The Scourge of Israeli Apartheid Ruthlessness in Action

by Stephen Lendman

Volumes are needed to document how Israeli apartheid ruthlessness operates in flagrant breach of international law.

Some recent examples include the following:

In mid-Dec., the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel explained that an agreement between Netanyahu's Likud and Religious Zionist Party calls for the establishment of an additional war minister.

According to Adalah's, Legal Director, Dr. Suhad Bishara:

The agreement is all about "regularization" of illegal settlements and outposts on stolen Palestinian land.

It "amount(s) to (their) de facto annexation" for exclusive Jewish development and use with intent for ethnic cleansing on an unparalleled scale to remove Palestinians from land wanted for Jews alone.

Adoption of the agreement flagrantly breached Fourth Geneva.

According to Article 8(2)(a) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, it's a war crime.

The Statute's Article 7(1)(j) defines apartheid as a crime against humanity.

It's forbidden by the International Convention on the Elimination and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.

Like hegemon USA-dominated Western regimes, Israel operates exclusively by its own rules, the rule of law be damned.

In its 2021 Annual Report, Adalah said the following:

The year "2021 was tumultuous." 

"We witnessed the fourth round of Israeli elections within two years, violent events of May 2021, and the introduction of draconian anti-Arab anti-crime measures."

They "includ(e) a bill to expand police powers to raid homes and businesses, (as well as) seize property without a warrant." 

Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency  established "a new undercover (mista'aravim) paramilitary unit to operate exclusively in Arab towns."

"If taken forward, (newly adopted measures) would establish two separate tracks of law enforcement, one for Jews and another for Palestinian citizens of the state."

In July 2021, Israel's extremist Supreme Court upheld draconian legislation that "enshrines Jewish supremacy and racial segregation as constitutional principles of the state of Israel," Adalah explained, adding:

It "excludes Palestinian citizens of Israel, and denies the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people."

In mid-December, Israel's so-called mission to the imperial tool world body in Geneva unjustifiably smeared eminent UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the (Occupied) Palestinian Territor(ies), Francesca Albanese.

According to the Al Haq human rights group:

Israel's action was all about attempting to "undermine the mandate she has been entrusted with and thwart her expert human rights work on Palestine."

Its ruthless vilification likely stemmed from a near-decade ago 2014 Facebook reality check, Albanese saying:

"America and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish Lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the holocaust, remain(ed) on the sidelines" during Israel's Operation Protective Edge aggression against Gaza from July 8 - August 28, 2014.

It was an example of Israeli state terror in action against long-suffering Palestinians.

Its Protective Edge aggression massacred over 2,200 Gazans, including 524 children.

Despite decades of grievous Israeli war crimes since establishment of the Jewish state on stolen Palestinian land in May 1948, accountability never followed.

Israel's anti-Albanese smear campaign falsely accused her of "harbor(ing) significant bias against the Jewish state (sic)."

The phony argument is reminiscent of a supporter yelling, "Give em hell, Harry" during a June 10, 1948 campaign address, to which Truman replied:

"I don't give them hell."

"I just tell the truth about them and they think it's hell."

Albanese tells the truth about Israeli apartheid ruthlessness, and for regime officials it feels like hell.

Former UN Special Rapporteur, Michael Lynk, was prohibited by the Jewish state from entering the illegally Occupied Territories to obstruct his human rights work.

So was Special Rapporteur Richard Falk.

Makarim Wibisono resigned from the post in 2016, saying:

His good faith "efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims of violations under the Israeli occupation have been frustrated every step of the way" by Jewish state ruthlessness.

In 2020, the Netanyahu regime  refused to grant visas to UN staff from the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights.

It arbitrarily expelled 15 members of its international staff.

Israel remains unaccountable for virtually every imaginable crime of war and against humanity because of support by the empire of lies and complicit Western vassals.

On Dec. 31, a joint statement by 108 human rights groups "commend(ed) UNSR Francesca Albanese's tireless efforts toward the protection of human rights in the OPT and in raising awareness of the alarming daily violations of Palestinian rights," adding: 

"We call on third states to strongly condemn this politically-motivated attack on the Special Rapporteur's mandate and to compel Israel to comply with its obligations under the (UN) Charter."

The UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights said the following about Albanese:

She's a scholar at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of International Migration.

She's a senior advisor on migration and forced displacement for the Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) think tank.

She co-founded the Global Network on the Question of Palestine.

Its members include noted scholars like her on all things Israel and Palestine.

Her 2020 book, titled: "Palestinian Refugees in International Law" documents the torment they endured from its origins.

Albanese also teaches and lectures  on international law and forced displacement.

She's currently completing her doctoral studies in International Refugee Law at Amsterdam University's Law School.

Israel ruthlessly vilifies whoever serves as UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Territories — Albanese the latest one to endure its viciousness firsthand.

A Final Comment

Separately on Dec. 27, 10 human rights groups wrote the following to the International Criminal Court's prosecutor, Karin Khan, saying:

They "welcome(d)" his intention to "investigat(e) the situation in Palestine" — knowing that Israel will go all-out to obstruct it.

If the ICC reports anything negative about reality on the ground in the Occupied Territories, nothing positive for Palestinians will follow.