Israeli warplanes bombed multiple sites in the Gaza Strip, while ground troops killed a Palestinian during what officials called an “arrest raid” in the occupied West Bank, as hawkish members of the coalition government continue to scream for escalation against the Palestinians.
Palestinians are deeply critical of the ongoing escalation of Israeli strikes and collective punishment, noting that Israel has revived the policy of demolishing the homes of “suspects” in the kidnapping/murder case, and that Israeli troops ransacked the house before blowing it up.
Israeli rights groups were petitioning the nation’s High Court to stop the military from such revenge attacks on suspects, though the court rejected, insisting the military has ultimate authority to launch any attacks it believes will be of “deterrence” value.
Israeli hawks may be in for an unpleasant surprise, however, as top diplomatic officials warn that while the international community was willing to overlook more or less anything during the search for the teens, the recovery of their bodies could seriously limit Israel’s ability to get away with much further escalation.
There seems to be no evidence whatsoever that Palestinians of any kind had anything to do with this. It is possible that it is a black-op designed to provide justification for attacking Hamas. Very little is made of the strange features of this case. The bodies were found in a place without much attempt at concealment. What were the searchers doing for two and a half weeks? Israel arrests and presumably interrogates hundreds of Hamas people but comes out with no evidence? There is the strange phone call, presumably by mobile, from one of the teenagers saying only "We've been kidnapped" then apparently "Hebrew-sounding" background noises – strange kind of abduction? What is really deplorable is that the world's media have not the guts to probe any of this, given the horrible consequences that could follow. For an odious, possibly deranged, leader like Netanyahu to be given free reign to shriek accusations he can't prove, or has dubious proof at best, reminds me very much of the Na zi leaders response to, for example, the Reichstag fire, among other incidents. I hope Antiwar does some probing – it used to be called investigative journalism in better days.
> saying only "We've been kidnapped"
…followed by gunshots.
Indeed, Israel knew from the get go that these kids had probably been killed. All this search drama – totally fake. This is all very fishy.
all pretty much an excuse by the zios to kill more Pals….
zios = worst humans ever
Notinmyname: Exactly right. Yet Netanyawhore "claims to have proof" that kidnapping/ murders were "committed by Hamas members". I'd sure like to see it.
This incident had false-flag written all over it from the beginning. Are there any photos of the "victims"? Because anyone who would take Israel's word on ANYthing would have to be criminally stupid. For all we know, those "recovered corpses"—if they exist at all—are those of dead Palestinian kids.
And if the victims really did exist, does anyone doubt that Israel wouldn't murder its own in order to BLAME it on Hamas? I believe Netanywhore engineered the entire "crisis" in order to express his rage that the rest of the world has embraced the new Unity government of the Palestinians between the PA and Hamas.
And….just wondering….why is Abbas acting like Israel's bitch?