Collective Punishment to Follow Tel Aviv Shootings

by Stephen Lendman

Lawless collective punishment usually follows violent incidents involving Palestinians - most often state-sponsored, not their fault.

Wednesday evening Tel Aviv shootings were unusual, reports indicating four Israelis killed, 16 wounded at the Sarona open-air shopping center, according to Israeli emergency services.

Two armed men reportedly disguised as orthodox Jews opened fire indiscriminately. Suspects were arrested. One is hospitalized in moderate condition.

Israel automatically calls these incidents "terrorist" attacks, using them to demonize all Palestinians, justifying unjustifiable collective punishment.

Netanyahu convened a Thursday security meeting, harsh recrimination sure to follow, nonviolent Palestinians to suffer unfairly for the crimes of two individuals.

They alone should be held accountable for Wednesday's incident, not an entire population or portions of it. Israel operates by its own rules, international law consistently violated.

Thousands of permits given Palestinians to visit family members in Israel during Ramadan were cancelled. Permission given Gazans to pray at Al-Aqsa were suspended.

Expect further unjustifiable harsh recrimination to follow. Ignoring Israeli high crimes under his stewardship alone, Netanyahu vowed to respond with "offensive and defensive measures," - state terror by any standard.

Palestinian reports indicated Israeli soldiers surrounded Yatta, home to the alleged assailants, declaring it a closed military zone, preparing to conduct mass arrests and brutal interrogations amounting to torture.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said "(t)he Tel Aviv operation is a natural response to Israeli desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the crimes against the Palestinian people."

Wednesday's incident shows "the intifada continues and the occupation has failed to suppress it."

Joint (Arab) List party head Ayman Odeh condemned the shootings while blaming Israel for fueling anti-Palestinian violence.

"This government is leading all of us only to the depths of hatred and violence," he said.

Expect unrestrained Israeli state terror to continue - Wednesday's incident an expression of pent up Palestinian frustration and anger.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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