Time for world to recognize Palestine: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Mike Harris, an editor with the Veterans Today, in Oregon, to ask for his take on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reaction to Sweden’s call for an investigation into killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: It looks like the Israelis are hurt with Sweden’s call to investigate the killings of Palestinians.

Harris: The crimes that Israelis have committed against the Palestinians, going back to 1947, are tremendous and of course Israel cannot stand scrutiny on this because they know they are guilty.

I support the Swedish prime minister’s call for investigation into what Israel has been doing. It is time that the rest of the world support what Sweden is calling for as well because we cannot have a country like Israel…behaving savagely towards people who are supposed to be in their care and under either their protection, just to murder them wantonly through extrajudicial killings; it is not just civilized I am sorry and if Israel wants to be part of the community of nations, they need to pick up their game and start acting like civilized people.

 Press TV: We already know that the EU, the UN and the United States have all expressed their concerns over the raising violence in Palestinian territories. Do you think Israel will ever be held accountable?  

Harris: I hope they are. Really it is time for the world to recognize Palestine and withdraw recognition from Israel. Israel is a rogue, terrorist state; all they have done is murder people, steal their land since they arrived in Palestine and it is time that the world set things right by recognizing Palestine as the legitimate government of that area of the world.

Press TV: Can anyone ever criticize what Israel has been doing in Western media not be called an “anti-Semite” there?

Harris: It is not a matter of anti-Semitism. You have to look at who the Israeli people really are…They come from a part of Central Europe. And you know what; it is time that people do not care if they are called anti-Semitic. It does not matter because the Israelis are committing crimes day in and day out against innocent men, women and children. When the Israeli shot soldiers are shooting you know youngsters, I mean young people you know 8, 10, 12 years old for throwing rocks, that is  a crime in itself. That is a war crime. This has been genocide against the Palestinian people since the founding of Israel in 1947. And it is time that the rest of world had some outrage towards this because you know the Palestinians, like it or not, are human beings, our brothers and sisters and the rest of the world needs to protect them since Israel is doing such a terrible job at administering the territory that we call Israel which is really Palestine.

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