Massoud Shadjareh: Israel keeps bullying with US veto backing

Press TV has interviewed Massoud Shadjareh, with the Islamic Human Rights Commission from London, about a new video on the execution of a Palestinian man by an Israeli soldier in al-Khalil (Hebron).

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Which one’s worse, which one’s more frightening: the fact that essentially Israel doesn’t really care about lives that is Palestinian lives or it is that Israel doesn’t really care if and when the news of how really and actually treats those lives actually comes out in the public and before the whole world to see in front of the cameras, which one’s worse?

Shadjareh: It’s really outrageous the fact that Israel continuously assassinating Palestinians. And this particular incident the only difference is that is being cast on camera. And the culture within the Israeli force is that they don’t really care about Palestinian life and they don’t really treat them as a human being. Since October we have had 280 Palestinians mostly assassinated and for allegedly trying to attack Israeli forces with a knife.

Now, we know and we have seen in other footage even young ladies being surrounded by more than a dozen well-armed soldiers and having put their hands up being sort of executed. And really it’s very obvious that even indeed someone has got a knife in hand when they are faced with 20 or so soldiers armed to the teeth and really assassinating them and killing them, it really is assassination and needs to dealt with. It’s not self-defense because you could shoot them in other parts of the body if indeed you feel that you need to defend yourself.

So really a policy is very clearly assassination policy and also what is very frightening is the fact that every so often when videos of this sort emerges, Israel, what it does, it does a sort of a show arresting people indeed putting them through kangaroo courts and then slap on the back of the hand and then they are released after six months or one year. And indeed it is an atrocity. This is really obstacle against due process and justice. And international community should no longer be silence of it.

Press TV: You did mention in a way that these stories coming out of the occupied territories the way that the Israeli soldiers and IDF treat the Palestinians on a daily basis is nothing new. The violence being perpetrated is repetitious. Sometimes, you can say that you kind of get some sort of compassion fatigue, but can it be said that in terms of media stories coming out such as alternative media like Press TV were gradually approaching the critical mass of sorts where it would be a kind of last straw that will eventually hopefully break the camels’ back. Is that going to be a scenario, a realistic one?

Shadjareh: I think it exposes it more than before and this is why, one of the reasons that there has been a coordinated effort to silence media like Press TV and taking them off platforms like Sky and so forth specifically to silence and to stop the spread of these atrocities being committed by Israelis. And on a daily basis, I mean really this is systematic. This is a policy. The reality is that it’s happening all the time and only they become an issue when the footage is available. Otherwise, they have never been a single Israeli soldier and sort of exposing another Israeli soldier for committing these sort of atrocities, which are happening on almost daily basis. 280 assassinations since October, it’s staggering and really I think we need to demand the international community respond positively and bring some sort of protection for the Palestinian community under occupation.

Press TV: How can this demand be really enforced, Massoud?

Shadjareh: I think that as long as the United States using its veto in the international community and as long as the Europeans are sort of giving lip service to the bullying of the Israeli authorities, I think we are not going to see a solution, but I think in the same time what is really very interesting is the level of understanding now among the masses of people in the West, not the government but the masses are understanding through the footage that they see on social media, on Press TV and elsewhere, they are beginning to understand the level of atrocity and level of barbarism that is becoming part and parcel of the Zionist occupation.

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