Alon Shimriz, age 26
Yotam Haim, age 28
Samer Talalka, age 25

” I was in fear of my life”.

“I felt threatened”.

Both of these are common phrases used by police officers here in the United States when they have killed an unarmed Black man.  It’s what George Zimmerman claimed when he killed Trayvon Martin.   It’s what Darren Wilson claimed when he shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO.  Yet how does it relate to Israel and the IDF?  It’s what the soldier claimed, the one who first opened fire, killing Alon, Yotam, and Samer.  Reports say that they were “tens of meters” away.  They say that not only were they carrying a white flag, but also that they were all shirtless.  Why?  To clearly show that they were not wearing suicide vests, that they weren’t a threat.  Yet they were gunned down, murdered because someone felt “threatened”.  The IDF claims their deaths were in violation of their “rules of engagement”.  Frankly, I find this hard to believe based on the sanctioned murders that the Netanyahu government has allowed, even endorsed on the West Bank.  All done under that guise of feeling “threatened” or in “fear”.

Two members of the Netanyahu government are far right endorsers of the idea that Israel needs to expand to its biblical borders.  This includes annexing the West Bank (and the Sinai – I wonder how Egypt feels about that).  They are supporters of the settler movement.  These settlers, in contravention of international law, are moving into the West Bank, displacing Palestinian residents.  The Netanyahu government has armed them with military style assault weapons.  And they are using them to kill.  I’ve seen video of a Palestinian who was gunned down, shot in the back, killed by one of these settlers.  No one was held accountable.  Why?  Because the killer felt “threatened”.  This isn’t an isolated event.

One of the things I’ve been seeing and fighting against on social media is a contest over whose oppression is the worst.  Frankly, it doesn’t matter.  Wrong is wrong.  What Hamas did on October 7 is unconscionable.   The actions of the settlers on the West Bank, supported by the Netanyahu government and the IDF, are despicable.  In other forums and discussions I’ve heard comparisons over whether Jews have endured greater oppression than Black people stolen from Africa, enslaved, who endured Jim Crow, and were many times lynched.  Frankly, it’s a stupid discussion.  There is no “my oppression is worse than yours”.  Enslavement was wrong.  The Holocaust was evil in its purest form.  There will be no peace until we recognize ALL the wrongs and denounce them.  People of Palestinian descent deserve to live in peace, in security.  They deserve a place to call home.  And Israel must exist.  Whether we look at the pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe, or the Holocaust, or a history that is too long for this posting, it is clear that the Jewish people need a place to define as their own, where they can be safe and maintain their own security.  That place is Israel.

I denounce hate in any form.  I will fight oppression everywhere.

Finally, why don’t I believe the IDF?  Because the words they using regarding the killing of Alon, Yotam, and Samer are the same excuses they accept when an unarmed Palestinian is killed in other  circumstances.

#resist

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Ofer’s children have been released.  He remains a hostage.

Never again is now.

#resist #neverforget

Be the Pebble