The cycle of terror attacks by Palestinians against Israeli Jews has set everyone’s teeth on edge. The Jews are baying for blood and the Palestinians are enraged by the thousands of Israeli troops invading their villages and arresting hundreds of their brothers, sons and husbands.
#شاهد لحظة إعدام قوات الاحتلال للشهيدة غادة سباتين في بلدة حوسان غرب بيت لحم.
الشهيدة هي أرملة وأم لستة اطفال. pic.twitter.com/vvtp6WTp3j
— Newpress | نيو برس (@NewpressPs) April 10, 2022
Yesterday, two Palestinian women were executed in cold blood at West Bank checkpoints. Ghada Sabateen, 47 a partially-blind, widow and mother of six was crossing the road at a checkpoint. Soldiers grew suspicious and shouted at her to stop. When she continued moving toward them they shot her. She was unarmed. They let her bleed to death. As if this execution wasn’t bad enough, the Israeli hasbara apparatus is in full force on social media defaming the victim’s memory, claiming she wielded a knife, she intended to kill Jews, she was a terrorist, the soldiers fired in self-defense, etc. This is unconscionable. It is disgusting.
But when you live in a country like Israel you are subject to a form of mass psychosis. An entire nation whose very existence depends on mass violence and murder needs to maintain a powerful ability to deny reality. While individuals may be labeled psychopaths or sociopaths, Israel has become a nation afflicted with sociopathology. It must deny it is murdering the innocent. It must deny its evil acts by justifying them as justified, even righteous. Like the sociopath, Israel has no conscience. It does not know right from wrong. Or at least, it can distort its evil in such a way that it becomes good.
The only way to do that is by transforming the victims into objects worthy of murder. It is not unlike the psychological process used by the Nazis to turn Jews into rats or vermin. Transforming a people from human to sub-human is a critical step on the road to mass extermination. Israel hasn’t quite gotten there yet, as the Nazis did. But give it time.
Israeli Jews are delighted to throw around epithets like “terrorist” or “animal” when describing Palestinian attacks against them. But make no mistake, murders like that of Ghada Sabateen are no less acts of terror, state terror in fact. Palestinians have every right to engage in their own form of resistance against such overwhelming mass violence targeting them. Israel has a clear choice: it can continue to be state engaged in war crimes and mass murder; or it can be a state of all its citizens. It’s one or the other. There is no middle ground. And if it chooses the former, it will reap what it sows: a terror state generates terror in response.
The leader of the Palestinian Knesset delegation, MK Ayman Odeh, produced a video (above) at the Damascus Gate. He stands at the entrance to the Old City through which many Palestinians enter on their way to pray at the Haram al Sharif during the holy month of Ramadan. The Gate has been the site of mass riots by Israeli Border Police beating Palestinian youth. Palestinian citizens have complained that Israel stations Palestinian officers at these locations which, in effect, forces them to engage in acts of brutality against their own people.
In his video, Odeh called on all Israeli Palestinians serving in the police, army or other security services to quit their jobs and stop damaging their own people. He rightly notes that a very small number of such individuals serve in these roles (he estimates 1.5-2%). But the symbolism of Palestinians beating their own both delights many Israeli Jews; and angers the Palestinian victims fighting for their national rights.
To be clear, Israeli Palestinians face enormous poverty in their villages. Good jobs are almost impossible to find. Training for professional occupations is almost non-existent. Conversely, Israeli security jobs pay well and offer a certain level of prestige among Israeli Jews (if not their Palestinian brothers and sisters). Who can fault a man for wanting to feed his family and offer his children a future?
Odeh’s video was met with outrage by far-right Israeli politicians, including PM Bennett, who falsely called it a “criminal” act. Odeh was called a terrorist. Some demanded he be expelled from the Knesset. The venom and spleen only further confirm the deeply embedded hate and racism in Israeli society. It further confirms that there is no hope that Israeli Jews will ever compromise with Palestinians. Barring outside intervention, there will never be an independent Palestinian state; nor will there ever be a single democratic Israeli-Palestinian state. Conditions will only worsen. Lives lost will only increase.
Those who believe the worst outcome cannot happen in Israel must remember those of us, the majority of Americans, who scoffed at the prospect of Donald Trump winning the presidency. But the worst did happen. And it is only a miracle he didn’t rend the Republic and destroy two centuries of American democracy. If Bibi Netanyahu or any future Israel PM amasses the unbridled power Trump did, I do not doubt that Israel could forcibly expel its 1-million Palestinian citizens or the 2 1/2 million occupied Palestinians. It could engage in mass murder.
As unlikely as that seems–and many may say we’re nowhere near that point–many said the same when Trump was but a glimmer in the eye of the American voter. Don’t ever imagine Israel can’t go there, because it can. The worst can happen. It did in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, and Nazi Germany. Don’t ever think that a thin veneer of civilization or democracy can prevent the unthinkable. It could happen here.
If you know Arabic and have the technical expertise to caption Odeh’s video either in Hebrew or English, please let me know.
The video suspiciously begins just a second before the fatal shot is fired.
Was a warning shot fired, as had been reported? Did the soldiers yell at her to stop?
We can’t say from this suspicious video, which begs the question or where is the original, unedited video?
We do see the woman running towards the soldier, and the soldier firing down at her lower body.
She doesn’t appear to have been shopping or carrying anything, so what was the woman doing there, alone, in the first place?
@ Mynah:
You’ve watched a video of an unarmed half-blind Palestinian widow shot in cold blood and you have the chutzpah to call the video account of the killing “suspicious?” What is wrong with you? Have you lost all semblance of decency?
Of course, there is no video before the shots were fired. Do you think the person who took the video knew in advance to start their camera because a murder was about to take place? After Israeli forces murder Palestinians in these circumstances there is a template response: the soldiers commanded her to stop, they fired warning shots, they shoot in the lower extremities, etc. But these are after the fact lies pasted into a narrative that exonerates Israel from liability and blames the victim.
I’ll pose a question: a woman is walking down a street at night. She is accosted, raped, then murdered. A witness records video of the crime. When we see the video, do we say “What was she doing before the video began?” Did the killer do something before the video began that would justify his actions? Did she curse him? Did she pull out a knife and threaten him? No of course not, she is dead. We presume that a murder victim is not responsible for her own murder. And we presume the killer could have no possible justification for committing such a horrible crime.
Yet, you in your awesome presumption look for excuses and reasons to explain or defend the murder. I find that morally repulsive.
Reminder: you are one of those who may now only post a single comment in any thread.
“Of course, there is no video before the shots were fired.Of course, there is no video before the shots were fired. ”
You’re assuming that this is cell phone video that someone took.
Too steady, and it focuses in on the scene, which a handheld cell phone taking a video cannot do.
The clarity of the video makes me think that this is a CCTV video that had been trained on the checkpoint for some time.
Maybe someone flicked the CCTV video on when he saw the woman, or maybe the CCTV had been recording the checkpoint as a matter of course, and therefore may have been edited.
Just sayin’.
“All who have died are equal.”- Comanche People
@ Shelly: I don’t know who or what took the video. Neither do you. Yours is pure speculation. But based on faulty premises.
For example, your experience with cell phones must be decades old because almost all models have the ability to zoom during a recording, including mine.
If it was CCTV “trained on the checkpoint” it would have been placed closer to the actual checkpoint. The distant view in most of the footage barely allows you to make out anything.
Not to mention that the 972 reporter who reported this story said that this was a flying checkpoint only set up on occasions when youths threw stones at soldiers. It was not a permanent checkpoint, so there would be little reason to place a CCTV camera there.
As for editing the video footage, I knew you were going there. Hasbarists always go there. They always have to find a way, little though it may be, to defend murder. Murder of Palestinians: understandable and defensible. Murder of Israelis: an unbearable outrage. We get it. We know you.
Reminder: last comment in this thread.
“The Jews are baying for blood”
Aside from being a racist generalization, it is far from true.
There may be a large amount of Israeli Jews, even up to 50% who seek revenge= blood, but many/most Israeli Jews do not see the conflict in such terms. They want the perpertrators caught and tried, not murdered.
And of course most Jews living abroad are not baying for blood but wishing for negotiations and oppose the Israeli Government. (Reform Jews especially, the largest Jewish identification in the USA.)
Please retract your above quoted statement, or at least qualify it.
“The Jews are baying for blood”.
Most Israeli Jews are now going about their normal routine; shopping for the holidays, entertaining themselves and earning their daily bread.
The news cycle has ended and, like always, Israeli Jews have forgotten and moved on.
BTW. Do Palestinians ever ‘bay for blood’ after one of theirs is murdered?
@ Brickhouse: Don’t tell me what “most Israeli Jews” are doing, thinking or believing. I know just as much as you about what is happening inside Israel. Read the headlines of any publication in Israel and you will see that either you are lying, live in a bullble, or don’t know what the f* you’re talking about.
And don’t try your cynical s* about Israelis have “moved on” with their lives and more important things. You as well as I know that Israelis are obsessed with security and if they don’t think about it every day, it is only because they have placed their fate in the hands of murderous thugs who enforce security for them. But the fact that Israelis live in a moral bubble immune from considerations and repercussions from these thugs does not absolve them of responsibility. If after such murders, Israelis can do as you say and ignore the violence and ignore what’s been done in their name, it only further confirms the level of pathology and sociopathology from which Israelis suffer.
No further comments in this thread.
@ Shai:
Let’s get something straight: I don’t retract anything. I wrote it because it’s true. If you’re butt-hurt because of it, that’s your problem, not mine. Don’t try to make it mine. If I find that I made an error of fact I correct it. This isn’t remotely the case here.
The typical hasbara response to calling out Israel for mass murder, state terrorism, etc. is to shrey gevalt with terms like “racism,” “hate speech,” etc. Because, of course, you can’t charge Israel with such crimes because they are as lily white as the snows of yesteryear. Not to mention–how dare you accuse a people who were victims of genocide of the same types of crimes? It’s an outrage, etc.
I got news for ya: it ain’t true. NOne of it. Israel is a country like all others. It doesn’t get a “get out of jail card” because of past suffering. It won’t get a pass from me. If that makes you butt-hurt, see above.
Another problem with your claim: don’t deliberately misread my post in order to use it as a cudgel against me. If, on the other hand, your misreading is unintentional, then do better next time. IF you go back and read my original text I spoke of conditions in Israel. As such I juxtaposed Israeli “Jews” and “Palestinians.” In the sentence I wrote, “Jews” clearly referred to Israeli Jews, not all Jews. So DO NOT infer I was speaking of all Jews, as I wasn’t.
Further, most Diaspora Jews detest what Israel is doing. They may not be anti-Zionist, but they abhor the violence, the thousands of Paletinian dead. They have long lost patience with any possible Israeli defense of such crimes. So no, I would never ever say Diaspora Jews ‘bay for Palestinian blood.’
Further, my phrase did not say “all Jews.” It said “Jews.” You inferred “all” Jews when it was not justified by either my wording or the context.
You’re pulled that 50% number out of your hat (if not out of another organ). It’s not supported by any actual poll or evidence. Don’t make up s* just for your own convenience or because you have a hunch that this number is correct based on your own personal experience. Your own experience means gornisht in this context. Use credible sources and evidence when you wish to make such claims.
Actually, most Israelis not only want revenge=blood, they have no problem getting rid of anyone who kills “Jews” (their thinking, not mine) by any means necessary. But even if this were not the case and you were correct, it doesn’t matter what 50 0r 80 or 100% of Israei Jews want. What matters is what the state does. VOters elect leaders. Ministries direct personnel. THe personnel implement state policy. So if a Shabak agent or YAMAN commando executes a Palestinian, whether an attacker or a widow, in cold blood, the voter bears responsibility. They voted for the government which is responsible for such atrocious acts. So unless you voted for the Joint List, you’re responsible.
Do not post another comment in this thread.
Your explanation reminds me of reading the other day someone who justified shouting “Death to the Arabs” b/c clearly what was meant is “Death to terrorists”.
Would you accept that explanation? I didn’t and I bet you do not accept it as well.
Dear Mr. Silverstein,
May I add two remarks:
Yes, looking at the events lately, it is quite clear that there are instructions from the highest security forces’ command, following probably the ruling politicians’ instructions, to kill instead of overmaster and take into custody those suspected in violent actions.
And
Ayman Odeh, member of the Israeli parlement, is an Israeli citizen and not a Palestinian citizen. He is not like an American citizen who lives in Israel and call himself an American.
With all due respect to MP Odeh, he can decide any time to give up his Israeli citizenship and take the Palestinian one. Than he will become a Palestinian, following my understanding.
“Israel hasn’t quite gotten there (road to mass extermination) yet, as the Nazis did. But give it time.”
Richard:
Like, erecting KZ, gas chambers, crematoriums?
@Eli: You do understand the difference between “on the road” somewhere and full-throated genocide, don’t you? Who is to say Israel will need gas chambers or crematoria if it decides to mass exterminate Palestinians? It has many more “efficient” “tidier” ways to accomplish this. But it already has concentration camps. And Orthodox rabbis have already urged they be used against Palestinians. As I write, Genocide doesn’t happen in a day. It takes a gradual process of moral disintegration before society is ripe for such depravity. Israel isn’t quite there… Yet.
[comment deleted: you clearly did not read the comment rules before commenting here. You may not on any account ever slur me by referring to my mental state or health. Words like “demented” are absolutely unacceptable here. I have no problem with a critical comment that offers substance, and would respond to you if you write one without it devolving into cheap psychiatric mumbo-jumbo. And as for linking “typos” with my dementia, don’t even go there. If you want to engage in chicken-shit/gotcha needling, go elsewhere.
Read the comment rules and respect them if you ever try to publish again here.]
@Richard:
You may have a case here, but one would definitely admire Sharvul’s eloquent English. I wish my second language school English were as eloquent as his (not that I would have used it to psychologically analyze you, god forbid)
bright and courageous obvioudsly you don’t lack any of those qualities
“Israeli Palestinians face enormous poverty in their villages. Good jobs are almost impossible to find. Training for professional occupations is almost non-existent.”
The pharmacist who sells me medicine is a Palestinian Israeli. My wife’s cohort at the dept. of accounting at Hebrew U. was one third Palestinian Israeli (and this was 20 years ago, the numbers are bigger today). My company employs 5 Palestinian Israeli programmers. Last time I had surgery at Rabin hospital, the surgeon and the anestheologist were both Palestinian Israelis. And the list goes on.
You also forgot to mention that the social networks are filled with posts by Palestinian Israelis who are serving in the police or military, denouncing Odeh’s outrageous comment.
@ Sharvul:
These old saws would be charming if they weren’t so condescending. Yes, Palestinians often serve as pharmacists. But only because it’s almost impossible to get into and complete med school or any other professional medical field. Pharmacy is their only avenue to a professional field, even if it is far less remunerative and high-status than medicine itself.
What is the percentage of Israeli doctors who are Palestinian? Very low. What is the percentage who are professors? Also very low. Lawyers? Some because there are so many Palestinian security detainees who need legal defense. Judges? Some, but not many. Let’s not even talk about CEOs of major companies. What about prime ministers? None. Ministers? A few, but very few. Supreme Court justices? A few, but very few. The most prestigious professional fields are all but closed to Palestinians. So instead of giving me personal anecdotes about you surgeon and anaestheologist give me actual hard data. But you can’t but it won’t support your claims.
As for Palestinian police or military denouncing Odeh, the social networks can’t be “filled” with such comments because there are very few Palestinians who serve in these units. Of those who do, most are either Bedouin, Christian or Druze. Naturally, that small population is more favorable to the security services because, again, it’s one of the few decent jobs they can get. You will find almost no Palestinian Muslims in these units. And they are the vast majority of the overall Palestinian population.
“But only because it’s almost impossible to get into and complete med school or any other professional medical field”.
Sorry Richard but this is simply not true.
https://www.taubcenter.org.il/research/physicians-in-israel-heb/
@Richard:
You talk about doctors, professors, lawyers; well take a look a the the heads of the medicals units at the surgery division at איכילוב hospital and other hospitals all over the country (Ichilov picked at random just because my daughter works there, link attached).
Do you believe that their acceptance to med school was related to any numerus clausus? I don’t, so please don’t give the “what is the percentage” b..s.
https://www.tasmc.org.il/sites/en/Surgery/Pages/Surgery.aspx
@ Eli: The problem with what you’re doing is you’re offered selective, even anecdotal evidence. You can’t say a good record of inclusion at a single hospital reflects the record of an entire medical profession or country. It only reflects one particular institution. So again, show me the numbers for the entire country. Then compare those numbers to the number of Palestinians overall and you will see how badly Israeli falls short in almost every major professional category.
On a related matter: percentage of Israeli Palestinians in high-tech? Less than 2%: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/tech-news/.premium-only-1-of-arab-israelis-are-in-high-tech-with-a-wage-gap-to-boot-1.10291671
Israel’s Academic of Science & Humanities, its most prestigious academic body: 108 members, none Palestinian: https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-academy-of-sciences-has-no-arab-professors-1.5333512
Israeli judges? 7% are Palestinian. ONly 11 of these 52 judges serve on higher-level courts. Only 1 of nine Supere Court justices is Palestinian (25% of Israeli population is Palestinian): https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-still-too-few-arab-judges-1.5368696
PhD candidates: Less than 7%: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-status-of-arabs-in-israel
[comment deleted: I made very clear that comments demeaning the dead would not be permitted here. You’ve not only done that, you’ve added a dose of misogyny and Islamophobia to boot.]
Nothing in my comments was even close to what you accuse me with. But as you deleted my comment, others would not be able to judge.
As you can read Hebrew, read the following article about a research done by an American researcher. I will not disclose its content to avoid being deleted again.
@ old nag: The phrase “Why would an Arab woman…” is misogynist to its core. Not to mention she was a dead Palestinian woman. You have no right to insinuate murder victims have any responsibility for their own death, nor do they have to justify or explain themselves and their behavior to you or anyone.
Your Ynet article is similarly disgusting: to claim that Palestinian women who commit suicide bombings do so ” to purify themselves” from sexual disgrace is repulsive. You are now moderated. If you post such garbage again here I will ban you outright.