state terror by Israel against defenseless Palestinians.
Storming Wafa’s offices was the latest incident against Palestinian media. According to the Palestinian Center for Development & Media Freedoms (MADA), Israeli forces assaulted Palestinian media freedoms 49 times in November alone, saying:
“The Israeli Occupation Forces have significantly escalated their attacks against media freedoms in Palestine (committing over four dozen) attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (last month), most of which fall under the serious attacks against media outlets and journalists,” adding:
“Most notably and serious among these attacks is destroying the headquarters of Al-Aqsa TV (in Gaza)…where 220 staff members are working. The resulting losses were estimated at about $4 million (according to the director, Ibrahim Thaher).”
Nearly a dozen Al-Aqsa journalists were injured by “bullets and bombs” while covering Israeli belligerence in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In November alone, Israeli forces arrested four Palestinian journalists for the crime of truth-telling the Netanyahu regime wants suppressed.
Equipment, documents, and other materials are usually confiscated when these type raids occur - unjustifiably based on fabricated charges of incitement and/or fostering terrorism.
Palestinian victimization doesn’t matter, the world community dismissive of their rights - why Israel gets away with murder and much more, the way all rogue states operate.
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