 |
| Kill Them All - Kill All Arabs |
On
Tuesday a rally of thousands gathered to give support to a soldier Elor Azarya, who had
deliberately executed a severely injured Palestinian because ‘he deserved to
die’ for having allegedly attacked Israeli soldiers with a knife.
Those
in the West who sing the Zionist narrative and pretend that Israel is ‘the only
democracy in the Middle East’ bear as much responsibility as those who gathered
in Tel Aviv and participated in the beating of a Jewish Israeli journalist
suspected of being a human rights worker.
“Death to the Arabs” rally draws thousands in Tel Aviv
Ali Abunimah 19
April 2016
In
Tel Aviv’s Yitzhak Rabin Square on Tuesday evening, thousands
of Israelis rallied in support of Elor Azarya, the
soldier filmed
executing a gravely wounded Palestinian last month.
Rally-goers
shouted anti-Arab slogans and attacked persons perceived as being leftists or
journalists.
Hours
earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a call for leniency
for the soldier.
Few
thousand people at the rally. Organizers keep telling crowd they aren't angry
at the government or army. pic.twitter.com/kEcFGsiYM1
— Judah Ari Gross (@JudahAriGross) April 19,
2016
NOW:
In Tel Aviv to cover rally for Israeli soldier who executed Palestinian &
got beaten by mob & detained by cops. pic.twitter.com/XI5cwyZXQY
— David Sheen (@davidsheen) April 19, 2016
 |
| Signs at Rabin Square in support of Sgt. Azaria (Photo: Motti Kimchi) |
Times
of Israel reporter Judah Ari Gross tweeted
that an activist from B’Tselem, the human rights group that released the video
of Azarya shooting and killing Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif, had to be escorted out
of Rabin Square by police in order to “protect his
life.”
Thousands
of people here. So much for "liberal" Tel Aviv. This is fascist
Israel. pic.twitter.com/quAOx3t8Jd
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) April 19,
2016
Police
escorting a Btselem activist away from the rally in Kikar Rabin. pic.twitter.com/PiyrHfih3Z
— Judah Ari Gross (@JudahAriGross) April 19,
2016
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| Charlie and Oshra Azaria (on the right) and daughter Etti (in red on the left) at the rally (Photo: Dana Kopel) |
Journalist attacked
Reporter
David Sheen, a
contributor to The Electronic Intifada, was set upon by a mob and then ordered
to leave the area by police after he was accused of association with B’Tselem.
After
being beaten by Tel Aviv mob rallying to support killer Israeli soldier, cops
gave me ultimatum: A night in jail or go home immediately
— David Sheen (@davidsheen) April 19, 2016
Thanks
to those who reached out after I was attacked by a mob in "liberal"
Tel Aviv tonight. My phone battery's about to die, but I'll live.
— David Sheen (@davidsheen) April 19, 2016
 |
| Elor's mother and sister speaking (Photo: Motti Kimchi) |
Sheen
told The Electronic Intifada he arrived at Rabin Square before the rally began
but as several hundred people had already gathered. Some asked him to film them
with their signs supporting Azarya.
At
that point, Sheen said, a man began asking him why he was filming. Other
members of the crowd quickly began joining in, shouting at Sheen, “Are you
B’Tselem? Go to Gaza!”
Sheen
said he tried to remain calm and exit the square but the increasingly agitated
mob followed him and began to surround and kick him.
He
was then grabbed by a police officer and extracted. Sheen said police took his
camera equipment and questioned him. After he told them he was a journalist,
they said he either had to leave immediately or face a night in jail. Sheen
said he chose to leave and that police returned his equipment.
 |
| About 2,000 came to show their support (Photo: Motti Kimchi) |
The
police were effectively acting accomplices to the mob, Sheen observed, ensuring
the removal of journalists who could document what occurred.
Sheen
said that the assault was frightening, “because I knew that everyone else at
that rally was of the same mindset and there wasn’t anyone who was going to
step in, so it very easily could have gotten much worse and there wouldn’t have
been anybody to fish me out.”
He
said he had been threatened at other recent rallies he has covered, but had not
experienced that level of violence.
“It
doesn’t surprise me that people in Israel harbor hatred towards journalists,”
Sheen said.
“They
don’t see the soldier’s actions as a problem,” he added. “They see the problem
as exposure to world media that puts pressure on their government to withdraw
support from that soldier.”
“But
it still caught me by surprise how quickly people were whipped up into a
frothing at the mouth mob,” he said.
Chants
from the crowd heard by Sheen included “Kill the leftists” and “Elor Azarya is
a hero, bring back our boy!”
A
video of the mob assault on Sheen was posted
on Facebook by a user who accuses him of being a B’Tselem videographer
intent on “provoking” the rally-goers. Sheen is not affiliated with the human
rights group.
Members
of the mob can be heard shouting “son of a whore” and other insults.
“Kill them all”
Another
independent reporter, Dan Cohen, tweeted
that many in the crowd chanted “Death to Arabs,” a frequently heard
rallying cry at anti-Palestinian demonstrations.
Crowd
chants "Elor the hero" and "death to Arabs." This seems
more like a celebration of murder than anything pic.twitter.com/2QHDpIT0LJ
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) April 19,
2016
Ahmed Tibi, a
Palestinian lawmaker in Israel’s parliament, posted an image of a sign
displayed at the rally reading “Kill them all.”
Message
of the new Israeli justice & equality: "kill them all" in tel
aviv rally supporting a murderer soldier pic.twitter.com/t9CqN777ya
— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) April 19, 2016
The
rally was organized
by Sharon Gal, an Israeli journalist and former lawmaker, and was addressed by
Azarya’s parents.
Several
Israeli pop icons were also scheduled to entertain the rally-goers, including
singers Moshik Afia, Maor Edri and Amos Elgali, as well as rapper Subliminal,
the Israeli website Ynet reported.
But
two performers, Eyal Golan and David D’Or, withdrew at the last minute in the
wake of public outrage that their appearance could be seen as an attack on the
Israeli army, which has faced heavy criticism for taking any measures at all
against Azarya.
“I
would have liked to come to perform at the assembly in the name of art, and
personally as a performer and as a human being,” Golan stated. “However, I’m
sorry to say that there are those who will use this as a political spectacle.”
“I
wanted to show my sympathy to the family of the soldier,” D’Or said, “not to
say anything against the IDF [Israeli army] or the IDF chief of staff, God
forbid.”
Leniency
Last
month, an opinion poll found that 57
percent of the Israeli public saw nothing wrong with Azarya’s actions and 32
percent supported it outright. Just five percent saw shooting an injured,
incapacitated person as murder.
That
support comes from the highest echelons of Israel’s government. In a statement
to media hours before the rally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded
leniency for Azarya.
“As
the father of a soldier and as Prime Minister, I would like to reiterate: the
IDF backs its soldiers,” Netanyahu said.
“In
my familiarity with the military justice system, I am convinced that the court
will consider all circumstances regarding the incident. Our soldiers are not
murderers. They act against murderers and I hope that a way will be found to
balance between the action and the overall context of the event,” the prime
minister added.
Netanyahu’s
attempt to prejudge the outcome of any trial appears to be an effort to ride
the wave of popularity Azarya is enjoying that was vividly – and violently – on
display at the Tel Aviv rally.
Previously,
B’Tselem has condemned similar
statements by top Israeli officials as sending messages that “empty the
official restrictions on use of force, and particularly on live fire, of real
meaning.”
Cover-up
Abd
al-Fattah al-Sharif and Ramzi al-Qasrawi, both 21, were shot dead after they
allegedly tried to attack Israeli occupation soldiers in the West Bank city of
Hebron on 24 March.
The
killing of al-Sharif was caught on video which shows the youth on the ground,
incapacitated, as Azarya points a rifle at him from close range and fires
directly at his head.
The
Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, which investigated
the incident, called the killings war crimes and noted the complicity of Israeli
medical workers and others in the vicinity who did nothing to assist the
injured al-Sharif before he was extrajudicially executed.
Al-Haq
dismissed the arrest of Azarya as part of a public relations effort, noting
that no one was detained in the shooting of al-Qasrawi, whose killing was not
filmed.
“The
occupation authorities’ detention of the accused soldier is a cover-up of the
crime, to show the occupier state as law abiding and holding violators
accountable,” Al-Haq stated.
“The
arrest of one soldier and not the other suggests that what the other soldier
had done was not a crime because it was not captured on camera,” the group
added.
Israel
at first announced Azarya would be charged with murder, but following a surge
of public support, the charges were downgraded to manslaughter.
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