China ‘Smashes’ 32 Terrorist Groups; World Reacts By Slamming Israel

Xinjiang, China, June 25 – Persistent unrest in this heavily Muslim region has led Chinese authorities to crack down on the native Uighur population, killing at least 13 and sentencing hundreds more to incarceration or execution, leading the United Nations and other international bodies to condemn Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians.

China has faced separatist terrorism my the mostly Muslim Uighurs for years, but several high-profile bombings, shootings, and other attacks in recent months have further strained the relationship between the majority Han ethnicity and the Uighurs, and prompted a widespread effort to suppress the militant groups. Strategies have included augmented efforts to integrate the Uighurs into the rest of Chinese society through population transfers, job training, and education, with fierce military reprisals against suspected separatist strongholds, and even greater suppression of religion than before. In response, the international community has denounced Israeli defensive policies toward the Palestinians as “collective punishment,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “kidnapping en entire people.”

Official Beijing media outlets released the numbers of those killed and arrested as part of the crackdown and in disregard of due process, prompting human rights organizations to decry the less severe measures that Israel takes to prevent its citizens from falling prey to Palestinian terrorism.

State news media reported Saturday that police officers had shot and killed 13 attackers who drove a vehicle into the police headquarters of Yecheng County in Xinjiang and set off explosives. The Legal Daily reported on Monday said the police in Xinjiang would aim “to unleash heavy punches” and adopt “an attitude of zero tolerance.” The article said that of the 315 people sentenced, at least 13 had been condemned to die for participating in terrorist groups. On Monday, United Nations Human Rights Council convened to bash Israel for attempting to find three teenagers kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists nearly two weeks ago.

The Chinese antiterrorism campaign was announced on May 23, the day after attackers drove two cars into a crowded marketplace in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. Official reports said at least 39 people were killed and 94 injured. Four attackers died at the scene; a fifth was later arrested. The following week, President Xi Jinping called for tighter restrictions on religion and for greater assimilation of Uighurs into Chinese society, including moving some Uighurs from Xinjiang to Han-dominated parts of China. The international reaction involved righteous indignance directed at Israel for the fatal shooting by an unknown gunman of two rock-throwing Palestinians calling for Israel to be destroyed.

The Legal Daily also reported that recent violence, “fully exposes the brutal nature of the frantic terrorists who have no hearts, expresses the sheer complexity of Xinjiang’s antiterrorism and stability maintenance situation, and shows there is a long way to go in severely cracking down on terrorists and criminals.” At the UN Security Council on Monday, Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman called on Israel to exercise restraint.