Israel, the IDF and State Terrorism

I've been having a chat with my new mate taltalk in the comments of the post on the atrocities at Qana

Whilst searching through the myriad of articles that link Israel and the IDF with state terrorsim and murder, I came across this excellent article written by John Pilger in 2004. Here's a snippet:

Only by recognizing the terrorism of states is it possible to understand, and deal with, acts of terrorism by groups and individuals which, however horrific, are tiny by comparison. Moreover, their source is inevitably the official terrorism for which there is no media language. Thus, the State of Israel has been able to convince many outsiders that it is merely a victim of terrorism when, in fact, its own unrelenting, planned terrorism is the cause of the infamous retaliation by Palestinian suicide bombers. ...

On September 7, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 16 Israelis in the town of Beersheba. Every television news report allowed the Israeli government spokesman to use this tragedy to justify the building of an apartheid wall ­ when the wall is pivotal to the causes of Palestinian violence. Almost every news report marked the end of a five-month period of "relative peace and calm" and "a lull in the violence." During those five months of relative peace and calm, almost 400 Palestinians were killed, 71 of them in assassinations. During the lull in the violence, more than 73 Palestinian children were killed. A 13-year-old was murdered with a bullet through the heart, a 5-year-old was shot in her face as she walked arm in arm with her 2-year-old sister. The body of Mazen Majid, aged 14, was riddled with 18 Israeli bullets as he and his family fled their bulldozed home.

None of this was reported in Britain as terrorism. Most of it was not reported at all. After all, this was a period of peace and calm, a lull in the violence. On May 19, Israeli tanks and helicopters fired on peaceful demonstrators, killing eight of them. This atrocity had a certain significance; the demonstration was part of a growing nonviolent Palestinian movement, which has seen peaceful protest gatherings, often with prayers, along the apartheid wall. The rise of this Gandhian movement is barely noted in the outside world.

and

"Few of us", wrote the playwright Arthur Miller, "can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the state has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied."

Since 2004, there have been many more atrcities conducted by the IDF, the last of course being the disgusting attack on Lebanon. It is beyond my comprehension how someone can say that Israel is not a rogue state.

Israel Used White Phosporus bombs on Lebanon

Just when you think the crazy cluster bombing bastards can't get any worse, now we find that they dropped white phoshorus bombs on Lebanon, like the U.S. did on Fallujah.

White phosphorus bombs are not supposed to be used against human targets.

WP (Wiley Pete is another nick-name) is used by armies for producing smoke screens and as an incendiary. The phosphorus ignites on contact with air and gives off a thick smoke. If the chemical touches skin it will continue to burn until it reaches the bone unless deprived of oxygen.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1919396.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1929007,00.html

Anna Politkovskaya buried - Putin jeered

Last week Russia's most vocal journalist on human rights in Chechnya was assassinated.

The Russian government did not acknowledge it, and there is suspicion of Kremlin involvement.

Putin flew in to Germany yesterday and got jeered by over 2,000 demonstrators.

From The Telegraph:

Angry protesters greeted Vladimir Putin as he flew into Germany yesterday for a two-day official visit that has been overshadowed by the weekend murder of his most prominent critic in the Russian media.   Mourners gather around the coffin of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya before her burial in Moscow Arriving in Dresden, the city where he served as a KGB spy in the 1980s, the Russian president was heckled by 2,000 demonstrators furious over the killing of Anna Politkovskaya, shot dead by a gunman outside her home on Saturday afternoon. As Mr Putin got out of his limousine, one man shouted: "You're a murderer, you're not welcome here." The killing of Mrs Politkovskaya, who was internationally admired for her exposes of Russian military atrocities in Chechnya, forced the Russian leader onto the defensive during a trip that was meant to focus on energy and growing economic ties with Germany. Two hours after the reporter was buried at an emotional funeral in Moscow, Mr Putin publicly acknowledged her death for the first time at a joint press conference with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. Though he described the murder as "a dreadful and unacceptable crime", Mr Putin sought to reject allegations of possible Kremlin involvement in it by downplaying the significance of Mrs Politkovskaya's career. "She was a journalist who was critical of the current authorities in Russia," he said. "But although she was well-known among human rights groups and abroad, she had minimal influence on political life in Russia." .... "Russia is becoming an authoritarian and corrupt country," said Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the opposition Yabloko party. "This killing opens a new phase when the physical elimination of political opponents becomes possible." Fear was as much an emotion as grief for many; a belief that with the death of one of so very few prepared to criticise the Kremlin the last vestiges of freedom in Russia had also passed. "I did not know Anna personally but when I heard of the murder I got very scared," said Alexander Glushenko, a nuclear physicist who recently wrote a book about his experiences of containing the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. "I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that now anyone who writes the truth can be killed." Full story here