Israel to make fighting for human rights a CAPITAL OFFENCE?

Right, so if there is one thing you can imagine Israel could do without right now it is pesky human rights laws, after all, the people of Palestine are less than human in many of their eyes and the last thing such people want to be constantly reminded of, is the fact their own racism and apartheid doesn’t make them right here. So how about they legislate to make it that way instead?
Such is the dangerous road Israel appears to be on when standing up for the human rights of Palestinians could be criminalised and it’s no exaggeration that this could be about to come to pass as a particularly mad and nasty Israeli minister now wants to see the head of Israel’s own human rights organisation, B’Tselem arrested and prosecuted for aiding the enemy and done so under a law that is punishable by lifetime imprisonment, or even the death penalty. Human Rights are now Hamas as well it seems.
Right, so what the heck is going on now Damo, does Israel not have enough on it’s plate than to be taking chunks out of human rights campaigners in it’s ever weakening justification of the ongoing war against Gaza? You might be thinking or words to that effect. Well apparently not.
B’Tselem are now themselves in the sights of at least some in the Israeli government, Israel’s own human rights campaign agency as they are, The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Israelis actually concerned about the well-being and ill treatment of Palestinians by their own nation, proof as perhaps it needs saying that not all Israelis are hell-bent on the destruction and seizure of land that is not theirs, there are good ones standing up for what is right and what is just, they just don’t happen to be in government.
All of this has come about since last Wednesday when the Director of B’Tselem, Yuli Novak, via video link, addressed the UN Security Council. Here’s part of what she said, the full clip can be found via B’Tselem themselves on social media:
Condemnation not just of Israel, for what she called enactment of Jewish Supremacy, but also condemnation of the criminal act Hamas committed on the night of October 7th. She blames her government for cynically exploiting that though, to wage war on the entirety of the Palestinian people. Actions in Gaza that goes beyond revenge, making Gaza uninhabitable, infrastructure destroyed, mass displacement, all laying the ground work for long term occupation of Gaza including the re-establishment of settlements. It was a damning statement, the rest is well worth hearing as well, laying out fact after fact without favouring Israel or Hamas, because ultimately it is the abuse of the people of Gaza that B’Tselem stands to highlight, somebody in Israel you imagine has to, and in no way do they let Hamas off the hook either, be that now or when they were in government in Gaza, as they have been functionally since 2006, up until Gaza pretty much as Yuli Novak said, got rendered uninhabitable in many places.
That even handedness however, has still led to accusations - not this time from the far right, though where exactly you position Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party in the Overton Window these days is a matter of debate in and of itself - from a member of his own party that Novak is some sort of traitor, or enemy of the state based on that speech to the UN Security Council.
The offending Knesset member in question is a certain Revital Gotliv, or Tally for short. She’s featured in my content before, she made a big shouty speech aimed at her own government to not break the siege on Gaza that had begun on October 7th. She said:
‘And for the government itself. If you decide to end the siege, to break the siege, it will be, in my opinion, a terrible decision, because without hunger and thirst among the Gaza population, we will not be able to recruit collaborators, we will not be able to recruit intelligence, we will not be able to bribe people with food, with drink, with medicine in order to achieve intelligence. And we know that finding the hostages is a super important goal of the war. So if you broke the siege, don’t give up and tell us Biden, no. You need to explain your position.’
Israel does have that right to deny food and water to the people of Gaza, I’m sure Keir Starmer must be a big fan, it’s not like he’s ever apologised for saying as much has he? We’ve still not forgotten Keith.
Anyway, in response to Yuli Novak’s address to the UN Security Council, Gotliv went off her head and issued this statement:
‘The enemy from home, the supporter of terrorism and the one who helps the enemy during war, Yuli Novak, appeared at the UN Security Council debate on our abductees and helped the enemy during war by saying that Israel commits war crimes almost every day! In doing so, she not only aided the enemy during war, but seriously harmed our hostages held by Hamas and the chances of advancing their early release.
As is known, the penalty for the crime of aiding the enemy during war is death or life imprisonment as stipulated in Article 99 of the Penal Code.
I will not stand by!
On behalf of the citizens of the State of Israel and on behalf of IDF fighters or soldiers, I have just submitted to the commissioner a demand to open an investigation under conditions of detention against Novak.
Who needs enemies when you have Yuli Novak??’
She really is a peach isn’t she? Every day Israel are committing war crimes. The plausible case of genocide found against them by the International Court of Justice, along with the declaration Israel’s occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories is illegal pretty much nails on those colours.
Speaking out against the atrocities committed by Israel, never mind holding Hamas’ feet to the fire as well notwithstanding, and Gotliv wants the police involved and Novak detained under Article 99 of the Penal Code, where if found guilty she faces the death penalty of life imprisonment, all for addressing the UN and speaking what is ostensibly the truth, as any non Zionist would largely accept it to be? To Gotliv though, that is tantamount to assisting the enemy at a time of war. Well war is a bit of a stretch, because that requires two sides of armed combatants, but it has never been that, not when more than 40,000 innocent Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israel and you have people like Israel’s own President Isaac Herzog signing missiles and saying there is no such thing as a single innocent in Gaza, despite half of the population being under 18.
As for putting the hostages at risk, nobody has done that more than Israel itself, the refusal to meaningfully engage in a ceasefire to see these people returned to their families over and over again, repeatedly now having led a group of families in America to ask Joe Biden to seek a unilateral solution with Hamas instead and cut Israel out of negotiations entirely because they are not honest brokers for peace. It’s not a slur to say Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t want a ceasefire and cares nothing for the hostages, it’s fact.
Gotliv has gone on to say even more than this on the subject, has according to Middle East Eye said Novak should be brought in for interrogation in detention conditions, but B’Tselem remain defiant in their commit ment to upholding the human rights of the Palestinian people and continue to voice that from within Israel as a spokesperson explained:
‘Shai Parnes, a spokesperson for B'Tselem, told Middle East Eye that the organisation stood to protect human rights, "even when the Israeli government chooses to neglect its basic duty to protect its citizens and the subjects under its control".
"While the government chooses occupation and war over saving human lives, and promotes a policy that is contrary to international law and the principles of justice and equality, we will continue to act on behalf of all those who suffer from violations of their rights.
"We will continue to fight for human dignity and freedom. Human rights are universal and non-negotiable."’
Much respect and solidarity to B’Tselem and Yuli Novak’s courage to speak out against an unhinged Israeli government which includes such deranged entities as Tally Gotliv.
For more on the corner Joe Biden is backed into on those Israeli hostages with American ties that I mentioned briefly a moment ago, and he really is in a hole over this, check out this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.