by Stephen Lendman

Sharonian evil defines him. Unrestrained state terror. Against defenseless Palestinian civilians. Peaceful protesters.

Maliciously claiming they call for Israel's destruction. More on what he said below. On Sunday, Environmental Minister Amir Peretz resigned.

Saying Israel undertook "an earthquake in all fields - diplomatic, social and financial." Netanyahu acted irresponsibly.

Peretz formerly headed Israel's Histadrut labor union. One of its most powerful institutions. With around 650,000 members.

Established in 1920. Formally called the General Federation of Labour in Israel. A key Zionist organization. Largely responsible for Israel's formation.

Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, once said without Histadrut, he "doubt(ed) whether we would have had a state."

Today it's a shadow of its former self. Politically an arm of Israeli and US foreign policy. Supporting their imperial wars. Collaborated earlier with apartheid South Africa.

As its economic importance declined, its political role increased. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions recognizes it as the representative of all Israeli workers.

It founded Haganah. A Zionist terrorist group. Later incorporated into Israel's armed forces.

It never cared about Israeli wages, benefits or working conditions. Colonizing Palestine mattered most. And the self-interest of its officials.

Like US trade unions today. Corrupted. Conspiring with management against rank-and-file workers. Benefitting hugely from betrayal.

Histadrut accepted Arab members. Never supported their rights. Or denounced institutionalized racism. High-mindedness isn't its long suit. Nor earlier or now.

Peretz joined Labor in 1992. Left in 1999. Formed his own One Nation party. Rejoined Labor in 2004. Joined Hatnuah in 2013.

Formerly served as defense minister and deputy prime minister. Now an outspoken Netanyahu critic. On social issues. Failed political progress with Palestinians.

On Saturday, he said he "did everything (he) could to promote a diplomatic process and fight for the dignity of Israelis."

Things "deteriorat(ed) on all fronts, he added. Diplomatic, social and economic.

"I have no intention of continuing to serve the policies of Netanyahu, who has become a prisoner to the right-wing," he said.

Isaac Herzog heads Labor. He called Peretz's resignation "the beginning of the end" of Netanyahu's coalition government.

Hatruah is in the center-left camp, he said. "(W)hich Labor will lead in the next elections until the regime is changed."

In September, Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar resigned. For personal reasons, he claimed. To "spend more time at home."

Insiders said it was for political reasons. Tensions between him and Netanyahu.

Herzog called it a sign of no-confidence in his leadership. Months earlier, former Mossad head Meir Dagan criticized Netanyahu's inflammatory war-mongering.

Saying no existential threat exists. Netanyahu can't be trusted. Other former officials believe he's heading Israel over a cliff.

Orchestrating hysteria for political reasons. Turning Israel into a pariah state. Looking buffoon-like in the process. Demagogic and then some. This writer calls him the mouth that roars.

On Sunday, he accused peaceful Palestinian protesters of "calling for the destruction of the State of Israel." Considering Palestinians opposing his racist agenda "terrorists."

Ludicrously calling Israel "a nation of law(s)." Mocking their core principles. Operating extrajudicially. Persecuting Palestinians ruthlessly.

Saying anyone "violat(ing) the law will be severely punished." Excluding himself and likeminded extremists.

"We will not tolerate disturbances and riots." His definition of peaceful assemblies. Nonviolent protests. Legitimate resistance.

Palestinians demanding fundamental rights. Core ones denied them.

"We will take determined action against those who throw stones, firebombs and fireworks, and block roads, and against demonstrations that call for our destruction."

"We are not prepared to tolerate more demonstrations in the heart of our cities in which Hamas or Islamic State flags are waved and calls are made to redeem Palestine with blood and fire - calling in effect for the destruction of the State of Israel."

Peaceful Palestinian protests are verboten. State-sponsored terror is OK. Genocidal mass slaughter and destruction.

Cold-blooded murder. Targeted assassinations. Torture. Filling Israel's gulag with thousands of political prisoners.

Brutalizing millions of people. Denying them fundamental rights. Calling their legitimate resistance "terrorism."

"I have instructed the interior minister to use all means, including evaluating the possibility of revoking the citizenship of those who call for the destruction of the State of Israel," he said.

"Standing behind this incitement are, first of all, the various Islamic movements: Hamas and the Islamic Movement in Israel."

"In the forefront, at least vis-a-vis the agitation on the Temple Mount, are the Mourabitoun and the Mourabiat - movements engaged in incitement and which are financed by funds from extremist Islam."

"I have instructed that they be outlawed. But also standing behind this incitement is the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Abu Mazen (Abbas)."

"The website of their official body, Fatah, explains that the Jewish people were, in effect, never here, that the Temple was never here, that David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah and the kings and prophets of Israel are all fiction."

"This is nothing less than a clear attempt to distort not only the modern truth, but also the historical truth."

"Against these distortions and these gross lies, we must tell the truth to our people and to the world."

He ranted against Iran's peaceful nuclear program. Repeating one Big Lie after another.

Saying the international community “faces a simple choice - to surrender to Iran's demands in a deal that’s dangerous not only for Israel, but for the entire world, or to demand that Iran dismantle its capabilities to produce a nuclear weapon."

"Israel will not agree to a deal that leaves Iran as a nuclear threshold state. It is a danger to us all.”

Israel is the region's only nuclearized state. Armed and dangerous.

Using banned chemical, biological, and radiological weapons in all its wars of aggression. Unaccountably. Blaming victims for its high crimes.

On Sunday, Palestinians protested throughout the West Bank. Against Khair al-Din Rouf Hamdan death.

Israeli police murdered him in cold blood. A general strike was called. Organized by the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel.

Black flags few on rooftops. In Negev cities, towns and villages. Israel announced a state of alert.

Clashes were sporadic throughout the day. Including stone-throwing. Burning tires. Blocking roads.

In Sha'ab village, activists replaced replaced a police station Israeli flag with a Palestinian one.

Students demonstrated on university campuses. At Tel Aviv University, dozens of Arab students faced off against extremist Israelis.

Hadash, Balad and the Islamic Movement organized student protests at Haifa University.

Doctoral student Hassan Amara addressed Hamdan's murder, saying:

"How could they have shown him such contempt and dragged him like that? You saw the film clip. It was not manslaughter. It was murder."

"(T)he result of the racist policy of the public security minister and also of Minister Naftali Bennett, who says, 'He's no citizen."

"He's a 'terrorist.' His incitement is a policy of terrorists, a policy of murder, of incitement, of simply saying: He's an Arab, so he can be killed."

With impunity. Holding no one responsible. Assuring further cold-blooded murders to follow.

Official Israeli policy. Bloodlust writ large. Netanyahu bears full responsibility for ongoing violence.

Likeminded ministers and MKs share it. Arab students called for a third intifada.

Protesters carried Palestinian flags. Signs read "Israel, state of terror."

"Shahid rest in peace." Using the Arabic word for martyr. For slain Kheir Hamdan. Murdered by Israeli police in cold blood.

Jerusalem patriarchs and church officials called for respect for holy sites. Ending violence. Provoked by extremist acts.

Maintaining the "Status Quo of all three Abrahamic faiths." Israel blamed Palestinians for its crimes.

Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying in part:

"Recently tensions in East Jerusalem have escalated to a dangerous level." "

"After an activist of a radical Palestinian group attempted to assassinate right-wing Israeli Rabbi Yehuda Glick on 29 October, Israeli authorities took the unprecedented step of temporarily shutting down access to one of the holiest Muslim shrines - the al-Aqsa Mosque compound."

"Although they loosened the restrictions later, tensions in the city continue to escalate and there are regular clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli security forces."

"This is largely due to the attempts by a number of Israeli right-wing leaders to penetrate the al-Aqsa Mosque compound."

"Russia is seriously concerned about the events in East Jerusalem. Condemning any acts of violence without reservation, we are urging Israelis and Palestinians to take urgent steps to deescalate tensions."

"(A)ll issues related to the status of the shrines of Jerusalem, a holy city for the followers of three monotheistic religions, should be resolved at Palestinian-Israeli peace talks on a solid foundation of international law."

Palestinians tried for decades to do so. Israel categorIcally rejects peace and stability. Militarized occupation prevents it.

Nothing suggests responsible change going forward. Status quo harshness persists. Whether a third intifada follows remains to be seen.

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

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

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

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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