Police register case against group celebrating URA’s death - The Hindu

Police register case against group celebrating URA’s death - The Hindu - Dated August 23, 2014

            A person of unmatched iconic status in the world of Kannada Literature,
Mr. U. R. Ananthamurthy, who was equally adept and proficient in
English and had a ‘Self Declared’ - “Insatiable Hunger” for “Equality, Modernity
and Spirituality,” is sadly no more with us as he has left for his “Heavenly
Abode” leaving behind him a “Void” of “Gargantuan” proportions that may, sadly,
never get filled again.

            His name’s first part, ‘Anantha’ did
suggest and imply an “Endless Presence” and we can be rest assured that his
dead body might have been reduced to ashes after his cremation, but the ‘Body
of his Literary work in Kannada’ as well as his recorded and at times much ‘reviled
against’ Liberal –Socialist –Secular views on our Indian Society, shall keep
his ‘Persona’s Presence’, eternally and collectively in our memories!

            His demise within two months after
Mr. Modi becoming the PM, is in a way striking, and does make us believe in God
more intensely, like Ananthamurthy himself used to, despite many of his
detractors and critics ‘Branding’ him an agnostic or atheist or rationalist just
because he did not show any inclination or liking  towards the symbolism of ‘Idol Worshipping’.

It is striking because he had recently, during the campaign
for the Loksabha Elections,  going
against the Huge Current Of Public Opinion in favour of giving Mr.Modi a Clean
Chit for his role in the 2002 Gujarat Pogrom and Accepting his likely Ascension
to the ‘august seat of the Prime Minister of India’, had declared nonchalantly,
his dislike for Mr.Modi in no uncertain terms by stating “I would not like to
live in India with Modi as its Prime Minister”! God has apparently granted him
his wish by shifting him from ‘India under Modi’ to what must certainly be a
‘Heavenly Abode!

Lastly, it was almost deeply Traumatic for Ananthamurthy’s
followers to see the TV news coverage of some Right-wing Lumpen elements in
Chickmagalore, ‘Celebrating’ the demise of Mr. Ananathamurthy by Lighting Fire
Crackers and Dancing around in a frenzy. One is left aghast to wonder as to
what level of unfathomable depths our Social Mores have fallen that one’s
political dissent makes him an Extremely Hated Pariah and an Enemy whose Death
becomes an occasion for celebration!  

The COMPLETE LINK to this NEWS ITEM in  The Hindu dated  August 23, 2014 is :

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/police-register-case-against-group-celebrating-uras-death/article6345302.ece

Activists stage two protests condemning the act

The Mangalore city police, on their own, registered a case on Saturday against the group that reportedly celebrated the death of writer U.R. Ananthamurthy on Friday. They had burst crackers near the well known Kadri Manjunatha temple in Kadri. A couple of local TV channels showed footage of the celebrations.

Police Commissioner R. Hithendra said the Mangalore East police have taken up a case under Section 290 of the Indian Penal Code (committing public nuisance). Bursting crackers after the demise of the writer was an inappropriate act leading to public misconduct, Mr. Hithendra said. The commissioner said video footage of the act was being watched closely to identify persons involved in the celebration. No specific group has been identified, he added.

Meanwhile, activists and Congress members, who staged two protests in the city, condemned the act of the group involved in the celebrations. “We should ignore such incidents while taking forward the ideals and thinking of this great writer,” said Narendra Nayak, president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations.

Vasanth Achary, president of the Centre for Indian Trade Union, Mangalore unit, said celebrating a death was more shocking than the news of losing such a great writer. Shekar Hejamady of Dalit Sangarsh Samiti said leaders of organisations to whom this celebrating group related to should explain their act to the people. Writer Sara Abboobacker and Democratic Youth Federation of India’s State president Muneer Katipalla also particpated.

‘Act against State’

MLC Ivan D’Souza said such behaviour was akin to an act against the State. District Congress Committee’s in charge president Ibrahim Kodijal, District Congress spokesperson Kallige Taranath Shetty and District Youth Congress president Mithun Rai were among those who attended the demonstration.

Gaza, Israel, War Crimes and How the Jewish Lobby Manipulates the US Government

BY Dr. DAVID DUKE  -   AUGUST 26, 2014 AT 3:35 AM

This is the REAL and  COMPLETE Truth (and explanation of 

Real CAUSES), with all the GORY details of the ONE SIDED 

Conflict between the ZIONIST, SUPREMACIST and 

TERRORIST state of ISRAEL that is supported by entire 

Western Block of countries ( US and the EURO group) that 

SUPPLY Israel with all the DEADLY WEAPONS of MASS 

DESTRUCTION (and  who are ‘DIRECT  ACCOMPLICES’ in 

Israel’s WAR CRIMES and WHO will have to bear this 

RESPONSIBILITY of the GAZAN  GENOCIDE and who will 

SOONER than LATER get their ‘JUST DESERTS’ for this 

continued INJUSTICE against the PALESTINIANS over almost 

70 years now. I say so SINCE “GOD sees but WAITS for the 

most OPPORTUNE moment” to BRING DOWN SWIFTLY his ‘

Retribution’ on the TYRANTS of this world like it did finally 

against Adolph Hitler!)   and this support by the West to Israel is 

given in the NAME of  “AID” to a Supposedly Economically 

Dependent Friend of the WEST,  on the one side, and the 

DEFENCELESS  Palestinians in GAZA on the other side, who 

have nothing to defend against Israeli Terror except with their 

HAND MADE  ROCKETS that are neither ACCURATE nor 

LETHAL like the Israeli  GUIDED Missiles!( Compare the 

FIGURE of 2000+  Palestinian deaths Vs a TOTAL of four on 

the side of Israel during the forty day long MAYHEM and 

GENOCIDE that was carried out against the GAZANS  by the 

ZIONIST, SUPREMACIST and TERRORIST state of ISRAEL)   

to gauge the EXTENT of the DISPROPORTIONATE use  of 

LETHAL force by the ZIONIST, SUPREMACIST and 

TERRORIST state of ISRAEL against 18 Lakh Gazans who 

have been LITERALLY  JAILED / Incarcerated ( Actually 

CRAMPED inside ) within an OPEN JAIL that is the GAZA strip 

of land, with only  LESS than 300 Square kilometres of Land 

(Excluding the 20 % buffer Zone where the GAZANS are not 

allowed to build anything abetting its borders in  THEIR OWN 

LAND – This actually amounts to ONLY  3% of BANGALORE 

city’s LAND with as much as  20 % of its Population being 

CRAMPED inside) with a TOTALLY INHUMAN  blockade of 

Gaza’s LAND Routes , its Sea Port and the Air Port also being 

imposed by the same ZIONIST, SUPREMACIST and 

TERRORIST state of ISRAEL! 

The COMPLETE LINK for this ARTICLE by DAVID DUKE is :

http://davidduke.com/gaza-israel-war-crimes-jewish-lobby-manipulates-us-government/

Gaza, Israel, War Crimes and How the Jewish Lobby Manipulates the US Government

AUGUST 26, 2014 AT 3:35 AM

The Zio-murder machine Israeli army destroyed more than 10,000 houses, seriously damaged 30,000 more, killed 1,300 civilians, and bombed six schools providing shelter to refugees under U.N. protection, killing at least 47 refugees and wounding more than 340, according to United Nations data.

A total of over 2,100 civilians have been killed and and the UN estimates that  over 75 percent have been women and children, with at least 500 children killed and 3,000 wounded or maimed.

A building in Gaza is destroyed by Israeli missiles. See the full video below.

In spite of these obvious war crimes, the Zio-controlled US Government has refused to even consider sanctions of any sort against the Jews-only state—on strong contrast to their censure, sanctions and threats against the Russian Federation over the ongoing debacle in the Ukraine.

The disparity in U.S. government reaction to the two situations highlights precisely how the Jewish Lobby continues to have a stranglehold over American foreign policy—and of how this policy is always distorted in favor of the racist tribalist state of Israel.

An recent article by independent investigative journalist and winner of the 2012 Gellhorn Prize for journalism, Gareth Porter, on the ISPS News service highlighted the American government’s deviousness with regard to Israeli war crimes:

“The Barack Obama administration’s public posture during the war signaled to Israel that it would not be held accountable for such violations.

“A review of the transcripts of daily press briefings by the State Department during the Israeli attack shows that the Obama administration refused to condemn Israeli attacks on civilian targets in the first three weeks of the war.”

The article started off by pointing out that “U.S. officials were well aware of Israel’s history of rejecting any distinction between military and civilian targets in previous wars in Lebanon and Gaza” and showed how that during the 2006 Israeli War in Lebanon, Israeli Defense Force (IDF)  spokesman Jacob Dalal had told the Associated Press that eliminating Hezbollah as a terrorist institution required hitting all Hezbollah institutions, including “grassroots institutions that breed more followers”.

During Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” in December 2008 and January 2009, the IDF had shelled a school in the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing 42 civilians. The IDF’s justification had been that it was responding to mortar fire from the building, but officials of the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) who ran the school had denied that claim.

“Given that history, Obama administration policy makers knew that Israel would certainly resort to similar targeting in its Gaza operation unless it believed it would suffer serious consequences for doing so,”the ISPS article continued.

“But the administration’s public stance in daily briefings in the early days of the war suggested little or no concern about Israeli violations of the laws of war.”

The specific incidents were then listed in chronological order:

* On July 10, State Department spokesperson Jan Psaki was asked in the daily briefing whether the administration was trying to stop the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, as well as the firing of rockets by Hamas.

Psaki’s answer was to recite an Israeli talking point. “There’s a difference,” she said, “between Hamas, a terrorist organization that’s indiscriminately attacking innocent civilians…in Israel, and the right of Israel to respond and protect their own civilians.”

* On July 16, 2014, after four children playing on a beach were killed as journalists watched, Psaki was asked whether the administration believed Israel was violating the international laws of war. She responded that she was unaware of any discussion of that question.

Psaki said that “tragic event makes clear that Israel must take every possible step to meet its standards for protecting civilians from being killed. We will continue to underscore that point to Israel; the Secretary [of State John Kerry; actually his family name is Cohn not Kerry] has made that point directly as well.”

* On June 20 and 21, 2014, IDF bombing and shelling leveled entire blocks of Shujaiyyeh, citing rockets fired from that neighborhood. John Kerry-Cohen was recorded commenting to an aide on an open microphone Jul. 20 that it was a “hell of a pinpoint operation”, showing that even he knew—in private, it must be stressed—that the Israeli operation was anything but “pinpoint.”
But instead of warning that the Israeli targeting policy was unacceptable, Kerry declared in a CNN interview that Israel was “under siege from a terrorist organization”, implying the right to do whatever it believed necessary.

* On July 17, the IDF shelled Al-Wafa Rehabilitation and Geriatric Hospital on Jul. 17, claiming it was a response to launches of rockets 100 metres from the hospital. Psaki was asked the next day whether her failure to warn the Israelis publicly against bombing the hospital had “made any difference”.

She said, “We’re urging all parties to respect the civilian nature of schools and medical facilities….” But she refused to speculate about “what would’ve happened or wouldn’t have happened” had she issued an explicit warning.

* On July 23, Al Wafa hospital was hit by an Israeli airstrike. The IDF now charged that it had been used as a “command center and rocket launching site”.

Joe Catron, an American who had been staying at the hospital as part of an international “human shield” to prevent attacks on it, denied that claim, saying he would have heard any rocket launched close to the hospital.

* On July 23, three missiles hit a park next to the Al Shifa hospital, killing 10 and wounding 46. The IDF blamed the explosions on Hamas rockets that had fallen short. The idea that three Hamas rockets had fallen short within such short distances from one another, however, was hardly a credible explanation.

* On July 23 and 24, Israeli tank shells hit Palestinian refugees at two different school compounds designated as U.N. shelters, despite intensive communications by U.N. officials to IDF asking to spare them.

* On July 24, An Israeli attack on a U.N. refugee shelter at Beit Hanoun elementary school killed 15 civilians and wounded more than 200.

The IDF again claimed a Hamas rocket had fallen short. But it also claimed Hamas fighters had fired on Israeli troops from the compound, then later retreated from the claim.

At the Jul. 24 briefing, US State Department spokesman Marie Harf read a statement deploring the Beit Hanoun strike and the “rising death toll in Gaza” and said that a UNRWA facility “is not a legitimate target”.

Harf said Israel “could do a bit more” to show restraint. But when a reporter asked if the United States was “willing to take any kind of action” if Israel did not respond to U.S. advice, Harf said the U.S. focus was “getting a ceasefire”, implying that it was not prepared to impose any consequences on Israel for refusing to change its military tactics in Gaza.

On Jul. 25, a reporter at the daily briefing observed that the hospital and schools had been targeted despite reports confirming that there had been no militants or rockets in them.

But Harf refused to accept that characterization of the situation and repeated the Israeli line that Hamas had used U.N. facilities to “hide rockets”. She said she could not confirm whether there were rockets in “the specific school that was hit”.

* On July 30, the IDF attacked another UNRWA school sheltering refugees at Jabaliya refugee camp, killing 10 and wounding more than 100. The IDF acknowledged it had fired several tank shells at the school, claiming again that mortar shells had been fired from there.

This attack—the most blatant war crime of the entire campaign, was carried out in such a public obvious manner that even White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the attack “totally unacceptable and totally indefensible” and made it clear that there was little doubt that Israel was responsible.

Even so, however, nothing further than that comment happened—no sanctions, no retaliation, no censure, nothing.

* On August 3, the IDF struck yet another refugee facility at the Rafah Boys Prep School A, killing 12 refugees and wounding 27. The IDF said it had been targeting three “terrorists” riding a motorcycle who had passed near the school.

Once again, reaction from the US State Department was muted—at best. “The suspicion that militants operated nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians,” said Psaki. Nothing further occurred.

The evidence is crystal clear: when the Jews-only racist state openly attacks civilians, UN bases, schools, hospitals and murders hundreds of innocent civilians, the US Government either does nothing, or even worse, endorses and supports those outrages.

However, in the Ukraine, where ill-defined groups of uncontrolled rebels attack each other, the same US administration instantly apportions blame and instates sanctions against the Russian Federation, without so much of an investigation into who is doing what in that (awful) conflict.

The disparity in reaction is solely due to the influence of the Jewish Lobby in Washington DC—a fact which is obvious for the entire world to see.

It is one more black mark against Jewish Supremacist racist tribalism, for which they will one day have to account before the world.

Related

How the Jewish Lobby Gets America to Finance the Racist Supremacist Zio-Terrorist StateIn "All Posts"

The Truth About the Bloody Zionist Terrorism against the People of Gaza!In "Anti-Globalism"

Zio-Puppet American Govt. Re-Arms Israeli Murder Machine and Votes against UN ResolutionIn "All Posts"

Surprise is a tactic, not a strategy - The Hindu

Surprise is a tactic, not a strategy - The Hindu, August 21, 20114

The
DIPLOMATIC BLUNDER of CANCELLING  Foreign
Secretary's MEET was akin to "SHOOTING oneself in the FOOT” as it
Totally  Nullified all the GOOD WILL that
got generated by Mr.Modi’s gesture of inviting Pakistan’s Prime Minister–Nawaz
Sharief  to attend his Oath Taking
Ceremony!

The
logic  behind having  an "UNINTERRUPTED & UN-INTERRUPTIBLE
DIALOGUE" is  that YOU just  can't 
wish away your Neighbouring Country (Pakistan), however big a NUISANCE it
may be AND hence have to engage it in a PERSUASIVE DIALOGUE to make it
understand WHAT REALLY will be in its BEST INTERESTS&ALSO to MAKE it
understand "WHAT  OTHERWISE"
may become EXTREMELY HARMFUL to it if it does not  accept PEACEFUL RESOLUTION of all issues and
disputes it has with us! 

By
just SULKING &CANCELLING scheduled TALKS India lost an OPPORTUNITY to put
across its STRONG VIEWS against the REGULAR CEASEFIRE violations &other
URGENT ISSUES& thi was a CLEAR SIGN of 
IMMATURITY &  was certainly a
KNEE-JERK REACTION,to say the LEAST!

The Complete Link to this BRILLIANT ARTICLE by Suhasini Haider in The Hindu Dated August 21,2014 is:

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/modi-pakistan-talks-surprise-is-a-tactic-not-a-strategy/article6335700.ece?ref=sliderNews 

Over-reaction to an irritant - The Hindu

Over-reaction to an irritant - The Hindu - August 20,2014



This ILL ADVISED
DIPLOMATIC BLUNDER was akin to "SHOOTING oneself in the FOOT” as it
Totally  Nullified all the GOOD WILL that
got generated by Mr.Modi’s gesture of inviting Pakistan’s Prime Minister –Nawaz
Sharief  to attend his Oath Taking
Ceremony!



The logic  behind having 
an "UNINTERRUPTED & UN-INTERRUPTIBLE DIALOGUE" is  that YOU just 
can't  wish away your Neighbouring
Country (Pakistan), however big a NUISANCE it may be AND hence have to engage
it in a PERSUASIVE DIALOGUE to make it understand WHAT REALLY will be in its
BEST INTERESTS&ALSO to MAKE it understand "WHAT  OTHERWISE" may become EXTREMELY HARMFUL
to it if it does not  accept PEACEFUL
RESOLUTION of all issues and disputes it has with us! 



By just SULKING
& CANCELLING scheduled TALKS India lost an OPPORTUNITY to put across its
STRONG VIEWS against the REGULAR CEASEFIRE violations & other URGENT ISSUES
LIKE HURRIYAT'S  IRRELEVANCE, was a CLEAR
SIGN of  IMMATURITY &  was certainly a KNEE-JERK REACTION,to say the LEAST!



The Complete Link to this Editorial in The Hindu Dated August 20 , 2014 is:

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/calling-off-india-pakistan-foreign-secretary-talks-overreaction-to-an-irritant/article6332458.ece?

At least a Vajpayee, if not a Nehru - The Hindu

At least a Vajpayee, if not a Nehru - The Hindu - AUGUST 19, 2014



Many may want to
Disregard and thumb-down many of his PARTISAN COMMENTS that indirectly Eulogise
NEHRU but Mr. Jairam Ramesh's following comments  should definitely be appreciated as they are
absolutely spot on!

"Transformational
leaders will be judged not merely by the style of their speeches but more by
the substance of their actions"!

AND therefore Mr.
Modi would be well advised by this observation to COME OUT  of his "PERPETUAL RHETORICAL SPEECH
MAKING mood" at the EARLIEST, and concentrate on DELIVERING on all his
TALL promises that he had made during and after the ELECTION CAMPAIGN ,
especially his promise of  heralding
"ACCHE DIN" within 100 days since already 75 days have gone by with
no sign of any "ACCHE DIN" anywhere or for anyone,  with the entire right wing machinery busy
trying to DIVERT people's attention from burning problems of HIGH INFLATION
&  PRICE RISE of all essential
items  by KEEPING the COMMUNAL CAULDRON
hot and STEAMING constantly on a DAILY BASIS! 




The Complete Link to this GOOD Article by Mr. Jairam Ramesh is :

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/at-least-a-vajpayee-if-not-a-nehru/article6329389.ece?utm_source=vuukle&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vuukle_referral#comments 

At least a
Vajpayee, if not a Nehru – The Hindu, August 19,2014

WWW.THEHINDU.COM

Transformational
leaders will be judged not merely by the style of their speeches but more by
the substance of their actions

Dear Sir,

                       Subject: Apropos the article “Tightening the noose around Gaza” – By Styabrata Pal – The Hindu August 11, 2014

                        Mr. Satyabrata Pal hits the nail on its head with his conclusion that “Israel’s plan is to increase the rigour of the blockade until the residents of Gaza turn against Hamas, which they elected to govern them”.

                        But his language is too mild, probably in keeping with the Traditions of ‘The Hindu’, because he refers to the affects of the Sustained Air and Ground offensive of Israel over the last one month or so on the Israeli Blockade of Gaza as “An increase in rigour of the blockade” where as the most appropriate word ought to have been “Misery” in place of “rigour” since that’s what the Gazan Civilians are being made to face with every, so called “ Defencive (?) Blitzkrieg” that Israel unleashes against them on some pretext or the other, inflicting Massive Collective Punishment on Men Women and Most importantly Children as young as less than Two years and some being infants too! It may also be noted that Gaza was under a DIRECT OCCUPATION / SEIGE of the Israeli Army before 2005 precisely to Thwart and RESIST which, the HAMAS was formed AND that Israel was inflicting similar collective punishment through brutal measures much before HAMAS started its Armed Intifada.

                       No other people of the world have been Betrayed and let down as much by the World community as the Palestinians, and that too, consistently over almost, the last 67 years! The UNO has till date passed scores of resolutions against Israel’s intransigence and its brutal treatment and Repeated War Crimes against Palestinians whose territory it has Forcibly Occupied, but to no avail. Since every time the world body has tried to reign in Israel, the American Zionist Lobby AIPAC has so far, managed to force the American Administration to bail out Israel through repeated use of the American Veto Power.

                                    One hopes that since this time around all the horrors of the Israeli Carnage in Gaza were Most Graphically Revealed through the SOCIAL MEDIA, despite the attempt of much of the worldwide Electronic Media under the control of Zionists - (Zionist TV news channels and Websites) to UNDERPLAY or to totally Cover up this GENOCIDE of GAZAN civilians, under the spacious argument of this being “Only an Inevitable Collateral Damage” to the Gazan civilians of a LEGITIMATE (?) and Defencive (?) Campaign by Israel (!), whereas CONCRETE EVIDENCE now exists and has EMERGED most ELOQUENTLY through the Social Media, that the Monstrous Israeli War Machine had time and again, Deliberately and Brutally targeted UN Schools that were housing refugees that had gathered there to avoid Lethal Israeli Missile attacks, the World Community hauls over the coals at the International Court at Hague, the Israeli Government under its Terrorist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and also its Armed Forces for the Glaringly Inhuman, Barbaric, Ghoulish and Macabre Genocide of Gazan Civilians that Clearly Amounted to Blatant and Gory War Crimes.

Shahabuddin Nadeem,

Tightening the noose around Gaza

Satyabrata Pal

AP What Israel is doing in Gaza is heartless, brainless and eyeless. A displaced Palestinian child stands in a classroom, at the Abu Hussein U.N. school in Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip.

TOPICS

Israel’s plan is to increase the rigour of the blockade until the residents of Gaza turn against Hamas, which they elected to govern them

For a month now, many in Israel have been under great stress — their lives constantly interrupted by sirens and explosions of incoming rockets intercepted by Israeli missiles. According to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), 2,830 rockets were fired from Gaza in July, some capable of targeting every corner in Israel. The Israeli government has a duty to protect its citizens and invokes it to justify the offensive in Gaza, which, it says, will make them more secure. But will Operation Protective Edge do that and is that what it is meant for?

These questions arise because this is the continuation of an operation called Brother’s Keeper, launched by several IDF brigades in West Bank after the kidnapping and murder on June 12 of three Israeli teenagers. Without a shred of evidence, the Israeli government blamed Hamas, which strenuously denied its involvement. That operation, supposedly meant to rescue the boys and find the kidnappers, failed on both counts.

Instead of calling off the operation, Israel intensified it. It called on the  Prime Minister of Palestine to abjure the agreement of April 23 between Fatah and Hamas and targeted Hamas, which almost by definition could not have been responsible once the involvement of the Qawasameh (a clan that ostensibly supports Hamas and which owns the land on which the victims’ bodies were found) became known. Several innocent Palestinians were killed and hundreds of Hamas leaders and cadres arrested, including those who had been released in a prisoner-exchange agreement.

Promoting a strategic objective

It became increasingly obvious that the Israeli government was exploiting the murders to promote a strategic objective to purge the West Bank of a Hamas presence, and break its pact with Fatah, which united and strengthened the Palestinians politically. The Israeli government had opposed the pact and objected to the formation of the new Palestinian government. The military operations followed within days. By June 26, 566 Palestinians were detained, six were shot dead, and over 120 wounded. And it was only after this sustained provocation that Hamas played into Israel’s hands and resumed firing rockets, something it had not done after the last ceasefire came into effect.

This might seem diabolical. Why would a government deliberately expose its citizens to deadly rocket fire? The answer is that the Israeli government knew that it could thwart the rockets quite easily and minimise casualties among its Jewish citizens. The fact-finding mission sent by the U.N. after the last assault on Gaza in 2008 found that Israel had a sophisticated system of sensors, early-warning sirens and fortified shelters, which had protected most of its citizens from rockets.

The mission also found that these safeguards had not been provided to the villages of Bedouins (who were Israeli citizens), and expressed its concern “about the disparity in treatment of Jewish and Palestinian citizens by the Government of Israel in the installation of early warning systems and provision of public shelters and fortified schools.”

Since then, Israel has developed a sophisticated missile defence shield called Iron Dome, which determines the trajectory of incoming rockets and intercepts those that would hit populated centres the government wants to protect. As a result, the 3,360 rockets fired at Israel till August 9 have, so far, killed two persons there. No Jewish citizen — the only ones whose lives matter to the Israeli government — was killed by a rocket; one was killed by a mortar. The IDF also estimates that 475 of the rockets fell inside Gaza, which has no defences, so the chances are that they killed a great many Palestinians.

Despite this, the Israeli Air Force retaliated as soon as the first rockets were fired, killing and injuring several civilians in Gaza. It was a foregone conclusion that Hamas would be forced to step up its rocket fire, which it duly did. The Israeli government intensified its air campaign, followed by the ground assault. Over 1,800 Palestinians have been killed, of which 216 were Hamas combatants; the civilian casualties are hugely disproportionate to Israel’s losses.

Lifting the blockade

Israel has announced that its ground offensive now is not only to find the rockets and launchers, but also the tunnels through which Hamas fighters infiltrate. While Israel gives a daily update on the tunnels it has destroyed, what it does not say is that tunnels also run into Egypt and are desperate measures, implemented at great cost, to try to break the economic blockade.

The Israeli government argues that the Palmer report commissioned by the U.N. had held that the blockade was legal. It extrapolates from this to argue that all its attempts to quarantine the Palestinians, in both Gaza and the West Bank, are legal. However, the truth is that the Palmer Commission, while holding that international law recognises the right of blockade, also made it clear that “the imposition of a naval blockade as an action in self-defence should be reported to the Security Council under the procedures set out under Article 51 of the Charter” and “states maintaining a naval blockade must abide by their obligations with respect to the provision of humanitarian assistance.” Israel has done neither.

The destruction of the tunnels now is therefore only partially a defensive measure; the real objective is strategic — to tighten the noose around Gaza, making it much harder to smuggle in essential items kept out by the blockade. Israel’s plan is to increase the rigour of the blockade until the residents turn against Hamas, which they elected to govern them. This is both cruel and illegal. If terrorism is defined as acts of unlawful violence against civilian populations to intimidate them and pressure their governments, then the Israeli government’s actions come perilously close to matching that description.

How will all this help Israel or improve security for its citizens? The more the Palestinians are victimised, the more they will turn to those who will stand up to Israel. That led to the emergence of Hamas, which does not want to be outflanked by outfits like the Islamic Jihad. Israel’s latest military misadventure will only weaken Hamas militarily for a while. It will not sap its resolve or the support it receives from the population of Gaza. Unless Israel realises this and lifts the blockade, permitting life to return to some semblance of normality there, and in the West Bank, the cycle of violence will resume sooner rather than later.

The U.N. Mission noted in its report in 2009 that “Israel is therefore also failing to protect its own citizens by refusing to acknowledge the futility of resorting to violent means and military power.” That damning conclusion applies equally to the current conflict which Israel has unleashed. Already, Hezbollah, which fell out with Hamas two years ago, has reached out to it in solidarity after the Israeli offensive began. The rapprochement compounds Israel’s security problem. With deadly accuracy, Israel is shooting itself in the foot. It is astonishing that it does not see this. What it is doing in Gaza is heartless; it is brainless and eyeless as well.

(Satyabrata Pal is a former member of the National Human Rights Commission.)