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<h1 class="title" id="page-title">Kill a Palestinian “every hour,” says
new Israeli Facebook page</h1>
<div class="submitted">
<span property="dc:date dc:created" content="2014-06-16T12:39:49+00:00"
datatype="xsd:dateTime" rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span
class="username" xml:lang="" about="/users/patrick-strickland"
typeof="sioc:UserAccount" property="foaf:name" datatype="">Patrick
Strickland</span> on Mon, 06/16/2014<br>
<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/patrick-strickland/kill-palestinian-every-hour-says-new-israeli-facebook-page">http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/patrick-strickland/kill-palestinian-every-hour-says-new-israeli-facebook-page</a></small></small></small></b><br>
</span> </div>
<div class="field-body">
<p>More than 16,000 Israelis have joined a <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/lehaselmehabel">Facebook page</a> that
calls for the murder of a Palestinian every hour until three missing
Israeli <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/israeli-settlers">settler</a>
teens are located. The <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/facebook">page</a> is titled
“Until the boys are back, every hour we shoot a terrorist.”</p>
<p>The page was launched as the Israeli army continued violent raids,
curfews and closures across the occupied West Bank and <a
href="http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=705075">shot
dead Ahmad Sabarin</a>, a Palestinian youth.</p>
<p>According to the Palestinian <a
href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=705004">Ma’an
News Agency</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Israeli newspaper <em>Maariv</em> reported on its website
that within hours of its creation, a Facebook page calling for the
hourly assassination of Palestinian “terrorists” had reached 10,000
likes. </p>
<p>The Facebook page called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu to “take responsibility instead of holding [Palestinian
Authority leader Mahmoud] Abbas responsible” for the allged kidnapping
of three Israeli teens, <em>Maariv</em> reported. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The three missing settlers are Naftali Frankel, Eyal Yifrah (both
16) and Gilad Shaer (19), who reportedly went missing while hitchhiking
between <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/israeli-settlements">Jewish-only
settlements</a> in the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/hebron">Hebron</a> area of
the southern occupied West Bank late Thursday evening. Since that time,
Israeli political figures, including Netanyahu, have rushed to blame
both the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority and Hamas, who recently
signed a reconciliation agreement to end a seven-year division. </p>
<p>Israeli officials claim that Palestinian political organization <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/hamas">Hamas</a> kidnapped
the missing boys, but a Hamas spokesperson denied involvement and
dismissed the accusation as “stupid.” Israel has yet to produce
evidence supporting its claims, though it has arrested dozens of Hamas
officials and activists including the <a
href="http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=705083">speaker and
several elected members</a> of the Palestinian Legislative Council in
ongoing raids across the West Bank.</p>
<p>Dozens of photos and comments by both the page administrator and
commenters offer a glimpse into the radical and violent <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/racism">anti-Palestinian
climate</a> in Israel. The dehumanization of Palestinians, including
children, is common among Israelis on <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/social-media">social media</a>,
especially <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/israelis-facebook">Facebook
users in Israel</a>. </p>
<h2>Resonating with reality</h2>
<p>One of the photographs posted by the adminsitrator reads, “Return to
Jewish war ethics: kill or be killed.” At the bottom, the photo adds:
“Kill a terrorist every hour.” </p>
<p>At the time of writing, the post had received more than six thousand
Facebook likes and had more than one hundred comments, most of them
supportive. </p>
<p>One commenter, Hariel Ben Michael, called for Israel to destroy
entire Palestinian communities “every hour” until the missing boys “are
released.” </p>
<p>His comments resonate with reality. Since its destruction of more
than five hundred Palestinian villages and towns during the 1948 <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/nakba">Nakba</a>, the ethnic
cleansing of Palestine, Israel has continued to demolish <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/home-demolitions">Palestinian
homes</a> and raze entire communities, particularly in places like the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/jordan-valley">Jordan Valley</a>
region of the West Bank. </p>
<h2>“Get cancer”</h2>
<p>An English-language commenter, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/yarden.lerer?fref=ufi">Jordan Lerer</a>,
says he hopes Palestinians in the besieged <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza-strip">Gaza Strip</a>
“get cancer” and “die with agony.” The picture he comments on shows
many Palestinians between crosshairs of a gun and says, “kidnapped?
kidnap!” — ostensibly calling for the kidnapping of Palestinians. <br>
</p>
<p>Lerner also comments that he has “no mercy” regarding the Israeli
military’s treatment of the besieged Gaza Strip. </p>
<p>Israel’s military has already bombed several areas in the Gaza Strip
since the three boys went missing.</p>
<h2>Crackdown </h2>
<p>On Saturday evening, seven-year-old Ali al-Awour <a
href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/human-rights/7703-7-year-old-dies-in-gaza-3-days-after-being-injured-in-an-israeli-airstrike">died</a>
as a result of injuries sustained by an Israeli airstrike in the
northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday night. According to <a
href="http://www.dci-palestine.org/content/child-fatalities">statistics</a>
from <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/defence-children-international-palestine-section">Defence
for Children International - Palestine Section (DCI-Palestine)</a>,
1,405 Palestinian children have been killed by Israel since 2000. </p>
<p>After the Israeli settlers went missing on Thursday night, Israel’s
occupation forces intensified their crackdown across the West Bank and
continued bombing the Gaza Strip. </p>
<p>In the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, the Israeli military last
night reportedly injured two children and their father when soldiers
“bombed open the door of [their] house,” <a
href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=705045">according</a>
to Ma’an News Agency. That raid came only a day after Israel “detained
eighty Palestinians across the West Bank,” as <a
href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=704903">noted by
another</a> Ma’an article. </p>
<p>Israel’s crackdown has focused on the southern part of the West
Bank, mostly in and around Hebron. As of Sunday, Hebron residents were
banned from leaving the West Bank, <a
href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=705027">Maan
reported</a>. </p>
<p>Overnight on Sunday, the <a
href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=705075">military
also raided</a> the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/jalazoun-refugee-camp">Jalazone
refugee camp</a> near the central West Bank city of Ramallah and shot
and killed 20-year-old Ahmad Sabarin. </p>
<p><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/michael-ben-ari-0">Michael
Ben Ari</a>, a former member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, also
called for the assassination of Palestinians <a
href="http://news.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=1062745">while
speaking to</a> Hebrew-language media. Israel ought to “kill terrorists
in public hangings,” Ben Ari said.</p>
<h2>“Sit in the dark”</h2>
<p>Another alarming Facebook page, created yesterday, is named <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/%D7%90%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%A0%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%A0%D7%95-%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%97%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9A-%D7%92%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%9C%D7%A9%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%95-%D7%91%D7%97%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9A/880777695269631">“If
our boys are sitting in the dark, Palestinians will also sit in the
dark.”</a></p>
<p>With more than three thousand members, the page calls for Israel to
cut off all electricity to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Due to
Israel’s suffocating restrictions, both regions are dependent on Israel
for electricity. </p>
<p>One photograph posted on the page (above) called for Israel to
inflict “collective punishment” on Palestinians by ending their
electricty and water supplies and increasing restrictions on movement. </p>
<p>A <a
href="http://www.atzuma.co.il/hashmaltoarabic?fb_action_ids=880925278588206&fb_action_types=og.comments&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582">petition</a>
was also launched on Sunday demanding that Israel cut off Palestinians’
access to <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/electricity-crisis-gaza">electricity</a>.
As of Monday morning, it had already received more than one thousand
signatures. </p>
<p>Due to Israel’s <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza-siege">ongoing siege of
Gaza</a>, approximately 1.7 million residents of the coastal enclave <a
href="http://pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9890:after-gaza-power-plant-forced-off-humanitarian-conditions-of-approximately-17-million-palestinians-in-the-gaza-strip-deteriorate&catid=36:pchrpressreleases&Itemid=194">have
suffered deteriorating conditions</a> over the last few years as a
result of the lack of gas and electricity. </p>
<h2>Dehumanization </h2>
<p>This is not the first time Israelis have used social media to call
for violence against Palestinians, including children. As Israel’s
political establishment grows even more rightwing, much of the general
population has embraced the increasingly anti-Palestinian climate. </p>
<p>As Rania Khalek <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israeli-soldier-becomes-overnight-hero-pointing-loaded-gun-palestinian-youths">recently
reported</a> for The Electronic Intifada, a Facebook page supporting an
Israeli soldier who was filmed pointing his gun at a Palestinian
child’s face received more than 129,000 likes. </p>
<p>In February 2013, Ali Abunimah <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-soldier-posts-disturbing-instagram-photo-child-crosshairs-his-rifle">exposed
an Israeli soldier’s violent pictures</a> on the photo-sharing website
Instragram. One of his pictures showed a Palestinian child as a target
between the crosshairs of a rifle.</p>
<p>Since then, The Electronic Intifada has time and again brought to
light the dehumanization of Palestinians and pervasive racism displayed
by Israelis on social media outlets. </p>
<p>To read more about this, see The Electronic Intifada’s past
coverage: </p>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-soldiers-have-depraved-fun-making-rachel-corrie-pancakes">Israel
soldiers have depraved ‘fun’ making “Rachel Corrie pancakes</a>”</li>
<li><a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/reprimanded-israeli-soldier-still-posting-violent-racist-material-instagram">“Reprimanded”
Israeli soldier still posting violent, racist material on Instagram</a></li>
<li><a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/stoned-naked-armed-and-dangerous-more-disturbing-images-israeli-soldiers">Stoned,
naked, armed and dangerous: more disturbing images from an Israeli
soldier’s Instagram</a></li>
<li><a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/castrate-them-burn-them-bullet-head-facebook-israelis-react-photo-palestinian">“Castrate
them!” “Burn them!” “Bullet in the head!”: Facebook Israelis react to
photo of Palestinian kids</a></li>
<li><a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/oopsone-less-arab-even-more-disturbing-instagram-images-israeli-army">“Oops…
one less Arab”: even more disturbing Instragram images from the Israeli
army</a></li>
</ul>
<p><em>With thanks to Hanan Darawsha for her help with translation and
research. <br>
</em></p>
</div>
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San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
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