by Stephen Lendman

Israel and America share full responsibility. Partnering in high crimes against peace. Longstanding. Unspeakable. Viciousness writ large.

Slow-motion genocide. Washington supporting Israel's killing machine. Operating unaccountably.

Murdering Palestinians in cold blood. In one premeditated war after another. Ruthless collective punishment. Horrific abuse. Ongoing daily. Other forms of mistreatment.

Lawlessly blockading Gaza. Violating Al-Aqsa. Islam's third holiest site. Israeli extemists wanting a second Jewish Temple replacing it.

Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israel's gulag. Torture its longstanding policy. Institutionalized racism. Worse than South Africa's apartheid.

Targeted assassinations at its discretion. Unrelenting militarized, brutalizing occupation harshness. For 47 years. Treating Palestinians like subhumans.

Stealing their land. Bulldozing family homes. Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) co-founder Jeff Halper saying:

Netanyahu's recklessness "run(ning) the risk of deteriorating into purely atavistic revenge."

Since 1967, around 48,000 Palestinian homes destroyed. Facilitating Jews-only development. Affected families with no right of appeal.

What Israel says goes. Violating core international humanitarian and human rights laws. Persecuting Palestinians ruthlessly.

Halper explaining Israel's demolition strategy. "(S)imple and straightforward." Nothing complicated.

Palestinians like everyone "hold their homes sacred…" Israel believes losing them deters others from attacking Israelis. Responding to longstanding horrific mistreatment.

Demolition strategy "grew out of the British Emergency Regulations of 1945," Halper explained.

Former Prime Minister Menachem Begin denounced them. Calling them "Nazi" regulations, said Halper.

Begin "worked tirelessly" for rescinding them. To no avail. Israeli policy raising serious questions.

Reflecting overall egregious Israeli conduct. Ruthlessness writ large.

Media scoundrels ignoring what demands headlines. Denunciation. Demanding Israeli accountability.

Over-the-top New York Times editorial comments. Substituting for hard truths. Headlined "Horror in Israel."

Claiming "no comprehending the murder of four men…" Five including an Israeli policeman.

Three rabbis. Civilians. "(U)narmed and at prayer in a religious sanctuary…" Killed by two Palestinians. East Jerusalem residents.

"(O)n a bloody rampage with a gun, knives and axes before being killed in a shootout."

Tragic "for all Israelis and Palestinians. (L)ocked in a cycle of hatred and hopelessness, where chances for stability, much less permanent peace, seem nearly impossible."

Because Washington and Israel reject it. Longstanding mutual policy. Prioritizing violence and instability. Peace defeats their agenda. Claiming otherwise doesn't wash.

Decades of sham peace talks dead on arrival. Stillborn from inception. The greatest hoax in modern times. Don't expect Times editors to explain. Or other media scoundrels.

They lied. Saying Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for what happened.

Palestinian resistance groups applauded it. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri saying it followed "ongoing Israeli crimes against the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

"(I)n response to the execution of the martyr Yousef Hasan al-Ramouni." Hanged by Israeli extremists. Police claiming suicide.

PFLP leader Kayid al-Ghoul praising lone wolf violence. Claiming no official responsibility for what happened.

Calling it in response to ongoing Israeli crimes. PFLP's Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades military wing praised what happened.

An official statement addressing East Jerusalem Palestinians' "ongoing struggle to protect the city against the Israeli occupation."

"(B)less(ing)" legitimate resistance. Aimed at "uproot(ing) settlers and occupiers. Claiming no official responsibility for synagogue killings.

Islamic Jihad called them "a natural reaction to the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation and its settlers."

Popular Resistance Committees called them "heroic." Responding to "Israeli occupation's crimes against our people and our holy places in in occupied Jerusalem."

"The door for revenge won't be closed as long as the enemy's crimes continue…"

Don't expect NYT editors to explain. Or other media scoundrels. One-sidedly supporting Israel.

Anti-Palestinian and then some. Ignoring the root cause of violence. It bears repeating.

Washington and Israel partner in high crimes against peace. Blaming Palestinians for their longstanding wrongdoing.

Obama issuing a deplorable statement. Ignoring his genocidal high crimes. Responsible for millions of deaths.

"(S)trongly condemn(ing)" Tuesday's synagogue attack. Reflexively calling it "terror(ism)."

What they do, not us. Or Israel. Ludicrously claiming "no justification." Ignoring daily Israeli violence against defenseless Palestinian civilians.

Calling its premeditated genocidal Gaza war self-defense. Shamelessly urging both sides "to work cooperatively… (L)ower tensions."

Reject violence. "(S)eek a path forward towards peace." It bears repeating. What Israel and Washington categorically reject.

Supporting violence and instability. Big Lies claim otherwise. Repeated with disturbing regularity. Burying hard truths.

John Kerry regurgitating White House rubbish. Calling Tuesday's attack "pure terror and senseless brutality."

Ignoring Israel's worst crimes. Longstanding slow-motion genocide. Occupation harshness brutality.

Creating an atmosphere for retaliation. Turning a blind eye to its root cause.

Including Washington's direct involvement. Supporting Israel's killing machine. Unapologetically. Assuring continued violence.

Irresponsibly blaming Palestinians. For responding to Israeli brutality. Rogue state ruthlessness writ large.

Security forces storming Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood. Where Tuesday's synagogue attackers lived.

Sealing its entrance with cement blocks. Ruthless collective punishment. Longstanding Israeli practice.

Arresting 12 family members. Uninvolved with what happened. At least 17 Palestinians suffering tear gas inhalation effects.

Five others with rubber-coated steel bullet injuries. Netanyahu and likeminded coalition extremists perpetuate violence.

On Tuesday, calling an emergency security cabinet meeting. Plotting more collective punishment. Inciting more violence. Instead of responsibly going all-out to curb it.

Extremist Israelis urge "(d)eath to Arabs." "Revenge." Expect Netanyahu to oblige and then some.

Maybe more premeditated war. Escalated brutality. Criminalizing synagogue killers' family members. Punishing them ruthlessly.

An entire community where they lived. Standard Israeli practice. Multiple other Palestinian neighborhoods terrorized the same day.

Dozens of Palestinians kidnapped. Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonvich issuing harsh retaliation orders.

Against entire East Jerusalem neighborhoods. Blockading them. Deploying boarder guards, soldiers and police.

Terrorizing East Jerusalem/West Bank residents. Injuring dozens of Palestinian children. Aged 7 - 12. Others with rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas and stun grenades.

Perpetuating a cycle of violence. Perhaps worse to come. Likely Palestinian deaths. Serious injuries. Women and children vulnerable like men.

International Jerusalem Center director Hasan Ali Khater calling Netanyahu's retaliation a declaration of war. Continuing Israeli high crimes against peace.

"The ongoing violations against Jerusalem, its people and its holy sites, the escalating arrests, the digging under the Al-Aqsa mosque and various other areas, and all racist policies pushed the Palestinians to resort to whatever available means to defend themselves," he said.

“This is all happening while Arab and Islamic countries, and the International community, remain silent."

"The Palestinians are retaliating to the murder of their children on the hands of extremist Israeli settlers, and soldiers."

"The world needs to understand injustice and tyranny must be countered by all available means."

Urging Palestinian unity. Against Israeli viciousness. "Jerusalem is the core of our struggle against the Zionist army."

Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Programme Director Philip Luther denounced harsh Israeli retaliation, saying:

"Punishing the families of suspects by destroying their homes is collective punishment and is prohibited by international law."

"Tensions across the West Bank have been at fever pitch following the conflict in Gaza this summer."

"Authorities must not trample over the rights of Palestinians through collective punishments and other heavy-handed measures in order to restore security."

"The Israeli security forces have an obligation to protect the whole civilian population regardless of whether they are Palestinian or Israeli."

"Instead of stepping up their heavy-handed tactics, the Israeli authorities must ensure that anyone who attacks civilians on either side is held to account."

"Failing to do so is only likely to embolden attackers and worsen the cycle of bloodshed."

Longstanding Israeli policy. State terror. Escalated at its discretion. For any reason or none at all.

Palestinians brutalized. Victimized. Blamed for Israeli crimes.

Longstanding ruthlessness. State terror. No relief whatever in sight.

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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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