by Stephen Lendman

His crimes of war and against humanity remain unpunished. His bluster long ago wore thin. He's a world class thug and then some.

Even Israeli insiders and former officials detest him. They do so for good reason. More on that below.

He's heading Israel toward full-blown tyranny and ruin. It's already a fascist police state. He makes more enemies than friends.

He mocks democratic values. He spurns rule of law principles. He enforces occupation harshness. He prioritizes apartheid cruelty.

It exceeds the worst of former South African inhumanity. Observers who know both say so.

In 2002, Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited Israel. He was "very deeply distressed" by what he saw. He condemned Israeli apartheid. It's worse now than ever.

It "reminded (him) so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa," he said.

He described "the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about."

He said Israel would "never get true security and safety through oppressing another people."

He attacked US Jewish political power groups, saying:

"People are scared in this country, to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful - very powerful."

"Well, so what? The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists."

"Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet...and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust."

"Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon?"

"Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions?"

Israel must either "strive for peace based on justice, based on withdrawal from all the occupied territories" or perish he said.

Others agree. Israel is its own worst enemy. Netanyahu exceeds the worst of his predecessors. None were profiles in courage. All were war criminals

One day Netanyahu will overstep once too often. Perhaps he'll do so sooner than expected.

Without mentioning his name or Israel, Iranian President Hassan Rohani outshone him in New York. He made a fool out of him.

His candor, sincerity, straightforwardness, and honor stood out. Both leaders are polar opposites. Rohani urges peace, equity and justice.

Netanyahu prioritizes war on humanity and occupation harshness. He's unfit to serve. He spurns peace. He menaces humanity. The only threats Israel faces are ones it invents.

Netanyahu heads a repressive police state apparatus. He cracks down hard on resisters. He enforces racist persecution. He stresses neoliberal harshness.

He's an embarrassment to legitimate governance. He's heading to New York this weekend. On October 1, he'll address the General Assembly.

He embarrassed himself last year. He did so before a world audience. A previous article said his cartoon bomb went viral.

He looked more cartoonish than his prop. The Wall Street Journal compared him to Krushchev's shoe-banging incident.

His "red line" bluster wore thin long ago. He's waging war on Syria. He's partnered with Obama doing so. They want Assad topple. Israel wants a regional rival removed.

Throughout Syria's conflict, Israel's waged undeclared war. It supplied opposition forces with weapons and munitions. It treated wounded anti-Assad terrorists in its hospitals.

It launched several cross-border ground attacks. It made one or more incursions. It conducted four air attacks. It may have more in mind.

Doing so constitutes lawless aggression. Netanyahu does it repeatedly. He ruthlessly attacks Gazans. Keeping them besieged suffocates them. Doing so reflects slow-motion genocide.

He authorizes dozens of weekly West Bank incursions. Families are terrorized pre-dawn. Homes are ransacked. Property is destroyed. Children are separated from parents.

Arrests are made. Torture and imprisonment follow. Palestinians are denied all rights.

Following the killing of an Israeli soldier on September 22, Netanyahu authorized collective punishment. He did so in Hebron's Old Town.

Israeli forces attacked innocent men, women and children. They fired rubber bullets, tear gas canisters, and sound bombs. They beat resisters.

They searched, ransacked and damaged homes and property. They arrested innocent children and adults.

Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) fieldworker Abdul Latif al-Karaki reported the following:

"At approximately 22:00 on Sunday, 22 September 2013, a number of Israeli soldiers raided our house that is located in Tal'at Abu Hadeed area in the centre of the Old Town."

"They kept my husband Abdul Latif al-Karaki (48), who is sick, and my sons outdoors."

"In the meantime, I heard my daughter-in-law Reem (19) screaming inside the house. I hurried up and found her lying on the ground."

"She told me that an Israeli soldier hit her in the belly although she is pregnant."

"In the meanwhile, my sons and Israeli soldiers, who went out of the house, clashed and my daughter-in-law was taken by an ambulance of the Palestine Red Crescent Society to Hebron Hospital."

"While going back home, a number of Israeli soldiers had stationed atop of a number of houses belonging to the families of Abu Hadeed and al-Fakhouri. Moreover, Israeli forces were arresting young men."

Another PCHR fieldworker said:

"At approximately 18:30 on Sunday, 22 September 2013, Israeli forces were firing sound bombs and tear gas canisters at a number of boys, who threw stones at them in Qatyoun neighborhood that is about 70 meters away from my house."

"Following the news of killing an Israeli soldier, Israeli forces moved into the area and closed it completely."

"At approximately 01:00, over 13 soldiers raided my house and kept me and my 11-member family in a room."

"They searched the house brutally, broke the windows and damaged the couches."

"An hour later, they left the house. I looked out of the house and saw large numbers of soldiers raiding neighboring houses, arresting civilians and taking them towards Tareq Ben Ziad School."

PCHR condemned what happened. Doing so violates core international law provisions. Netanyahu bears full responsibility. He considers Palestinians subhuman.

He treats them like nonpersons. He denies them all rights. He does so while no peace/peace talks continue. They were dead on arrival before beginning. They represent the greatest hoax in modern history.

Netanyahu deplores peace. His racist belligerence reflects it. He lets settlers attack Palestinians with impunity.

On September 19, dozens of extremist ones stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They performed Talmudic rituals. They committed other provocative acts before. They'll do it again.

They did it at Islam's third holiest site. The Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque rank third after Mecca's Sacred Mosque and Madina's Mosque of the Prophet.

On September 27, Israeli forces prevented Palestinian worshipers under age 50 from praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They did so provocatively.

Clashes followed. Dozens of Palestinians were hurt. Others were arrested. Netanyahu authorized extreme brutality. Security forces take full advantage.

On the same day, hundreds of settlers visited Joseph's Tomb. They did so provocatively. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers accompanied them. Clashes followed. Security forces responded belligerently. These type incidents repeat with disturbing regularity.

Jerusalem (Al Quds) is the epicenter of ethnic cleansing. Netanyahu wants the entire city Judaized. He wants Palestinians excluded.

He's been dispossessing them one bulldozed home at a time. He's stealing them land and property. He wants it for exclusive Jewish development. He already controls most West Bank land.

He wants all valued Judea and Samaria areas. He wants Palestinians confined to worthless scrub lands. He wants them isolated on bantustans.

September 28 marks the 13th anniversary of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's provocative Al-Aqsa Mosque visit.

It's in Occupied East Jerusalem. The second Intifada followed. So did mass slaughter, arrests and unbridled brutality.

Netanyahu replicates viciousness his own way. Perhaps he has more mass killing in mind. It won't be the first time. He's done it before. He'll do it again.

He ruthlessly waged war on Palestine throughout his tenure. It's ongoing now.

Haaretz contributor Bradley Burston calls him "a bitter old man." His "future (is) increasingly behind him.

He's "letting history pass him by." He's "letting history pass Israel by."

His "bottom-line is to settle the West Bank and East Jerusalem, even if that means settling on Palestinian-owned land."

"Even if that means forcing Bedouin and other Arabs off their lands and destroying their rickety dwellings while leaving illegally squatting settlers in place, building their homes with brick, mortar, and government sanctioned water."

"Even if that means alienating the United States and the majority of its Jews, further alienating Europe, and daring - begging - the United Nations to mire Israel ever deeper in isolation and international scorn."

"Even if that means ever wider boycotts.

Even if - especially if - that means no peace."

Gideon Levy reviles "the cursed Netanyahu years." His "violent fingerprints" are everywhere, he says.

Eyal Megged calls him "a sad reflection of Homo Israelus." He compares him to Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon.

He admitted he's "not a statesmen of the premier league, but a neighborhood wheeler-dealer."

"That's the way I am, not a leader who makes history, just a hotheaded braggart."

Netanyahu's true stature is that and much more. He threatens humanity's survival.

Amos Harel called Rohani the star in New York. Israel's the "grumpy complainer." Netanyahu has no clothes.

Yuval Diskin headed Shin Bet from 2005 - 2011. It's Israel's General Security Service. He calls Netanyahu "weak," "wavering," and unreliable."

He obsesses over Iran. He does so irresponsibly. His judgment is sorely lacking. He drinks and smokes too much. He's "scared and fickle". He "shirk(s) responsibility."

He represents "a crisis in leadership here, a crisis of values and total contempt for the public. Maybe people will think I'm exaggerating, but I'm telling you. From close up it looks even worse."

He lacks "leadership qualities." He has messianic ambitions. He's-ideologically over-the-top and dangerous. He wants his stamp put on history.

He's writing it the wrong way. "He wants to go down in history as (someone) who did something on" a grand scale.

His decision-making style is "zig-zag." Associates don't trust him. Diskin expressed concern for his children, saying:

"When I see the current leadership, I am worried about what we'll leave for them."

He's not the only current or former Israeli official feeling this way.

A Final Comment

Netanyahu's heading for New York. On October 1, he'll address the General Assembly. On September 24, the Jerusalem Post headlined "Netanyahu to compare Iran to North Korea in UN speech," saying:

An unnamed Israeli official provided quotes from the most recent draft of his speech. Don't be fooled, he'll say.

"Iran must not be allowed to repeat North Korea’s ploy to get nuclear weapons."

"(J)ust like North Korea before it, Iran professes to seemingly peaceful intentions."

"It talks the talk of nonproliferation while seeking to ease sanctions and buy more time for its nuclear program."

He'll warn "a bad agreement (with Iran) is worse than no agreement at all."

Netanyahu is like Obama. Both men have hegemonic ambitions. They wage lawless aggression to achieve them.

They're serial liars. They're war criminals multiple times over. They threaten humanity. Stopping their rage for war matters most.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com

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