[News] Palestinian lives don’t matter to US media

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Palestinian lives don’t matter to US media

Rania Khalek <https://electronicintifada.net/people/rania-khalek> 9 
October 2015
*https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/palestinian-lives-dont-matter-us-media*

As Israel ramps up its deadly attacks on Palestinians, mainstream US 
media outlets are actively concealing the alarming displays of genocidal 
racism emanating from Israeli Jewish society.

Violence against Palestinians is nothing new. Israel’s ongoing colonial 
project requires enormous levels of brutality against Palestinians. But 
this daily reality is only newsworthy when it blows back against Israeli 
Jews, which has been the case during the last week with a number of 
violent incidents against Israeli settlers.

Every unsavory act allegedly committed by a Palestinian since the 
drive-by shooting of an Israeli settler couple last Thursday has 
garnered major headlines. During the same time period, Israeli settlers 
and soldiers have terrorized Palestinians across the occupied West Bank 
in attacks 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/video-israeli-soldiers-protect-settlers-they-attack-palestinians%20in> 
that have injured nearly 1,000 Palestinians 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768039>, including at least 66 
people with live rounds.

Yet these acts of systematic violence have barely registered as an 
afterthought in establishment press reports, sending a very clear and 
chilling message. Palestinian lives, it seems, have no value until 
Israeli Jewish lives are affected.

Meanwhile, incitement to murder by Israeli leaders and Jewish lynch mobs 
chanting “death to Arabs 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/death-arabs>” were comprehensively 
omitted from US media coverage, much like they were 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/media-whitewash-israeli-lynch-mobs-preceded-murder-palestinian-teen> 
in the lead up to the burning alive of 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khudair 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/muhammad-abu-khudair> last year.


    “Death to Arabs”

Following a stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City that killed two 
Israeli settlers last Saturday, hundreds of Jewish extremists paraded 
through the streets 
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.678722> of Jerusalem 
demanding collective vengeance against Palestinians.

Chanting their hauntingly routine “death to the Arabs” rallying cry, 
they broke into lynch mobs hunting for Palestinians to attack.

Anti-Palestinian race riots have erupted 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/merciless-israeli-mobs-are-hunting-palestinians> 
with increasing regularity in Jerusalem since the lead up to the 51-day 
assault on Gaza in the summer of 2014 that killed 2,251 people, the 
majority of them civilians. According to the Israeli newspaper /Haaretz/ 
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.678800>, “this time it 
seems that the Jewish mob which took to the streets was accepted by 
Jerusalemites with understanding, if not downright approval.”

The crowd was made up of extremists from an assortment of far right 
groups, including activists from Lehava 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/lehava>, the anti-miscegenation 
group that equates mixed Arab-Jewish relationships and assimilation with 
genocide of the Jewish people. There were also more female participants 
than usual and they played a key role in riling up the crowds.

“We have to kill them all, including the Arab Druze in the army,” one 
woman was quoted <http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.678800> 
as saying.

“Where were you at seven in the evening?” another woman shouted at the 
police. “Go beat up Arabs.”

“Let the people of Israel enter the gates and kill Arabs,” hollered a 
youth at the police.

Despite their hostility towards the police, the mob attacked their 
Palestinian targets with relative ease under Israeli police escort 
throughout the weekend.

On Saturday night Israeli extremists targeted 
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.678722> a Palestinian 
worker with tear gas and attacked a Palestinian driver who struck a 
pedestrian in his frantic attempt to flee.

At the Jerusalem light rail, extremists asked passengers if they were 
Arab to determine whether or not to attack them. More disturbing than 
the mob itself was the lack of concern from bystanders, who “responded 
apathetically and tried to look the other way,” reported /Haaretz/.

“There were many drivers who honked in solidarity and vocally supported 
them. The cafes and restaurants along Jaffa Road were full of people 
watching the march of hatred passing back and forth.”

In stark contrast to the saturation of headlines about the Palestinian 
attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers, just one major US media outlet 
mentioned the hate fests but only after four Palestinians were stabbed 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/10/world/middleeast/israeli-officials-struggle-to-contain-spate-of-violent-attacks.html?_r=0> 
by an Israeli Jew in Dimona following a week of incitement and race 
riots that went unreported.


    How to whitewash a lynching

The race riots continued into early Sunday morning, with a mob of 
rightwing Jews chasing 19-year-old Fadi Alloun 
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-tore-fadi-allouns-family-apart-then-it-killed-him/14900>, 
shouting to Israeli police, “Shoot him! He’s a terrorist! Shoot him!” 
and “Don’t wait! Shoot him!”

The police obliged, firing several gunshots. Alloun, unarmed and visibly 
terrified, was executed on the spot and the racist crowd rejoiced in 
celebration, cheering, “Yes! Yes! Son of a bitch!” and “Wow!” and “He’s 
an Arab!” and “Death to the Arabs!”

Israeli officials quickly justified the killing by claiming without a 
shred of proof that Alloun was shot after stabbing a 15-year-old Israeli 
boy.

Despite publicly available videos showing Alloun being shot in cold 
blood while posing no threat and despite Israel offering no evidence to 
corroborate the accusation that he stabbed an Israeli, US media outlets 
accepted Israel’s version of events as fact.

/The New York Times/ Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren and 
correspondent Isabel Kershner parroted Israeli police claims, reporting 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/world/middleeast/israel-restricts-palestinian-access-to-jerusalems-old-city.html?ref=topics> 
that Alloun “stabbed and wounded a 15-year-old Jewish boy on a road 
outside the Old City.” They went on to whitewash the video footage of 
Alloun’s killing, describing the lynch mob who hunted him as “Israeli 
civilians in pursuit,” as if they were good Samaritans tailing a 
dangerous criminal.

/The New York Times/ published at least ten news stories about the 
recent spate of violence, yet it wasn’t until the tenth report on 9 
October 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/10/world/middleeast/israeli-officials-struggle-to-contain-spate-of-violent-attacks.html?_r=0>that 
it found space to report on a “death to Arabs” rally.

The Associated Press//followed a similar rubric.

“A Palestinian teenager stabbed and moderately wounded a 15-year-old 
Israeli early Sunday morning in Jerusalem before being shot dead by an 
Israeli officer, police said,” was the extent of its coverage 
<http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-israel-bars-palestinians-from-jerusalems-old-city-2015-10?IR=T> 
of Alloun’s killing.

The article went on to detail several instances of Palestinians 
allegedly behaving badly toward Israelis by hurling stones and Molotov 
cocktails at soldiers, though a vague recognition that Palestinians had 
been injured by Israeli forces was buried towards the end of its report.

In a follow-up report 
<http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_ISRAEL_PALESTINIANS?SITE=AZCAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-05-17-44-52> 
the AP whitewashed a massive gathering of “thousands of Israelis” 
outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence on Monday 
night who were “demanding tough action,” according to the AP.

Who were these “thousands of Israelis” and what “tough action” were they 
demanding? The AP doesn’t say.

According to /Haaretz/, the protest was organized by the Samaria 
Settlers’ Committee, a far right group that produced 
<http://www.timesofisrael.com/left-wing-ngos-warn-settler-groups-video-could-incite-to-violence/> 
an animated video earlier this year, which employed classical 
anti-Semitic tropes to incite against left-wing Jews.

In attendance were Israeli cabinet ministers Haim Katz and Yariv Levin, 
who demanded Netanyahu respond to Palestinian attacks on settlers by 
building more illegal Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank. 
Settlement construction, said 
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.678942> Levin, 
will allow Israel “to beat terrorism in the most Jewish way possible.”

“Freezing [settlement] construction encourages the villains,” he told 
the crowd.


    “Burn them in their villages”

Despite the US media’s refusal to report on them, the “death to Arabs” 
rallies have continued unabated.

On Thursday evening, hundreds of Jewish extremists marched through 
Jerusalem chanting “death to Arabs” and “burn them in their villages 
<https://twitter.com/ShevGoldberg/status/652200081593008128>.”

They were reportedly led by extremists 
<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4708801,00.html> affiliated 
with Lehava and the notoriously fascist Beitar Jerusalem soccer fan club 
La Familia 
<http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.679132?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter>.

If not for social media and a handful of English-language Israeli media 
outlets, the existence of these lynch mobs would be virtually unknown.

    Right wing mob moving toward East Jerusalem chanting ‘Death to
    Arabs.’ Police on horseback trying 2 contain somewhat
    pic.twitter.com/m2erFmI31N <http://t.co/m2erFmI31N>

    — Laura Dean لورا دين (@lauracdean) October 8, 2015
    <https://twitter.com/lauracdean/status/652201373610737664>

    Crowds of Israelis are chanting “death to Arabs” behind live report
    on Channel 2

    — Mike S. Omer-Man (@MikeOmerMan) October 7, 2015
    <https://twitter.com/MikeOmerMan/status/651805022368473088>

    Right now- right wing attempt to march to the old city screaming
    “death to Arabs” among other things pic.twitter.com/0PGsAdop1b
    <http://t.co/0PGsAdop1b>

    — Elisheva Goldberg (@ShevGoldberg) October 8, 2015
    <https://twitter.com/ShevGoldberg/status/652196148254347264>

    Lehava leading the pack. “Death to Arabs” “Muhammad is dead” “arabs
    are whores” pic.twitter.com/5y45FAc6nW <http://t.co/5y45FAc6nW>

    — Elisheva Goldberg (@ShevGoldberg) October 8, 2015
    <https://twitter.com/ShevGoldberg/status/652208192705859584>

    Police running, frantic and looking pretty scared. Mob headed to
    Yafo. Latest chant: “burn them in their villages”
    pic.twitter.com/OgRgBhChLh <http://t.co/OgRgBhChLh>

    — Elisheva Goldberg (@ShevGoldberg) October 8, 2015
    <https://twitter.com/ShevGoldberg/status/652200081593008128>

Palestinians were attacked in Netanya 
<http://http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4708890,00.html>, a 
city in present-day Israel, the same night by a hate mob chanting “death 
to Arabs” and “Netanya residents are taking care of the Arabs.”


    Lighting the next match

The next lynching of a Palestinian isn’t a matter of if, it’s a matter 
of when.

Even Israel’s security cabinet expressed concerns, predicting 
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.679305> that 
another deadly attack by Jewish extremists similar to the burning of the 
Dawabsha family over the summertime is likely to occur.

And once again Israeli leaders will have lit the match 
<http://https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israeli-leaders-lit-match-burned-baby-ali-dawabsha>.

Slamming Netanyahu for being too soft on Palestinians, Israeli justice 
minister and genocide advocate 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-lawmakers-call-genocide-palestinians-gets-thousands-facebook-likes> 
Ayelet Shaked <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/ayelet-shaked> openly 
agitated for collective punishment. “We need to do things that will hurt 
[the Palestinians], so they understand [terrorism] doesn’t pay,” said 
<http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Pressure-grows-on-Netanyahu-to-act-with-iron-first-in-light-of-Palestinian-terror-onslaught-419855> 
Shaked.

As “death to Arabs” riots erupt across Jerusalem, Mayor Nir Barkat is 
imploring 
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.679383> 
Israelis to carry their guns at all times to shoot potential Palestinian 
“terrorists.”

In the Israeli lexicon the word “terrorist” refers to any Palestinian 
who resists Israel’s matrix of oppression, including children who throw 
rocks. Israel’s security cabinet recently made it official by approving 
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/25/israel-live-ammunition-measures> 
the use of live fire against Palestinian rock-throwers.

Therefore urging Israeli civilians to shoot “terrorists” amounts to 
giving vigilantes license to kill not only Palestinians who attack 
settlers but also children who throw pebbles or any Palestinian 
perceived as threatening to Israel’s colonial system.


    “Eliminate the enemy”

During a visit to the far right protest outside Netanyahu’s home, 
Naftali Bennett <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/naftali-bennett>, 
Israeli education minister and leader of the ultra-nationalist Habeyit 
Hayehudi <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/habeyit-hayehudi> (Jewish 
Home) party, applauded as heroes 
<http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Bennett-calls-for-Israelis-to-eliminate-the-enemy-421358> 
Israeli settlers who shot alleged Palestinian assailants dead over the 
last week.

“Against the cowardly Arab terrorism, a wave of Jewish courage is rising 
to defeat it,” he told the protesters, encouraging them to “eliminate 
the enemy.”

“For the past 120 years, people are trying to kill the Jews here. The 
enemy changes, but we remain here, growing and building our land,” said 
Bennett. “We are the eternal nation, and we are raising our heads. 
Jewish heroism will defeat the enemy.”

Eli Ben-Dahan <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/eli-ben-dahan>, the 
settler rabbi and deputy defense minister who decreed 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/obama-gives-19-billion-weapons-welcome-gift-israels-racist-government> 
that Palestinians are “beasts,” called for faster demolitions of the 
family homes of Palestinian attackers and for the expulsion of their 
families.

“Demolishing terrorists’ houses and deporting their families is the best 
deterrent and most efficient way to deal with terrorism by individuals,” 
Ben-Dahan told an army radio station. He also urged Israelis armed with 
guns to “be alert and prevent another terrorist attack.”

Yinon Magal, an elected reperestive of Habeyit Hayehudi in Israel’s 
parliament, the Knesset, tweeted and then deleted, “it is important to 
make an effort so that terrorists who carry out attacks are not left alive.”

He later clarified, “I’m not saying we should take the law into our 
hands and lynch people.”

He added, “Whoever is trying to kill us should be taken out.”

It remains unclear how this is different from his original tweet.

During a right-wing sit-in protest at the site of a stabbing attack in 
the Old City, Moti Yogev, a member of the Knesset from Habeyit Hayehudi, 
was captured on film shouting 
<http://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-member-tell-arab-woman-to-go-to-the-grave/> 
at an elderly Palestinian woman, “Go to the grave. You will not pass 
here! Only Jews!”

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/benjamin-netanyahu> appears 
uninterested in provoking a Palestinian uprising at the moment, he is 
being pushed further to the right by the ultra-nationalist hardliners 
that dominate his governing coalition.

Not to be outflanked by Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu has declared “a fight 
to the death 
<http://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-israel-fight-death-against-palestinian-terror-181855197.html> 
against Palestinian terror.”

This incitement has deadly consequences. Israeli soldiers executed six 
Palestinian <http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768115> protesters 
and injured another 60 in Gaza for allegedly throwing rocks at the 
border fence. And on Friday, a Jewish Israeli in Dimona stabbed 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768096> four Palestinian workers.

The Associated Press, which has avoided covering incitement by Israeli 
leaders, rushed to report 
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d9ed0e18122f4b2ca47c4a5c763e81ff/israel-high-alert-after-days-palestinian-attacks> 
Netanyahu’s condemnation of the attack and then blamed Palestinians for 
fueling the unrest.

As Israel’s culture of hatred spirals out of control, the media outlets 
concealing the incitement from top Israeli leaders and the “death to 
Arabs” riots they help spawn are complicit, again 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/media-whitewash-israeli-lynch-mobs-preceded-murder-palestinian-teen>.

/Editors Note: At initial publication, none of the US media outlets 
discussed in this article had addressed “death to the Arabs” rallies. 
The article has been updated to reflect that after more than a week of 
ignoring the phenomenon, The New York Times eventually mentioned it in a 
report./

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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