Enlightened Israelis must admit Israel is guilty as charged

It is time for Israelis to acknowledge apartheid and begin efforts to dismantle it.

The unforgettable image should still shame enlightened Israelis. It is July 2014. Israel has decided, yet again, to teach Palestinians a lengthy, lethal lesson. Bit by inevitable bit, day and night, from the land, sea and air, the Israeli army went about methodically obliterating swaths of Gaza and the imprisoned children, women and men who try, often in vain, to survive the recurring terror. All the while, jubilant Israelis gathered, perched safely on a hilltop overlooking nearby Gaza. A UPI photographer captured three young men in flip-flops, sporting close-cropped hair and binoculars, sitting on a bulky, cream-coloured leather couch. What appears to be a green, half-empty beer or pop bottle rests upright by one man’s bare feet. Another has trained his black binoculars on the violent scenes, to get a closer and, presumably, more satisfying look, at the death and destruction unfolding below.