Illegal Israel
More Money for Israel
Fuel beneath a cauldron of hate
At the heart of the Middle East mess;
Protecting an ethnic-supremacist state,
Defending its right to oppress.
With the current wanton slaughter of Palestinians in which the state of Israel is currently engaged, it’s almost enough to give outlaws a bad name. Even NBC News puts the current death toll in the war in the small area of Gaza at 30,000, and anyone can see from the nature of the destruction of housing complexes, hospitals, schools, churches, and refugee camps, that most of the victims are Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children.
The fact of the matter, though, is that Israel is, indeed, an outlaw state and it has been so for quite a long time. Dr. A. C. Forrest was the longtime editor of the United Church Observer of Canada (called Broadview since 2019). His book, The unHoly Land, based upon his experience in Palestine was published in 1971. Since that time, things have gotten immeasurably worse for the centuries-long non-Jewish residents of the region. Our two previous articles, “Genocidal Israelis Napalmed Civilian Refugees” and “Deep Roots of the Current Gaza Slaughter” are drawn from that book. His short chapter 23 is entitled “Israel and International Law,” and here we reproduce it in its entirety. We need to be reminded as we read it that since it was written the Sinai Peninsula, which had been captured by Israel in the June 1967 Six Day War was returned to Egypt by the Camp David Accords of 1978. It looks now like things are about to get a lot worse for the Palestinians in that area, as well.
It is often said with some pride that Israel was the creation of the United Nations. It was the UN decision to partition Palestine of November 29th, 1947, that made the State of Israel possible. Thirty-three UN states voted for the partition; thirteen were opposed, and ten, including the United Kingdom, abstained. The majority was secured after remarkable lobbying and last minute pressure on doubtful states. This UN decision is referred to by many supporters of Israeli policies as the ultimate authority for Israel to proceed to declare itself a State.
It seems ironic that later unanimous decisions by the UN have been ignored. The General Assembly vote of 99-0 condemning the annexation of East Jerusalem and calling on Israel to “rescind all measures taken, and to desist forthwith from taking any action that would alter the state of Jerusalem,” on July 4th, 1967, was flouted. In late 1970 Israel is continuing to erect high rise apartments on Mount Scopus in East Jerusalem.
Ambassador Michael Cromay and other Israeli officials told me that there was no way by which Israel would give up any portion of Jerusalem. Israel has repeatedly declared she would not withdraw from Jerusalem. But the November 22nd, 1967, Security Council resolution includes as a condition of settlement the withdrawal of Israel from occupied territories. This was adopted 15-0.
In some ways Israel’s violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention for the protection of civilian persons are even more serious. It seems a strange paradox that Israel would refuse to abide by the conventions of international laws which were written as a direct result of the Nazi treatment of the Jews and other innocent people during World War II.
Following the war the Geneva Convention “relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war” was drawn up, and signed by most civilized nations, including Israel. The world vividly remembered the awful abuses carried out by both the Nazis in Germany and the Japanese in Asia. They were determined that such abuses would never occur again.
Four Conventions were approved: the first three concerned the protection of sick and wounded armed forces in the field, armed and shipwrecked naval forces, and the treatment of prisoners of war. Each of the Conventions was consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Israel signed the Conventions and has observed the first three. Whenever it has been to Israel’s interest to invoke the charter of the United Nations, or seek the security of international law, she has done so. When it has been in her interest to ignore the UN or flout the Charter, she has also done so—without hesitation and, so far, with impunity.
The blowing up of houses, the destruction of property, the individual or mass transfer of populations from occupied territory, are all expressly forbidden. Collective punishments and reprisals are forbidden. Yet books could be filled—in fact books are being filled—with accounts of incidents and records of Israeli breaches of the Convention.
For example, Article thirty-three states: “No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terror
Article from LewRockwell
LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.