One cannot expect Netanyahu to admit that Israel believes in and acts on a premise that its military power is the answer to all challenges to its illegal actions in the occupied territories, which include Syria’s Golan Heights 

“We are faced with enemies who do not conceal their intentions, and who arm themselves accordingly,” he said. “They first attack us physically, and then attack our right to self-defense.”

Of course, one cannot expect Netanyahu to admit that the attacks with homemade projectiles coming from Gaza Strip are directly linked to the Palestinian people’s right to resist Israel’s military occupation of their land, in violation of all international laws and conventions. Neither can one expect Netanyahu to admit that Israel has the most advanced weaponry and uses it at will to hit the Palestinians under its occupation.

One cannot expect Netanyahu to admit that Israel believes in and acts on a premise that its military power is the answer to all challenges to its illegal actions in the occupied territories, which include Syria’s Golan Heights. He cannot be expected to admit that Israel is defying mandatory U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for an equitable solution to the Palestinian problem and accuses the world body of bias in flavor of the latter.

One cannot expect Netanyahu to admit that Israel has not really ended its occupation of Gaza Strip, since it is maintaining a tight air, sea and land blockade of the Mediterranean strip. He will not admit that Israel is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in its quest to perpetuate and legitimize its occupation of the Palestinian territories. Neither will he admit that Israel means only to engage the Palestinians in protracted negotiations, without any results, when it says it is open for peace talks with the latter.

 He cannot be expected to admit that Israel has made the Palestinian economy dependent on it and is treating the occupied territories as a captive market for its prod 

One cannot expect Netanyahu to admit that Israel is engaged in a systematic campaign aimed at expelling the Palestinians or pressuring them into leaving the occupied territories, and is continuing to build settlements for Jews in the occupied West Bank. He cannot be expected to admit that Israel is stonewalling all efforts fora negotiated settlement of the conflict, on the basis of recognition of Palestinians’ rights, by refusing to accept the international principle which rules out the acquisition of territory through the use of military force.

One cannot expect Netanyahu to admit that Israel is refusing to accept the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the occupying forces from changing the demographic and geographic features of the occupied land, nor that Israel has turned the occupied territories into a large prison for its Palestinian residents, curtailing their movement and making daily life a nightmare for them. He cannot be expected to admit that Israel has made the Palestinian economy dependent on it and is treating the occupied territories as a captive market for its products.

Nor will Netanyahu admit that Israel possesses a large nuclear arsenal and the means to deliver it even as it rattles its saber over Iran’s nuclear activities and refuses to allow international inspection of its nuclear facilities. He will not admit that Israel continues to exploit “European guilt” for the holocaust and implicitly blackmails the European countries into extending all forms of support whenever it demands such help. He will not admit that Israel, by virtue of the political and financial clout of the pro-Israeli lobby in Washington, is holding the world’s sole superpower hostage to its interests and domination.

Knowing all this, one is mystified to hear Netanyahu say that Israel “is the most threatened country in the world.”



*Published in Jordan's THE JORDAN TIMES on Nov. 22, 2009.