My latest column for online magazine New Matilda analyses the recent Israeli elections and its central theme - “racism”:
Back in 2003, Israel’s then deputy Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, told Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot that he was against the Jewish State retaining the occupied Palestinian territories. He said that if Israel did not withdraw soon, the Palestinian population would outnumber Jews, and Israel would become an apartheid state.
His reasons for wanting to abandon the occupation had nothing to do with human rights, but rather, a desire to maintain a Jewish majority in the State of Israel. This so-called pragmatism is at the heart of current Israeli thinking.
My New Matilda archive is here.
Racism eh? is it a problem you think?
“…a Jewish settler who last year shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian civilian in Gaza has been sentenced by a Bir Shiva court to two years in prison, Aljazeera.net’s Khaled Amayreh reports from the West Bank.
The Palestinian victim reportedly remains incapacitated by a potentially lifelong disability.
The incident occurred in June when Daniel Finner, 39, shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian civilian at the Muwasi neighbourhood in central Gaza.
The presiding judge, Rachel Barkai, said the defendant did not think that shooting a Palestinian was of any importance and returned to his home in the settlement of Tapuah, completely confident that he wouldn’t be punished for his action.
The killing took place before the
Israel withdrawal from Gaza
Palestinian judicial officials denounced the “extremely light sentence”, calling it “a tacit encouragement to murder”.
Hanna Issa, director-general of the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Justice, told Aljazeera.net that when Palestinians are wrongfully victimised or even killed by Israeli settlers or soldiers, Israeli courts even ignore the country’s own criminal laws.
He said Finner should have received at least a 10-year jail sentence for deliberately and premeditatedly trying to kill the Palestinian.
Issa added that he didn’t believe the defendant would complete his term in jail.
“I have no doubt that he would be released very soon, either by a presidential pardon, or because of the occurrence of a holiday or simply for good conduct.”
What, it was an ACCIDENT!! what do you think we are, animals?