#state endorsed racism and violence
Muki Najaer / PNN Exclusive
The Israeli state’s leniencies towards its citizens who commit racist hate crimes is so pervasive and comprehensive, it begs the question: does the Israeli government covertly hope to assure the continuation of racist crimes against Palestinians?
While all Palestinians are tried in military court, Israeli’s receive the privilege of trials in the civilian court system. Additionally, illegal settlers living in the occupied West Bank are granted the legal liberties of the Israeli judicial system, while Palestinians living in the same area legally, are not. Apart from the blatant unequal treatment of people with different nationalities, this system violates the principle of territoriality, according to which a single system of law must apply to all persons living in the same territory.
The Israeli police and occupation force arrest Palestinian children for the simple purpose of instilling fear into their communities and criminalizing them, but allow Israeli adults who commit racist hate crimes to go unpunished. Those committing the hate crimes are not the only racist force at play: the Israeli Police and the Israeli Occupation Force play a paramount role in systemically encouraging hate crimes against Palestinians, and maintaining dis-symmetry in the racial and power dynamics of the legal system that deals with Israelis and Palestinians.
Following a pattern of ongoing hate crimes against Palestinians, four young Israeli extremists invaded a Christian Cemetery in the occupied Jerusalem and defaced 15 gravestones in the Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery, in the King David Tomb, on Sunday September 29.
The four criminals, who were caught by Israeli Police personnel, are students of a Jewish Yeshiva, and range from 17 – 26 years of age. Two of the four fanatics, were previously caught by the police for hate crimes against Palestinians. The same two individuals belong to an extremist group of Israeli settlers, the Hilltop Youth Movement, an organization known for its deep seeded racism and numerous attacks against Palestinian lands and property.
The Israeli state’s leniencies towards its citizens who commit racist hate crimes is so pervasive and comprehensive, it begs the question: does the Israeli government covertly hope to assure the continuation of racist crimes against Palestinians?
Israel Turns a Blind Eye to its Citizens’ Racist Crimes
B’Tselem, an Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, released a report in 2011 indicating that Israeli Police, the entity responsible for investigating settler violence and hate crimes against Palestinians, do not properly examine claims of violence, nor do they enforce punishment based on Israel penal law.
From September 2000 to the end of 2011, B'Tselem submitted 352 complaints to the Israeli Police, demanding to know if investigations had been opened in cases ranging from gunfire, assault, destruction of property, forcing people off their land, threats, evictions, theft of crops, and torching of fields.
Of the 352 racially charged hate crimes, only 29 resulted in an indictment. 137 files were closed with no measures being taken against anyone involved. In 80 cases, the police did not open an investigation, primarily because the person injured did not file a formal complaint, though the police are required by law to investigate every time they hear of a suspected crime. In 16 cases, B'Tselem received no response, one case was still being processed and in five cases, the authorities claimed that the file could not be located.
De-criminalization of Israelis & Criminalization of Palestinians
B’Tselem’s report sheds light on a pattern of Israeli hate crimes against Palestinians going unpunished, time and time again. Their lack of investigations into violence could simply indicate the Israeli state’s disregard for crime– if it weren’t for the simultaneous criminalization of Palestinians.
Israeli Occupation Force officers perform nightly raids on Palestinians towns and refugee camps, arresting young men and children as young as eleven years old. The arrests occur randomly, and for no apparent reason, forcing local Palestinians to live in a constant state of fear, even in the dead of night, when they are in the supposed safety of their own homes.
A United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report published in March 2013, states “For some of the children what follows [the arrest] is a chaotic and frightening scene, in which furniture and windows are broken, accusations and verbal threats are shouted, and family members are forced to stand outside in their nightclothes as the accused child is forcibly removed from the home.” The report goes on to state that confessions are obtained from children through the use of intimidation, threats, and physical violence.
The same report states that an average of two Palestinian children are arrested each day, and 700 children ages 12 to 17 are arrested, interrogated, and detained by Israeli army, police, and security agents each year. According to Israeli law, Palestinian children may be held in prison for four days without charges, and can be tried as adults starting at the age of 16. Israeli children, on the other hand, are not tried as adults until the age of 18.
While all Palestinians are tried in military court, Israeli’s receive the privilege of trials in the civilian court system. Additionally, illegal settlers living in the occupied West Bank are granted the legal liberties of the Israeli judicial system, while Palestinians living in the same area legally, are not. Apart from the blatant unequal treatment of people with different nationalities, this system violates the principle of territoriality, according to which a single system of law must apply to all persons living in the same territory.
The Israeli police and occupation force arrest Palestinian children for the simple purpose of instilling fear into their communities and criminalizing them, but allow Israeli adults who commit racist hate crimes to go unpunished. Those committing the hate crimes are not the only racist force at play: the Israeli Police and the Israeli Occupation Force play a paramount role in systemically encouraging hate crimes against Palestinians, and maintaining dis-symmetry in the racial and power dynamics of the legal system that deals with Israelis and Palestinians.
Recent Hate Crimes
The Middle East Media Center reports the following list of recent racial hate crimes committed by Israelis:
On Monday, the Police apprehended two Israeli teenagers, 14 and 16 years of age, on suspicion of being involved in defacing and damaging eight Palestinian cars, near Nabi Saleh Graveyard, in the occupied Jerusalem.
Earlier this week Israelis punctured the tires of 28 Palestinian cars, and wrote racist graffiti in Abu Ghosh. ’Price Tag’ graffiti was also found on the outer walls of a church in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Last month, a Christian Monastery located in the Deir Jamal area between Jerusalem and Ramallah, was attacked by a Molotov cocktail. Racist graffiti, used by Price Tag extremist Israeli groups, was found on its exterior walls.
In mid-June, a number of extremist settlers wrote racist graffiti on some graves at the Christian Greek Orthodox graveyard in Jaffa.
On Friday June 14 Israeli extremists set ablaze two Palestinian cars in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in occupied East Jerusalem, and spray painted racist graffiti. The extremists also wrote racist graffiti on some graves in the Christian Greek Orthodox graveyard in Jaffa and drew the Star of David on a number of graves.
Extremists vandalized the wall of the home Khaled Kaboub, an Arab District Court Judge in Tel Aviv, with graffiti.
There have been hundreds of similar attacks, that included burning and attempting to burn Churches and Mosques throughout Palestine. In addition to numerous attacks targeting both Islamic and Christian graveyards and places of worship, settlers uproot and burn hundreds of Palestinian trees and flood farmlands with waste-water. Those attacks are part of ongoing violations targeting Palestinians lands and livelihoods.
