Magen David Ambulance Deliberate Delayed Treatment

American press coverage grants Israelis all the humanity

Philip Weiss on October 13, 2015 

Aviva Yisrael, armed settler, in photo she supplied to USA Today

Hillary Clinton’s shocking statement yesterday sympathizing with Israeli Jewish victims of attacks and saying nothing about Palestinian victims is actually reflective of American press coverage. 

Mainstream news sites continue to emphasize Jewish victims over Palestinian victims, and leave out the larger context of the conflict, Israeli occupation and the hatred it is producing, on both sides.

For instance, USA Today has a grotesque account of a Glock-bearing settler that portrays her as a pioneer confronting savagery (“Glocker mom”) and leaves out the military occupation she lives inside, entirely.

As violent clashes erupted throughout Israel and Palestinian territories, Aviva Yisraeli decided to carry a handgun while commuting from her home in the West Bank settlement of Tekoa to a weekly course in Jerusalem. “I feel that it’s important for us to do everything in our power to protect ourselves,” said the mother of four, adding that she refuses to be a “sitting duck.”

Reporter Shira Rubin repeatedly speaks about “Arab” violence:

The Israeli government announced new policies to contain Arab violence..

But Yisraeli and many neighbors said tougher security measures have done little to deter Palestinian assailants….

“The Arabs have absolutely no fear from our army .…but when I started carrying our gun, I realized that they do have fear from the civilian response,” she said. “As they say, it’s better to visit you in jail than at the graveyard.”

Yagil Henken, a military historian at the Israeli Defense Forces college whose brother was killed in a West Bank shooting on Oct. 1, said he carries a gun to assuage his “paranoia,” but his West Bank community is still maintaining a calm resolve.

Did the Jim Crow south or the Algerian colonial-settlers ever get such a fair shake from the establishment press?

The New York Times publishes an article by Jodi Rudoren and Isabel Kershner, “4 Attacks by Palestinians Leave 3 Dead in Israel,” which again portrays Arabs as malefactors, some of whom actually have freedom to “freely roam the country” and “work in Jewish areas.”

A police spokeswoman said the steps to be considered included a complete closing of Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods, whose residents are generally not citizens of Israel but can freely roam the country and often work in Jewish areas, and an easing of gun-licensing procedures.

But those Arabs think that “the country” is also theirs, and for good reason. The Times mentions the occupation, but fairly far down. Donald Johnson explains that the article reflects an institutional bias:

It focuses on Israeli shootings but only in cases where the dead Palestinian either had stabbed someone or was accused of wielding a knife and whose innocence can’t be proven. (And yes, a Palestinian killed by Israelis is guilty until proven innocent, and if so it is still not Israel’s fault.). They quote critics and skeptics of the police, but the message is that the Israelis are at worst guilty of shooting Palestinians who have been violent or might be violent.

I don’t recall a single NYT story devoted to the shooting of Gaza fishermen–it has been mentioned in passing and I am certain this was only due to reader complaints, but shootings that can’t be spun as understandable reactions to Palestinian violence don’t interest the NYT. Doesn’t fit the narrative.

The Times piece is open to comment, the first time in days that the Times has permitted comment; and the Readers’ Picks echo concerns we have on this site. TMC in New York:

New York Times, this is outright racist coverage. I’m sick of it. I watched a video of a two year old girl killed by an Israeli bomb being hugged by her father and you attempt to make it sound like the Palestinians are are attacking Israelis out of the blue. You ignore the context of the occupation. Editors, writers, internet post reviewers, have you no empathy? Is this how you would have covered apartheid in South Africa? I’d love to say you are on the wrong side of history, but there is a distinct chance the Israelis will succeed in wiping out the Palestinians, partially because of resorting like this. 

For shame.

And Finnbar in Seattle makes a similar point.

Very biased reporting, showing compassion for Israelis but none for the Palestinians. When we are finally able to show compassion for all that suffer then maybe there will be a solution.

This Washington Post article about the spate of Palestinian attacks: by William Booth and Ruth Eglash dares to state that Palestinian violence is a response to occupation in the third paragraph:

Palestinians are also frustrated by their own weak leaders and almost 50 years of military occupation. 

The latest round of U.S.-brokered peace talks collapsed last year in failure.

But the article doesn’t really follow up that point. Its concern is Jewish victims, till the last paragraph says:

At least 30 Palestinians, including rock throwers and knife attackers, have been killed by Israeli forces and civilians. Palestinians say that several of their dead were shot and killed without cause.

And on twitter, Eglash reminds us of the society she lives in:

U know the situation is out of control when ur 13-yr-old comes home from school n says: “I’m still alive”

Here by contrast is fantastic coverage by Ynet of a racist mob of Israeli Jews going out at night to hunt down Arabs in Jerusalem.700 people are in this mob! And the reporting by Roi Yanovsky is terrifying:

During their entire march, organized by La Familia (a group of far-right fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club) and Lehava (a right-wing organization dedicated to preventing the “assimilation” of Jews with non-Jews in Israel), the protesters chanted slogans such as “death to Arabs” and “may your village burn,” and looked for Arabs to attack. And indeed, after the protest ended a number of the participants attacked a taxi driver and attempted to attack other Arab passersby. 

The main group of protesters, which was controlled by the police, didn’t engage in physical violence, but small splinter groups moved toward the city center and began searching for Arabs. They entered stores, asking clerks if Arabs were employed there. They asked employees random questions like “what’s the time?” in order to test their accent. 

Yanovsky helps save a Palestinian storekeeper from harm.

Ynet is at least acknowledging the deep racism inside Israeli society. That hatred was also expressed in this shocking video from Jerusalem of a wounded Palestinian 13-year-old who was charged with stabbing someone before he was run over by a car. An Israeli shouts at him: “Die you fuck, die you son of a whore, die die, die you son of 66 whores.” His name is Ahmed Manasra and you can see that he is not receiving medical attention and that an Israeli officer pushes him to the pavement with his foot when he seeks to sit up. We haven’t put it on our site because it is so disturbing. The New York Times mentions the boy’s injury and the killing of his cousin Hassan, who also allegedly participated in the attack, but does not identify them by name.

Correction: I initially mixed up Ahmed Manasra, 13, for Hassan Manasra, 15, in my description of the video and said the boy in the video is dying. Ahmed survived the serious injuries. Palestinian Center for Human Rights has set the matter straight. It also makes clear that the cousins’ alleged attack took place in Pisgat Ze’ev, which is in occupied East Jerusalem, not Israel, as the NYT states.

Thanks to James North.

Child Killed and His Cousin Seriously Wounded Amidst Settlers' Cry "Die" and "David Red Star" Ambulance Deliberate Delay

Tuesday, 13 October 2015 00:00

Date: 13 October 2015

Ahmed Saleh Mahayan (Manasra) (13), 

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the crime committed by Israeli forces on Monday, 12 October 2015, in occupied East Jerusalem, which resulted in killing Hassan Khaled Mahayna (Manasra) (15), from Beit Hanina village, north of the city. Moreover, PCHR condemns the deliberate delay made by the David Red Star ambulance crew to offer first aid to his cousin, who was deliberately run over by Israeli forces. PCHR warns against the increasing number of killings among Palestinian civilians, including children and girls, in the occupied city on the grounds of suspicion of carrying out stabbings against Israeli forces and settlers. This crime was committed few hours after the killing of Mostafa al-Khateeb (18), from Sour Baher village, south of occupied Jerusalem. Furthermore, PCHR denounces this crime that is added to the series of Israeli crimes committed in East Jerusalem in particular, and the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) in general. Therefore, PCHR calls upon the international community to take immediate action and fulfill its legal and moral obligations to protect the Palestinian civilians in the oPt. PCHR believes that the silence of the international community towards these crimes encourages the Israeli government to continue its policy that violates the international humanitarian law.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, on Monday afternoon, 12 October 2015, Israeli forces opened fire at Hassan Khaled Mahayna (Manasra) (15) and deliberately run over his cousin Ahmed Saleh Mahayan (Manasra) (13), both are from Beit Hanina village, north of occupied East Jerusalem. They were attacked while going to a mall near their family houses in "Pisgat Ze'ev" settlement. As a result, the first child was killed by several bullet wounds, while the other sustained serious wounds. The Israeli police claimed that two settlers were seriously wounded as the two Palestinian boys had stabbed them.

A video published by Ma'an Satellite Channel showed Ahmed after he was deliberately run over in the light rail area. In spite of the boy's wound, bleeding and cries for help, Israeli settlers and police officers insulted and swore at him calling for brutally killing him. The video also documents the presence of a David Red Star ambulance crew in the scene but did not offer the boy first aid on time responding to the settlers' calls stating, "Die Die".

The killed boy's family said to PCHR fieldworker in the city that their son Hassan is a 10^th grade student at Ibn Khaldoun School, and his cousin is an 8^th grade student at the New Generation School. Both of them went back home in Beit Hanina village from their school and then went out heading to the nearby mall in "Pisgat Ze'ev" settlement. Hassan wanted to buy a games CD and Ahmed wanted to buy a pigeon. The family refuted the Israeli police story.

Afterwards, Israeli Special Forces raided over 10 nearby houses belonging to the same family. They detained the family members in the family's divan and cordoned them. They also arrested the two boys' fathers and took them to al-Qashala police station to be questioned.

Additionally, at approximately 13:00 on the same day, Israeli police officers opened fire at the schoolgirl Marah Bakeer (17) from Beit Hanina village. As a result, she was seriously wounded. She was then taken to a hospital in West Jerusalem for medical treatment. Israeli officers opened fire at the girl after a settler attempted to attack her when she was present at the bus stop in al-Shaikh Jarrah area, north of the Old City, after finishing her school.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, the aforementioned schoolgirl was on her way back home from Abdullah Bin al-Hussein School for Girls along with her friend in the street. They both stopped at the red traffic light when a settler cursed them. He kept chasing them to the bus stop in Shaikh Jarrah area near the Israeli police headquarters. The settler was crying that Bakeer is "A terrorist" and she had a knife and attempted to stab him. The Israeli police hurried up and fired four live bullets at Bakeer although she was begging them and saying that she did nothing. One of her friends said that Marah fell to the ground after she was shot, after which dozens of Israeli police and intelligence officers surrounded her and pointed their guns at her although she was bleeding and screaming. When a Palestinian young man attempted to help her, the Israeli police officers arrested him and accused him of being involved with her in planning for a stabbing. The Israeli police claimed that Bakeer was suspected by a Border Guard officer, so he stopped her. Once he approached her, she took a knife out and attempted to stab him, but he opened fire at her.

PCHR strongly condemns these crimes that proves the increasing number of killings among Palestinian civilians in the oPt in general and occupied East Jerusalem in particular. Moreover, PCHR stresses that in the above-mentioned cases, Israeli forces could have used less force against the victims or could have arrested and tied them if their allegations were true. PCHR reiterates its call upon the international community to take immediate and effective actions to put an end to such crimes and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to fulfill their obligations under Article 1; i.e., to respect and to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, and their obligation under Article 146 to prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention.  These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions.  

PURE EVIL - The Sadistic Taunting of 13 Year Old Ahmad Saleh Manasra

Video: “Palestinian Child Bleeds on Ground from Head Wound while Israeli Police & Civilians Watch, Shouting Insults”

 Monday October 12, 2015 23:25 by IMEMC & Agencies

“Die, you son of a whore!! Die!!” shouted Israeli men at a seriously wounded Palestinian child, who was left lying on the ground with blood pouring from his head, while police stood around him doing nothing. One of the officers repeatedly pushed the boy down with his foot, whenever he tried to sit up. 

Note: The original report on this incident stated that the child died of his wounds. This child did not die, but was seriously wounded. An older child, his cousin Hasan, 15, was killed in this incident.

Israeli authorities took both the dead child and the critically wounded one, and did not release information until several days later. When they finally released the information, it was immediately used by right-wing media to criticize the agencies that had reported that it was Ahmed and not Hasan who was killed.

While the child was bleeding on the ground, Israelis surrounded him, shouting at him in a mix of Arabic and Hebrew, “Die, you son of a whore!”, “Die, you son of the biggest whore!”, and telling the police to “Do him a favor, and shoot him in the head!”

The officers did not shoot him, but left him bleeding with head injuries, broken legs and other serious injuries on the ground. The boy was able to raise his head a few times, but the police officers kicked him back down.

The wounded Palestinian child has been identified as Ahmad Saleh Manasra, 13. Hasan Khaled Manasra, 15 years of age, was killed a little while before, after allegedly stabbing two Israelis and wounding them. They are both from Beit Hanina, in Jerusalem. 

The incident took place near Pisgat Zeev Israeli settlement, in occupied Jerusalem. The police claimed that the boys stabbed two settlers, wounding them. 

A settler who chased the boys with his car also rammed Ahmed. But the police presented no evidence to connect the two children with the crime that they claimed the boys committed. 

The following are some of the insults and curses hurled at the seriously wounded child while he lay on the ground (warning: strong language): 

“Die you fucker, die you son of a whore, die you son of a bitch…”
“Shoot him in the head, this son of a bitch” 
“Die you son of a whore” 
“Die you son of a bitch” 
“Shoot him in the head, shoot him in the head!” 
“Shoot him in the head, do him a favor” 


The police eventually approached the Israelis, including the one who apparently was filming, and “asked them not to approach.” 

Palestinian Presidency spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rodeina, said the execution of the child is an ugly Israeli crime committed by Israel in violation of every legal and humanitarian law, and demanded the apprehension of those responsible for his death. 

He added that “If Israel continues its policies and violations, the entire region will reach a situation that cannot be contained, and everybody will pay a high price for that.” 

Since October 1st, when two Israelis were killed in a ‘lone wolf’ attack by a Palestinian in Jerusalem, 26 Palestinians have been killed, including a pregnant woman and her two-year old child killed in an Israeli bombing on Sunday morning. Over 1200 Palestinians have been injured, many of them hit by live ammunition fired by Israeli troops at Palestinian demonstrators armed only with stones. 

During that time period, no Israelis have been killed beyond the two who died in the October 1st attack, but six have been wounded in alleged attacks by Palestinians. No Palestinian faction has claimed responsibility for any attack, and it appears that the Palestinians who wounded Israelis were acting on their own. 

In addition, Israeli authorities have been revealed on several occasions to have lied about the Palestinians they have killed – claiming falsely that the Palestinians had been attempting to stab or attack Israelis, but eyewitness and video evidence disproved this claim in a number of cases.

Why All the Fuss – We Kill Children All the Time

A Response to ‘Israeli condemnation ‘not enough,’ say US Jewish groups, after baby killed’ 

Fatal firebombing of Palestinian family by alleged Jewish terrorists prompts unusually harsh criticism by mainstream US Jews

Below is my response to an article in The Times of Israel on the murder of a Palestinian baby:

The whole concept of terrorism is a useless one in trying to understand the barbaric murder of a Palestinian infant. It is not simply the action of the 2 crazed settlers.

 It was Rabbis Shapira and Elitzur who wrote Torat HaMelech (the King's Torah) which justified the killing of even Palestinian infants, because they may grow up to hate 'us', who are equally responsible. The same goes for all the rabbis who forbade the renting of apartments to Arabs starting with Safed's Shmuel Eliyahu.

 But the cancer of racism permeates the whole of the Zionist body politic. How can Netanyahus' fake condemnation be taken seriously when his own deputy Defence Minister Eli Dahan describes Palestinians as beasts and animals whilst proclaiming the superiority of the Jewish soul, yea even those of Jewish homosexuals.

Racist graffiti

 Or a 'Justice' Minister who posts a screed on her facebook page calling for the wiping out of the whole Palestinian people and its mothers in particular, so they don't give birth to 'little Palestinian snakes'. Or Naftali Bennett who is proud of having killed so many Arabs. Or Miri Regev who compares African asylum seekers to 'cancer' and then apologises to cancer sufferers for the analogy.

 Yet who was suspended for 6 months from the Knesset? A secular Arab woman MK Haneen Zoabi, not the Jewish racists, because Jewish racism is always exempt. That is what a Jewish state means.

 And why all the fuss over a couple of molotov cocktails that burnt alive a child and his family? Isn't that what Israeli pilots did over Gaza last summer? Perhaps next time a group intends to perpetrate a 'price tag' attack, someone can whisper in their ear that they should join the Israeli airforce instead. That way they can become heroes when kill Palestinian babies and people will watch them from armchairs on a hill overlooking Gaza whilst they drink coffee.

Tony Greenstein 

The Most Moral Army the World Has Ever Seen Kills Another Child

IDF Ambushed, Murdered Unarmed 14-Year Old Palestinian Foraging for Wildflowers

by Richard Silverstein on June 16, 2015

Yusef a-Shawamreh at Separation Barrier near where he was later murdered by IDF (Abed Al-Hashlamoun, EPA)

In March 2014, the IDF murdered a 14 year-old boy , Yusuf a-Shawamreh, who crossed the Separation Barrier near Hebron to forage for edible plants his family could sell at the market.  His family owned farmland that the Barrier had made inaccessible to them.  He was crossing to harvest plants from his family-owned plot.  This is one of the many portions of the West Bank in which the Wall in effect confiscates private Palestinian land and annexes it to Israel.

The boys crossed the Barrier where it had been breached with a wide opening for passage (watch an IDF video of the incident annotated and translated by B’Tselem). It had been this way for two years and the boys regularly crossed. In fact, in a 35-mile stretch of the Barrier, there are nearly 20 such openings where 12,000 cross into Israel each month for various purposes, mostly to work illegally in construction and other jobs. Neither these boys, nor the workers desperate to earn a living pose any security threat to Israel.

After the murder, the IDF announced an investigation and as almost always happened, it closed the file without taking any action.  The army claimed that the boys had cut through the fence and thus endangered Israeli security. In fact, they did not do so. There already was a break in the fence, as I noted above. The TV news segment (video displayed) below notes that the IDF soldiers lying in ambush were there because there was a break in the fence. If this break indeed posed a security threat to Israel then it should’ve been repaired, but wasn’t. Not to mention, how does a 14-year-old boy picking flowers from his family’s plot of land endanger state security?

B’Tselem responded by demanding the army turn over all documentation concerning the crime so that it might make a determination whether to file an appeal with the civil authorities.  As a result, it received the video displayed above which shows two boys crossing the barrier and three IDF soldiers lying in ambush.  Once they cross, the soldiers open fire on them (though conveniently for the IDF, you can’t see the actual murder itself due to the terrain and location of the surveillance camera).

The army justifies the killing by saying that it first fired in the air and shouted warnings for the boys to stop. Only when they refused and continued on their way did a solider fire at them. As you’ll see below, the army knew these children well. It was their normal routine to harvest these edible plants. It knew where they were going. It knew they posed no danger. Yet it fired on them anyway. This is cold-blooded murder.

B’Tselem responded to the army’s whitewash thus:

By justifying the use of lethal fire in broad daylight at youths who posed no danger to any other persons, the [IDF] conveys a cynical lack of concern for the life of a Palestinian teenager. Israel’s security forces in the area are well aware that, for the past two years, Palestinians have been crossing the Separation Barrier at the breach at that particular point at this very season to pick gundelia on their own farmland. In his testimony to B’Tselem, a-Dardun stated that police officers had detained him and three of his friends at the very same spot two days before this incident. He said that, before letting them go, the police officers beat all four of them and confiscated the plants they had picked.

The decision to mount an armed ambush at a point in the barrier known to be crossed by youths, who pose no danger whatsoever to anyone, for the purpose of harvesting plants is highly questionable. It also indicates, at the very least, extremely faulty discretion on the part of the commanders. Moreover B’Tselem’s findings are markedly different from the description given by the IDF Spokesperson: the youths made no attempt at vandalism; they were crossing through a long-existing breach, and the soldiers did not carry out suspect arrest procedure, shooing at a-Shawamreh  with no advance warning.

The military’s open-fire regulations around the Separation Barrier prohibit opening live fire at Palestinians crossing the Barrier, if they are identified as posing no risk to security forces. However, as revealed in a previous publication concerning shooting near the barrier, the regulations present the prohibition as an exception to the rule. This is compounded by public and media rhetoric considering every Palestinian who crosses the barrier as a potential terrorist. In reality, security forces are well aware of the fact that hundreds and even thousands of Palestinian workers regularly cross through breaches in the Separation Barrier to reach places of employment in Israel.

”

There are literally thousands of such cases of IDF murder of Palestinian children.  All of them are heartbreaking.  But in this case, Raviv Drucker, one of Israel’s foremost investigative journalists, decided to produce a segment on the killing for his TV news program, HaMakor.  This video segment brings Shawamreh, his life and death into the homes of the Israeli viewing public.  Not that it will change anything.  Children will continue dying (500 were killed last summer during Operation Protective Edge).  But at least we can say they knew.  Israelis knew what their soldiers were doing in their name.  They chose to ignore it.  But they were told.  If this reminds you of a colloquy heard in Europe in the days following the end of World War II, then you have a good memory.

Raviv Drucker closes the segment by noting the military prosecutor found no criminal liability in this incident. To which Drucker replies, if there was no criminality here then I don’t know what criminality is.

Perhaps the worst irony is that last week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, under enormous pressure from Israel (and perhaps the U.S.) ignored the recommendation of his own staff investigator and refused to list Israel as a nation which endangers the lives of children in conflict zones (Hamas was also removed from the list). Watch these videos and then tell me Israel doesn’t debase the value not only of the adult Palestinian lives it takes, but especially those of the children. What can we say of a nation which kills children with such impunity? And then forgives itself without shedding a tear?

It is a moral obscenity that Israel managed to squirm its way out of designation on the List of Shame.

UN Special Representative Puts Israel on List of Serious Violators of Children's Rights - Ban Ki-moon takes them off

UN’s Ban Ki-moon caves in, takes Israel off list of serious child abusers

The cowardice of the UN General Secretary, when his own officials place Israel on a list of child abusers, is breathtaking.  A concerted e-mail bombardment of the UN would be a start.  No doubt Israel and the USA put Banki Moon under pressure and once again he has taken the coward's way. This is why all those who believe that the UN has any serious role in ending the oppression of the Palestinians are living a lie.  The UN is a gang of thieves from top to bottom.

Tony Greenstein 

A Palestinian medic cares for a wounded child after a 19 August 2014 Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City killed a young girl, a woman and injured 16 other people.Ashraf Amra APA images

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has caved in to pressure from Israel and the United States and taken the Israeli military off an official list of serious violators of children’s rights, in this year’s report on children in armed conflict.

In doing so, Ban rejected an official recommendation from his own Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui and numerous human rights organizations and child rights defenders.

Ban’s act is particularly egregious since the report found that the number of children killed in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2014, at 557, was the third highest only after Iraq and Afghanistan and ahead of Syria.

“The revelation that Israel’s armed forces were removed from the annex of the annual report by Ban Ki-moon is deplorable,” Brad Parker, attorney and international advocacy officer at Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCI-Palestine), told The Electronic Intifada.

“The annual report and its annex, or children’s ‘list of shame,’ has been a strong evidence-based accountability tool proven to help increase protections for children in armed conflict situations. There is ample evidence on persistent grave violations committed by Israeli forces since at least 2006 that should have triggered listing,” Parker added.

“The secretary-general’s decision to place politics above justice and accountability for Palestinian children has provided Israeli forces with tacit approval to continue committing grave violations against children with impunity,” Parker said. 

The top UN official’s decision will be greeted with relief by the Obama administration, Israel and others concerned with ensuring such Israeli impunity.

Obama pressure

“The draft 2015 report prepared by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, recommended adding Israel and Hamas to the annexed list of parties – the so-called ‘list of shame’ – due to their repeated violations against children,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on 4 June.

Human Rights Watch called on Ban to “list all countries and armed groups that have repeatedly committed these violations, and resist reported pressure from Israel and the United States to remove Israel from the draft list.”

But that pressure proved irresistible to Ban. Foreign Policy reported last week that the Obama administration had made a concerted effort to pressure him to drop Israel from the list for cynical political reasons.

According to an unnamed UN official quoted by Foreign Policy, the Obama administration was concerned about false accusations that “the White House is anti-Israel,” as the US completes sensitive negotiations over Iran’s civilian nuclear energy program.

False balance

Human Rights Watch supported calls on Ban to list Hamas as well as Israel, but this appears to have been a maneuver to look “balanced” and avoid baseless accusations of anti-Israel bias frequently leveled at the organization.

Sources familiar with the final report have told The Electronic Intifada that Hamas is not on the list either.

But the violations attributed to Palestinian armed groups, including the death of one Israeli child last summer due to a rocket fired from Gaza, can hardly be compared in scope to the systematic mass killings with impunity of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and West Bank by Israeli occupation forces.

Since Hamas and other Palestinian armed resistance groups are already under international sanctions and arms embargoes and listed by various countries as “terrorist organizations,” adding Hamas to the list would have meant little.

It is Israel whose violations continue not only with impunity but with assistance from the predominantly European and North American governments that arm it.

DCI-Palestine documented the killings of at least 547 Palestinian children during last summer’s Israeli assault on Gaza.

Human Rights Watch cites as part of Israel’s record the “unlawful killing of children” in the occupied West Bank, including Nadim Nuwara and Muhammad Abu al-Thahir, both 17, shot dead by snipers on 15 May 2014.

In April, a board of inquiry set up by Ban found that Israel killed and injured hundreds of Palestinians in seven attacks on United Nations-run schools in the Gaza Strip last summer.

Sabotage

In March, there was an outcry among Palestinian and international human rights advocates when it was revealed that UN officials appeared to be trying to sabotage the evidence-based process that leads to a recommendation of listing, after threats from Israel.

Palestinian organizations called on the mid-level UN officials accused of interfering with the process to resign.

This led to assurances from Special Representative Zerrougui that the decision-making process was still underway and indeed, after gathering all the evidence, Zerrougui did recommend that Israel be listed.

Such a recommendation comes after UN bodies collect evidence in collaboration with human rights organizations, according to specific criteria mandated in UN Security Council Resolution 1612.

But despite the months-long nonpolitical and evidence-based process, the final decision was always in Ban’s hands.

Partner in Israel’s crimes

There was much at stake for Israel and indeed for Ban if he had gone with the evidence instead of submitting to political pressure.

“Inclusion of a party on the secretary general’s list triggers increased response from the UN and potential Security Council sanctions, such as arms embargoes, travel bans, and asset freezes,” Human Rights Watch notes.

“For a country or armed group to be removed from the list, the UN must verify that the party has ended the abuses after carrying out an action plan negotiated with the UN.”

Ban has a long history of using his office to ensure that Israel escapes accountability except for the mildest verbal censures that are almost always “balanced” with criticism of those who live under Israeli occupation.

At the height of last summer’s Israeli attack on Gaza, 129 organizations and distinguished individuals wrote to the secretary-general, condemning him for “your biased statements, your failure to act, and the inappropriate justification of Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law, which amount to war crimes.”

Ban’s record, they said, made him a “partner” in Israel’s crimes. His latest craven decision will only cement that well-earned reputation.

While Israel will celebrate victory in the short-term, the long-term impact will likely be to further discredit the UN as a mechanism for accountability and convince more people of the need for direct popular pressure on Israel in the form of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

1266 Palestinian children under 15 were detained in occupied territorieslast year

13-year-old detained by Israeli forces in East Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 10 June – Israeli forces detained a 13-year-old Palestinian from his home in the al-Issawiya neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem overnight Tuesday, lawyer says. Lawyer Muhammad Mahmoud of the Addameer prisoners’ rights group identified the youth as Tariq Mustafa, adding that he was detained along with Ahmad Jamal Atiyah, 19 … Mustafa’s detention comes as Israeli watchdog Military Court Watch (MCW) submitted a report to the UN Special Rapportuer regarding common mistreatment of children held in Israeli military detention … Israel detained 1,266 Palestinian children below the age of 15 in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2014, according to a PLO report

See 

40% of Palestinian Children Detained by Israel Are Sexually Abused; Virtually All Are Tortured