Stephen Lendman

Racist US and Israeli policies bear striking similarities. Cops in America turned Black and Latino communities into battlegrounds, virtual war theaters, killing with impunity - rarely ever held accountable for cold-blooded murder and other forms of brutality.

Israel operates the same way, soldiers, police and other security forces authorized to kill or brutalize Palestinians for any reason or none at all. Investigations when conducted are farcical, whitewashed, justice systematically denied.

Mahmoud Badran, aged 15, is Israel’s latest victim, murdered by Israeli soldiers, the unprovoked attack wounding four of his cousins. Three others with them were unharmed. Initially an IDF spokesperson lied, saying live fire was used against “terrorists” throwing stones. Badran and his cousins were driving home from late night swimming, threatening no one.

A revised IDF statement said they were “mistakenly” fired on, an investigation into the incident underway, whitewash certain, accountability a nonstarter.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry turned truth on its head, saying “(i)f it were not for the difficult security situation which is entirely the result of incitement and Palestinian terror, Israel would not be forced to use force in order to protect its civilians.”

B’Tselem called the incident “a direct result of military policy which enables, despite the official prohibition in the open-fire regulations, to use deadly fire even in cases where there is no threat to life and even when the soldiers have other, non-lethal, means at their disposal.”

Its field researcher Iyad Hadad said soldiers used heavy fire at a moving vehicle without justification. Badran was killed instantly. Wounded cousin Hadi Badran said the following:

“I was sitting in the middle seat. We came up to the underpass under the Road 443 bridge. Everything was normal and there was nothing suspicious. Suddenly we were under fire.”

“I looked at the direction the fire was coming from and saw a white civilian car. There were two people there, in civilian clothing, and they were the ones shooting at us.”

“There were a lot of shots. The bullets hit the car and shattered the windows. We got hit and started screaming. I put my head down between the seats. Immediately after that, the driver crashed into the underpass supporting wall.”

His wounded cousin Dawood Badran gave a similar account. B’Tselem said Israeli soldiers obstructed medical help from aiding the wounded, adding:

“(S)oldiers unlawfully fired at the moving car, in violation of the open-fire regulations, which permit use of deadly fire only in circumstance of a clear and immediate threat to life, which was not the case in this incident.”

Witnesses reported massive live fire at a non-threatening vehicle - in the wrong place at the wrong time, all too commonplace in Occupied Palestine, residents at risk of injury, death or kidnapping at all times, denied judicial redress for state-sponsored crimes.

B’Tselem explained what happened “is a direct result of military policy (enabling) use of deadly fire…even when soldiers have other, non-lethal, means at their disposal.”

Regime officials at the highest levels support cold-blooded murder - on the phony pretext of fighting terrorism. State-sponsored high crimes are considered self-defense.

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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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