Who cares, they’re only Palestinians
|
If you are an Israeli citizen living in the West bank towns of Samaria and Judea and you beat up a Palestinian, even kill him or her, there’s a 90 percent chance you will get away with it. The latest Data Sheet from Israeli human rights group, Yesh Din, confirms what many have long suspected to be the case — that the system of law enforcement in Israel treats Palestinians in much the same way as black South Africans were treated by that country’s police force when the apartheid regime was in place. Yesh Din has tracked police 205 investigation files opened in recent years. 81 of these files relate to attacks on Palestinians by Israeli civilians and this includes two cases of shooting that led to death, and nine cases of serious injury. The remainder deal with incidents where Palestinians were assaulted with sticks, knives, rifle butts, as well as attacks on their houses and vehicles. Then there are 79 cases of criminal trespass which involve cutting down, uprooting and setting fire to Palestinian crops and stealing olives during the harvest season. The remainder of the cases involve theft and vandalising agricultural equipment. Yesh Din reports that of these 205 investigations “police processing and prosecutorial review have concluded in 163 files. Out of those 163, only in 13 (8%) of the cases were indictments filed against defendants. One case file was lost and never investigated, and 149 (91%) investigation files were closed without filing any indictments against suspects.” And what reasons are given for the closure of a staggering 91 percent of files — 91 were closed on grounds of “perpetrator unknown” (61%) and 43 cases were closed on grounds of “lack of evidence” (28%). The methods used in investigations by the Israeli Police in the Samaria and Judea districts are designed to ensure failure. Yesh Din observes that:
The Yesh Din findings are not an aberration. The group reports that when in 2006 it first examined the record of the Israeli Police in the Samaria and Judea districts it found that the rate of closure of files without any further action being taken was 90 percent. In other words, there has been no improvement in the two year interregnum. One of the loudest claims of the pro-Israel lobby is that it is, as Kevin Rudd wrote on December 10 2004, “a vibrant, democratic state in a region where democracy remains far from the norm.” But in genuine democracies law enforcement authorities do not discriminate on the basis of race. And Mr Rudd there can be no excuses for a nation that calls itself a democracy allowing so many serious criminal investigations to go into the “who cares, they are only Palestinians” basket. |
|
|
|
15 Comments
Israeli governments of the past 60 years, by their oppressive, ruthless and selfish treatment of the Palestinians, have done more to dishonour the memory of the Jews who died in the Holocaust than any of the hostile Middle Eastern countries. However, we must not forget the debt owed to Israelis, like Yesh Din, who stand up courageously for human rights and true democracy .
Of course, Rudd would say that; by his own admission, he is `passionate` about Israe. However, it`s not just because he is `afraid` of the Zionist lobby, it`s de rigeur if if you are a servile ally of the US, the way successive Australian Governments have been.
With respect, Steve, all that John James says is not “quite correct”. His references to “Arab cut-throats” are nothing more than crude racist slurs. The rest of his comments, as you point out, are simply an attempt to divert attention from the point of the article. John kindly adds the obligatory paranoid rant about the so-called “Left”. Israel might well say “With friends like John, who needs enemies?”
I think Israel does remarkably well in maintaining the open society that it does given the band of Arab cut-throats with whom it has to deal. Here you begin to see the Left in all its glory when it aligns itself, as it always does, with the cut-throats. Israel has a mult-party democracy, an open and free press, an independent judiciary, freedom of religious expression and of course groups like Yesh Din operate with impunity. Can you imagine a similar group operating under the auspices of Hezbollah or Hamas? Israel returned the Sinai to its vanquished foe , Egypt, and has attempted to assist Lebanon deal with Syrian terror as Muslim and Christian opponents of Syria are murdered. But for Hamas, a palestinian state would be much closer to fruition.
To call Israel a “democracy” is farcical as a number of respected commentators have noted for years. Quite apart from its appalling treatment of ther Palestinians Isreal is consistently defying UN resolutions; it has defied a ruling of the World Court; it continues to build a wall (rarely shown on tv for what it is); it continues to confiscate Palestinian land for its “settlers”, it continues to bomb and otherwise attack its neighbours; and it continues to be the major source of agitation for policies that enable its expansion of territory and influence for a ‘greater Isreal” as set out in documents over the years.
In truth it is no more a democracy than Zimbabwe but it continues to get a free ride from the Australian Press and politicians like Rudd who are more afraid of the local Israel lobby than they are concerned for the legitimate rights of one of the most appalling oppressed groups anywhere in the world.
Who cares? I do and it enrages me that the Australian government cares so little.
“Its a fool or a bigot who sets their benchmark to the performance of others” So kevin, tell me what the benchmark is for the Arabs. Or is only the Jews who have a benchmark to meet?
John James, are you suggesting that, just because many Arab nations are autocratic, it gives Israel the right to treat its own indigenous civilians like dogsh*t? If Arabs torture their civilians, that therefore gives Israel the right to torture its civilians?
If so, it shows that you really have no Jewish morals. Or Christian or Moslem ones either. Real Jews believe that G-d has set down certain standards of behaviour which aren’t determined by some relativist measure of what others do.
From your language and logic, I can only conclude that, whatever you are, you certainly couldn’t be a proper Jew.
John James #3: Of course the Arabs should have benchmarks to meet if they are to become democracies.But to imply that that Israel,already a democracy doesn’t have to be any better than an Arab autocracy like Egypt, or Syria is silly. It’s like schoolboys saying “he started it first” or being challenged saying “he’s worse than me”. It’s irrelevant.
Israel is a democracy albeit apparently run by pretty corrupt politicians, but what’s new,we have a few here in Australia.
Whatever the way that Israel came into existence,and there were some pretty terrible events at the beginning,the fact is that Israel is de jure a state;and as such is entitled to defend itself against terrorists and/or other states..
But for a deocracy to have it’s Supreme Court to rule that torture was permissible in exigent circumstances is not the mark of a domocratic society.
Nor is the continuing dispossesion of Palestians from their internationally recognized land to make way for illegal settlements.
Nor it is the mark of a democracy to inflict communal punishment in reponse to terror attacks; apart from anything else it’s illegal under international law.
There is much more that could be written about abuse of legal process by the Israeli authorities.
It really is a shame because as you say Israel is a denocracy,albeit a flawed one if some of it’s citizens are not equal under the law in practice.
It’s I suppose natural after the abandonment of the Jewish people and the resulting holocaust if they look trat with contempt the opinions of those countries that abandoned them in the 1930s and 40s.
To John James: Is it because of Hamas that Israel is continually building new settlements?
Frank, Kevin , Show me the Arab state which is a multi party democracy, which has regular elections in which there is freedom to dissent and which respects human rights? Show me which Arab state surpases Israel. About the closest you’ll come is Iraq, and, boys, we dont want to discuss why that is, do we? You guys are a little like Thabo Mbeki dealing with Robert Mugabe, two heroes of the revolutionary Left, straining out gnats while you swallow camels! ( Arab camels ) .
Arafat was corrupt as is Fatah, that’s why Hamas prevailed. Hamas and Hezbollah are surrogates for Iran whose President has suggested israel should be wiped off the face of the earth while he continues to develop nuclear weapons and flout the IAEA much like Saddam, whom you boys apologise for regularly, also resisted UN inspection teams.
All that JohnJames says is quite correct but the point of the article is that Israeli Palestinians are not receiving the benefits of Israeli democracy.
Wow, That’s a first for me! Being accused of being a secular Jew. But I think some of you ‘lovers of democracy’, qualified though that may be, have lost the thread of this exchange. Several of the postings described israel as being ” like Zimbabwe”, ” intellectually and morally corrupt’ and denied it was or is a democracy even “Nazis” ( Bizarre! ) Of course countries can improve, that’s part of the human condition, but Israel is doing remarkably well in not preventing democratic exchange when all its neighbours are trying to destroy Israel or are indifferent to its survival and are stifling any attempt at the openess we demand of Israel. Surely a large part of the difficulties in the Middle east would be avoided if the Arabs were as open as Israel.
When we were at war we deprived German and Italian Australians of some of their liberty because it was considered necessary to secure the civilian population safety.
The new settlement issue is fiercely debated within Israel itself. Sharon withdrew Israeli soldiers from Gaza and tore down some Jewish settlements. Some of the hard line Jews regard Sharon as a traitor. Thats why Rabin was assassinated. So, lets insist on benchmarks, but for all the players!
John James: it’s a fool or bigot who sets their moral compass according to the performance of others. Your response sounds remarkably like the shrill NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, or AJAC, response to criticism of any substance. Or like the Israeli Nazis who jackboot their way around the region, bent on revenge against… anyone…’cos we’ll kill anyone who doesn’t meet our expectations.
As for the validity of all of your latest points, Israel has always been the prima facie militiarist bully boy in the region, or instigator, while the hapless, badly led, fragmented Arabs & Palestinians continue to the poorly armed victims.
Despite Anthony Cordingly’s blanket rejection during the Q & A during his visit to the Lowy Institute, of the possibility of Israel returning to its pre 1967 borders , there will be no lasting peace until that occurs. The 41 year war continues, and will do so until:
a) there’s nuclear stand off over Israel OR
b) the pre 1967 borders are observed.
c) The water supply is returned to the region
It’s quite simple really..for everyone except the idiot Israeli militarists.
It is worth reading “Breaking the Silence - Soldiers testimonies 2005-2007” on some of the events occurring in Israel.
The web address: http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/index_e.asp
is worth a browse.
I don’t care whether you are religious or not. If the state you call “Jewish” and whose actions you support does not behave in accordance with Jewish values, it cannot be called a Jewish state. Judaism isn’t about nationality or race. It is abouit values.