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by Eran Efrati

In recent days I am getting reports from soldiers in the Israeli army who tell me that their rules of engagement were changed entirely and that procedures that were true to a certain extent only in Gaza and parts of the West Bank are now being implemented all across Palestine and Israel with “free permits” to open live fire on any Palestinian citizen who seems suspicious.

All of the soldiers were talking about the orders they received that completely eliminate the apprehension of a suspect or even the “suspect arrest procedure” the infamous IDF practice as well as any attempt to stop or talk with “a suspect”.

One of the soldiers stationed in Hebron said that a senior officer who arrived to brief them over the weekend told them “it will not look good if the settlers (most of whom have more upgraded weapons than some of the soldiers themselves which they received from the army) would murder suspects on the streets and that if any event to happen we need to react faster and neutralize them (the Palestinians) before the settlers will. “

If these things are true then senior officers in the Israeli army are briefing soldiers to assassinate Palestinians to prevent settler violence and reassure them, the number of Palestinians killed in this uprising could very well be only the number that will satisfy the Israeli public and settlers and if that is indeed the case then we very might be at the start of a bloodbath. The Israeli public in its current state will not be content and will not settle as usual for the current situation to calm down. The images and sounds from Jerusalem and Afula make it clear they want to see blood.

They are demanding that “victory image” that Israel is creating for herself in every military operation and sells to Israelis and the rest of the world to prove their superiority over the situation and promote their arms sales, the arms that achieved that “victory”.

We know too well that this is a false victory that there is no victory for the oppressor and oppression will fall and the oppressed is destined to rise up and demand independence. Already a week ago my sources in the Israeli army leaked to me that the government intends to deploy border police forces in “mix” inner cities and make all of Palestine and Israel into a battleground, a familiar image in the West Bank and Gaza but also in Ferguson Missouri or in Baltimore Maryland, all around the world police are becoming militarized and we are all becoming Palestinians.

It is time to wake up and demand from your representatives to not wait for another bloodbath like the one last summer, this is the time to start putting more and more pressure on Israel to stop their oppression and occupation of the Palestinians, there is only one way to prevent the inevitable next bloody Intifada, to stop the inevitable you need to change the existing that created it. You need to free the people, free Palestine.

In the coming weeks we will be launching in ICAHD US a new campaign named “Palestine is here” and try to provide communities here in the US with accurate information on the connections of their cities and States with the Israeli occupation and ways to stop the deadly collaboration.
In the meantime, we cannot sit in front of the images coming from Palestine and wait. Go out and look for the connections in your communities and your cities to the Israeli occupation. Be a part of our struggle and report your findings on our website, Rebecca Manski and I will contact your community and start working with you.

Go out to the streets and demanded racial justice here and in Palestine until the killings will stop and all are free.
EE.

eran

Eran Efrati is an investigative researcher into the Israeli military. He formerly served as the chief researcher of Breaking the Silence, an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers working to raise awareness about the reality in the Occupied Territories. In this capacity, he collected testimonies from IDF soldiers, guided political tours to the West Bank and lectured before Israeli and international audiences. His collected testimonies appear in the booklet “Operation Cast Lead” and their most recent release “Our Harsh Logic.”

Since leaving Breaking the Silence, his investigative reports appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Guardian, among others.

Today his research is focused on international military and police partnerships and the global arms trade. He also testified at the Russell Tribunal of Palestine.

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