Human Rights Watch Accuses Israel of the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution


 

One reason I jettisoned my affiliation with the Liberal Party was when I realized there wasn't much liberal left in it.  Nothing made this so apparent as the Liberals fulsome embrace of Netanyahu's brutal regime, its blatant war crimes and the general persecution of the Palestinians.

Now, Human Rights Watch is shining a bright light on Israel's abuse of the Palestinians.

Human Rights Watch has accused Israeli officials of committing the crimes of apartheid and persecution, claiming the government enforces an overarching policy to “maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians”.

In a report released on Tuesday, the New York-based advocacy group became the first major international rights body to level such allegations. It said that after decades of warnings that an entrenched hold over Palestinian life could lead to apartheid, it had found that the “threshold” had been crossed.

“This is the starkest finding Human Rights Watch has reached on Israeli conduct in the 30 years we’ve been documenting abuses on the ground there,” said Omar Shakir, the group’s Israel and Palestine director. Shakir said his organisation had never before directly accused Israeli officials of crimes against humanity.


Comments

  1. Bill MalcolmApril 27, 2021 at 4:09 AM

    Interesting. I note that to get some state or university jobs in many benighted States of America, you essentially have to pledge allegiance to Israel and promise never to criticize it. Here in Canada, the IDF apparently recruits Canucks for their IDF.

    https://yvesengler.com/2021/04/24/challenging-illegal-israeli-military-recruitment-in-canada/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibApril 27, 2021 at 8:20 AM

      Hi, Bill. Thanks for the Engler link. I used to be very pro-Israel until I attended a lecture in officer school in the late 60s. The speaker was a Canadian infantry captain who had just finished a tour of peacekeeping on the Gaza Strip.

      The first thing this officer told us was not to believe what we were being fed in the media. Yes, there were Palestinian intrusions across the demilitarized zone but, he explained, they were eclipsed by the volume of Israeli attacks on Palestinians. Of the two, he put the blame squarely on the Israelis for fanning the flames.

      In my earlier blog I wrote several posts on Dahiyeh, the Israeli policy of attacking civilians, schools, hospitals, water and sewage treatment plants, all in direct contravention of the laws of war and human rights.

      Dahiyeh was a suburb of Beirut that Israeli jets leveled. It began with air strikes to take down the water, sewage and generating plants before moving on to schools, hospitals and residential neighbourhoods. At the time I thought this was bizarre. I had no idea this was a new policy of the IDF.

      After Beirut the Israelis brought their new way of waging war to Gaza, at least twice. We know this is a deliberate policy thanks to leaks of American diplomatic dispatches that related direct discussions US officials had with Israeli commanders.

      https://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.com/2015/09/gaza-goes-from-prison-camp-to-death-camp.html

      https://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.com/2018/05/so-youve-got-your-enquiry-now-what-are.html

      https://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.com/2019/01/heres-term-weve-come-to-ignore.html

      https://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.com/2018/04/its-funny-how-canada-lost-its-voice.html

      Delete
  2. Bill MalcolmApril 27, 2021 at 4:09 AM

    Interesting. I note that to get some state or university jobs in many benighted States of America, you essentially have to pledge allegiance to Israel and promise never to criticize it. Here in Canada, the IDF apparently recruits Canucks for their IDF.

    https://yvesengler.com/2021/04/24/challenging-illegal-israeli-military-recruitment-in-canada/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Northern PoVApril 27, 2021 at 6:05 AM

    "some state or university jobs in many benighted States of America, you essentially have to pledge allegiance to Israel and promise never to criticize it"

    Well, I guess Canada is one of those ' benighted States of America'

    "‘Anti-Palestinian racism’: Appointment row at Toronto university
    University of Toronto’s law school allegedly blocks hiring of scholar due to her work on Israel’s human rights abuses."

    ReplyDelete
  4. Northern PoVApril 27, 2021 at 6:14 AM

    Mound, I can't believe how deeply buried our former (Pearsonian) foreign policy is.
    Harper killed it.
    Jr buried it. (Under Freedland's direction.)
    It stinks and reflects poorly on all Canucks.
    And they don't even have the 'tRump excuse' anymore.


    Palestine/Israel
    Venezuela
    China
    Ukraine
    Russia
    Haiti
    Bolivia
    etc

    If we are ever again allowed world travel, wearing a smug maple leaf abroad will be a good way to get mugged or worse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibApril 27, 2021 at 8:26 AM

      The Liberals shifted to the right under Ignatieff and Trudeau the Lesser has stayed that course. That was a triggering event in my decision to walk away from the LPC.

      Delete
  5. John B.April 27, 2021 at 7:18 AM

    It's the legacy of Ben Dunkelman et al. Albeit and however unlikely, if Stalin had been the head cheerleader for the nascent state of Israel, Ben might have found himself in the same position as the guys who had returned from fighting in the Mac-Paps, and this wouldn't be happening now. I think the Foreign Enlistment Act has always been treated as a joke.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibApril 27, 2021 at 8:33 AM

      I wasn't familiar with Dunkelman, John, but I noticed he went overseas with the Queens Own Rifles. So did my dad. I expect they knew each other, at least in passing. My dad was taken out after the landings in France and spent the balance of the war in a British army hospital in England.

      Delete
  6. Caillo Lisa June 26, 2021 at 9:12 AM

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