On July 27, the US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby released a statement that looked like it could have come from an SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) brochure.
In addition to condemning “settlement expansion” – not even the building of new settlements, but the expansion of existing ones – as an impediment to peace, Kirby stated that:
“We are also concerned about recent increased demolitions of Palestinian structures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which reportedly have left dozens of Palestinians homeless,”
wait for it…
including children.
Where else would they include that children live in neighborhoods? For the emotional effect, to make people hate Jews and Israel more.
No matter that they are illegal slums with no legal permits, which are routinely demolished in most developed countries so that they continue to look like just that: developed countries. It’s clearly only bad when Jews do it. This kind of distortion looks like it came straight out of a Hamas propaganda article; In fact it probably already did.
No matter that building permits are given to those who request them provided they meet the proper requirements and safety codes, regardless of race. People who build without permits, both Arabs and Jews, get their structures demolished.
Also realize that the third-world culture that some Palestinians and other Arabs come from mean that building slums and squatting are perfectly ordinary things to do, so it makes sense that they find our opposition to it due to us being a developed nation, which they do not understand, a human rights violation.
But it gets worse.
As the recent Quartet Report highlighted, this is part of an ongoing process of land seizures, settlement expansion, legalizations of outposts, and denial of Palestinian development that risk entrenching a one-state reality of perpetual occupation and conflict.
Really? Seizure of our own land as it was agreed upon by Oslo? What a travesty! It’s not like we are going into Areas A and B and building random communities, despite how the US government, who are supposed to be our greatest allies, make it sound. Not only does this make it sound like we are colonizers trying to take over the world (an antisemitic stereotype) but it also makes it sound like we are violating international law, which we aren’t because it is perfectly legal under Oslo. Funny enough, you would never hear such strong words of condemnation for Morocco “seizing” the Western Sahara, or the Turks “seizing” Northern Cyprus.
We remain troubled that Israel continues this pattern of provocative and counterproductive action, which raises serious questions about Israel’s ultimate commitment to a peaceful, negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.
Yeah, because Israel is always the provocateur, always the instigator. No matter that the Palestinians were the ones launching rockets into our cities, committing stabbing, shooting, and suicide bombing attacks on a regular basis when the only time we ever do anything is in response to terror when it reaches unsustainable levels.
Yeah, no matter, because it’s only bad when Jews do it, and because the Palestinians are the world’s special snowflakes, the sacred cows who are never responsible for their actions, the entire peace process is on Israel’s shoulders, and only Israel can be blamed for its failures. Sounds fair.
If this comes from what Israel calls its staunchest ally, imagine what kind of drivel is coming from other countries, the ones who fund NGOs that are trying to wipe us off the map.
