The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a new war on Palestinians in Gaza, a war whose purported justifications make George W. Bushs excuses for his illegal invasion of Iraq smell nice by comparison. So far, the United States, Netanyahus chief enabler, has been unwilling to stop the carnage, as it could easily do, because Washington hasnt yet heard enough complaint from Americans not to use their tax dollars to kill children in Gaza. Once the [three kidnapped Israeli yeshiva] boys disappearance was known, troops began a massive, 18-day search-and-rescue operation, entering thousands of homes, arresting and interrogating hundreds of individuals, racing against the clock. Only on July 1, after the boys bodies were found, did the truth come out: The government had known almost from the beginning that the boys were dead. It maintained the fiction that it hoped to find them alive as a pretext to dismantle Hamas West Bank operations. The initial evidence was the recording of victim Gilad Shaers desperate cellphone call to Moked 100, Israels 911. When the tape reached the security services the next morning -- neglected for hours by Moked 100 staff -- the teen was heard whispering Theyve kidnapped me (hatfu oti) followed by shouts of Heads down, then gunfire, two groans, more shots, then singing in Arabic. That evening searchers found the kidnappers abandoned, torched Hyundai, with eight bullet holes and the boys DNA. There was no doubt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately placed a gag order on the deaths. Journalists who heard rumors were told the Shin Bet wanted the gag order to aid the search. For public consumption, the official word was that Israel was acting on the assumption that theyre alive. It was, simply put, a lie. [...] [Netanyahus] rhetoric raised expectations that after demolishing Hamas in the West Bank he would proceed to Gaza. Hamas in Gaza began preparing for it. The Israeli right -- settler leaders, hardliners in his own party -- began demanding it.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 15:14:06 +0000
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