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Follow Us on TwitterDora McPhee (VIC) responds to Koutsoukis’ “UK ‘shock’ over Livni warrant” The Age 17Dec09 December 17, 2009
The Age: “UK ‘shock’ over Livni warrant” by Jason Koutsoukis, 17 December 2009
The constant refrain to deflect criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians is that it is unfairly being singled out for defending itself against Palestinian “terrorism”. Israeli shock and anger over court actions in the UK targeting Israeli officials for war crimes and the demands for
Britain to change laws to prevent this happening in the future is itself a form of “singling out” Israel for special treatment. This follows similar
actions taken in Spain, where laws were also changed to protect Israel and the concerted campaign to bury the Goldstone report, which had determined that Israel has a case to answer over what it did in Gaza.
What is being camouflaged by the claim that Israel has the “right to defend itself” is the six decades of aggression against the Palestinian people -
the displacement, dispossession and disenfrachisement, together with the four decades of occupation that has entrenched a system of apartheid denying Palestinians their most fundamental human rights, let alone self-determination in what was their homeland. The failure to address the
systematic violation of Palestinian human rights and the exemption from sanction or criticism that Israel has enjoyed because it continues to be
shielded from censure has allowed Israel to act with the utmost impunity, while continuing to dispossess the Palestinians of their land. The failure
to implement UN resolutions and the closing of all legal avenues to bring Israeli policy makers to account indicates the continuing complicity of
Western governments in what in reality is the ongoing incremental ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the slow destruction of a people.
Thank You.
