Palestinian Lives Don’t Matter
by Stephen Lendman
Along with the US presence, Israel is the Middle East capital for targeted assassinations, cold-blooded murders, as well a other horrendous human and civil rights violations against an entire population.
Palestinian lives don’t matter, countless numbers murdered and otherwise abused by Israeli forces, accountability never forthcoming. The world community largely turns a blind eye to high crimes too egregious to ignore.
On Monday, 16-year-old Palestinian Osama Hajahjeh was arrested, handcuffed and blindfolded by Israeli forces despite threatening no one.
Shot in one leg, then the other, he fell to the ground and was shot again. A bullet to his groin at point-blank range ruptured an artery, causing heavy bleeding.
Soldiers prevented other Palestinians from providing help. An IDF statement lied, claiming he was involved in “massive stone throwing.” A bystander threatening no one, days before his incident, he was hospitalized.
Let out of school early to attend a funeral, Israeli soldiers lethally shot him. Preventing other Palestinians from reaching him, they let him suffer unattended on the ground, a common IDF practice permitted by ruling apartheid regimes throughout Jewish state history.
B’Tselem denounced what happened, saying “this is an example of Israel’s reckless use of lethal fire, and the fact that the human lives of Palestinians count very little in the eyes of the army.”
Separately, B’Tselem reported on four similar incidents. On March 12, 23-year-old Muhammad Shahin was lethally shot by IDF soldiers despite posing no threat.
He was peacefully watching soldiers clash with Palestinian stone-throwers, live fire taking his life.
On March 20, Ahmad Manasrah, aged-22, was lethally shot by IDF soldiers while helping a family whose car was stuck near a checkpoint because of a mechanical issue. B’Tselem described the incident as follows:
The car in question belonged to the Ghayadah family. ‘Alaa Ghayadah got out of his car to check on the problem. Nearby soldiers shot him in the abdomen.
His wife Maysaa cried for help. “A passing car stopped and its passengers came to her aid…Ahmad Manasrah…tried to help her start the car, but the soldiers at the tower shot him as well, killing him. The military” lied about what happened, unjustifiably justifying cold-blooded murder.
On March 27, clashes erupted between Israeli security forces and a-Duheisheh refugee camp residents. Sajed Muzhar, a 17-year-old volunteer paramedic, rushed to help a wounded Palestinian, attired in a clearly visible medical crew vest.
“He was shot in the abdomen by a member of the security forces and taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds,” B’Tselem explained.
On April 2, Israeli forces stormed East Jerusalem’s Kafr ‘Aqab neighborhood, live fire used against stone-throwers contesting their belligerent presence.
Muhammad Dar ‘Udwan, aged-24, fled the area in the opposite direction. Video footage taken by a local Palestinian resident showed him being lethally shot in the back by soldiers. He threatened no one.
Commenting on the above incidents, B’Tselem stressed how little Palestinian lives, rights and welfare matter to Israel, stressing:
“None of the victims posed a threat to the lives of security personnel. Not one of these incidents should have ended in death.”
“(T)hese are not aberrations, or ‘bad apples.’ These are incidents that occur as part of the routine actions of soldiers and police officers, pursuant to Israel’s dangerous, lethal open-fire policy” – using live ammunition against nonthreatening, unarmed Palestinians.
Whenever Israeli authorities initiate an investigation into what happened during incidents like the above ones, whitewash happens virtually every time.
Palestinians get blamed for high crimes committed against them. It doesn’t surprise. Israel operates like other despotic states.
When it comes to Palestinian rights, state terror is official regime policy. So is impunity for cold-blooded killers.
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