'Jewish nationalism' behind young Palestinian's death
Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - Police believe that a nationalist motive was behind the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdair, and have arrested six Jewish suspects in connection with the young Palestinian's abduction and death. Three of the suspects have already confessed their crime this morning.
The police investigation has to determine whether the six are also connected to the attempted abduction of Musa Zalum, a 9-year-old child. The kidnappers fled when the boy's mother heard his cries and came to his rescue, followed soon after by neighbours.
Mohammed Abu Khdair's death followed that of three young Israelis who disappeared in mid-June and whose bodies were found last week.
Gruesome details have come from the autopsy. Mohammed Abu Khdair was apparently burnt alive, because his body was found with soot in the lungs and burns covering 90 per cent of his body.
What is more, a video was released yesterday showing two Israeli policemen beat up a 15-year-old, a cousin of Abu Khdair, accused of throwing stones at the police.
The teenager, Tariq Khdair, is a US citizen, who was visiting relatives, including his cousin who was killed in East Jerusalem. His face swollen and bruised, he was returned to his family, but placed under house arrest for nine days.
Many Israelis is in shock at the arrest of six Jews in connection with the murder and at such top-heavy violence. However, some note that in the recent past, fundamentalist settlers justify the violence and the killing of Palestinians as a "redemption" of the land of Israel that Yahweh had donated the Jews. Such violence is seen as a tool to fulfil messianic expectations.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Abu Khdair's murder. At the same time, he slammed "death to Arabs" calls as he does "death to Jews" calls.
Nevertheless, "This is what differentiates us with our neighbours," he stated. "There the murderers are welcomed as heroes and squares are named for them. [. . .]. We put on trial those who incite, while incitement in the Palestinian Authority is carried out in official instruments and the educational system".
As if in response to the claims of the Israeli prime minister, Haaretz journalist Anshel Pfeffer warned against dismissing the problem or believing that "those murderers were not acting like Jews, we are not like that."
Citing several episodes of violence (killing of Palestinians, burning of Palestinian homes, etc.), he shows how violence, racism, and hate speech are rising in Israeli society, helped by a school system that does not include Arabic, says nothing about Arab culture and fails to teach fundamental human rights.
For Pfeffer, Israel has become "an environment where casual racism is a norm".
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09/06/2018 09:05
20/08/2018 20:00
