A ceasefire between Israel & Gaza does not mean everything is fine. Gaza is still under a debilitating blockade. Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank & East Jerusalem are living in an apartheid state.
1. Five million+ Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Arab Israelis, are suffering under Israeli apartheid, the illegal occupation, and brutal colonial control by Israel. Every other narrative is a whitewash.
2. Palestinians account for 20 percent of the population of Israel but live only on 3 percent of the land.
3. The State of Israel holds the world record (or is near the top) for violating and/or continually ignoring the largest number of UN resolutions, Security Council resolutions, ICJ rulings and Geneva Conventions.
4. Nine countries have nuclear weapons and 4 countries (India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel) have refused to become signatories to the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Treaty, or pledge to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. India and Pakistan meanwhile, have publicly disclosed their nuclear weapons programme while two rogue states (Israel and North Korea) have opted for “nuclear ambiguity“.
5. Israel in February 2023 refused to sign the global agreement that regulates the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for military purposes. Over 60 countries signed the agreement including the United States and China but Israel has refused to sign it. This despite the Pegasus spying scandal (Feb 2022) and the Tal Hanan (Feb 2023) global election meddling controversy.
6. Israel came into being in 1948 after destroying over 530+ villages; expelling over 750,000+ Palestinian people overnight; and killing thousands of Palestinian since.
7. Israel began with the ethnic cleansing of nearly 55 percent of Palestine in 1948, expanded with the imposition of harsh military rule on the Palestinian minority in Israel (1948-67), and following the 1967 six-day war, continued with the illegal occupation of the 22 percent of the land.
8. The United States has vetoed over 53 Security Council resolutions critical of Israel over the last 50 years.
9. No Israeli government has ever genuinely tried the one thing that everybody knows will bring longterm peace: Give back the land! (unconditionally)
10. Palestinian houses (130,000 structures since 1948) in West Bank and East Jerusalem have been, and are still being arbitrarily demolished by Israel today, displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians.
11. Shootings, knife attacks, burning crops, vandalism and the theft of land and livestock are supposed to make life for Palestinians so unbearable they have no choice but to leave. On many occasions, the Israeli army has been documented failing to stem the violence, or even joining in. (Source: The Guardian)
12. The Arab population (Israeli citizens and passport holders) in present-day Israel are subjected to at least 65 blatantly racist Israeli laws against non-Jews living in present-day Israel.
13. Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have to put up with a wide range of segregation policies, laws and regulations: one for Palestinians living under apartheid & military occupation and the other for the illegal Israeli settlers they live right next to.
14. Between 500-700 Palestinian children (some as young as 12) are illegally detained by Israel each year, according to human rights groups and NGOs.
15. There are over 700 checkpoints, road gates, earth mounds, roadblocks, trenches, earth walls, etc., Palestinians have to go through – none of which the illegal Israeli settlers have to put up with.
16. Israel has used chemical weapons on civilians and has also used Shayetet 13, its Navy unit to attack aid convoys killing 9 aid workers carrying aid supplies into Gaza.
17. Gaza is still under a crippling blockade by Israel.
Note: Anyone who disproves these 17 points above can claim a US$10,000 cash payment.
Israel has a very robust high-tech industry, smooth PR machinery and a powerful military but a KEY FACT is that the State of Israel was formed by dispossessing another people. There are no two ways to argue against this moral illegitimacy of present-day Israel.