My button gets pushed when I hear the common refrain from US
politicians about the need for “balance” when they talk about the conflict
between Israel and Palestine such as in a recent letter to the UN signed by ALL
100 US Senators calling for the UN to take a more balanced view of Israel.
“Through words and actions, we urge you to ensure that
Israel is treated neither better nor worse than any other U.N. member in good
standing…. We are deeply committed to international leadership and to advancing
respect for human rights. But continued targeting of Israel by the U.N. Human
Rights Council and other U.N. entities is unacceptable … U.S Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Erin
Barclay criticized the UNHRC’s anti-Israel focus as ‘unfair and unbalanced’ ”
Here is an explanation of the “balance” issue based on a
comparison of the violations of human rights laws by the two parties going back
for the last 18,250 days, or 50 years:
Israel has maintained an illegal occupation while the
Palestinians have not occupied any land of Israel;
Israel has illegally transferred its Jewish citizens to the
illegal occupied territories while the Palestinians have transferred zero of
its residents to Israel;
Israel has taken water in the West Bank and distributed it
unequally giving Palestinians less than the required minimum but allowing
squatters water for pools while Palestinians have diverted none of Israel’s
water for their purposes;
Israel has stolen land in the West Bank from Palestinians
while Palestinians have stolen no lard from Israel;
Israel has destroyed 48,000 Palestinian homes and structures
while Palestinians have destroyed no buildings of Israelis;
Israel has destroyed 800,000 Palestinian olive trees while
Palestinians have destroyed no Israeli olive trees;
Israel has built a wall 85% inside the green line while
Palestinians have not built a wall in Israel;
Israel has charged Palestinians in a military court while
rarely charging a squatter (but if so, in a civilian court) while Palestinian
courts have not tried any squatters criminally or civilly;
Israel has taken thousands of Palestinians into
administrative detention and held them often more than a year without ever
charging them while Palestinians have not placed any Israelis in administrative
detention;
Israel has closed Palestinian schools and universities while
Palestinians have not closed any Israeli educational facilities;
Israel has instituted curfews on Palestinians sometimes 24/7
while Palestinians have not instituted any curfews on Israelis;
Israel has shut off the electricity of Palestinians and
Palestinians have never shut off the electric power to Israelis;
Israel has tortured many Palestinians and Palestinians have
not tortured Israelis;
Israel has extorted Palestinians into betraying family and
friends while Palestinians have not extorted Israelis to betray family and
friends;
Israel has maintained roads just for Israelis not open to
Palestinians while Palestinians have not developed such an apartheid road system;
Israel has crept closer and closer to its only goal, the
annexation of the entire West Bank (code words – Judea and Samaria) while
Palestinians have lost more and more access to the lands of the West Bank;
Israel has created hundreds of checkpoints and barriers (not
needed for security) to harass and humiliate Palestinians while Palestinians
have not restricted movement of Israelis;
Israel has maintained an effective boycott of Gaza making it
an outdoor prison while Palestinians have not maintained a boycott on Israel;
Israel has four times in the last twelve years Israel
attacking Gaza on the ground and through the air with tanks, motorized
vehicles, planes and helicopters and advanced artillery and other weapons because
it could with perhaps more than a hundred thousand bullets, missiles, etc.,
destroying thousands of buildings, killing thousands of men, women and children
while Palestinians have shot a few
thousand ineffective rockets into Israel and killed and injured 100’s of
Israelis by guns, stones, knives and cars; and
Israel has assassinating many Palestinians “suspected of
something” while Palestinians have assassinated no suspected Israelis.
That would total approximately one million (1,000,000) violations
of international human rights laws by Israel and a few thousand violations by
Palestinians.
