As new evidence of the murder of Abdel-Fattah al-Sharif(21) has been revealed, Israel's political elite is - as expected - turning from nominal condemnation (made for foreign audiences) to efforts to secure the soft treatment of his killer, in the belief that foreign interest towards the murder has already waned. At the same time the racism of Israeli majority population is revealed in its views towards the murder and the extent of self-entitlement

of the illegal Israeli settlers.

ILLEGAL ISRAELI SETTLERS CAMPAIGN ON BEHALF OF THE KILLER

Turning first to the last case, illegal Israeli settlers have been protesting against the arrest of the killer Elor Arzarya and demanding that he would be freed and "honoured" for committing the murder.

They have also filed 'a complaint' with Israeli police against the Palestinian Imad Abu Shamsiya who captured the murder on video, claiming that he would have worked together with the two killed youths.

A conspiracy theory the like of which are produced after each time an Israeli war crime or human rights violation gets wider publicity. These are intended to take attention from the crime itself by making those who oppose it to fight the conspiracy theory instead of keeping attention in the crime.

Abu Shamsiya has also gotten death threats from illegal Israeli settlers, who have also harassed him outside his home, which they already burned in 2015 as "revenge" for him reporting a knife attack on youths by illegal Israeli settlers in Tel Rumeida. He was also threatened by Israeli occupation soldiers during an interrogation after the murder.

The protests and demands by the illegal settlers show both the extent of the illegal Israeli settler movement's belief in its own influence not only on politicians but on military and judicial authorities in Israel as well and their feeling of self-entitlement in how they believe they are 'justified' to wield this influence, grasping for themselves the kind of power which, in the self-proclaimed 'Only democracy in the Middle East', theoretically belongs only to elected officials.

ISRAEL'S MORAL APARTHEID

Elected officials, who are now, as the brief interest from the world is assumed to have gone, gathering in support of the killer in a manner which would be very revealing if we would not have witnessed this many times before.

Government ministers like Naftali Bennett are claiming that the killer should never have been charged, that "Israel is in a war" and that this somehow 'justifies' murdering wounded people.

Prime Minister Netanyahu on his part implies that to accuse this one killer is to accuse Israel's army as a whole and that to 'protect' the army - to draw the conclusion Netanyahu strongly hints at - the killer then must be given clemency.

So that all would not be guilty, this one individual must be found not guilty is Netanyahu's position, which, if widely accepted, would stop all war crime and human rights violations charges everywhere.

These claims come from the same politicians that often deny the very existence of the occupation and use the memory of Holocaust

and its Jewish victims to protect Israel from criticism. They claim to represent past victims while they enable and commit today's war crimes.

For them, Israel is in a war, but doesn't occupy and "the context" of the murder must be taken into account, says Netanyahu. In effect, they claim that because Israel faces some resistance from those it

occupies, it should be taken granted that all rules of war should be allowed to be broken.

The Israeli Jewish majority agrees; according to a poll only 5 % of adult Israeli Jews consider the killing 'a murder', 42 % say the murder was 'responsible' action, 57 % believe that the killer should not have been arrested and 68 % that the murder should not

have been condemned by any political or military figures.

In the emotionally laden political landscape of Israel politicians can both cry the murder of Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators and then support similar crimes against Palestinians, as ethnic-religious and nationalist fervour obscures and is used to obscure the similarity of the crimes.

Any internal or external attempt to show this is attacked by "How dare you compare Israel to Nazis!" style 'righteously' indignant and very deliberate attacks to protect the hypocritical status quo, where same people can shed tears for Holocaust victims and offer pizza - as illegal Israeli settlers in Hebron do - to any soldier who kills a Palestinian no matter the circumstances.

In Israel, all public understanding of morality is hinged on ethnic-religious nationalism. If some act is wrong when done on Jews it doesn't mean that its also wrong when done by Jews on Palestinians - but comparing these acts on each

other most certainly is wrong.

This kind of schizoprenic morality is no accident, but has been carefully cultivated by the state and its representatives and the only rightful term for it is Apartheid, more precisely moral Apartheid.

COLLECTIVE STEPS TO MURDER

New video evidence shows that before he was shot to death by the Elor Arzarya, an Israel's occupation forces' medic, Abdel-Fattah al-Sharif was kicked in head by an illegal Israeli settler with no one intervening.

We can call this as the first step to his murder - a lesser act of violence against a person who can't defend himself without intervention is the usual step in mob violence towards a single individual, making further acts of violence 'easier' by others.

We now know, thanks to admittance by Israel's occupation forces themselves, that al-Sharif was checked for explosives yet was left

without medical aid even after that. Representatives of Israel's Red Star of David had tried to claim this as an excuse not to treat him.

The claim of the killer 'fearing' that al-Sharif would 'have had a bomb' has also been used by media to defend the murder, even when no suicide bombing has been made against the occupation since 2008. Far-fetched claim, which has now proven wrong -

although given practically no visibility by those who entertained the 'bomb' excuse.

The second step to murder was that al-Sharif was not given aid even after this 'checking for explosives'. The third step was that the Israeli ambulance operating illegally left carrying only the supposedly 'lightly injured' occupation soldier (and almost ran

over al-Sharif).

Whether the killer was given actual command by his superiors, direct encouragement to kill from fellow occupation soldiers beyond the one he got from an illegal Israeli settler (illegal settlers were mingling with the occupation soldiers like there would have been no difference between them and the soldiers) is beside the point; we claim that because of these earlier steps there was a de facto agreement between those present that al-Sharif would die and that he wasn't really killed just by a single occupation soldier,

but in effect by mob violence.

All those present were participants in his murder.

Second new video shows that the killer shook hands with a prominent illegal Israeli settler leader Baruch Marzel after

al-Sharif's body was taken away. Another piece of new evidence - briefly mentioned above - records an illegal Israeli settler saying to the shooter before the murder: “He is not dead… shoot him in the head.”

More naive persons might use this fact to raise questions about the extent illegal Israeli settlers' control the actions of the occupation forces; more seasoned observers of the occupation know that

the settlers' have wide control but only because Israel's regular occupation forces have themselves relinquished this

control to their unofficial militia counterparts and partners in occupation.

NO LINE BETWEEN THE TWO ARMS OF THE OCCUPATION

Illegal Israeli settlers are an armed militia acting as one arm of the military occupation and questioning where the line between regular occupation forces in uniform and their paramilitary partners without uniform goes is both pointless and misleading; it makes no difference to Palestinians living each day of their lives under the occupation and oppression of the hybrid entity of Israel's full occupation forces which the regular Israeli armed forces and Israel's illegal settlers are combined.

VIOLENCE SANCTIONED BY ISRAEL AT LARGE

The mob violence that cost the live of Abdel-Fattah al-Sharif is mob violence sanctioned not only by those present at his murder, but the Israeli state, politicians, military and public at large.

His killing was not just an individual exception, but one among many; there have been hundreds of al-Sharifs through the decades of occupation.

The rare cases of occupation soldiers or illegal settlers being sentenced have led neither to soul-searching, change of policy

or wide-scale questioning of the occupation.

The violence committed by Israel's occupation soldiers and illegal Israeli settlers have the backing of the Israeli political and military elite and the public - not only through attitudes reflected in

polls like the one mentioned above, but the occupation itself and the violence it leads to has been sanctioned in each Israeli Knesset election after it began.

WHAT NOW?

As pretensions of outrage towards the killing turn into a national movement in Israel to save the killer Elor Azarya from any

consequences from the murder he committed, Abdel-Fattah al-Sharif's body is still in hands of Israeli occupation waiting autopsy (Israel refusing to allow Palestinian pathologist to take part, only observe it), his brother has been arrested by Israel and PLO has asked (in vain, we expect) United Nations to study his and other extrajudicial executions by Israel.

What we can be certain of is that Abdel-Fattah al-Sharif's fate will be shared by many other Palestinians if the outside world doesn't stop handling Israel with silk gloves like Israel itself handles those who kill under its flag, whether they wear its uniforms or not.

By supporting BDS movement and its call to boycott Israel and companies that support its illegal colonies and occupation you can wield a positive influence each day by simply choosing what to buy.

SOURCES:

Hebron settlers file complaint against Palestinian who filmed execution

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/hebron-settlers-file-complaint-against-palestinian-who-filmed-execution/

"He’s Not Dead, Shoot Him In The Head": Quote from Israeli Medic

http://www.imemc.org/article/75384

Israeli forces raid home of Palestinian killed by Israeli soldier, detain 2

http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770866

Israeli soldier filmed killing wounded Palestinian finds support among Israeli politicians

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/israeli-soldier-filmed-killing-wounded-palestinian-finds-support-among-israeli-politicians/

Israeli soldier filmed executing wounded Palestinian man

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/israeli-soldier-filmed-executing-wounded-palestinian-man/

Israel still holding body of Palestinian slain in filmed Hebron shooting

http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770861

Jewish settlers threaten life of Palestinian who shot video of execution

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/jewish-settlers-threaten-life-of-palestinian-who-shot-video-of-execution/

Netanyahu defends Israeli military after soldier caught on tape executing Palestinian: ‘Any challenge to the morality of the IDF is outrageous’

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/netanyahu-defends-israeli-military-after-soldier-caught-on-tape-executing-palestinian-any-challenge-to-the-morality-of-the-idf-is-outrageous/

Netanyahu calls criticisms of Israeli army 'outrageous' in wake of Hebron killing

http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770868

Netanyahu’s hypocritical condemnation of videotaped Hebron execution

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/netanyahus-hypocritical-condemnation-videotaped-hebron-execution

Palestinians seek UN investigation after Hebron 'execution'

http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770883

Videographer who filmed execution of Palestinian receives death threats from Israeli settlers

http://www.imemc.org/article/75383

Video: Meet the brave shoemaker who filmed Israeli soldier executing a Palestinian

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/video-meet-the-brave-shoemaker-who-filmed-israeli-soldier-executing-a-palestinian/

Video: Soldier Who Executed The Wounded Palestinian In Hebron Seen Shaking Hands With Marzel

http://www.imemc.org/article/75387