إلى شعوب العالم: نرجوكم لا تقتلوا أطفالنا

Khalid Amayreh

In the past few months, especially since the beginning of the current wave of Palestinian resistance against Israel’s enduring brutal military occupation, about six months ago, the Israeli army and other security forces adopted a decidedly murderous policy against Palestinians, especially children.

A shoot-to-kill policy was adopted by the Israeli political and military leadership, apparently for the purpose of terrorizing and “deterring” the Palestinian populace. Consequently, dozens of young Palestinians were needlessly murdered on the streets of the West Bank on the pretext that some of the victims may have put the life of Israeli soldiers at risk. In some incidents, soldiers fired additional bullets at the heads of the already completely “neutralized” Victims.

In the Israeli army lexicon, this is done for the purpose of verifying their death.

The gruesome killings leave no doubt as to the nefarious behavior of the murderous soldiers.

Israel has no credible justice system when it comes to dealing with the Palestinians.

Jewish religious laws don’t ascribe real humanity to non-Jews in general. This disgusting mindset is applied to the fullest when dealing with the Palestinians.

Occasionally, Israel does some PR work to mitigate anger with regard to a specific crime that had its way to the world media, especial the social media.

Israeli Hasbara would cite alleged extenuating circumstances such as claiming the murdering soldiers were under mental pressure, thought they were about to get killed or didn’t really intend to murder the Palestinian victim!!

However, when protests get quieter and the specific crime fades away from memory, the specific murderer is shamelessly exonerated of any wrong-doing, celebrated as a hero, and given citations for valor.

This shows that that Israel effectively encourages its soldiers to murder innocent Palestinians on the spot if there is the slightest suspicion that they might be planning to hurl a stone toward the soldiers or stab them with a small and virtually innocuous kitchen knife.

In many verified instances, the murderous soldiers hastened to place a knife they carry with them, near the already murdered Palestinian lying on the ground.

The purpose of this criminal behavior is to give the impression that the victim had sought to stab and kill Israelis.

More to the point, Soldiers patrolling the streets of the West Bank receive hair-raising instructions, illustrating the evilness and brutal ugliness of the Israeli mentality.

They are commanded to shoot first and ask questions later. . Of course we can all imagine how a young soldier would behave vis-à-vis the Palestinians, having been indoctrinated in school and synagogue that the life of a non-Jew in general and a Palestinian in particular has no sanctity because, according to the Talmud, he is not a bona fide human being.”

Such soldiers are raised to be “Born to kill murderers.” That is why they murder children and innocent civilians without the slightest compunctions. They even would celebrate the murder with their comrades and superiors!

As to the victim, he or she is treated as another number rather than a human being.

Not only that, his home is often demolished in the quiet hours before dawn, relatives arrested and harassed. Israel has even threatened to deport families of Palestinians involved in the current mini-intifada to the Gaza Strip or elsewhere. The timeless principle of “innocent until proven guilty” has no existence in Israel, especially as far as Palestinians are concerned.

Today, Israel is having a free season on helpless and unprotected Palestinians. Israel is ganging up on the Palestinians in what seems to be slow-motion annihilation.

I am not saying that Israel is carrying a holocaust similar to the German holocaust 70 years ago.

But even the German holocaust lasted for 3 years whereas the Palestinian plight has been going on for nearly 70 years.

By the end of the Second World War, the West rose up to help the Jews by establishing a state for them at the expense of the native Palestinians.

However, the international community is effectively abandoning the Palestinian people, granting evil Zionism a carte blanch to further torment the Palestinians and uproot them from their own ancestral homeland.

This is why the peoples of the world must intensify their boycott and sanctions against the apartheid entity.

So, we say to the peoples of the world, in all solemnity and seriousness:

Don’t buy Israeli products.

Don’t allow Israeli firms to operate in your respective country.

Don’t invest in Israel.

This is the very least you could do to save the Palestinian people from the clutches of diabolical Zionism.

We are not making this outcry because we are anti-Jewish, God forbid.

We are making these modest demands because buying Israeli products and doing business with Israel enable the apartheid entity to have more bullets to kill our children.

Please, don’t kill our children.

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Khalid Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist and current affairs commentator living in occupied Palestine