I keep hoping for a trigger event. Like the time that the US government seemed determined to continue the
war in Viet Nam .
Then, a picture of a screaming nine year old naked child, with her clothes having
been burned off and the look of absolute terror all over her young face
appeared on the front page of the New York Times. Suddenly, this became a
trigger event and Americans began wondering if this was the way to peace in Viet Nam .
I also think of all the preaching in Montgomery , Alabama
I had hoped that the deliberate murder of 23 year old Rachael Corrie would have generated enough of a backlash that finally
the US
government would rise up and say, this has gone too far. But in spite of the gory details of a
multi-ton bulldozer crushing the life out of a young American girl,
condemnation of Israel
gained little traction. Then, when
Israel bombarded Gaza last summer for 51 straight days, I thought, surely this
massacre of over two thousand people will spark a reaction
to Israel’s senseless claim to own all of Palestine because “God” gave it to
the Jews”. Yet again, when the bombs stopped falling and Gaza
was left a pile of rubble, the nations of the world, especially the US , considered
the conflict to be settled.
So, I ask, could the terrorist attack that burned little 18
month old Ali Dawabsha alive while he was sleeping in his own bed, become the
trigger event that calls into question the whole oppressive regime of Israel’s
occupation? At least, people are talking about it. The Associated press
reported in American newspapers:
Israel intensified its crackdown on
Jewish extremists Sunday imprisoning two high profile ultranationalist Israelis
for six months without charge and arresting additional suspects in West
Bank…The crackdown comes after a deadly July 31 firebomb attack on a
Palestinian home in the West Bank that killed an 18 month old and his father
and severely wounding his mother and brother.[1]
One can only imagine the panic and fear that gripped two parents
who in spite of exploding flames tried to save their children.
Netanyahu is “shocked”, he said. But he could not be
surprised. He appointed as Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, who actively called
for the genocide of Palestinians and championed calling their children “little
snakes.” [2] It
was Netanyahu who had called for the bombardment of Gaza where 500 children
were burned, blown up or crushed to death in what he called “revenge,” the very
same word those who burned little Ali and his family alive spray painted on the
wall of his house. And Netanyahu continues to provide state funds and weapons
to every settler and refuses to crack down on the thousands of settler violence
targeting Palestinians. It was only a matter of time.
There have been some 2,100 settler attacks since 2006, including
120 in the 222 days of 2015 so far… only 1.4% of those who murder Palestinian
children are ever indicted. Juliana
Farha says, “This might be news to you, but rest assured that Bibi knows all
about it.”[3]
Shahd Abusalama, writing for Mondoweiss:
As one who carries the memories of
many brutal Israeli attacks on Gaza ,
this claimed “shock” didn’t hit me. It rather outraged me at Israel’s crocodile
tears and pretentious humanitarianism, despite its brutal military occupation
of West Bank, the continued expansion of
its illegal settlements, the suffocating siege of the Gaza Strip that remain in
ruins after Israel’s genocidal war last summer, and its ongoing assertion of
itself as a “Jewish State” not a state for its citizens, as it discriminates
against 1948 Palestinian citizens of Israel, or what its leaders call a
“potential fifth column.”[4]
Netanyahu had to say something, no matter how disingenuous
it might be. More than 2,000 Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv to protest the
killing. Gilad Erdan, a member of
Netanyahu’s cabinet said, “A nation whose children were burned in the Holocaust
needs to do a lot of soul searching if it bred people who burn other human
beings.” Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh
Atid party, compared Jewish terrorist to ISIS .
David Grossman wrote in the daily newspaper, Haaretz, “I can’t get this baby,
Ali Dawabsheh, out of my mind.[5] Israeli president Reuven Rivlin said, “I feel a sense of
shame, and moreover a sense of pain. Pain over the murder of a small boy. Pain
that from my people, there are those who have chosen the path of terrorism, and
have lost their humanity.”[6]
A prime example of "lost humanity" was when Nasar Jaber, a Palestinian youth in
Ramallah simply wished a young soldier at a check point to have a “good
day.” The soldier stopped him. “Am I
your friend to wish me a good day? The soldier then struck Jabar in the head
with the butt of his rifle, fracturing his jaw, and detained him two hours
before allowing him to be taken to a hospital.[7]
According to B’Tselem,
in the past three years since August 2012, Israeli citizens set fire to nine
Palestinian homes in the West Bank .
Additionally, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a Palestinian taxi, severely
burning the family on board. No one was charged in any of these cases… In
recent years Israeli citizens set fire to dozens of Palestinian homes, mosques,
businesses, agricultural land and vehicles in the West
Bank . The vast majority of these cases were never solved, and in
many of them the Police did not even bother to take elementary investigative
action.[8]
Again, could the murder of
little Ali Dawabsheh become the trigger event that turns the tide of Israel ’s public
opinion against Netanyahu’s reign of terror?
For the first time in decades, it seems possible.
Thomas Are
August 19, 2015
[1] Daniel
Estrin, Israel Holds Jewish Extremists, The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, August 10, 2015.
[2] David
Harris-Gershon, You Aren’t “Shocked”
Jewish Settlers Burned a Palestinian Baby Alive, Netanyahu You’re complicit. Tikkun Daily August 1, 2015.
[3] The UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported by Juliana Farha, Someone Else’s Normal : The
Dawabshe Tragedy and Picturing Palestine. Mondoweiss, August 13, 2015
[4] Shahd
Abusalama, The Burning of a Palestinian
child: not an exception, but results of Zionism, Mondoweiss,
August 1, 2015.
[5] David
Pratt, Something is Rotten in the State
of Israel, Information Clearing
House, August 10, 2015.
[6] Allison
Duger, Mother of Palestinian Baby Burned to death tried to Save her Child, Mondoweiss, August 2, 2015
[7] International Middle East Media
Center
[8] Press
releases from B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the
Occupied Territories