When it comes to basic rights, Israel has nothing to boast about
He claims that the former provides a quality of life that is superior to that in Gaza. In some respects that is true, as Israel has repeatedly and systematically bombed Gaza, destroying essential infrastructure and killing thousands of innocent men, women and children.
It also imposes an illegal land, air, and sea blockade, thereby stopping the movement of goods in and out of the region. But when it comes to basic rights, Israel has nothing to boast about.
Take Mr Fitzgerald’s reference to choosing whom you marry. This is not the case in Israel as civil law does not permit marriages between Jews and non-Jews (including Palestinians).
In the area of education there are similarly discriminatory policies; equal resources are denied to Arab schools while in Bedouin villages schools cannot even be built.
Imposing collective punishment on approximately 1.8m Palestinians in Gaza, unlawful killing of Palestinian protesters including children in the West Bank, maintained oppressive restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement, promoting illegal settlements, allowing Israeli settlers to attack Palestinians and destroy their property with impunity, holding detainees without trial for years — these are just some of the human rights violations committed on an ongoing basis by the Israeli state.
In terms of failings, this is about as bad as it gets.
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