May 2019, Week 5
Wednesday
05.29.2019 Soldiers abduct woman and three children in Jerusalem IMEMC The woman, Raja Omar was black bagged at her home. The children seized at the courtyard of al Aqsa mosque by occupation troops who claim the kids didn’t have the proper permits required by Israel.
05.29.2019 Israeli soldiers displace 15 families to conduct military training IMEMC Jewish occupation troops kicked 15 Bedouin Arab families out of their lands so the Israelis can play war games; firing bombs and bullets, driving tanks to crush the soil and otherwise desecrating the land while the people are forced to sit in out in the hot sun. Article notes that Bedouin are sometimes injured or killed by unexploded ordinance the Israelis leave behind.
05.29.2019 Palestinians call for boycott on U.S. conference in Bahrain IMEMC The radically pro-Zionist Trump administration to hold a meeting in Manama Bahrain that the Palestinians view as the latest attempt to get Arab states in line for Israel’s takeover of Palestine.
05.29.2019 Why Israel is heading back to elections Washington Post by Miriam Berger.
It’s a convoluted story. Good luck figuring it out. Here’s what I make of it.
1.) On April 09, 2019 Israel held a vote which was called for by Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu. This was widely viewed as a political maneuver by Netanyahu to dodge three conspiracy indictments he may still have to face. Netanyahu won re-election on April 09.
2) A requisite of Israel’s parliamentary system is that there has to be a majority coalition in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament). There are 120 seats in the Knesset. Netanyahu needed 61 seats and couldn’t get them.
3) The reason he couldn’t goes back to 1949 when Zionist Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, as a political necessity to get their votes for his own coalition, exempted the Haredim—Ultra Orthodox Jews—from mandatory military service. Ben Gurion is said to have thought the Haredim would eventually assimilate into Israeli society and everything would work out. That’s not what happened.
4) Today the Haredim are Israel’s fastest growing Jewish demographic. They have large families and now make up about 10% of Israel’s 8.6 million population. In addition to not serving in the military:
*Haredim men prefer to study the Torah and go to the synagogue instead of earning wages.
*The Haredim don’t pay much in taxes and are heavily subsidized by the state.
*The Haredim are a huge economic drain on the country.
*Regular Israelis increasingly view the Haredim as sponges and want a change in status quo.
*The Haredim vote for Netanyahu as long as he maintains the status quo.
5) [Not in the article but relevant: Arabs make up 20% of Israel’s population and their demographic is increasing faster than the Haredim. They too are exempt from military service. Netanyahu is virulently racist towards Arabs and they wouldn’t be in a coalition with him on a bet.]
6) [Also not in the article: is the fact that a million Israeli Jews are living in the United States with more in other countries. They will probably not go back to Israel, but the Jewish state still counts them as part of the Israeli population. This means the actual percentages of Haredim and Arabs to the overall Jewish population in Israel are substantially higher than 10% and 20% respectively.]
7) In 2015 Israel passed laws exempting Jewish Yeshiva (religious schools) students from military service.
8) In 2017 the Israeli Supreme Court declared the 2015 Yeshiva laws invalid and ordered the government to create a system of equal treatment. This upset the Haredim. In the face of their protests the government backed down.
9) In December 2018, Netanyahu, still facing those three corruption indictments, used the Haredi conscription bill as an excuse to call for early elections—he was re-elected but couldn’t get his 61 seat majority because former Defense Minister, Avigador [Israel should behead disloyal Arabs] Lieberman, is pushing a bill that would require Haredi to be drafted. Netanyahu couldn’t get both groups into his coalition. So, back to the polls in September.
Thursday
05.30.2019 Israeli soldiers demolish structures in Northern plains IMEMC Jewish occupation troops destroyed two residential tents, a barn, and a shed used for barley storage by the Bani Odeh family who are part of the Bedouin community.
05.30.2019 Israeli soldiers demolish al-Arakib village for the 145th time IMEMC Negev desert in Israel, Jewish occupation troops demolished Bedouin tents and sheds again leaving families—children, elders, and all—homeless as the hot sun beats down on them with daytime temperatures in the mid-90’s F.
05.30.2019 Israel twists law to dodge ICC probe Electronic Intifada by Maureen Claire Murphy. Once again Israeli occupation mouthpiece claims, “The International Criminal Court in the Hague has no jurisdiction to discuss matters concerning the Israeli—Palestinian conflict.” With regard to Israel’s slaughter of hundreds of Palestinians. and shooting thousands more with live ammunition last year. Once again America is protecting Israel from international condemnation at the U.N. Article notes that between 1987 and September 16, 2011. no Israeli soldier or commander was convicted of willfully causing the death of a Palestinian in the [occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.]” Since then just two soldiers have been convicted. Both were high profile murders caught on video cameras. Elor Azarya executed a wounded Palestinian as the man lay helpless on the ground. Azarya was sentenced to 18 months in prison but served less than a third of that. The other murderer was soldier Ben Dery who killed a 17-year-old Palestinian. Ben Dery switched a live round for a rubber coated steel bullet and shot the kid. He was given a slap on the wrist, 9 month sentence for ‘death through negligence.’ As more than one person noted, Ben Dery got the same sentence for murder that a 16-year-old Palestinian girl was given for slapping a Jewish occupation trooper in her yard immediately after Israeli solders shot and critically injured her cousin.
05.30.2019 Japan funds green area project in Khan Younis refugee camp IMEMC Japan’s ambassador to Palestine, Takeshi Okubo, was in Gaza to affirm Japan’s support of human rights in the besieged ghetto. Okubo’s visit was to mark completion ceremonies for a Japanese project creating green spaces for Gaza children to play in.
05.30.2019 Video: Demolition of sewage station invokes environmental disaster IMEMC [This is a good article because usually we get a headline about the Israelis blowing something up but this follow-up gets to the heart of the environmental damage done.]
On February 13, 2019 the Jewish state, without reason or notice, demolished a Palestinian sewage treatment plant in Bethlehem district. Only now have they let the Bethlehem Water Supply and Sewage Authority back into the area to assess the damage caused by the untreated sewage, which is in part: wells contaminated by sewage, crops including olive groves destroyed, poisoned wild animals, increased insect and rodent populations, foul odors.
05.30.2019 Palestinian child sentenced over stone throwing IMEMC 15-year-old Abdul Yasin sentenced to 4 months in prison. Jewish occupation troops accused the boy of throwing stones at them while they were raiding his village. The beat him up and took him away. [Worth noting: there are many videos of Jewish occupation troops protecting Jewish colonists who are throwing stones at Palestinians. There are also videos of Jewish occupation troops throwing stones at Palestinians.]
Friday
05.31.2019 Israeli police kills a Palestinian after he reportedly stabbed two Israelis IMEMC Occupation troops killed 18-year-old Yousef Wajeeh, who hailed from a West Bank village near Ramallah, after the young man allegedly attacked 2 Israelis with a knife.
05.31.2019 Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian child near Bethlehem IMEMC Jewish occupation troops killed16-year-old Abdullah Gheith of Hebron by shooting him through his heart today. The boy was part of a group entering Jerusalem to get to prayers at al Aqsa mosque on the last Friday of Ramadan holy month. The Zionists began shooting at the group with live ammunition. In addition to killing Abdullah, they seriously wounded 21-year-old Moman Abu Tbeish.
05.31.2019 Israeli soldiers injure 25 Palestinians in Nablus IMEMC Jewish occupation troops protecting busloads of Jewish colonists on a late night raid to Josephs Tomb, gassed the local people injuring 16, shot a man in the leg with live ammunition, and shot 8 more with rubber coated steel bullets. Nablus is in Area A which, under the Oslo Agreements, is supposed to be free of Jewish state occupation.
