Israel Exploits International Sentiment Surrounding Death of Shimon Perez to Bomb Gaza, Commit Piracy on International Waters and Start a New Illegal Settlement in West Bank

by Scott Creighton

The policy makers in Israel always know how to take advantage of any situation in order to advance their criminal agenda, don’t they?

In the wake of the death of the brutal war-monger Shimon Perez, when public sentiment in support of Israel was at it’s highest since their illegal bombing of civilians in Gaza… the last time…, Israel has apparently decided to take full advantage of the moment in order to further their agenda by launching a series of international crimes against humanity. It’s like they see any measure of international empathy directed their way as some form of sheckles they can spend on cover for their actions.

But it doesn’t work that way. Or at least, it shouldn’t.

Israel and Piracy on the High Seas to Stop Humanitarian Aid from Entering Gaza

The Women’s Boat to Gaza was a project by the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition. They set sail out of Barcelona a couple days ago and expected to arrive in Gaza yesterday carrying some small amount of humanitarian aid for the Gaza people besieged by the IDF due to their illegal blockade.

What’s remarkable (or maybe it isn’t really) is the fact that every one in this country is screeching about how Assad is blockading Aleppo (when he actually isn’t) and causing a humanitarian crisis there, but no one says a damn word about the Palestinians suffering in Gaza.

Well, yesterday, the Israeli navy intercepted the women’s boat in international waters which is an act of piracy. As of right now, the women on board, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, retired U.S. army colonel Ann Wright and New Zealand politician Marama Davidson are being held by the Israelis pending deportation.

“A group of women activists who tried to break Israel’s decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip were being held Thursday pending deportation after the Israeli navy intercepted their boat.

Thirteen women, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, were detained on Wednesday evening after their sailboat was stopped around 35 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza.

The Israeli navy said it stopped them to prevent a “breach of the lawful maritime blockade” of the Palestinian enclave.” Daily Mail

In 2009 a UN human rights chief admitted the Israeli blockage was illegal. In 2011 an independent UN council ruled Israel’s blockade of Gaza was illegal (also see here). In 2014, Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Filippo Grandi said the blockade was illegal and must be lifted. In 2015, Juan Cole wrote about the “made up laws” that Israel uses to justify their illegal blockade. And over at the Women’s Boat to Gaza website, they explain exactly WHY Israel’s blockade of Gaza is illegal.

“By applying restrictive measures that affect the population as a whole, it violates the Geneva Conventions and International Hhumanitarian international lLaws, which prohibit collective punishment.”

Without a doubt, what Israel is doing, punishing the people of Gaza for daring to vote the wrong way when they elected Hamas over the more Israel-friendly Fatah party all those years ago. That’s illegal and thus their blockade is also illegal according to international law.

That means the hijacking of that boat is an act of state-sponsored piracy and it’s also illegal.

But I guess they figured in the wake of the rising tide of public support after Perez’ passing, they figured they could get away with roughing up a boat full of women and no one would pay attention to them while they did it.

Bombing Gaza… again.

Israel has been bombing the people of Gaza, off and on, for a year now with very little press attention being paid to their criminal efforts. The last time they got one of their Fatah agents to head into Gaza and launch a ridiculous homemade bottle rocket toward Israel in order to provide the pretext of an excuse for them to do it. This is such a tried and true trick of theirs, it’s become a running joke for the cartoonists.

The IDF has confirmed that, yes, indeed, they are bombing Gaza once again. The Jerusalem Post says it’s because a rocket “exploded on a Sderot street” which is exactly what is being depicted in that Latuff cartoon from 2009. Proof of said rocket is pending. The only casualty on the Israeli side thus far is a pilot who crashed upon landing after his bombing run in Gaza. I’m sure they will somehow blame that on Hamas and call it an act of terrorism before it’s all done.

I’m not the only one who notices the stark hypocrisy of the MSM spending all their time screaming “Oh the HUMANITY!” when it comes to Aleppo and saying saying absolutely nothing about Israel bombing civilian targets in the largest open air prison in the world.

“When Israel bombards Gaza after some ineffectual rocket attacks, the U.S. sees a right of self-defense, but different standards apply to Syria when foreign-backed terrorists fire deadly rockets and mortars, notes Rick Sterling…

When Israel executed intense bombing campaigns against Gaza in 2008, 2012 and 2014 the U.S. justified the attacks. At the United Nations on July 18, 2014, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Powersaid,“President Obama spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning to reaffirm the United States’ strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself…. Hamas’ attacks are unacceptable and would be unacceptable to any member state of the United Nations. Israel has the right to defend its citizens and prevent these attacks.” Middle East Online

Though he’s comparing apples to oranges when he compares what our “moderate” terrorists are doing in Syria to what Hamas (or Fatah agents sent into Gaza) are launching at Israel, essentially he’s on the right track. Israel can suffer a bottle rocket hitting an unoccupied street somewhere and use that to justify killing a thousand civilians in Gaza over a prolonged period of time but God help the legal government of Syria if they try to keep terrorists from killing a thousand civilians in western Syria as they try to drive the population from their homes.

The essential difference is actually a similarity and seeing that makes it perfectly clear: we want Gaza regime changed and we want Syria regime changed. And everything that follows is fair game.

The fact that the IDF chose this very moment to unleash yet another attack on Gaza is telling. They’re taking advantage of the PR bump they got from the international community in the wake of Shimon Perez’ passing to launch this latest crime against humanity in the hopes that no one is going to call them out on it because their politicians are just now returning from the funeral.

Yes, it is a cynical view of the policy makers in Israel, but it’s an even more cynical act of theirs. I guess they figured Perez would be proud to have provided assistance in the bombing of more Palestinians even after his death. Kind of a tribute bombing you might say.

New Illegal Settlements Announced in the West Bank

Perhaps Israel’s most glaring attempt to utilize this moment in time is their announcement yesterday of a new settlement to be built in the West Bank in spite of it being next to one that was just ruled “illegal” by an Israeli court.

The United States and Britain are pretending to be concerned about the new illegal settlements while one clearly states it’s illegal and the other says it undermines the “lasting peace” between the US and Israel.

“The United Nations, UK and US are condemning a new wave of “deeply troubling” construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Tobias Ellwood, the foreign office minister, said the planned construction of up to 300 new homes for Jewish settlers was a violation of international law, while American officials said the move undermined attempts at lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.” Independent

But of course, they will do nothing to stop it and in fact, though they are pretending it might have an effect on the new, 20% more annual weapons deal Obama struck with Israel a month ago (now up to 3.8 billion a year as a gift to protect “democratic” Israel), the fact is, we all know, it wont.

Why should Israel worry about Obama? They practically own Hillary Clinton through her banking ties while the mayor of one of the illegal settlements has just invited Donald Trump to stop by for a visit.

And just so everyone knows, Israel increased new settlement starts in 2016 by 40% thus far and that was BEFORE President Obama gave them an increase in their yearly gift of military aid to use against the people of Palestine and Syria. In fact, since Obama came into office, there has been a HUGE increase in settlement starts. How did Obama deal with that fact, after watching Israel bomb Gaza repeatedly over the last year and after those three attacks on the Palestinian people since his left-cover watch began? He gave them a historic increase in military aid.

The Obama administration has signed a $38 billion military aid pact with Israel in what the State Department boasts is the “single largest pledge of bilateral military assistance in US history.”

The record agreement will provide Israel with $3.8 billion annually over 10 years beginning in 2019, up from $3.1 billion under the current deal.

At a time when the US government supposedly can’t afford to provide poor and working Americans with basic services like universal health care – something Israelis enjoy – it is striking that there is always money available to enable Israel’s ongoing destruction of Palestine.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who has expressed opposition to universal health care and free college tuition, cheered the aid deal.

“Senator [Tim] Kaine and I applaud the agreement on a new memorandum of understanding regarding American security assistance to Israel,” said Clinton in a statement released by her campaign. Electronic Intifada

Conclusion

I wish I could say I was shocked or dismayed by the behavior of the Likudniks that run the Israeli government these days but if I did I would be lying.

Similarly, I wish I could say I was disappointed by the lack of coverage and or care by the American MSM (and the phony alt-left outlets out there) regarding these troubling developments. But like Israel’s brutality and opportunism, the complicit media’s complicity is baked into the equation at this point. Shock is a luxury we simply can’t afford anymore.

At least under the Obama administration they tried to keep a lid on Israel’s aggressiveness in order to preserve what is left of Obama’s “progressive” facade but God help the people of Palestine when either Clinton or Trump take the wheel. All semblances of our neutrality in this conflict will be gone as one or the other of them vies to prove they are the best, most apologetic “friend” to Israel the US has ever produced and I fear as bad as both of these two will be for Americans, Syrians, Russians and anyone else who feels the wrath of our “national interests”, the Palestinians look to pay the highest price for American “democracy” of anyone else on the planet.

That is, unless warmonger Clinton twitches once too often with her finger on the button and WWIII is launched while she coughs herself to sleep.

My heart goes out to the brave women on the boat to Gaza and the people in Gaza and the West Bank.

My heart also goes out to the people of Israel living under the rule of the warmongering Likudniks. Trust me when I say… I feel ya. Like what these a-holes in D.C. are doing in Syria isn’t our fault, so too what they do in Tel Aviv to the Palestinians isn’t the fault of the average Israeli. We bare the brunt of international scorn for these atrocities in a similar fashion, that is for sure. Though of course, that burden is nothing compared to that which the Syrians and Palestinians must carry everyday.