In the Case of Israel: Western Hypocrisy at its Best

Source: PalestineChronicle | By Ludwig Watzal

The kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers and their murder was a despicable crime. Those responsible must be held accountable and brought to justice. Everybody condemned this heinous crime, including all Western leaders. After the abduction, the Israeli occupying forces started a search throughout the West Bank that led not only to the killings of a lot of innocent Palestinians but also to the devastation of uncountable homes and the demolition of two houses of assumed suspects. Until now, nobody knows who committed the crime. Collective punishment of the Palestinian collective is the norm in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The principle of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty only applies to the Jewish citizens of Israel and the colonizers in the West Bank.

Right from the start, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas for the abduction. Up till now, he could not deliver single evidence. Instead, the occupying forces went on a rampage; destroying, killing and arresting arbitrarily every member of Hamas, which they could lay their hands on.

In the meantime, parts of the population, like a “Zio-Fascists” mob, went wild in Jerusalem and called “Death to the Arabs”. Six right-wing Israeli extremists got hold of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, they killed and burnt him. His father, Hussein Abu Khdeir, demanded form the Israeli military to demolish the houses of the murderers like they did to the Palestinian families from which allegedly the abductors of the three juvenile Israeli came. But a different treatment of Israeli and Palestinian criminals has a long tradition in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories like the reports of different Israeli and international human rights organizations show. This “principle” is just part of democracy a-la Israel.

The Western leaders did not condemn this act of violence, instead, they kept mum. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, did not call a press conference in Number 10 Downing Street; instead he “twittered” his “weighty” words about this gruesome death: “I’m appalled by the murder of a Palestinian teenager. The loss of four boys this week is a terrible reminder of the need for lasting peace.” Tony Blair couldn’t have put it better. The double standard of Western leaders, exemplified in the person of David Cameron, can be viewed in Anthony Lawson’s video.

Not enough of the rampage of the Israeli military against Palestinians, the brutality of the “most moral army in the world” (Ehud Barak) made no stop in front of a U.S. citizen. Tariq Khdeir, a high school sophomore visiting Jerusalem from Tampa, Fla., was severely mistreated by Israeli police, like the video shows.[2]

The US State Department was “profoundly troubled” by Israel’s treatment of a Palestinian-American but has done nothing, as in the murder case of Rachel Corrie. This should not surprise anyone; hasn’t the US President a personal killing list, which includes also the names of US citizens of Arab decent? What would have happened, if the Palestinian “security forces” would have killed a Jewish-American citizen or mistreated him in Palestine? All hell would have broken loose.

Nobody should be surprised about the outbreak of racism towards the Arabs in Israel. From the kindergarten to the grave, the Israelis are indoctrinated by Zionism, which is an exclusivist ideology. After the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the late Israel Shahak has in his groundbreaking book “Jewish History, Jewish Religion. The Weight of three Thousand Years”[3] elucidated the political implications of this belief system. But the real roots of racism in Israel and the hatred of the goyim can be found in “Classical Judaism”, which is used “to justify Israeli policies that are racist, as totalitarian and as xenophobic”. And Shahak continues: “Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in Jewish attitudes to the non-Jewish peoples of Israel and the Middle East.”

The crocodile tears of Netanyahu for the murder of the young Palestinian are hypocritical. For the record: Netanyahu and his extremist predecessor Ariel Sharon have not moderated a mob at a demonstration in Jerusalem, who slandered Rabin as a “traitor” and carried Rabin dummies in Nazi uniform, one of the most despicable symbols in Israel. Shortly after, Rabin was assassinated. Not without reason, Lea Rabin has refused Netanyahu’s condolences at the state funeral. Therefore, one should not belief the political arsonist, which calls for the fire brigade.

(In the two days between the submission and publication of this article, Over 100 Palestinians were killed and over 750 were wounded in an ongoing Israeli attack on the besieged Gaza Strip.)

– Dr. Ludwig Watzal works as a journalist and editor in Bonn, Germany. He runs the bilingual blog “between the lines”.