Yes, Israel Is Executing Palestinians Without Trial
In
2016, one doesn’t have to be Adolf Eichmann to be executed in Israel –
it’s enough to be a teenage Palestinian girl with scissors.
Gideon Levy |
Jan 17, 2016 5:18 AM
An illustrative image of a soldier securing a Jerusalem bus. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
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Netanyahu: Swedish FM's remarks on killings of Palestinians are 'outrageous and stupid'
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Two Palestinians, from different walks of life, brought together in death at a checkpoint
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Senior IDF officers visit Palestinian terrorists in jail in effort to understand their motives
We
should call it like it is: Israel executes people without trial nearly
every day. Any other description is a lie. If there was once discussion
here about the death penalty for terrorists, now they are executed even
without trial (and without discussion). If once there was debate over
the rules of engagement, today it’s clear: we shoot to kill – any
suspicious Palestinian.
Public
Security Minister Gilad Erdan outlined the situation clearly when he
said, “Every terrorist should know he will not survive the attack he is
about to commit” – and almost every politician joined him in nauseating
unison, from Yair Lapid on up. Never have so many licenses to kill been
handed out here, nor has the finger been so itchy on the trigger.
In
2016, one doesn’t have to be Adolf Eichmann to be executed here – it’s
enough to be a teenage Palestinian girl with scissors. The firing squads
are active every day. Soldiers, police and civilians shoot those who
stabbed Israelis, or tried to stab them or were suspected of doing so,
and at those who run down Israelis in their cars or appear to have done
so.
In
most cases, there was no need to shoot – and certainly not to kill. In a
good many of the cases, the shooters’ lives were not in danger. They
shot people to death who were holding a knife or even scissors, or
people who just put their hands in their pockets or lost control of
their car.
They
shot them to death indiscriminately – women, men, teenage girls,
teenage boys. They shot them when they were standing, and even after
they were no longer a threat. They shot to kill, to punish, to release
their anger, and to take revenge. There is such contempt here that these
incidents are barely covered in the media.
Last
Saturday, soldiers at the Beka’ot checkpoint (called Hamra by the
Palestinians) in the Jordan Valley killed businessman Said Abu al-Wafa,
35, a father of four, with 11 bullets. At the same time, they also
killed Ali Abu Maryam, a 21-year-old farm laborer and student, with
three bullets. The Israel Defense Forces did not explain the killing of
the two men, except to say there was a suspicion that someone had drawn a
knife. There are security cameras at the site, but the IDF has not
released video footage of the incident.
Swedish Foreign Minister Wallström is one of the few ministers with a conscience left in the world.
Last
month, other IDF soldiers killed Nashat Asfur, a father of three who
worked at an Israeli chicken slaughterhouse. They shot him in his
village, Sinjil, from 150 meters away, while he was walking home from a
wedding. Earlier this month, Mahdia Hammad – a 40-year-old mother of
four – was driving home through her village, Silwad. Border Police
officers sprayed her car with dozens of bullets after they suspected she
intended to run them over.
The
soldiers didn’t even suspect cosmetology student Samah Abdallah, 18, of
anything. Soldiers shot her father’s car “by mistake,” killing her;
they had suspected a 16-year-old pedestrian, Alaa al-Hashash, of trying
to stab them. They executed him as well, of course.
They
also killed Ashrakat Qattanani, 16, who was holding a knife and running
after an Israeli woman. First a settler ran her over with his car, and
when she was lying injured on the ground, soldiers and settlers shot her
at least four times. Execution – what else?
And when soldiers shot Lafi Awad, 20, in his back while he was fleeing after throwing stones, was that not an execution?
These
are only a few of the cases I have documented over the past few weeks
in Haaretz. The website of the human rights group B’Tselem has a list of
12 more cases of executions.
Swedish
Foreign Minister Margot Wallström, one of the few ministers with a
conscience left in the world, demanded that these killings be
investigated. There is no demand more moral and just than this. It
should have come from our own justice minister.
Israel
responded with its usual howls. The prime minister said this was
“outrageous, immoral and unjust.” And Benjamin Netanyahu understands
those terms: That is exactly how to describe Israel’s campaign of
criminal executions under his leadership.
$m.stack.
Gideon Levy
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