<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Israel’s Worst Ever]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone" src="https://i1.wp.com/ramallahonline.com/images/logo.jpg" alt="" width="390" height="59" /></p>
<p><strong>Stephen Lendman</strong>, 15 Jan 2011 |  | RO: Ramallah Online</p>
<p>Numerous previous articles explained Israel’s  extremism, notably  under Netanyahu exceeding the worst of Ariel Sharon.  Both men, of  course, are war criminals by any standard. So are complicit  Knesset  members – roguish, racist and hard-line, comprising a voting  majority  that co-opt a weak-kneed opposition going along most often to  get  along.<br />
<strong><br />
Access several relevant previous articles through these links:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/04/alarming-racism-in-israel.html" target="_blank">http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/04/alarming-racism-in-israel.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/10/israeli-knessets-anti-democratic-agenda.html" target="_blank">http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/10/israeli-knessets-anti-democratic-agenda.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/12/israels-sham-democracy.html" target="_blank">http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/12/israels-sham-democracy.html</a></p>
<p>Turkish  Prime Minister Tayyep Recep Erdogan agrees. On January 13,  Haaretz  Service headlined, “Turkey PM: Netanyahu has worst government  in history  of Israel,” saying:</p>
<p>Erdogan told Al Jazeera that close  Israeli/Turkish ties faltered  following Cast Lead and “spiraled to an  unprecedented low” after  Israeli commandos attacked a Turkish-flagged  Freedom Flotilla ship in  international waters bound for Gaza last May.  Nine Turkish citizens  aboard were murdered. Erdogan demanded an apology.  Israel refused, the  Prime Minister telling Al Jazeera:</p>
<p>“As long  as Netanyahu does not change his policies, he cannot expect  us to change  ours.” He added that Turkey won’t renew any previously  signed accords,  and won’t consider renewed relations until Israel  accedes to its  demands. He also called Foreign Minister/Deputy Prime  Minister Avigdor  Lieberman Israel’s “greatest problem,” a “despicable”  man Israel should  “get rid” of. “It is up to them, not us. If they  don’t, Israel’s  problems will only get worse.”</p>
<p>Erdogan also supports Hamas, saying:</p>
<p>“Hamas  is not a terrorist organization. They are people defending  their land.  It is a movement that entered the elections and won,”  adding that  conflict resolution is impossible without them.</p>
<p><strong>Crimes of War and Against Humanity under Netanyahu</strong></p>
<p>A  November Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PACTI)  explains  some, titled “When the Exception Becomes the Rule:  Incommunicado  Detention of Palestinian Security Detainees.” Many, in  fact, are  uncharged or only accused of minor offenses because no  seriously  incriminating evidence exists, yet they’re held and  brutalized anyway.</p>
<p>Moreover,  Israeli and international law recognize the right of  detainees “to meet  and consult with an attorney,” a fundamental due  process principle  Israel flaunts. Yet its Basic Law: Human Dignity and  Liberty affirms it.  So does IDF Order Regarding Security provisions  (No. 378) 5730, 1970.</p>
<p>In  addition, in Israeli legal discourse, incommunicado detentions  are  considered draconian, causing great harm, including to rule of law   principles. It’s intended only under emergency conditions or in unique   cases “in which (the) alleged harm and damage justifies the prevention   of this consultation.” As a result, civilized societies rarely use it.   For Israel, it’s standard practice against people too powerless to   resist.</p>
<p>Decades of evidence “show that the right to meet an  attorney is  systematically denied to Palestinian detainees….undergoing   interrogation by General Security Services (GSS).” Israeli military   code justifies it as a way to “benefit” interrogations and/or the   “security of the area.”</p>
<p>Israel won’t disclose how many are  affected. PACTI, however, learned  that minimally it’s many hundreds or  even thousands annually,  especially since October 2000, the onset of the  second Intifada. As a  result, denial of attorney consultations are  “routine practice,” no  matter how illegal and unjustifiable. Israel pays  rule of law  principles no heed, not now, not ever.</p>
<p>Another article explained PACTI’s earlier study on detainee abuse during Cast Lead, accessed through the following link:</p>
<p><a href="http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/08/palestinian-detainee-abuse-during.html" target="_blank">http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/08/palestinian-detainee-abuse-during.html</a></p>
<p>Its November one evaluated over 1,000 detainee cases, concluding that:</p>
<p>– from 70% to 90% were held incommunicado during their entire interrogation or a portion thereof;</p>
<p>– their duration ranged from 12.7 to 19.2 days, and in 10% of cases over 30 days;</p>
<p>–  affidavits from those held said they were subjected to “systematic   violence, torture and/or psychological ill-treatment” to admit guilt;</p>
<p>– pressure was intense, resulting in fear, confusion and uncertainty, hampering judgment and influencing behavior;</p>
<p>–  “significant gaps were found between the justifications given by  the  GSS for demanding” incommunicado detentions and “the content of the   final indictments,” mentioning minor violations only that most often  are  bogus or inconsequential;</p>
<p>– despite intervening for justice,  PACTI’s “involvement (most often)  was….completely ineffective;” unable  to dissuade GSS from acting  lawlessly; and</p>
<p>– incommunicado  detentions empower GSS at the expense of rule of law  justice.  Palestinians get none no matter how much pressure is applied  on their  behalf.</p>
<p>These abuses won’t end unless sustained international and  grassroots  efforts force it. Israel is already shamed. Legal,  political, economic  and cultural measures must take it to the next  level, the way South  African apartheid was toppled, though what replaced  it left poor Blacks  worse off than before, victimized by predatory  capitalism.</p>
<p>They, Palestinians, and all exploited people deserve  better, but  wishing won’t make it so. Bare-knuckled activism is needed,  restoring  democratic values Israel won’t tolerate, at the same time  exposing its  lawlessness and status as a world class terror state,  preying on  vulnerable Arabs on false national security grounds.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><em>Stephen Lendman</em></p>
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<p><em>Stephen  Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at   lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at   sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with   distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the   Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and   Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy   listening.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/" rel="nofollow">http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/</a>.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://ramallahonline.com/2011/01/israels-worst-ever/">Israel’s Worst Ever | RO: Ramallah Online</a>.</p>
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