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United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch: Israel Is Targeting CIVILIANS In Gaza
Preface - related news from this week:
Update: Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the U.S. for help in avoiding war crime charges.
Amnesty International just released a report stating:
An immediate investigation is needed into mounting evidence that the Israel Defense Forces launched apparently deliberate attacks against hospitals and health professionals in Gaza, which have left six medics dead, said Amnesty International as it released disturbing testimonies from doctors, nurses, and ambulance personnel working in the area.
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“Even more alarming is the mounting evidence that the Israeli army has targeted health facilities or professionals. Such attacks are absolutely prohibited by international law and would amount to war crimes. They only add to the already compelling argument that the situation should be referred to the International Criminal Court.”
Human Rights Watch released a report this week headlined, “Gaza: Israeli Soldiers Shoot and Kill Fleeing Civilians“, stating:
Israeli forces in the southern Gaza town of Khuza’a fired on and killed civilians in apparent violation of the laws of war in several incidents between July 23 and 25, 2014. Deliberate attacks on civilians who are not participating in the fighting are war crimes.
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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported that on July 25, a Red Crescent volunteer [the equivalent of the Red Cross] was mortally wounded in an Israeli attack in Khuza’a, and other volunteers who tried to rescue him were fired on. Under the laws of war, medical workers are civilians who may not be targeted for attack.
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Human Rights Watch investigated several incidents between July 23 and 25 when, local residents said, Israeli forces opened fire on civilians trying to flee Khuza’a, but no Palestinian fighters were present at the time and no firefights were taking place.
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“The horrors of war are bad enough for civilians even when all sides abide by the law,” [Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa director] said. “But it’s abhorrent that Israeli forces are making matters even worse by so blatantly violating the laws of war designed to spare civilians.”
Last month, Human Rights Watch documented that the types of weapons used by the Israeli military prove that the killing of civilians was intentional.
Human Rights Watch executive director (and former federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York) Kenneth Roth – said:
It was the subject of fairly relentless bombardment. Finally, after a couple of days, on July 23rd through July 25th, families slowly tried to leave Khuza’a for their larger city of Khan Younis nearby, hoping to find refuge there. And as you would do in a situation like this, they raised white flags. They did everything they could to make clear that they were not militants. But on several different occasions, Israeli forces shot at them and actually killed some among the people who were fleeing.
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No matter how many times the Israeli military spokesmen scream, “Human shields! Human shields!” most of the people being killed in Gaza are being killed because Israel is paying insufficient care to saving civilian lives. There’s been case after case in which Israel has used the wrong weaponry or has shot at people with many civilians around. And these, in our view, are war crimes.
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The only real recourse that we see is to the International Criminal Court.
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[The Israeli soldiers] use, for example—The New York Times did an interesting study yesterday—heavy artillery, 155-millimeter artillery, which is utterly inappropriate in a densely populated area, because this kind of artillery is considered accurate if it lands anyplace within a 50-meter radius. You know, you can imagine there are a lot of civilians in that area. It has a fragmentation and blast effect of 300 meters. And nonetheless, Israel lets off barrages of these heavy artilleries. The New York Times documented that yesterday. Or they’ll bring in their air force and simply bomb, even though there are many, many civilians in these areas.
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We’ve gone through this in the prior Gaza efforts. We went through it with the Hezbollah war. I actually, you know, after the Hezbollah war, went and briefed the senior Israeli lawyer for the military, describing many of these same problems, the fact that you can’t just issue a warning and assume that everybody left, in that case, is Hezbollah. So, you know, they are completely on notice. We’ve accused them of this in the past. They just keep repeating it. And it seems to be almost by design to try to make the people of Gaza pay a price because Hamas is ruling over them…. I mean, that’s a war crime logic, and Israel is oftentimes acting according to the same logic in Gaza.
The UN stated last month that Israeli attacks on UN shelters housing civilians are intentional.
An Israeli soldier explicitly confirmed:
Palestinian civilians killed during the Shuja’iyya massacre of July 20 were deliberately targeted ….
The unofficial reason was to enable the soldiers to take out their frustrations and pain at losing their fellow soldiers on the Palestinian refugees in the neighborhood. Under the pretext of the so-called ‘security threat,’ soldiers were directed to carry out a pre-planned attack of revenge on Palestinian civilians.”
The United Nations reported in 2009 that Israel was intentionally targeting civilians in Gaza.
Wikipedia summarizes the findings of the 2009 UN report:
The report disputes Israel’s claim that the Gaza war would have been conducted as a response to rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, saying that at least in part the war was targeted against the “people of Gaza as a whole”. Intimidation against the population was seen as an aim of the war.[70] The report also says that Israel’s military assault on Gaza was designed to “humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability”.[49]
The report focused on 36 cases that it said constituted a representative sample. In 11 of these episodes, it said the Israeli military carried out direct attacks against civilians, including some in which civilians were shot “while they were trying to leave their homes to walk to a safer place, waving white flags”.[49] Talking to Bill Moyers Journal, Goldstone said that the committee chose 36 incidents that represented the highest death toll, where there seemed to be little or no military justification for what happened.[71] According to the report, another alleged war crime committed by IDF include “wanton” destruction of food production, water and sewerage facilities; the report also asserts that some attacks, which were supposedly aimed to kill small number of combatants amidst significant numbers of civilians, were disproportionate.[49]
The report concluded that Israel violated the Fourth Geneva Convention by targeting civilians, which it labeled “a grave breach”.[72] It also claimed that the violations were “systematic and deliberate“, which placed the blame in the first place on those who designed, planned, ordered and oversaw the operations.[73]
And a prominent Jewish leader says that Israel intentionally massacred Palestinian civilians in 1948 in order to terrorize the population … and is still doing the same thing today.
Postscript: There is plenty of circumstantial evidence for targeting of civilians as well, in the form of calls for genocide and mass murder against Palestinians.
For example, the Times of Israel recently published a piece calling for genocide on the Palestinians.
And Andrew Sullivan notes:
What is one to make of the fact that the deputy speaker of the Knesset has called for ethnic cleansing in Gaza?
He’s not an obscure blogger for the Times of Israel. He is a luminary of the Likud – a man who got 23 percent of the vote in a contest for the Likud Party leadership. He was appointed to his current high position by Benjamin Netanyahu.
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His strategic goal is to “turn Gaza into Jaffa, a flourishing Israeli city with a minimum number of hostile civilians.” (Modern Jaffa, of course, was built on the ethnic cleansing of most of its Palestinian inhabitants in 1948.)
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In Israel, this theme is intensifying:
The statements of Ovadia Yosef, whose recent passing was met with flattering memorials both in Israel and the US, are legendary. The former Chief Rabbi of Israel and spiritual leader of many Middle Eastern Jews, said, among other things, that Palestinians “should perish from the world” and that “it is forbidden to be merciful to them”; of non-Jews in general, he declared that “Goyim were born only to serve us.” Despite comments like these, his funeral last October was the largest in the country’s history, with 800,000 Israelis attending. In the past month, Rabbi Noam Perel, head of Bnei Akiva, the largest Jewish religious youth group in the world, called for the mass-murder of Palestinians and for their foreskins to be scalped and brought back as trophies, alluding to an episode in the Book of Samuel; and a Jerusalem city councillor, in charge of security, encouraged a crowd to mimic the Biblical character of Phineas (Pinchas in Hebrew), who murdered a fellow Israelite and his Midianite lover for the “crime” of miscegenation…
One local chief rabbi ruled that bombing Palestinian civilians is permissible, while another, considered a “liberal” by Israeli standards, declared the assault on Gaza to be a holy war mandated by the Torah–one which must be merciless.
Today, the former head of Israel’s National Security Council, Giora Eiland, called for treating all Gazans, including women, as enemy combatants:
We are seeing now that despite the IDF’s impressive fighting, despite the absolute military supremacy, we are in a sort of “strategic tie.” What would have been the right thing to do? We should have declared war against the state of Gaza (rather than against the Hamas organization), and in a war as in a war.
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And we are not merely talking about a hypothetical situation. The grotesque death toll from Gaza is a distillation of this mindset – revealing at best a chilling contempt for Arab life and at worst, with the shelling of schools and shelters, a policy of indiscriminate hatred and revenge. Yes, killing women and children in shelters is about as low as you can get in wartime. As the State Department, in a rare moment of public candor, noted, it is appalling and disgraceful.
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and there you have it.
I'd say ban these paid trolls, but they so discredit themselves, it serves a useful purpose in educating real truth seekers as to the real character and motives of such subhuman garbage. This poster exemplifies why there needs to be international prosecution and justice for the subhuman zionist murderers -who kill without conscience and against all the laws of God and Humanity.
"subhuman garbage...subhuman zionist murderers"
Geo Washington? That wouldn't be "name calling" in your book now would it? George Washington, the historical figure would have you hanged and left out for the carrion. Phony lightweight.
Think you are talking about these people because no group kills more people for dumb reasons that Muskums - http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
Do real truth seekers have any common sense?
Stop being a wannabe.
The theory is the same as its ever been, Israel wants the indiscriminate firing of rockets at its people to stop, fair enough, unfortunately the way they have chosen is to kill so many Palestinian men woman and children that the Palestinians will turn on Hamas. Obviously civilians are not accidentally being shot down, an Israeli soldier has to lift his gun, aim and squeeze the trigger repeatedly.
I don't think Israels plan will work, but ultimately it comes down to two religions killing each other, same as it ever was and ever will be.
The two religions largely lived in peace for many hundreds of years before 1948.
And if the U.S. didn't supply all of Israel's weapons and NSA spying information and technical support, Israel might be a little more responsible and stop targeting civilians ...
George, it was plain stupid to put Israel in Palestine in 1948. STUPID.
Someone(s) had an agenda beyond religion or "justice".
Of course Israel is fighting back, but they should be in Detroit! Or Chicago! Or Brussels! Or Russia!
Not smack dab in the Arab world riled in tribal and internecine conflict!
STUPID!!!
Uh....heard of King David ? Even the Romans let the Jews have a King and a Kingdom when they occupied. History......try it sometime.
Not true and most even w/ an elementary knowledge of history is aware of convert or die, and those Jews who were allowed to live paid their Jew Tax and lived in a very precarious existence. Kinda like Christians in all of the Levant...except now again it's convert or die, run for your lives, bring your girls for genital mutilation.
Isaiah's admonishment defines you to a tee:
Woes to the Wicked
5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!…
WRONG - ISLAM HAS NEVER LIVED IN PEACE WITH ANYONE - EVER -
Why We Are Afraid, A 1400 Year Secret, by Dr Bill Warner https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=t_Qpy0mXg8Y&app=desktophuman garbage. I think. You could be a cheap computer app programmed to spew nonsense and hate
Religions without tolerence will always ultimately end up killing each other George. The problem is religion same as always, do you think if they were all Jewish or all Muslim that they would be killing each other?
Your point on US weapons etc I completely agree with.
Yes, but:
However you want to slice and dice it is fine with me, naturally people will use religion as a weapon, it remains the Elephant in the room.
Yes, but not every person of faith is a religious fanatic ... Christian writer and Army psychiatrist M. Scott Peck had interesting views on the issue.
No of course, most people just want to live in peace, which is why we have Palestinian civilians not involved in the conflict, but what percentage of one religion hating another do you need to have a war, it would appear not very many, my point is if they were all the same religion you would not have a war based upon religion, refer Iraq for further interesting religious based conflict, of course that does not mean that without religion it would all be a bed of roses in the middle east, normal human greed would still exist.
Americans have no idea who Palestinian people are and what they truly believe - and what their clerics preach on television - get a clue -
Is Peace Possible in the Middle East? Appearantly Not Without The Death of Billions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY8FW_JW73QOh you're just a ZioPuppet, Hasbara according to Geo Washington and those of his/her ilk, and even if true, it's still a Zionist lie. It's kinda like the Communist Theory of the dialectic. The truth is a lie and a lie is the truth. That's the Evil calling darkness the light.
Would you please stop linking back to your blog and just sight the sources.
Its unseemly.
Many writers - including Glenn Greenwald - do it also.
It smells of weakness. If the logic of your argument can't drive an audience to your website, petty comments from yourself with links to your website make you look like a snake oil salesman. Surely you must see that. If you want to influence people, you need to attract them, not force them.
You are just about the last person here, on any side, that should be dispensing advice as to sound polemics.
You're a fucking idiot, man.
Why do people like Glenn Greenwald link to their own posts? Because they've spent literally THOUSANDS of hours research and writing on a topic.
Would you like them to waste a bunch of time finding the original source material ... or link to their previous posts that have already ROUNDED UP that information by linking to original source material?
This is Fight Club George, not your blog. You have the sources you cite at you fingertips at your own blog, there is no reason to link back to your blog and have people go through there.
Someones going to think they can make $5,000 a month if you keep doing it.
Just sayin ;-)
George, that's not you. Your work is cut and paste with simple narratives to tie it together. You don't provide analysis or thought. Go look at your comments you wrote here. You do not want to present a strident position. You want to waffle.
Boycott the scum, there is an app to use when you shop to see if it should be boycotted.
Hit where they live, the wallet.
we are going to make sure we seek out Israeli products and buy 3
What does GW want?--
Israel should march into Gaza, single file, Red-coat like. And make their way, into each home by knocking on the door and politely asking for missiles. And then go underground, in Gaza City, Khan Younis, Rafah...again, single file and ONLY SHOOT at someone with a uniform on and a green head-band with an AK. And if 50,000 Jews die in the process?? It was FAIR and ZERO civilians were killed.
If GW is representative of current Western Civilization thought. It is no wonder its all going to shit and the easily duped GW's of the world deserve to be under sharia law. Stupid goyim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJM_fPlWFgI
fair?
fair would be to stop pretending Hamas started the violence by firing rockets for no reason.
as has been noted here OVER AND OVER AND OVER - Israel started this cycle of violence on a pretext.
But people like you don't give a shit - your job is to keep whining about Hamas' rockets and Israel's "response."
What Israel should do is ease the blockade and not do shit like kill Hamas leaders hours after signing a truce with them, then using the press to advance the myth Israel was "responding" to rockets fired after unprovoked Israeli airstrikes.
keep posting, GW - Israeli media influence is a fantastic next topic potentially. The bias hurts American interests and any chance for peace.
by the way: http://antiwar.com/blog/2014/02/06/the-truth-about-cease-fire-violations...
The bias hurts ... any chance for peace.
Duffy, seriously??
You know the reason for the existance of Hamas, based on what their Charter says, and the reason for the existance of every other Jihadist group. You understand what the Holy War is about, and you understand the only condition under which that Holy War will be called completed.
And you try to convince ZH readers that you actually think peace with Israel is something any Jihadist will consider.
Sad.
"Stupid goyim" ... how do you know I'm not Jewish? Maybe I'm Jewish?
What about this prominent Jewish leader?
If your were a Jew, a Polish Jew at that, then you are a Kapo... a Jew that deserves to ....
that is simply not true http://www.targetofopportunity.com/palestinian_truth.htm
"For crying out loud George. Stop playing with your food and just eat it." - George Washington's mom
Seems like you hit a nerve, George. ....the bankerbots might actually blow a fuse over this one...heh heh....
They're next move is to shut down the interwebs....
C'mon, now - we can't have the TRUTH be heard over the roar of PROPOGANDA, now can we...?
Hamas has banker/client backing. And they're not joooish or American, what is this fucking Romper Room?
Doha Bank, Arab Bank...you want me to give you a list?
Wait! Look, a Swiss squirrel!!! ;-)
I'm Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Atheist, Deist, Buddhist, and any other ist
As long as they agree with MY version of Morality.
Church of Alex Co Jones Next-to-God
General Sherman was never tried for "War Crimes" after razing hundreds of Confederate towns and starving the South.
SecDef McNamara was given a medal for destroying Vietnam.
The Enola Gay is in a museum somewhere.
See my point?
Well, the war did end after Sherman's march to the sea, and that's a fact.
yep, however the world is changing, we generally don't burn witches anymore either.
see my point?
Didn't that change in attitude toward burning witches happen before General Sherman's time?
So, no - I don't see your point.
You are correct Richard, very good, my point is that what was acceptable in the past is not necessarily acceptable now, the witches analogy is proabably not a good example as it seems to have confused you, sorry about that.
Thanks for your clarification. I get your point now.
TAKE THE UN TO THE HAGUE ON WAR CRIMES CHARGES - aiding and abetting Hamas, storing Hamas weapons in UN facilities turning a blind eye to missles being fired off amongst the presence of women and children, knowing that Hamas pussies hide in there rabbit hole while they refuse the Palestinian civilians access to the tunnnels..... and on and on...
Each Hamas rocket fired at Israeli citizens indiscrimnately is a war crime...
Bring it on bitchez!!!!
The liberal progressive wackos and the radical towel heads that frequent this site need to move in together and see how that works out for you.
Dear Israelis,
Gaza has 1.8 million People in a concentration camp, they are concentrated! That means dense and controlled beyond reasonable comfort for any civilization. After years of OPRESSION, normal people become tired and try to stand up for their families and neighbors.
The people throw sticks and stones and bottle rockets? Your race wipes out streets and complete neighborhoods. How many Israeli civilians killed and how many houses destroyed, (one).
Victoria Nuland maybe the last straw for most of the world, More and more countries have learned these last years to hate your race?
Sorry but your race is numbered
Its just a religious war, if you were all Muslim or all Jewish you would not be killing each other. All that carnage simply because you worship different idols.
I thought most Zionists were not very religious. I know that point has been presented on ZH before - but maybe quite a while ago?