February 2021
ICC okays war crimes probe
Maureen Clare Murphy EI 9/02/2021
A coalition of Palestinian human rights groups praised the “landmark” ruling as “a critically important step towards ensuring the rule of law” and “towards ending impunity.” The groups called for “immediate action” by the prosecutor “to ensure justice and accountability for Palestinian victims.” Those four organizations – Al-Haq, Al Mezan, Al Dameer and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights – have submitted “six substantial communications and thousands of eyewitness files” to the prosecutor’s office. The rights groups are “routinely faced with hostile measures of collective punishment from Israel,” including “a protracted campaign of smears and death threats.” Israeli officials lashed out after the ruling on territorial jurisdiction was announced, relying on well-worn and baseless accusations of anti-Semitism while ignoring the substance of the court decision.
Israel on diplomatic blitz against ICC ruling
Rina Bassist al Monitor 10/02/2021
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague ruled Feb. 5 that despite Israeli objection it can investigate alleged war crimes perpetrated in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since then, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi has been busy calling his counterparts across the globe. He is campaigning relentlessly against the ruling. Shortly after the decision, Ashkenazi published a harsh reaction, stating that it turns the ICC into a political tool of anti-Israeli propaganda. “We call upon all nations that value the international legal system, and object to its political exploitation, to respect the sovereign rights of states not to be subjected to the Court’s jurisdiction. The State of Israel will take every necessary measure to protect its citizens,” he added.
A first public opportunity came on Feb. 8, when Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias arrived in Jerusalem, to conclude an agreement with Israel over mutually opening frontiers for people vaccinated against the coronavirus. Diplomatic sources confirmed that the issue of the ICC was discussed at length in the private meeting between the two ministers
Picnic video exposes Israeli apartheid
Jonathan Cook Mondoweiss 17/02/2021
Ugly truth
Israel proudly tells the world that its “Arab” citizens enjoy entirely equal rights with Jewish citizens. The truth is far uglier, as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu inadvertently conceded when he used Instagram to correct an Israeli TV host who had suggested that Israel was a western-style democracy. “Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the nation-state law we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people — and not anyone else,” he wrote. Some 70 laws explicitly offer differentiated rights depending on whether an Israeli citizen is Jewish or “Arab”.
“Israel’s Arabs” are almost entirely segregated from Israeli Jews in where they can live, where they go to school, and in many cases where they are allowed to work. The citizenship status of Jews and “Arabs” derives from separate laws. These “Arabs” are barred from living in most of Israel’s territory, and planning rules have been systematically skewed to their disadvantage. In short, most “Israeli Arabs” live in segregated, poor, land-hungry, overcrowded and under-resourced communities. . .
Read more: Picnic video exposes both faces of Israeli apartheid – Mondoweiss
Sexual violence against Palestinian detainees
Tamara Nassar EI 19/02/2021
The experience of a night arrest alone is particularly traumatic for children and their families.
Israeli forces then took the child to the Russian Compound interrogation and torture facility in Jerusalem, where he was handcuffed and blindfolded in a hallway and attacked by passersby.“Every two to three minutes, someone would come by and slap, push, punch or kick me,” the boy told DCIP.
He said he was then taken to a room where he was interrogated by a man who identified himself as Captain Kamel.“He kicked me and punched me while shouting and saying I should tell him what I did,” the boy recalled. He was accused of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails.“Whenever I told him I did not do anything, he would beat me harder. He threatened to shock me with electricity, but I told him I did not do anything.”
The boy said that the same individual “knocked him to the floor while blindfolded and raped him with an object,” according to DCIP. The individual threatened to continue with the sexual violence until the boy confessed.The boy said the individual then pressed him against the wall and inflicted intense pain on his genitals.“There are no words to describe that moment,” the child told DCIP.
Captain Kamel also threatened that the physical and sexual violence would continue if the boy told his lawyer what had occurred. Around 15 minutes after the incident the boy was allowed to see his lawyer for five minutes. He was again interrogated in the hours and days that followed, subject to verbal abuse and forced to sign documents in Hebrew that he did not understand. . .
Read more: Palestinian child says he was raped by Israeli interrogator | The Electronic Intifada
Israel sends vaccines to Syria, Honduras etc but denies responsibility to vaccinate its Palestinians
Yumna Patel Mondoweiss 23/02/2021
The deal with the Syrian regime precedes Israel’s latest efforts at what some are calling “vaccine diplomacy” — where wealthy countries like Israel, who have already vaccinated more than half of their population, provide vaccine supplies to countries that have been unable to secure sufficient vaccine supplies in exchange for their diplomatic support.
Israeli media reported on Tuesday that the government was offering vaccine shipments to countries in exchange for their diplomatic support, or as a gift of sorts to countries who had already taken diplomatic measures favorable to Israel, such as vowing to move or establish their embassies to Jerusalem.
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