This
week Richard Millet reported that Wigan's Labour MP Lisa Nandy (Shadow Minister
for Children) attended a meeting in the
House of Commons and reported how she was disturbed by a
recent visit to an Israeli military court, seeing how
"Palestinian children were treated" and how they were found
"guilty on flimsy evidence". She said there was "no justice
in the (Israeli legal) system".
The
meeting was commemorating
one year since the publication of Children in Military Custody, a
report compiled by nine lawyers on a UK Foreign Office funded trip to
Judea and Samaria the West Bank. The nine lawyers reported on:
1. The
formal differences affecting Palestinian and Israeli children respectively
in Israel's criminal justice process and
2.
The welfare of Palestinian child suspects.
The
event this week was held to review whether the situation had improved for
Palestinian child suspects since last year. The meeting was attended and supported by
Baroness Jenny Tongue who last year stated that “Israel will not be here
forever”.
Richard
Millet who attended the meeting and reported on the detail in his blog said
that the main criticism was that Palestinian Arab children were being arrested
late at night.
What
the report didn’t say was that many of these “children” are in fact youths who
have been attacking soldiers and Israeli civilians with stones, an action which
the report considered “petty”. I was a Police Officer for over twenty Seven
years and stone throwing in such a violent way is a serious offence here in the
UK as the intent is to cause serious injury or death, as in the case of Asher Palmer, 25, and his 1-year-old son, Yehonatan, who
were killed in 2011 when their car overturned near Kiryat Arba as a result of
stone throwing.
In my experience arresting such youths late at night is the
best way to prevent injury or further disturbances. Whilst on CID or the Drug
Squad and Crime squads we needed to make arrests we would often do so in the
early hours of the morning so that it could be carried out with the minimum of
disturbance.
What the meeting in the Commons
did not address is the detention of boys in Gaza who are now being detained by
Hamas for having long hair and are being forced to have their heads shaved. Youths
in Gaza are even being told what clothing they can wear. Children in Gaza are
watching the bodies of so called Collaborators with Israel being dragged
through the streets at the rear of motor cycles and over 100,000 boys aged between
12 years and 16 years are attending summer camps were they are being taught to
kill and become suicide bombers and to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
Only last week a Senior Hamas official
said “100,000 children are now registered to attend the various summer camps in
Gaza this year. Ismail Haniyeh said the goal of the summertime activities is to
instil children with values, strengthen their moral core and spread the spirit
of Jihad”. (To struggle in a holy War).
I don’t believe that there is no Justice in
Israeli courts. Israel is a democratic country with the eyes of the world
bearing down on every aspect of its society. As you can see they even allow
foreign Politicians into their courts, would they do that if they were not
following legal protocols? Israeli youths who are arrested for offences against
Arabs are dealt with in the same way as Arab youths are. However what would happen
in a Palestinian Arab court to an Israeli youth? I guarantee in a Gaza court he
would be executed but would these Politicians have a meeting about that?
There will always be those who hate Israel and
who call good evil and evil good, who call stone throwing by violent youths
petty but ignore the real problems for young people in Gaza. We can expect such
things from certain Politicians who have their own agenda. What we shouldn’t
accept is the abuse of children in Gaza in the form of brain washing and
teaching them to hate and of course training young boys as young as twelve to
kill.
I will end with the words of Isaiah who in Chapter
5 v 20 says “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for
light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” AND Yeshua who says; how can you who are evil say
anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew
12:34
Michael Fryer
Shabbat Shalom
I have not investigated the Israeli law system and am sure that, as in many countries including our own, there are times when justice does not appear to prevail.
ReplyDeleteThe use of the word 'children' is so emotive. Children are 'young, wide eyed and innocent innocent'
Youths are less so and indeed the word youth conjures up gangs at street corners, loutish behaviour and so on. That's why anti-Zionists call these junior activists children not youths.
I do wish the Hamas abuse of children and youths were more widely reported then people may think differently about things.
Thanks Ruth,
ReplyDeletethank you for your insight into this, your views are very helpful.
I am bemused by the fact that if we in the UK did to our children what Hamas do to their children we would be in the dock at European Court of Human Rights but we in the UK and the EU give tacit support for what goes on in Gaza.
Michael Fryer