They Shoot 16-Year Old Girls, Don't They?

Russian Jews first began colonising Ottoman Palestine in the 1880s. Following an 1891 visit to their colonies, the Russian cultural Zionist, Asher Ginzberg (Ahad Ha'am), noted a disturbing trend on the part of "our brethren" in Palestine:

"Serfs they were in the lands of the Diaspora and suddenly they find themselves in unrestricted freedom and this change has awakened in them an inclination to despotism. They treat the Arabs with hostility and cruelty, deprive them of their rights, offend them without cause and even boast of these deeds; and nobody among us opposes this despicable and dangerous inclination."

That "despicable and dangerous inclination [to] treat the Arabs with hostility and cruelty," has only grown since the advent of the state of Israel in 1948. These days, Zionist cruelty assumes forms and refinements which Ginsberg could never have imagined. For example:

"On Sunday afternoon, Israeli police shot and killed a 16-year old Palestinian girl near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. Although the Israeli police spokesperson claimed that the teen attempted to stab a security officer, that account has been disputed. The child has been identified as Fatima Abdul-Rahman Hajiji, 16, from Qarawat Bani Zeid village, northwest of Ramallah...

"Eyewitnesses said Fatima was standing near the entrance of Bab al-'Amoud (Damascus Gate), and was at least 10 meters away from the nearest soldier... and that one of the soldiers started shouting 'knife, knife,' before 5 soldiers fired a barrage of bullets at the child. They added that Fatima was first shot with several live rounds in the chest, and the soldiers continued to fire at her after she fell onto the ground." (From Israeli police kill 16-year old Palestinian girl near the Damascus Gate, imemc.org, 8/5/17)