Sunday, March 10, 2019

Jonathon cook - Once again, the UN has failed to name firms that profit from Israel's illegal settlements

The more intransigent Israel becomes in its treatment of the Palestinians, the less international pressure is exerted upon it



The United Nations postponed last week for the third time the publication of a blacklist of Israeli and international firms that profit directly from Israel’s illegal settlements in the Repeatedly, Israel has exerted great pressure on the UN to keep its army off a “shame list” of serious violators of children’s rights. Israel even avoided a listing in 2015 following its 50-day attack on Gaza the previous year, which left more than 500 Palestinian children dead. Dozens of armies and militias are named each year.
The Hague court has also been dragging its feet for years over whether to open a proper war crimes investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza, as well as the settlements.
The battle to hold Israel to account is likely to rage again this year, after the publication last month of a damning report by UN legal experts into the killing of Palestinian protesters at Gaza’s perimeter fence by Israeli snipers.
Conditions for Gaza’s two million Palestinians have grown dire since Israel imposed a blockade, preventing movement of goods and people, more than a decade ago.
The UN report found that nearly all of those killed by the snipers – 154 out of 183 – were unarmed. Some 35 Palestinian children were among the dead, and of the 6,000 wounded more than 900 were minors. Other casualties included journalists, medical personnel and people with disabilities.
The legal experts concluded that there was evidence of war crimes. Any identifiable commanders and snipers, it added, should face arrest if they visited UN member states.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, dismissed the report as “lies” born out of “an obsessive hatred of Israel”.occupied territories.
The international body had come under enormous pressure to keep the database under wraps after lobbying behind the scenes from Israel, the United States and many of the 200-plus companies that were about to be named.
UN officials have suggested they may go public with the list in a few months.
But with no progress since the UN’s Human Rights Council requested the database back in early 2016, Palestinian leaders are increasingly fearful that it has been permanently shelved.
That was exactly what Israel hoped for. When efforts were first made to publish the list in 2017, Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, warned: “We will do everything we can to ensure that this list does not see the light of day.”
He added that penalising the settlements was “an expression of modern antisemitism”.
Both Israel and the US pulled out of the Human Rights Council last year, claiming that Israel was being singled out.





2 comments:

Konrad said...

Israel has no incentive to behave, since the entire West is Israel's bitch.

Consider what Trump has done for his beloved Israelis...

He scrapped the Iran deal.
He moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.
He recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
He cut all diplomatic relationships with Palestinians
He ended all U.S. aid to Palestinians in the West Bank.
He intensified the Jewish extermination of Palestinians.
He cut all funding to UN agencies that help Palestinians.
He increased monetary aid to Israel. (The $3.8 billion per year is just the base amount.)
He called for Rep. Ilhan Omar to be expelled from congress for suggesting that the AIPAC lobby is a lobby.

The orange turd grovels to Jews even more than Obama does. And still the Jews despise him.

He’s done an about-face on immigration, which is the single issue that most concerned his base supporters. He’s done an about-face on withdrawing from Syria. He’s done an about-face on almost everything. He supports the war on Venezuela, and he opposes Universal Medicare.

Nobody likes the Orange Blob; not even right-wingers. His base has vanished, but the corporate media outlets claim that Trump is “rising” in the (non-existent) “polls.” They say this because they know that Trump is stupid enough to believe it, and therefore he will do more of the same, and therefore kill all his chances of being re-elected.

Good riddance.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

FINALLY!

I’ve been waiting for someone to denounce MMT as “anti-Semitic.”

And here we are…

“AOC’s embrace of MMT is arguably more antisemitic than attributing American foreign policy to a Jewish-led conspiracy.”

https://twitter.com/getfiscal/status/1094792194735697920

How is MMT “anti-Semitic”?

It is “anti-Semitic” to ask that question.

Konrad said...

.
LOYALTY

Jews and their toadies screamed when Rep. Ilhan Omar asked why US Congress members are expected to show unquestioning allegiance to a “foreign country.” (Ms. Omar never mentioned Israel.)

Below, Nancy Pelosi declares her loyalty to Israel:

“If this capital crumbles to the ground, the one thing that will remain is our commitment to our aid – and I don’t even call it aid, our cooperation – with Israel. That’s fundamental to who we are.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1LmnQRnw8I

So if Washington is destroyed by a war or an asteroid, the USA’s top priority will be to keep sending billions to Israel.

This was the conference of the Israeli-American Council (IAC) in Hollywood, FL on 2 Dec 2018.

Pelosi was being interviewed by Haim Saban (a dual loyalty Israeli-American entertainment mogul who owns the Democrats) and Sheldon Adelson (a casino magnate who owns the Republicans, especially Trump). Both are major backers of the Israeli-American Council.

Jewish Senator Chuck Schumer was present.

At the IAC conference, Pelosi further served her Jewish owners by declaring that she would appoint six Jews to chair key committees:

Rep. Nita Lowey, (D-NY) to chair the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee;

Eliot Engel (D-NY) to chair the Foreign Affairs Committee

Ted Deutch (D-FL) to chair the Middle East subcommittee

Adam Schiff (D-CA) to chair the Intelligence Committee

Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) to a key Appropriations Committee position

Lois Frankel (D-FL) to a key Foreign Affairs Committee position.