Tony Greenstein | 23 February 2020 | Post Views:

Malek Issa, a Palestinian child aged 8, loses his eye after being shot by Israeli police – Israel is ‘considering’ an investigataion

If you call Israel a racist state for targeting Palestinian children then Jennie Formby, Laura Murray and Jon Lansman will suspend you for ‘anti-Semitism’

The report below from Mondoweiss is about a boy 8 years old, Malek Issa, who was shot last week in the face with a rubber-coated steel bullet by a policeman whilst he was out buying a sandwich. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhMl7iflZi4&feature=emb_logo

As the video shows it was a normal bustling Saturday afternoon in Jerusalem when the child was attacked by a psychopathic policeman.

Rather than the officer being arrested and charged, as would be the case in a liberal democratic state, which Israel pretends to be, the usual lies about ‘riot control’ were provided by the Police PR department .

As the video demonstrates there was no riot. Just an out of control Israeli animal. The fact that the Police have already provided a series of lies as justification guarantees that there will be no consequences or prosecution. After all the child is not Jewish so what does it matter? Israel is a Jewish state and democratic rights, even for children, only apply to Jews.

Let us be reasonable and not make too much of a fuss. Otherwise you may find yourself accused by the Jewish Labour Movement and its Siamese twin Labour Friends of Israel of ‘anti-Semitism’ for ‘singling out Israel’ and operating ‘double standards’ by only criticising Israel.

The IHRA definition of ‘anti-Semitism’ which the Labour Party has adopted is quite clear:

‘Applying double standards by requiring of it [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation

is anti-Semitic.

Have you criticised The Netherlands because its police blinded a child with a rubber bullet?  No?  Then you are anti-Semitic. It’s no use protesting that Netherlands police don’t shoot children in the face. That is irrelevant.  You have to treat Israel in exactly the same as a liberal democracy and if you don’t you are ‘anti-Semitic’.

And if you are a Labour Party member then Jennie Formby and her familiar, Laura Murray, backed up by Jon Lansman, will suspend you for ‘anti-Semitism’. Because it is naturally assumed that all Jews in Britain will be offended by criticism of the Israeli Police.

You will probably say at this point that associating British Jews with what Israel does is also anti-Semitic. Well it is but so is criticising Israel, since it is a Jewish state. Since British Jews identify with Israel they make ‘take offence’. And guess what? Being offensive to Jews, even racist Jews, is also ‘anti-Semitic’


Justifying the murder of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators, on the pretext they are members of Hamas, an Islamic party, is perfectly acceptable in the party of Formby, Lansman and Laura Murray

Confused? Well of course you are because the Zionists are allowed by the Right to have their cake and eat it. If you criticise Israel in a way that is not the same as your criticism of other countries then that is anti-Semitic.

Of course defining criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic means Jews have an interest in Israeli oppression. And that is certainy anti-Semitic! And just to confuse matters even further the Board of Deputies, whose pledges the abysmal Long-Bailey has signed up to, regularly issues statements supporting Israel’s latest war crime.

The death of Palestinian children is not unusual. 56 were killed in 2018. In 2019 33 were killed. Although I don’t have the figures for children injured it must be in the hundreds, perhaps over a thousand since on just one day in October, the 80th Great Return march, 43 children were shot in Gaza.

As Nir Hasson of Ha’aretz reported, in 2014, the police swapped their softer, blue sponge-tipped bullets for the tougher black ones that cause more serious injuries. Quite understandable as Palestinians are known to be thick-skinned. Although Police regulations forbid officers from shooting at upper parts of the body, and they are not permitted to shoot minors with these bullets, not a single police officer has been charged with illegally shooting sponge-tipped bullets.

The Justice Department announced that it has yet to decide whether to open an official investigation or summon the officer in question just in case you were concerned.

The Labour Right’s ‘anti-Semitism’ offensive and by Right, I include Lansman, Murray and Formby, is designed precisely to prevent criticism of Israel as a racist state. Because it is only a racist state that singles out the children of one ethnic group for this special treatment.

I have previously written to Jennie Formby asking why ex-NEC member Luke Akehurst, Director of We Believe in Israel, a Zionist lobby group, has not been suspended for supporting Israeli snipers maiming and killing Palestinian demonstrators, children included (over 70 have been killed in the Great Return demonstrations). Formby has not responded which is not surprising since her position is indefensible.

However although supporting the murder of Palestinian children is acceptable in today’s Labour Party, posting a cartoon of a Palestinian being silenced by cries of ‘anti-Semitism’ is considered anti-Semitic. This is the reason that Mehmood Mirza, the socialist candidate for a BAME position on the NEC, is the latest left candidate to be suspended by the crooks and gerrymanders of Southside.

It is clear that the witchhunt of socialists in the Labour Party is a racist one and it is led by 3 racists – Formby, Lansman and Murray.

Palestinian boy, 8, loses eye after being shot by Israeli police in Jerusalem

The story of a Palestinian boy who lost an eye after being shot in the face by Israeli police has angered Palestinians across the occupied territories who see the incident as another tragic example of Israel’s wrongful targeting of Palestinians with excessive force.

Eight-year-old Malek Issa was on his way home from buying a sandwich on Saturday afternoon in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya when he was shot in the face with a rubber-coated steel bullet fired by an Israeli police officer.

Issa’s family told local media that the boy had left a restaurant and was headed home when he was shot by police, allegedly at point blank range.

While Israeli police claimed that their officers were engaging in “riot control” measures in Issawiya, video footage of the moments before the shooting, published by Haaretz, shows what appears to be normal activity in the street.

Amid a number of unassuming pedestrians and vehicles, a child in a blue hoodie, purportedly Issa, can be seen dashing across the street and disappearing around the corner, out of sight of the camera.

Moments later, all the pedestrians in view of the camera suddenly duck their heads, seemingly in response to the gunshots, and beginning running. A group of young men are then seen rushing out from the side street where Issa had entered, carrying his flailing body into a civilian car to be taken to the hospital.

By Tuesday, the family of Issa reported that his condition had stabilized, but that he had lost sight in his left eye, and would be needing surgery likely to remove his eye and to stop internal bleeding.

In a video published by the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, a Palestinian NGO in the neighboring town of Silwan, Issa’s father Wael says his son “escaped death” and that there was likely no brain damage — something the family feared would happen due to the severity of his injuries.

#العيسوية #اصابة الوالد: ” اصابة مالك كانت قاتلة… نجا من الموت.. لكنه فقد بصره في العين اليسرى “آخر تطورات الحالة الصحية للطفل مالك عيسى 8سنوات والذي اصيب السبت بعيار مطاطي وهو في طريقه الى منزله عائدا من مدرسته .. برفقة شقيقاته حاملا حقيبته المدرسية وبعض السكاكر!! #تفاصيل#Issawiya#InjuryThe child’s father: “Malek’s injury was fatal … He survived … but he lost his sight in the left eye.”The latest development of the health condition of the boy, Malek Issa, 8 years old, who was wounded with a rubber bullet on his way home from school .. accompanied by his sisters, carrying his school bag and some candy !! #details

Posted by ‎Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Silwan مركز معلومات وادي حلوه -سلوان‎ on Tuesday, February 18, 2020


Wael added that there was fear that if doctors could not control the internal bleeding, the inflammation from Malek’s left eye could spread to his right eye.

No stone throwing or ‘rioting’ preceded shot

Israeli police told the media that the officer in question claimed to have fired his weapon at a wall for “calibration” purposes, and that he thought Issa was hit by an alleged Palestinian stone-thrower.

In a report, Haaretz quoted eyewitnesses who said Israeli policemen were just “standing there” in the neighborhood, and that no stone throwing or “rioting” was happening.

The witnesses said that the officer was knowingly aimed at the boy and fired directly at him. One witness, a local bus driver, said that when he confronted the officer over what he had done, “he told me to move on,” while his fellow officers threatened to beat the bus driver up.

According to Haaretz, the Justice Ministry’s unit for investigating police officers took statement from eyewitnesses, but was not yet undertaking an official investigation, but rather a “probe” into the incident.

As of Wednesday, the policeman in question had not yet been summoned by the ministry to give an official statement on the matter.It remained unclear if the officer was still on active duty following the shooting.

An all too common occurrence

The shooting of Issa struck a chord with Palestinians across the occupied territory due to the chilling familiarity of the incident.

Stories like Issa’s are not uncommon: a 10-year-old boy suffered severe brain damage after being shot in the head with live ammunition in Kafr Qaddum last fall; a 14-year-old boy lost his leg after being shot while playing soccer with his friends last spring; a 15-year-old boy lost a portion of his skull after being shot in the head in 2018.

In each of the cases listed above, the Palestinian boys who were injured were reportedly engaged in mundane activities, like Issa, and were still targeted by Israeli forces. Additionally, in each case, no wrongdoing was found on part of the soldiers or officers responsible.

Palestinians and human rights groups have long criticized Israel for its excessive use of force against Palestinians and the lack of accountability for the Israeli soldiers who commit such crimes.

In East Jerusalem, residents complain of over policing of their neighborhoods by Israeli police, unnecessary stops and searches of minors and young men, and frequent raids and arrests.

Over the past year, Issawiya has been subject to an increased Israeli police presence, daily raids, including on schools, and the forceful arrest of residents.

In June, a 21-year-old youth from the town was shot dead during protests. Rights groups later said that he posed no direct threat to soldiers at the time.

Locals alleged that the number of arrests in the last half of 2019 is as high as 600, with child arrests in Issawiya making up 41 per cent of all child detentions recorded in East Jerusalem.

See

Palestinian Boy May Lose Eye After Jerusalem Police Shoot Him With Sponge-tipped Bullet

Jerusalem Mayor Visits Palestinian Boy Who Was Shot in the Face by Policeman

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Tony Greenstein

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