Israel’s push for new colonies a calculated move

You cannot trust the government of Israel for a second. No sooner than the attention of the entire world is focused on the horrors of the Paris terrorist attacks, does Israel decide to push ahead with the building of hundreds of new colony homes in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday approved the marketing of land for the construction of 454 homes — flying in the face of international opinion and condemnation.

The International Court of Justice says colonies built on land Israel occupied in a 1967 war are illegal. But Israel cares not one iota for such legal opinions. Netanyahu and his rabble of right-wing Zionists have long considered themselves above the law and the plight of Palestinians, whose homes are being razed, has never entered their thought.

The reality is that Israel is hiding behind the smokescreen of the Paris atrocities to commit atrocities of its own — stealing Palestinian land and heritage; imprisoning Palestinians who dare protest against such actions, without charge or trial; and bulldozing the homes of those who dare resist the state-sponsored terrorism of the Netanyahu government.

Recent weeks have seen Palestinians deprived of full access to Al Haram Al Sharif, Palestinian families burnt to death in their homes and youths gunned down on the streets for having taken enough of Israel’s aggression and repression. This latest outrage by the Netanyahu government will simply stoke the flames of opposition. And if there is a violent backlash, it will entirely be of Israel’s making.