In the bloody aftermath of the Anatot pogrom, in which women were violently sexually abused, limbs were broken, and one attacker attempted to stab a protester to death with a knife (captured on video), the settler residents have been given a huge gift (Hebrew) by the state attorney general. He’s determined that despite the fact that there were numerous off duty police officers among the pogromists, that the police will investigate the incident. This is like asking Bernie Madoff to investigate his own Ponzi scheme. It’s worse than laughable. It’s criminal (metaphorically, of course).
The settlers are of course overjoyed and expect that the police will investigate those nasty peace activists who disturbed the peace in their community. No mention at all of the bloodshed and brute force they used against their fellow citizens that night. The state has thrown a sop to the protesters by claiming that any charges against police officers will be referred to the attorney general for investigation. And who will be investigating? Shai Nitzan. The same fellow who’s been railroading Dirar Abusisi on behalf of the state for the past year or so. This fellow really gets around. He’s got his plate full what with sending innocent Palestinians to prison and keeping guilty police officers out of jail for beating up their fellow Israelis.
If Israel can’t investigate this massacre properly then perhaps it will require an international body to do so. The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights plans to speak with eyewitnesses and victims. The state clearly doesn’t care about the rule of law insofar as settlers are concerned. Perhaps it may be more accountable when international bodies are involved. The only thing that got Israel to take seriously the crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead was the United Nations’ Goldstone Report. Without it, neither Israel nor the world would never have taken these charges seriously.
On a related matter, an Israeli source told me that the Jewish terror suspects in the Tuba Zangariyye mosque arson would be freed without charges and that is indeed what has happened. The police do now hold another person in custody. My source tells me he’s a school child barely tall enough to reach his belt buckle. It was this boy’s misfortune to be in Yisrael Katz’s vehicle when it was stopped by Ariel police on the night of the arson attack. Astonishing (from an Israeli Jewish point of view) that the police will arrest not only Palestinian children, but Jewish as well. Do they really think a child burned the mosque?
The fact that the Shabak has no credible suspects (at least none it will arrest) further confirms the hypocritical statements from Bibi Netanyahu and Shimon Peres after the assault in which they swore the state would bring its full power to bear on those responsible and punish them to the full extent…blah, blah, blah.
So for those keeping score at home, that makes Jewish Terror 2=Rule of Law 0.
“ANATOT POGROM: STATE SAYS POLICE TO INVESTIGATE ITSELF” – well, I find it kind of funny. In your opinion who or which authority should investigate this incident? In NYC the The Internal Affairs Bureau investigates allegations of corruption and serious misconduct against members of the NYPD. So what’s the difference? I will tell you. The difference is that in Israel it’s not the police which investigates itself, but the police investegation department which is part of the Justice Office. So there is nothing that is unusual about this investigation. Are you really serious about your suggestion that another international commitee would be appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (that of course is not biased. Only that its members come from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Angola and alot of others whom may known for their close caring about human rights) to invesgate these events? Maybe Goldstone?;) I found it really amusing when you say it. Why don’t you call for an investigation about the *really* on going massacre in Syria?
“I think that if Israel can’t investigate this massacre properly” – I can’t understand. Are you indicating that there was a massacre in Anatot?
“In the bloody aftermath of the Anatot pogrom, in which women were violently sexually abused” – I’ve read carefully your post about the “Sexsual Abuse” and I couldn’t really understand what kind of abuse are you talking about. When someone get beat up and his clothes are torned there isn’t any element of sexsual abuse if there wasn’t any intention to abuse. Furthermore, by calling to one “go fuck with Arabs” there isn’t any abuse either. You can hear it on soccer matches when fans call it to the referee (although there is a law against it which was the factor for a dramatically decrease in these calls) as you can hear from Arabs fans “go fuck with jews”. I think that yo can’t call neither of these calls “Sexsual Abuse”.
“Do they really think a child burned the mosque?” – Maybe someone asked him to do so. The same applies not only for Jews. It applies for young Palestinians too. See on the attached link about the young palestinians who were sent by others with pipe charges: http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3071732,00.html#n
I can although say that when you grow up with fanatics there is the possibility that you will do things like that. Even if you are a child.
Not always, and certainly not in cases of egregious misconduct like Anatot. There have been many independent investigations of NYPD corruption and also investigations led by district attorneys rather than IAD. That’s precisely what the protesters demanded. That the attorney general conduct an independent inquiry that would certainly still whitewash the police, but at least not be deeply implicated even before it began deliberating. Since Israel cannot properly investigate such conduct the High Commissioner for Human Rights involvement is welcome.
BTW, in yr ignorance you’re confusing the UN Human Rights Council with the Commission for Human Rights. They are NOT the same. THe former is a group of UN member states. The latter is a professional UN organization which is run by staff & not member states. You’ve made a serious & sloppy error.
As for the term ‘massacre,’ dictionaries note one meaning of the word as “inflicting a serious defeat” with other synonyms being “bloodshed” and “carnage.” Those are entirely apt descriptions of the horrific violence of that night in Anatot & following in the village of Jalud.
Only a man could write such stupidity. When a woman is violently stripped naked and forced to present her body publicly before male attackers that is sexual abuse. If you don’t see that then I don’t have anything more to say to you. If you persist in being so cruel & stupid your comments may no longer be welcome here. There’s a limit to the level of male chauvinist obtuseness I’ll tolerate here.
A perfect example of the brutality, coarseness & verbal corruption of Israeli life. Telling a woman (not a man, as in the case of a referee) to engage in an act of sodomy with an Arab is as clear a case of sexual abuse as I can think of.
“That the attorney general conduct an independent inquiry that would certainly still whitewash the police, but at least not be deeply implicated even before it began deliberating” – I guess that justice ministry is not qualified to do that. Only district attornies.
“Since Israel cannot properly investigate such conduct the High Commissioner for Human Rights involvement is welcome” – Are you suggesting that the UN should investigate the HR violations in Syria, Turkey, Egypt and more? Or only Israel?
Are you suggesting that the standard of democracy and law in Israel is roughly on the same order as, say, Syria?
The UN human rights commissioner does investigate violations whereever it finds them & probably is already investigating them in those countries. You might want to visit its website before making yrself look uninformed.
How can Israelis permit this breakdown of law, justice, human rights, etc? Is this what the next war will be like? Citizen pogroms cheered-on by the police and army, Palestinians forbidden to protect themselves?
Is this how the final expulsion will happen? Ultimate destruction of olive trees, cisterns, water systems, then village structures, finally people? Settlers like hungry lions let into a butcher shop?
And the world look on. Ho-hum. (Why don;’t those pesky Palestinians make peace? Why do they still refuse to negotiate? They deserve everything that happens to them!)
I am increasingly conscious of the state’s inability (not mere reluctance) to control fanatics on the right. This is a scary phenomenon for Israeli society as it is polarizing. Israel’s government can no longer enforce the law, except against Palestinians, so the state is becoming the yahoo land of the West Bank. There may be significant irony here as the state willfully promoted settlements only to be ignored by the settlers, who like bandits everywhere “make their own law.” Israel is now both a fascinating incubatorof confused and corrupted energies, and a source of shame and despair for me personally.
Indeed, if it wasn’t so sad and absurd, it was hilarious.
One disagreement:
You got it wrong about Shay Nitzan. He is actually an honest and responsible state and law officer. The fact that he is actually doing his job, also regarding the illegalities in the west bank, caused many violent right winged threats on his life, and a dangerous and public attack on the juridical system by criminal extremists such as Michal Ben Ari.
See here:
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4088490,00.html
and here:
http://www.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-258502-00.html
I didn’t get it wrong. Shai Nitzan is railroading Dirar Abusisi’s case & offering an innocent man 20 yrs in prison. Whatever else good Nitzan may’ve done isn’t outweighed by the injustice of the state’s treatment of Abusisi.