How can Palestinians send their kids to riot against Israeli soldiers? Post Your Comment (1 comment)

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Posted on August 2, 2001

A Palestinian killed by Israeli Occupation Soldiers used as a trophy

If this remark were written the other way around to describe Jewish or Israeli parents, it would be one of the most anti-Semitic statements ever. Knowingly, or unknowingly, such statements attempt to demonize the Palestinian people, to make them a legitimate target, very much like animal hunting. The average Israeli or Jew who repeats such racist statements really believes that the average Palestinian is a subhuman creature, who has no love or affection towards his or her own children. These types of racist remarks are a way of life in Israel and many Jewish communities around the world, which in turn fuels and energizes their apartheid societies whenever they're threatened.

For the moment, let's assume that this racist statement is true, and Palestinian parents send their boys to demonstrate and throw stones at the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF):

Is that a good reason to shoot unarmed Palestinian kids?

Let's ask the question the other way around, and assume that Israeli or Jewish kids demonstrated against British or Nazi occupation (which actually happened during WWII in Warsaw and Tel Aviv prior to the 1948 war):

Is that a good reason to kill unarmed Jewish kids?

It's amusing that the apartheid regime in South Africa used such racist statements to justify the high rate of causalities among African school boys, especially during the famous African student uprisings in the mid 70s and 80s. Instead of opening criminal investigations to explain why kids are being shot at such a high rate (as often done in democratic societies), most Israelis and Zionists point their fingers toward the dead victims and say: "It's your fault; it's your parents fault". Instead of questioning the soldiers who pull the trigger, the Israelis are questioning the dead Palestinian boys.

As a Palestinian, I would like to inform many misinformed Israelis that Palestinians love their kids as much as Israeli Jews love their kids, and many do their best to keep their kids out of harms way. Based on personal experience, my parents used to use their best efforts to keep me from of demonstrating against the IOF. Continually, my parents used to inspect my clothes for the smell of burned tires, inspect my hands for stone residue, and to personally pick me up from school just to make sure I didn't demonstrate against the IOF.

I used to go out of my way to participate in resisting and organizing activities against the Israeli Occupation, which was done without my parents' prior consent. Yes, it was done by a teenage boy who hated the Israeli Occupation so much; I was a young boy who thought that he would live forever. My story is similar to Faris Odeh's story, click here to see my hero. Soon after this photo was taken, my hero was killed (not far from where that picture was taken) because he threw stones at Israeli Occupation soldiers. It should be noted that Faris' parents went out of their way to keep their kids from demonstrating against the Israeli occupation. It's very sad that Faris was murdered, and his murderer is getting a free hand to perpetrate similar war crimes against other stone-throwing Palestinian boys. To give the reader a first hand eyewitness account of such encounters with the Israeli army, Ha'aretz Daily (a major Israeli newspapers) has published an article describing how Israeli soldiers fired live bullets on unarmed Palestinian kids, click here for more details.

The questions which must be asked of each and every Israeli Occupation Force soldier are these:

• When you point your gun toward a stone-throwing Palestinian kid, do you see a human or a duck?
• When you point your gun toward a stone-throwing Israeli kid, do you see a human or a duck?
• How does it feel after pulling the trigger?
• Do you feel relieved that your bullet shot the boy (or duck) before his or her stone hit you?

By no means we are claiming that Palestinians should not do more to prevent such a high rate of casualties among kids, however, pointing the finger toward the dead kids and their parents is a political ploy meant to deflect the responsibility.

It's always easier to blame the victim, and God forbid that a "Jewish Soldier" could be responsible for killing unarmed Palestinian boys, these crimes could ever be committed by "Jewish Soldiers"! Tragically, it's often a taboo to discuss the morality of these crimes in many Jewish Communities for fear that such a discussion might encourage anti-Semitism! For God's sake, war crimes are being committed in the name of the "Jewish people", and instead of speaking out in protest, many Jews continue to choose to dig their heads in the sand thinking that the Palestinian people will just go away one day.

Once upon a time, Europe's Jewish citizens were demonized for the sole purpose of legitimizing racist practices against them, and it's the ultimate hypocrisy to use such racist statements to score a political point.

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