by Stephen Lendman

Israel bears full responsibility for premeditated violence and brutality, unleashed without mercy against defenseless Palestinians - reminiscent of how Nazis persecuted Jews.

Decades of vicious Israeli persecution explains the root cause of ongoing turmoil. People take so much before reacting in self-defense.

The trigger for things exploding now is multifold, a combination of:

• days of Israeli soldiers and police rampaging through the sacred Al Aqsa Mosque, brutalizing worshipers, forcibly removing them so extremist settlers could enter the compound where they don’t belong;

• longstanding repressive security force viciousness; and

• vigilante settler thuggishness, near daily violence and vandalism against Palestinians ignored or supporting by Israeli soldiers and police: the most horrendous example was immolating three Dawabsha family members, Israel knowing the perpetrators, yet refusing to arrest them, while at the same time kidnapping Palestinians and charging them with offenses they didn’t commit or are too minor to matter.

Western, mainly US, and Israeli media suppress what demands headlines, instead play perhaps the oldest of dirty games - blaming victims, holding them responsible for premeditated, cold-blooded Israeli crimes, committed unaccountably.

An October 13, B’Tselem expressed “deep shock at contempt for human life,” decades of ruthless occupation entirely responsible.

Palestinian Scholars Association chairman Marwan Abu Ras called Palestinian anger a justifiable reaction to Israeli state terror. Netanyahu and complicit thugs are “cowards,” he said.

“(T)hey are neither legally, nor religiously, not ethically, nor morally entitled to grab hold of our land.”

Physician, political analyst, human rights champion Mustafa Barghouti believes a third intifada already began.

Since October 1, daily clashes left 30 Palestinians dead, mostly youths, women and children, nearly 1,600 injured, around 4,000 harmed by toxic tear gas, hundreds arrested, and an entire population under attack - reflecting longstanding Israeli collective punishment in flagrant violation of international law.

Instead of holding Israel accountable for ongoing violence and brutality, complicit media blame ruthlessly persecuted Palestinians, effectively endorsing Netanyahu-ordered state terror.

On Tuesday, The New York Times headlined “Attacks by Palestinians Kill 3 Israelis and Wound More than 20,” - quoting Netanyahu saying “(w)e are in a struggle, a struggle for all of us, and we will face it together.”

The Times highlighted a handful of Palestinian attacks against Jews. Not a single word about decades of state sponsored terrorism against a defenseless population, ruthless persecution demanding accountability, and Israel’s full responsibility for ongoing violence and the horrific toll so far explained above.

The Washington Post headlined “Palestinians kill 3 Israelis as violence mounts in ‘day of rage.’ “

Saying Israelis are “deeply shaken and fearful…” Quoting Netanyahu saying “Israel will settle the score with the murderers and those who help them. We will cut the hands of whoever tries to hurt us.”

His full responsibility for daily violence and atrocities is ignored. He’s shockingly treated like a human rights defender, instead of a brutal executioner.

Wall Street Journal deputy editorial page director Bret Stephens headlined “Palestine: The Psychotic Stage, The Truth about why Palestinians have been seized by their present blood lust.”

No responsible editor or publisher would touch this type rubbish - a vicious, racist mischaracterization of reality. Palestinians alone are responsible for ongoing violence, according to Stephens and likeminded propagandists.

Israeli media are just as unconscionably one-sided, downplaying or ignoring Israeli violence, blaming Palestinian victims unjustifiably.

Headlining Palestinian terror attacks, killing Jews. It’s all their fault, urging tougher crackdowns, ignoring nightmarish conditions they face.

Heavily armed Israeli soldiers and militarized police are using live fire against unarmed Palestinian men, women and children. World community indifference to their suffering lets Israel rampage, brutalize and kill unaccountably.

The only viable solution is ending decades of brutal occupation. Peace and stability are impossible otherwise.

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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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