by Stephen Lendman

Operation Protective Edge is the latest example. Hard facts explain best. Listing them all requires volumes. A snapshot follows below.

On September 14, the Gaza City-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights updated Palestinian Operation Protective Edge (OPE) casualties:

Total deaths: 2,188

Other reports exceed 2,200.

Total wounded: 10,895

Other reports exceed 11,000

Total civilians killed: 1,658 (75.7%)

Other reports indicate over 80%.

Noted Palestinian physician, political activist, human rights champion Mustafa Barghouti estimates at least 80%.

He never witnessed such devastation, he explained. Entire civilian neighborhoods were destroyed. Every house, building, clinic and mosque.

Mostly civilians were wounded.

Total children killed: 598

Total children wounded: 3,306

Many are disabled for life. Virtually all are traumatized.

Total women killed: 298

Total women injured: 2,114

Palestinian suffering continues. Agreed on ceasefire terms haven't been implemented. Gaza's illegal blockade continues.

Virtually nothing has been done to implement constructive change. Gazans remain isolated on their own.

The Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement said protocols governing access to and from Gaza are shrouded in secrecy.

Vital information is "kept hidden from the Israeli and Palestinian public."

Since hostilities ended on August 26, vague reports only followed. They erroneously suggest important changes coming.

What's intended hasn't been officially revealed. Western and Palestinian officials acknowledge the urgency to rebuild.

Gisha urged "a new approach given the failure of the Gaza closure."

It "questioned the separation policy, whose components are apparently being treated as bargaining chips in negotiations rather than actual security imperatives, which they were a minute ago, as presented to the public."

It called for removing travel restrictions, allowing sale of Gazan agricultural and other products in the West Bank and Israel, as well as permitting entry of construction materials in amounts able to facilitate rebuilding.

Secrecy and lack of transparency complicate things. Gisha wrote the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Lt. Gen. Yoav Mordechai.

It listed practical ways to facilitate rebuilding and recovery. Its suggestions fell on deaf ears.

Israel has no incentive to help. It wants Gazan mass slaughter and destruction, as well as unspeakable human suffering swept under the rug.

It wants them out of sight and mind. It wants Palestinians blamed for its crimes.

It calls its premeditated naked aggression "self-defense." It calls legitimate Palestinian resistance "terrorism."

It turns truth on its head every time. It commits mass murder and destruction with impunity.

Netanyahu tried changing the subject. He shamelessly compared Hamas to ISIS/ISIL/the Islamic State (IS).

After James Foley's beheading aired, he tweeted "Hamas is ISIL."

He announced it publicly. He called both groups "tentacles of a violent Islamic terrorism."

They're "branches of the same poisonous tree," he claimed.

He lied outrageously. Hamas is Palestine's legitimately elected democratic government.

IS is America's creation. US special forces and CIA operatives train its fighters in Jordan. They arm, fund and direct them.

They're used to wage war on Syria. Britain, Israel and other rogue state partners support Obama's regime change agenda.

They back fascist extremism in Ukraine. They wage war without end against freedom.

They commit the highest of high crimes. Obama is a war criminal multiple times over.

Britain's David Cameron and other European leaders are willing co-conspirators.

A previous article said Netanyahu gives rogue leadership new meaning.

Equating Hamas with bloodthirsty killers vilifies all legitimate Palestinian resistance the same way.

Netanyahu takes full advantage. He'a preventing Palestinian self-determination. He sabotaged Fatah/Hamas unity.

On Sunday, he spoke at a Tel Aviv cyber security conference. He slandered Iran outrageously.

He accused the Islamic Republic of conducting cyber attacks on Israel during Operation Protective Edge.

He did so baselessly. He provided no corroborating evidence. There is none.

He claimed "Iran is the source of most of the cyber attacks against Israel."

He ludicrously called the IDF "the most moral army in the world." He lied claiming its missions aim to safeguard Israeli security.

He vilified 43 courageous Israeli soldiers. They denounced verifiable Israeli high crimes against peace.

They condemned longstanding collective punishment. They henceforth refuse to serve.

They want no part of Israel's killing machine. They hold Netanyahu, other top Israeli officials and military commanders directly responsible.

They "cannot continue to serve this system in good conscience, denying the rights of millions of people."

They "call(ed) for all soldiers serving in the Intelligence Corps, present and future, along with all the citizens of Israel, to speak out against these injustices and to take action to bring them to an end."

Netanyahu lied calling their accusations "baseless slander."

"This is an act that should be condemned," he said. It "constitutes political exploitation of the Israel Defense Forces."

"From my long years of acquaintance with the members of (their) Unit 8200, the baseless slander leveled against them will not harm the vitally important work they do for the nation's security. And I say to them - continue."

IDF spokesman Brig. General Motti Almoz said reservists refusing to serve will receive "sharp and clear" "disciplinary treatment."

"There is no place for refusal in the IDF. There are arguments and there are political stances."

"What happened here, in my eyes? Exploitation of military service to express a political stance."

Legitimate criticism of lawless Israeli policy is verboten. Free expression risks being eliminated altogether.

Israel does what it pleases. Core human and civil rights don't matter. Nor fundamental international laws, norms and standards.

Whoever criticizes Israel is vilified. Doing it effectively risks being arrested, imprisoned or assassinated.

Rogue states operate this way. It bears repeating what earlier articles stressed. America and Israel have the world's worst human rights records.

They're guilty of virtually every crime imaginable and then some. Both countries operate extrajudicially.

They partner in crime. They deplore democracy. They practice state terror. They threaten world peace.

They wage wars on humanity. They risk global dystopian harshness.

Survival depends on eliminating their menace. It depends on replacing their rogue governments with ones affording their people peace, equity and justice.

It depends on what's nowhere in sight. Freedom is fast disappearing. Wars without end continue.

It's up to grassroots activists to contest them. "If not now, when? If not us, who?" If not soon, maybe never. If that's not incentive enough, what is?

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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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