Israel was openly attacked by US judge Mary McGowan Davis, chairperson of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry into the 2014 Gaza blitzkrieg. She described Israel as the most terrible bloody racist regime in the world and confirmed that its policies do not respect international conventions and that it neglects all UN resolutions and ignores humanitarian, ethical and legal rights. The latest UN report clearly exposes another Israeli brutality. According to the report's findings, Israeli forces conducted more than 6,000 airstrikes and fired approximately 50,000 tank and artillery shells at targets within the Gaza enclave. Ultimately, 1,462 Palestinian civilians were killed, a third of whom were children. The brutal Israeli bombardment destroyed the civilian infrastructure and left 100,000 residents homeless. Davis, a former justice of the New York State Supreme Court, said that “the extent of the devastation and human suffering in Gaza Strip following the Israeli aggression is unprecedented and will affect the next generations”. In fact Israeli inhumane policies have devastated six generations and the apartheid state continues its six-decade reign of terror against Palestinians with complete impunity. For the past 66 years, Israel has waged a genocidal war against the innocent Palestinian population. With its creation in 1948, Israel began terror killings and armored incursions into Gaza and the Palestinian territory. The Israeli army deliberately destroyed factories, farms and homes. In Deir Yassin on April 9, 1948, over 120 Palestinian men, women and children were slaughtered in a bloody rampage. According to New York Times reports, then “254 people were killed and 53 orphaned children were dumped like trash along the wall of the Old City; homes were dynamited with inhabitants inside; people were shot at close range, including children.... depopulating 531 towns and villages; 11 urban neighborhoods; massacring or displacing 800,000 Palestinians; and committing countless rapes and other atrocities.” Since 1967, over 700,000 Palestinians have been incarcerated and tortured, many are still held uncharged and thousands remain in prison at all times. Palestinians endure daily humiliations at checkpoints, suffer restrictions, curfews and demeaning conditions imposed at any time. They live in constant fear of being harassed, arrested, tortured or killed. In 2006, Israel launched a massive military offensive using phosphorous bombs against a largely defenseless people, destroying roads, bridges, homes, water treatment and electricity plants. In 2008, Israel massacred 1,400 Palestinians mostly women and children in Gaza. Thousands of homes and schools were destroyed by brutal bombardment and airstrikes. These atrocities have no end. The latest bold and strong UN condemnation of Israel is yet another attempt to pressure Israel into stopping its aggression and brutality against the people of Palestine. However, the UN should expect an even stronger retaliation by Israel. The international community should go on red alert. Israel is capable of carrying out terrorist operations and blaming it on the Arab and Muslim world. Whenever it is cornered and pressured by the international community to change its aggressive policy and stop its expansionist designs, it creates a global diversion to turn the tables against the Arabs or Muslims and make the world less critical of its barbaric regime. Israel has a history of carrying out assassinations and terrorist operations in different parts of the world. Many Palestinian leaders and Palestinian sympathizers have been murdered by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency which monitors any criticism against Israel and targets anyone who stands in the way of its expansionist plans and its goal of creating greater Israel. The UN has repeatedly raised humanitarian concerns to the Israeli authorities, however, Israel has never been held accountable. Saudi Ambassador Faisal Tarad in his speech at the Human Rights Council in Geneva said that the recent UN report proves once again that Israel is the world's leading violator of human rights, and urged the international community, especially the UN Security Council and the Human Rights Council, to stop these violations. Will this latest strong UN statement of condemnation be merely another failed attempt by the international community to hold Israel accountable for its human rights violations? Will it create an impact that will make the US administration restrain Israel? Probably not. As long as Israel has the support of the US, it will continue to defy the UN charter and international treaties in order to create greater Israel. Sadly, the United Nations alone does not have the power to confront Israel, a terrorist State with a large arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and a threatening nuclear power. — Samar Fatany is a radio broadcaster and writer. She can be reached at [email protected]
