01.08.2015

The members of Een Andere Joodse Stem wish to express their pain and anger on the murderous attack that took place tonight in the West Bank. We were appalled to learn that the terrorists who killed the Palestinian infant, Ali Saed Dawabshe, and injured his entire family, have used Jewish symbols when conducting an act that is neither Jewish nor human.

 But more than that, we are extremely worried that the Israeli government has done hardly anything in recent years to prevent such incidents from happening. According to the figures of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, since August 2012 nine Palestinian houses were set on fire in a similar manner, but the perpetrators of these acts have not been caught by Israeli authorities until today. Unfortunately, this is not surprising considering the frequent racist statements made by Israeli politicians, including the Prime Minister Netanyahu, and their realization in a continuous policy of military occupation and racial discrimination. Tonight’s horrifying incident is part of the routine targeting of Palestinian lives and well-being, whether in the form of vigilante violence by settlers or an institutional violence by the Israeli army and other state authorities.

We reiterate the EU demand from Israel today to “take resolute measures to protect the local population” and for “zero tolerance for settler violence". However, the appalling incident of today reminds us that the policy of occupation and racial discrimination is the root cause of such incidents. We call the Belgian government and the EU to deploy the necessary diplomatic and economic measures to ensure Palestinian lives and human rights are protected and to put an end to the deadly reality of the occupation.

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