© Ammar Awad/Reuters
Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli soldiers after Friday prayers in the Arab East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud July 4, 2014.
The government of Israel says it will treat the July 2 abduction and murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian boy, the same way it treats terrorism against Jews. The killers "
will face the full weight of the law," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Sunday. "We do not differentiate between the terrorists."
To this, Muhammad's parents have issued a simple challenge: Prove it.
Demolish the homes of the Jews who murdered him.
Demolition played a central role in the drama leading up to Khdeir's death. According to Israeli officials, two West Bank Arabs, Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha, kidnapped and murdered three Jewish boys on June 12.
Israeli authorities haven't found Qawasmen or Aisha, much less tried them. Nevertheless, on June 30,
Israeli soldiers destroyed the suspects' homes in Hebron. They broke windows, wrecked furniture, smashed sinks and toilets, and trashed kids' bedrooms.
Then they used explosives to blow out the ceilings and walls.
Twenty people were living in Aisha's house. At Qawasmeh's house, all the men had been arrested, so
the only people still there were women and children.
Why did Israel destroy the homes of these children? Officially, the rationale is to "
disincentivize" future terrorism.
Unofficially, it's ramped-up retribution. Israeli courts have accepted the government's authority to do it, on the grounds that anyone considering violence "
should know that his criminal acts will not only hurt him, but are apt to cause great suffering to his family."
Nine years ago, after hundreds of demolitions, Israel suspended this practice, conceding
it had failed as a deterrent. Now, in the wake of the June 12 kidnappings,
the practice has resumed. Qawasheh and Aisha aren't the only targets. Last week,
Israel's high court approved the pre-trial demolition of another Arab suspect's home, citing deterrence as the basis. The Israeli military is considering whether to destroy
dozens of other West Bank homes, including those belonging to leaders of Hamas.
Comment: Is the German government starting to see that the US is not acting in the interest of Germany or is it all just a fake outrage and business as usual?