Horrible scenes as Israeli security forces beat the funeral procession for slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the crowd momentarily lose control of her casket pic.twitter.com/DEJF5Ty9tZ
— Emir Nader (@EmirNader) May 13, 2022
Israel has sunk to a new low even I thought it could not reach. It summoned Anton Abu Aqleh to a Jerusalem police station yesterday and warned if he personally didn’t control crowds at today’s funeral for his murdered sister, Palestinian journalist, Shireen Abu-Aqleh, that the police would take action to “preserve order.” That’s a euphemistic locution for breaking heads.
Sure enough, mourners accompanying her casket to the gravesite waved Palestinian flags and shouted nationalist slogans. Just the sort of “unrest” the police expected and even looked forward to, in a perverse way. Because Israeli police are programmed like Pavlov’s Dog to salivate at the sight of Palestinian resistance. It gets the juices flowing and sets the arms flailing. The police need to have a reason to exist and this is it. Now, they can go to their political funders and the general citizenry and say “you see what we’re protecting you from?” We do the dirty work so you don’t have to.
It’s an obscene phenomenon. It essentially lets the Israeli Jewish citizen off the hook. They don’t have to do the due diligence citizens in democratic states have to. They don’t have to hold their representatives, whether political or security, accountable for their actions. They give over to these state forces any power they may have to right wrongs or redress grievances.
That’s why I’ve called Israel a police state. Perhaps not for Israeli Jews (unless you are a “leftist,” in which case you are a “traitor” and it’s open season), but certainly for all Palestinians: not just those beyond the Green Line like these poor souls escorting Shireen Abu Aqleh’s casket; but also Israeli Palestinians. In the latter case, the police barely police their communities. They in effect let gangs and thugs take over, creating a lawless No Man’s Land rife with social unrest and violence. Yet another indication that Israel is a state meant only for Jews, with all others an afterthought, if that.
Police states need their informers and collaborators among the general population and Israel has just that: legions of hasbara warriors who frequent this site and even monitor social media. In almost military terms, they amplify their use of force by concentrating on the most egregiously damaging content and mass reporting it. As I noted in yesterday’s post, when I published a link to that post on Facebook, it did create a post in my timeline, but it refused to upload the accompanying image. So there is a blank space where the image should display. My social media publishing app, Buffer, generated an error message saying that Facebook had determined that the image was objectionable content based on “users” reporting it for being “abusive.” That is pro-Israel militants protecting the police state from accountability and suppressing the worst of its excesses.
You will see it here in comment threads, those apparently either lurking or assigned to monitor this site and post “pushback” comments aping the pro-Israel line. They don’t even bother to pretend sympathy for the dead (unless they are Israeli Jews). This is a digital war for them and there is no room for empathy or even nuance. Some even resort to name-calling, attempts to induce shame for betraying the tribe, etc. Some of those you don’t even see because I refuse to post the most offensive of this content.
Returning to the funeral, as the mourners shouted defiance the police waded into the crowd, fists and Billy clubs flying. Heads were smashed, bones broken. Worst of all, the police even assaulted the pallbearers holding aloft Shireen’s coffin. The police released their own statement full of half-truths and outright lies as obediently regurgitated by this media mouthpiece of the apartheid state:
Israeli police said late Friday that officers intervened in the funeral of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jerusalem earlier in the day after “rioters” seized her coffin at the hospital, against her family’s wishes.
Officers charged Palestinians who were holding and surrounding the casket, and beat them with batons, nearly toppling the coffin. Images of the incident sparked global shock and condemnation.
“About 300 rioters arrived at Saint Joseph hospital in Jerusalem and prevented the family members from loading the coffin onto the hearse,” police said in a statement late Friday night.
Nope, just nope. Here’s my strong conviction regarding what likely happened. When the police summoned Anton Abu Aqleh to the station, they dictated to him what would happen at the funeral. They warned him that if anything deviated from that scenario, then the police would do whatever was necessary to “restore order.” So no, the family did not request anything nor did it agree to anything. The terms were dictated by police and Anton was told to obey. Even if he did agree, it was not by volition. It was an agreement under duress at best. The police engaged in this charade for just this purpose: they could say that when they had that nice chat with that nice boy, he asked them to maintain order. And that they’re only obliging his request. This is rancid and offensive.
Now, after the pogrom they caused, the police are twisting reality like a stale pretzel, turning it into the desired shape before it crumbles into thousands of pieces. In Palestine, Israel won’t even let Palestinians die in peace. They must be subjected to the same degradation they face in life. They cannot reach their final resting place without fighting their way in the face of Israeli hatred and violence.
Le Monde has now joined the chorus of international voices demanding an independent investigation of Shireen’s murder. A common, sensible approach. While the US demands the unthinkable: that the murderers be permitted to investigate their own murder.
When will Biden get off his a* and recognize this is a powder keg that will blow up in his face. Does he want US citizens to be treated this way in Israel, Palestine and throughout the world? Does he expect that China, Russia, and other totalitarian countries won’t take notice of our indifference to the fate of our murdered citizens?
Agreed though I would have gone further! Words don’t describe the vile actions of Israel’s police goons
See:
TERROR IN PALESTINE – TERROR IN JENIN
Israeli Animals Attack the Funeral Cortege of Assassinated Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh
Even the British Army didn’t attack the funerals of IRA men but Israel has no respect for Palestinians
https://azvsas.blogspot.com/2022/05/terror-in-palestine-terror-in-jenin.html
The police action at the funeral was wrong, but their overreaction was in response to the mourners attempt to politicize the funeral.
Dozens of water bottles were hurled at the police.
https://foxsanantonio.com/newsletter-daily/israeli-police-beat-mourners-with-batons-at-journalists-funeral-local-san-antonio-texas-niece-family-memorial-service-death
Hahaha. You’re justification of police brutality is disgusting. Pallbearers, who were getting kicked and beaten with batons , were also somehow throwing ‘dozens of water bottles’ at the same time they were holding her coffin ???
[comment deleted: one comment per thread. Don’t do this again. And a single IP address as well for all comments you publish here.]
what kind of idiot are you? the murder of a journalist by Israel’s military was political. So dozens of water bottles were thrown at those who were using batons and fists? Terrible.
Occupation, military repression, land theft, attacks on children don’t come out of nowhere. They are inherent in the politics of a racist ‘Jewish’ state
@ You ain’t no Lord Byron: Aw, the police must just be butthurt that angry Palestinians, whose beloved journalist was murdered in cold blood, threw a few water bottles at them. Gee, that’s terrible. In that case, I take it all back. Those mean, nasty Palestinian thugs deserved every last bit of what the cops gave them. That’ll teach ’em a lesson. Daring the raise their arms against our brave Judeo Blackshirts, the pride of the Jewish nation.
Tony gets to make two comments, but I’m gagged.
Really, the joke is on you.
@Lord: I like Tony. And BTW he and I don’t always agree. But he’s a mensch What I think of your views is best left unsaid.
what where those fascist thugs ( ‘Border Police’ ) doing there, it’s the occupied East Jerusalem, no?…ooh, and they were so eager to confiscate any and all Palestinian flags…what a pathetic, neurotic and simple-minded bunch of Zionists actually
@willem
Aren’t Palestinians outraged when Jews wave Israeli flags on the Temple Mount?
@ Trouble: You give “simple” a bad name. First, Israel has no religious, or any claim on the streets of East Jerusalem where this police pogrom happened. It is Palestine and the world does not recognize any Israeli claim there. So it has no right to determine who, what or which flag is flown there. Second, East Jerusalem streets are not sacred space for Jews. So the notion that Israeli police should view the streets as the same as the Kotel is preposterous
Are you the best that Hasbara Central has to offer??
“ It is Palestine and the world does not recognize any Israeli claim there. ”
Mmmm…not so fast.
The United States recognizes and un-divided Jerusalem as the capitol of the State of Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Embassy_Act
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-104publ45/pdf/PLAW-104publ45.pdf
@ Becky: NO! Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s. The only reason Biden hasn’t rescinded the recognition is that he’d feel the fury of the Israel Lobby. So I don’t care what the purported policy is. The policy was adopted by an American monster. No Americans except right wing pro Israel Jews and some Christina evangelicals accept this policy.
But hey, if you want to hold up Donald Trump as Israel’s monster, be my guest.
The Jerusalem Embassy Act (see link, above), was a law passed by both Houses of Congress in 1995, and has nothing to do with Donald Trump. President Clinton was in office when the law was passed.
You obviously don’t like this law, but you must concede that the United States has recognized Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem.
@ trouble man: You either don’t know what the Embassy Act was; or you do know and you’re deliberately mischaracterizing what it was. It was a law passed which expressed the wish that the US move its embassy. However, it offered a president an easy way out by saying it was up to his or her discretion when and whether to implement. Curiously, no president chose to do so for the past 25 years until Trump came along and blew up Israel-US relations and practically blew up the Republic.
I do not recognize that Israel has sovereignty over both east and west Jerusalem. I do not agree that the US should recognize Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem by housing its embassy in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a disputed city, not a united one. East Jerusalemites reject Israeli sovereignty as does most of the world. Almost all Americans who even know about the issue disagree with Israel’s position and the move of the embassy. Not even most American Jews agree with the move. Biden only maintains Trump’s horrible decision because he would have to cross the Lobby to reverse it.
This topic is over. It is off-topic to begin with. In future, if you continue to post off topic comments it will further jeopardize your participation here.
Jerusalem was supposed to be an international city and a shared Capitol between the Jewish; nation-state of Israel, and the nascent nation-state of Palestine (the latter of which is comprised of West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab East Jerusalem). Jewish West Jerusalem is supposed to be the Capitol of Israel, and Arab East Jerusalem the Capitol of Palestine.
It’s high time that the international community moved in and enforced the 2-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared Capitol between the two nation-states of Israel and Palestine.
[comment deleted: this is way off-topic. Comments must be directly related to the topic of the post.]
richard richard richard, really do you expect anything to happen really, is that what your medical marijane cloud tells you, need i remind you that except for scotus all branches of us gov are funded by aipac. really your cloud forgot that, nah ah, nada’s gonna change,
you say israel is a country for jews, nah ah, its a country for RICH BILLIONAIRES JEWS, NOT REGULAR FLOOR CLEANING JEWS. there isn’t a single anything rich in here that does not have it’s legs in dirty money one way or another whether its obvious or not so obvious, nothing happens here that does not start from rich dirty hands that would not be able to do the same thing anywhere else in the whole world. without the protection of the entire knesset for IAI to NSO from leviev to abramovic
smell the koffee, please
just to make my point, there isn’t a single law protecting renters. not one
there isn’t a single law, making sure the construction of buildings with apartments to rent. not one. this country is the real estate far west, come buy as many holes in the wall as you wish, you wont pay taxes and we wont tell the irs either. do you think most shmos have on average no less than half a million us greenbacks to buy an 80sq mr apt. nah ah. come look at tel aviv new 5th ave sky scrappers that retails for no less than 6.000.000 us $ as base price. are these for you and me, nah ah
Wtf