{"id":88718,"date":"2013-11-02T08:09:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-02T07:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?guid=c0bc0ed95d789cac8be8e2512bbab0cb"},"modified":"2013-11-02T08:09:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-02T07:09:00","slug":"israel-attacks-syria-and-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/israel-attacks-syria-and-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Attacks Syria and Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\"><b>Israel Attacks Syria and Gaza<\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">by Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Israel gets away with daily crimes of war, against humanity and slow-motion genocide. It does so with impunity. It does it because world leaders able to act do nothing.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Failure to hold Israel accountable reflects complicity with crimes too great to ignore. They&#8217;ve persisted for decades.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They show no signs of ending. On October 30, reports said Israeli warplanes struck Latakia. It&#8217;s Syria&#8217;s principle port city. Damascus was attacked. An administration official confirmed what happened.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Washington partners with Israeli crimes. Annual billions of dollars in military aid supports them. Going along with attacking Syria shows Obama&#8217;s true intentions.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He deplores peace. He intends escalated war. His planned intervention earlier was delayed. It&#8217;s not deterred. More on Israel&#8217;s reported attack below.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Ahmed el-Helah and Mariam Itani&#8217;s book titled<span style=\"color: #323333;\">, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alzaytouna.net\/english\/books\/AmINotaHuman-3-Child.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #011689;\">&#8220;The Suffering of the Palestinian Child under the Israeli Occupation,&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/span> says they &#8220;live and suffer every moment of their lives under the painful reality of occupation.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Growing numbers are killed, injured, maimed, handicapped, arrested, imprisoned, and tortured.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;What about those who have lost their parents, friends, brothers and sisters due to&#8221; continuous Israeli oppression, the authors asked?<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;What about the children who live in fear and who suffer distress or cannot sleep, who feel unprotected in the face of a ruthless and arrogant Israeli occupation?&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Who outside Palestine understands their suffering? Who comprehends world leaders&#8217; complicity with Israeli ruthlessness?&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Palestinian youths and adults suffer the same way. Children enduring daily harshness &#8220;lose their childhood and innocence, just as they lose hope and joy in their lives,&#8221; said the authors.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Physical and emotional pain reflect daily life. They &#8220;ignite the spirit of resistance and deepen hatred&#8221; against a ruthless rogue regime.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Both authors agree. Occupation harshness must end. Israel must be held responsible for its crimes.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Its officials must be &#8220;prosecute(d) in international judicial institutions for committing the most horrific and inhumane crimes against&#8221; young children, youths and adults.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Their crime is wanting to live free like Jews. Their greatest wish is freedom from fear. Their hope is growing up to something better than now.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They wonder if they&#8217;ll live long enough to see it. They&#8217;re uncertain each day if they&#8217;ll see another. Life in Occupied Palestine is nightmarish.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">In September, Israeli soldiers murdered five Palestinian civilians. Multiple community incursions occur daily.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Homes are broken into violently. They&#8217;re ransacked. Personal possessions are trashed. They&#8217;re damaged or destroyed. Some items are stolen.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Families are terrorized. Children are traumatized. Arrests, interrogations, torture and detentions follow. Children are treated like adults.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">According to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imemc.org\/article\/66340\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">Ahrar Center<\/span><\/a> for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights, Israel arrested 325 Palestinians in September. It did so lawlessly.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Seventeen children under age 15 were targeted. Two women were arrested. Three journalists were kidnapped. So were Palestinian legislators Nazzal Ramadan and Maher Bader.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Near daily arrests persist coincidentally with Israel&#8217;s sham prisoner releases. Anyone freed is vulnerable to rearrest. Israel treats nonviolent Palestinians like terrorists. Rogue states operate that way.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Late Thursday, Israeli tanks, armored personnel carriers and soldiers invaded Gaza. Attack helicopters accompanies them.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Allegedly it was to destroy part of a tunnel network discovered earlier. These type attacks occur often. Any pretext or none at all justifies them. Lawless aggression defines Israeli policy.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Members of Israel&#8217;s ruthless Golani Brigade led Thursday&#8217;s assault. In early 1948, David Ben-Gurion formed it. He did so to ethnically cleanse Palestine.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Ariel Sharon was one of its first commanders. Golani forces are infamous. They&#8217;re cutthroat killers. According to a former unnamed Israeli soldier:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They include &#8220;psychopaths, the poor, orphans, Israelis who live in small towns, immigrants, illiterates, people with mental problems, drug and alcohol abusers, and people with criminal records.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They&#8217;re responsible for some of the worst abuses against Palestinian civilians. They include violent home invasions, unprovoked attacks, physical beatings, cold blooded murder, assaults on women and children, and numerous other human rights violations.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak once called the IDF &#8220;the most moral army in the world.&#8221; Daily atrocities prove otherwise.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On Friday, Israeli warplanes bombed southern Gaza. Three Hamas Qassam Brigade members were killed. Their bodies were found dismembered.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On Thursday, Israeli artillery killed a Palestinian youth. Another was wounded. The IDF targeted an area east of Khan Yunis&#8217; refugee camp.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Last Monday, Israeli warplanes struck an area northwest of Gaza City. Missiles were fired near Mawkusi towers. No casualties were reported.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Palestinians live in a virtual war zone. Israeli ground or air attacks can come any time for any reason or none at all.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Western media report virtually nothing. Failure to do their job responsibly shows complicity with Israeli crimes. It&#8217;s official policy. Pro-Israeli bias is longstanding.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Since Obama&#8217;s war on Syria began in March 2011, Israel launched several cross-border attacks. It made one or more ground incursions. It conducted four air attacks.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On October 31, reports said Israeli warplanes attacked Syria for the fifth time this year. Doing so is lawless aggression. They&#8217;re acts of war.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">No nation may attack another except in self-defense. Israel does often. It remains unaccountable for war crimes.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It&#8217;s complicit with Obama&#8217;s war on Syria. In late January, its warplanes struck one or more targets on the Syrian-Lebanese border. Around the same time, a Jamraya military research center was attacked.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On May 3, Israel attacked suburban Damascus. Al-Hameh village was targeted. On May 5, Israel struck Jamraya&#8217;s Scientific Research Center.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Syria poses no threat to Israel. Obama lied saying it&#8217;s entitled to defend itself against enemies. He shares responsibility for what happened.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He&#8217;s complicit in all Israeli attacks. These type incidents are jointly planned. Both nations are longstanding imperial partners.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On July 5, Israel targeted a Syrian warehouse believed to house Russian-made SA-300 air defense missile components and Yakhont anti-ship cruise missiles.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Reports at the time suggested Israeli Dolphin-class submarines were involved. It&#8217;s believed Israeli warplanes flew from Turkey&#8217;s Incirlik Air Base.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Other times they attack from Lebanese air space. Perhaps they did on Wednesday. Lebanon&#8217;s national news agency reported Israeli warplanes entering Lebanese airspace at 1:40 PM.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They conducted maneuvers. They remained for hours. They headed toward the Mediterranean Sea around 5:00 PM.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">According to Syrian opposition forces, Israeli warplanes struck Latakia. Allegedly Russian SA-8 and SA-125 missiles were targeted. Damascus was attacked.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">No casualties were reported. Israel neither confirmed or denied the attack. On October 31, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2013\/10\/31\/world\/meast\/syria-civil-war\/\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">CNN headlined<\/span><\/a> &#8220;Israeli planes strike Syrian military base, US official says.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;(A)n Obama administration official told CNN on Thursday.&#8221; Missiles allegedly intended for Hezbollah were targeted. Why Syria would transfer weapons it needs for self-defense wasn&#8217;t explained.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Multiple Israeli attacks are part of Obama&#8217;s war on Syria. They&#8217;re intended to provoke a Damascus response.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Doing so would give Washington, Israel, key NATO partners and rogue Arab allies reason to escalate fighting to full-scale war.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Assad isn&#8217;t stupid. He knows what&#8217;s going on. He didn&#8217;t fall for Israel&#8217;s trap earlier. He&#8217;s not about to now.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;The (US) official declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information,&#8221; said CNN.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;There was some confusion about the timing of the attack, with some reports saying it happened Wednesday, and others saying Thursday.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">The unnamed US official didn&#8217;t say either way.<a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/news\/syria-israel-attack-latakia-049\/\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\"> Russia Today<\/span><\/a>&#8216;s report added more confusion. Its Arabic source denied media reports.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;Ammar al-Asad, head of the foreign affairs committee within the Syrian National Council, said in an interview with RT that &#8216;In Latakia, we did not hear any sounds, incidents, or anything that can prove the attack happened.&#8217; &#8220;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It remains to be seen what dirty tricks Obama, Netanyahu and rogue partners plan next.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">So-called planned peace talks remain a convenient illusion. It&#8217;s unclear if they&#8217;ll even take place. Why bother. Obama didn&#8217;t wage war to quit. Nothing in prospect shows it&#8217;s ending.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">His new book is titled &#8220;Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanII.html<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israel Attacks Syria and Gazaby Stephen LendmanIsrael gets away with daily crimes of war, against humanity and slow-motion genocide. It does so with impunity. It does it because world leaders able to act do nothing.&nbsp;Failure to hold Israel accounta&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-88718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}