Netanyahu Wants Fence Around Israel to Keep Out ‘Wild Beasts’

A section of the wall in the West Bank.  (Photo: hjl/flickr/cc)

 

‘In the environment in which we live we must defend ourselves from the wild beasts,’ Prime Minister says.

by

Andrea Germanos, staff writer

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed a plan to encircle his entire country with a fence as protection against “wild beasts,” referring to those in neighboring Arab states.

He made the comments Tuesday while visiting an 18-mile stretch of fence already under construction on the Israel-Jordan border.

“At the end of the day, in the State of Israel as I see it, there will be a fence like this one surrounding its entirety,” he said, according to a statement on the Prime Minister’swebsite.

“They tell me: Is this what you want to do, defend the villa? The answer is yes. What, are we going to surround the entire State of Israel with a fence, a barrier? The answer is yes, unequivocally. In the environment in which we live we must defend ourselves from the wild beasts.”

He added that it would be a multi-year project, multi-million dollar project.

“Perhaps the most notorious of Israel’s walls built for ‘security purposes’ runs within the occupied West Bank,” as Al Jazeera reports. It was deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.

Haaretz columnist Asher Schechter argues that “Israel is already not even trying to function like a democracy,” and writes that Netanyahu’s statement is “a display of everything wrong with Israel under his leadership. Israel circa 2016 is fearful, hateful, and paranoid, self-involved to a degree even Donald Trump would find distasteful, and soon it might have big walls surrounding it from every which way, quarantining it, and a political system where only Jews need apply.

On Wednesday Netanyahu also spoke to the Israeli parliament and referred to the existing fence along the border with Egypt, saying that it prevented Israel from being “overrun” with migrants.

 

–Common Dreams, Wednesday, February 10, 2016

 

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/02/10/netanyahu-wants-fence-around-israel-keep-out-wild-beasts

Momentum grows for the National March on D.C. to Support Palestine: Exciting confirmed speakers!

March 20, 2016
12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C.

Speakers include:

Dr. Cornel West
Sabry Wazwaz – Palestinian-American activist, documentary filmmaker
Laila El-Haddad – Palestinian freelance journalist, author, blogger, and media activist from Gaza City
Fatina Abdrabboh – Executive Director, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (Michigan). Adjunct Professor of Law, Wayne State University Law School
Joe Catron – American journalist who has spent years on the ground in Gaza covering the brutal Israeli terrorist assaults against the Palestinian people

On Sunday, March 20, 2016, there will be a major National March on Washington, D.C., to support Palestine and the Palestinian people. Stand with Palestine, say NO to the racist reign of terror and the Apartheid Wall, and say YES to the right of Palestinian refugees to return home.

Buses are being reserved and organized. Transportation centers are being set up in cities up and down the East Coast and in the Midwest. We expect people from every region to descend on Washington, D.C.

The National March and Rally is timed to coincide with the opening of the AIPAC Convention in downtown Washington, D.C. We will gather in front of the White House for a rally at 12 Noon. At1:00 pm we will march to the D.C. Convention Center, the site of the AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) conference.

Al-Awda, The Palestinian Right to Return Coalition and the ANSWER Coalition are co-sponsoring the National March on March 20 (#‎SupportPalestineInDC2016). We are expecting hundreds of organizations and individual leaders to endorse this activity and join the effort!

What you can do:

1. Become an endorser of this important national action
2. RSVP at the bottom of this page 
3. Sign up if you can help bring other people from your area to Washington on March 20

Palestine is calling and the world must answer. International solidarity can make the difference, as it did in bringing an end to apartheid in South Africa. This must be a united effort for justice. We must stand together to reject the efforts by the Israeli state and settlers to abuse, violate and evict the Palestinian people. We say NO to racism and YES to self-determination.

Please join and help bring thousands of people to Washington, D.C., on Sunday, March 20, 2016.

Free Palestine!