World View: Young Jewish Males Confess to Lynching as Israel and Gaza Prepare for War

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Israel and Gaza prepare for war after rocket barrage
• Three young Jewish males confess to killing Palestinian teen
• Russia’s Vladimir Putin appears to be the loser in Ukraine
• Photos shared with the #GazaUnderAttack hashtag are often deceptive

Israel and Gaza prepare for war after rocket barrage

Izz al-Din al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas in Gaza, is taking responsibility for the barrage of 80 rockets launched from Gaza intosouthern Israel on Monday. A source in Israel’s Defense Force (IDF)is saying that a decision has been made to launch a military offensiveinto Gaza. 1,500 reservists have been called up, and infantry assaultunits are deployed on the Gaza border. These will be backed up byintensified air strikes against the Gaza rocket launchers. Jerusalem Post and Debka and Daily Star (Lebanon)

Three young Jewish males confess to killing Palestinian teen

Of the six young Jewish extremists arrested Sunday for the murderof Palestinian teen Muhammad Abu Khdeir, three have confessed underintensive questioning, according to Israeli officials. According toone source, one of the suspects is cooperating with police and hasincriminated the others. The confessions are supported by securityfootage taken from a camera in a nearby building showing the faces oftwo of the suspects. However, the suspects have not yet beenpermitted to see their lawyers.

It’s thought that 15-year-old Khdeir was lynched and burnt to death inrevenge for the abduction and killing on June 10 of three Israeliteens. The lynching triggered massive riots and demonstrationsby Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and mayalso have triggered the barrage of rocket attacks from Gaza.Israeli officials moved quickly to investigate and find themurders of Khdeir in the hope of cooling the tensions betweenIsraelis and Palestinians. On Monday evening, after theannouncement of the confessions, the rioting had quieted downconsiderably.

It’s believed that the murderers of the three Israeli teens are hidingout in the West Bank and that the Palestinian Authority is doinglittle or nothing to bring them to justice. There have been noarrests in the case of the three Israeli teens. Jerusalem Post

Russia’s Vladimir Putin appears to be the loser in Ukraine

Last week’s announcement by Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko toend the unilateral cease-fire apparently caught Russia by surprise,though the greatest surprise was Saturday’s decisive victory over the pro-Russian separatists in Slovyansk. The working assumption was that Poroshenko would keepextending the truce, thus allowing the conflict to “freeze” and makingpossible the establishment of a de-facto independent “Novorossiya”(New Russia) in eastern Ukraine.

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has been using such a strategy toThe strategy was to use the United Nations Security Council. Byvetoing every resolution, Putin was able to cripple American andEuropean foreign policy, but since Putin’s Russia ignored the SecurityCouncil in its own actions, he essentially had a free hand on theworld stage. This was particularly true in Syria, where Putinprovided an unlimited supply of heavy weapons to Syria’s PresidentBashar al-Assad for use in his attacks against his ownpeople.

Putin had expected Poroshenko to yield to international demands tokeep extending the cease-fire. In fact on Thursday, just beforeSaturday’s victory, France’s president François Hollande and GermanChancellor Angela Merkel were strongly pressuring Poroshenko to resumethe cease-fire, and they were also asking Putin to mediate between thetwo sides. At that point, Putin must surely have thought he was goingto get everything he wanted, and so reports indicate that the loss ofSlovyansk was an unpleasant shock.

So here’s the summary:

• The US only does things with the permission of the Security Council, so it has been effectively crippled by Russia’s veto.
• Russia never asks the Security Council for permission, so it invades anyone it wants, and ignores international law all it likes.
• Similarly, China annexes other countries’ territories without asking permission from the Security Council, and without even allowing the United Nations to mediate border disputes.
• But Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko ignored all the demands to continue its unilateral cease-fire, and won a victory in Slovyansk that was apparently a surprise to everyone.

That ends today’s geopolitical lesson. Jamestown and Reuters (7/3)

Photos shared with the #GazaUnderAttack hashtag are often deceptive

The hashtag #GazaUnderAttack is being used to organize worldwideprotests against Israel for bombing Gaza, by showing photos of theresults of the bombing. A BBC investigation has revealed that many ofthe images are not from the latest conflict, and not even from Gaza.Some date as far back as 2009 and others are from conflicts in Syriaand Iraq. BBC

Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail