The BBC reports that, according to witness testimonies, on 4 January Israeli soldiers evacuated about 110 Palestinians, half of them children, into a house in Gaza warning them to stay indoors.
24 hours later, Israeli forces bombed the home repeatedly, killing approximately 30 people.
Three children, the youngest of whom was five months old, died in the attack.
The International Committee of the Red Cross claims that ambulances were allowed access to the neighborhood to help the wounded only four days after the alleged incident.
I wonder what will Israel's excuse be this time? Did the children fire rockets from the house? Perhaps the five months old baby was the terrorist they were targeting.
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 102
Let me take a stab; I'd wager this would be another report from one of their most "neutral" and un-committed reporters, like Mads Gilbert, member of the "Red Star" Party of Norway, Commie, Pantywaist, liar, and most ardent supporter and ADMIRER of the sub-human Terrorist pilots on 9/11?
Please...
Hamas is waging war from its side to put as many of its own children in the way as it can. Dead Palestinian children is its only weapon, on the world state.
Why would Israel mess up it's own efforts with bad press? The bad press only helps Hamas.
Think, people.
MJ ???? W, I agree with you completelly! People who think that Israel is innocent in all this are plain stupid.
Why did the US mess up it's efforts in Iraq with torture? Was that also a fabrication?
Mark-John~ WELL SAID ON ALL COUNTS.
Now onto a completely different topic ...
Palestine has made it a point of doing "pitty press" for itself for a long time now since that's its only weapon (on the world stage - not world state - I did a typo up there) .
When that's your only weapon, it has to be seen as such.
Hamas is the killing machine. They have no honor in war. They use aid trucks and ambulences and schools and homes and mosques to smuggle and wage war from, then then cry when Israel blows them up for being the war tools that they are. Hamas has provolked war and then puts its own children in the way just for pity press.
That's the way it looks from here (since I don't do loopy THE-JEWS-EAT-UNBAPTISED-BABIES type conspiracy theories)
- Hamas killed 14 Israelis with their rockets
Israel killed over 700 people, most of them civilians -- over 200 Palestinian children were killed by Israeli rockets
I hope this is simple enough for you few "inteligent" ones above to understand
Israel will go after Hamas until it gets them to stop attacking it. The Palestinian's killed in the process are all Hamas' fault.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD95J82Q00
Israel needs to be stopped...and they need to be stopped NOW by UN and every other sanction in the book.
"They said that after the Israeli army first took the town on Saturday night soldiers had ordered about 100 members of the clan to gather in a single house owned by Wael Samouni around dawn on Sunday.
At 6.35am on Monday the house was repeatedly shelled with appalling loss of civilian life. "
And that's the very thing Israel is blatantly trying to stop.
But how come we have a long history of covertly supplying Israel with infinitely more dangerous weapons?
Just because we want a steadfast ally in the region, Israel's atrocities are OK?
But I don't buy their propaganda. They did it to themselves. They always are doing it to themselves. They did it to themselves back when they were sending in suicide bombers every day, and they got walled off for it. And then they cry they got walled off. And now it's sad but I bet things will be worse for them because of this. You can't be constantly violent like they are and have a nice place, and live in peace.
In my post, I never mentioned Hamas. I think that the Palestinians would be better off if they didn't vote for them in the last elections.
This post was not about Hamas. It was about 100 Palestinians who were told by the Israelis to stay in a house where they would be safe, only to be killed by the same Israelis the next day. Do you really believe that this was a mistake?
report is true, I don't think it can be hung on Hamas. When you invade a crowded urban environment, it is vital to adopt rules of engagement that minimize the loss of civilian life. The Israeli shelling of that building MAY not have been intentional- but at best it was a horrible and stupid mistake. When you tell civilians to shelter in a building, you have to tell the artillery guys to NOT blast the building. It's not excusable.
Savo, I suggest that the title may not have been well chosen. But I defend your right to point out that Israel has abandoned the concept of proportionality here. Does it help
Israel in the long term to kill civilians? Not if the surviving civilians blame it on Israel rather than Hamas.
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated pieces of real estate in the world. The presence of militants within a civilian population does not, under international law, deprive that population of their protected status, and hence any assault upon that population under the guise of targeting militants is, in fact, a war crime.
Moreover, the people Israel claims are legitimate targets are members of Hamas, which Israel says is a terrorist organization. Hamas has been responsible for firing rockets into Israel. These rockets are extremely inaccurate and thus, even if Hamas intended to hit military targets within Israel, are indiscriminate by nature. When rockets from Gaza kill Israeli civilians, it is a war crime.
Hamas has a military wing. However, it is not entirely a military organization, but a political one. Members of Hamas are the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinian people. Dozens of these elected leaders have been kidnapped and held in Israeli prisons without charge. Others have been targeted for assassination, such as Nizar Rayan, a top Hamas official. To kill Rayan, Israel targeted a residential apartment building. The strike not only killed Rayan but two of his wives and four of his children, along with six others. There is no justification for such an attack under international law. This was a war crime.
Other of Israel’s bombardment with protected status under international law have included a mosque, a prison, police stations, and a university, in addition to residential buildings.
Moreover, Israel has long held Gaza under siege, allowing only the most minimal amounts of humanitarian supplies to enter. Israel is bombing and killing Palestinian civilians. Countless more have been wounded, and cannot receive medical attention. Hospitals running on generators have little or no fuel. Doctors have no proper equipment or medical supplies to treat the injured. These people, too, are the victims of Israeli policies targeted not at Hamas or legitimate military targets, but directly designed to punish the civilian population.
Lie #2: Hamas violated the cease-fire. The Israeli bombardment is a response to Palestinian rocket fire and is designed to end such rocket attacks.
Israel never observed the cease-fire to begin with. From the beginning, it announced a “special security zone” within the Gaza Strip and announced that Palestinians who enter this zone will be fired upon. In other words, Israel announced its intention that Israeli soldiers would shoot at farmers and other individuals attempting to reach their own land in direct violation of not only the cease-fire but international law.
Despite shooting incidents, including ones resulting in Palestinians getting injured, Hamas still held to the cease-fire from the time it went into effect on June 19 until Israel effectively ended the truce on November 4 by launching an airstrike into Gaza that killed five and injured several others.
Israel’s violation of the cease-fire predictably resulted in retaliation from militants in Gaza who fired rockets into Israel in response. The increased barrage of rocket fire at the end of December is being used as justification for the continued Israeli bombardment, but is a direct response by militants to the Israeli attacks.
Israel’s actions, including its violation of the cease-fire, predictably resulted in an escalation of rocket attacks against its own population.
Lie #3: Hamas is using human shields, a war crime.
There has been no evidence that Hamas has used human shields. The fact is, as previously noted, Gaza is a small piece of real estate that is densely populated. Israel engages in indiscriminate warfare such as the assassination of Nizar Rayan, in which members of his family were also murdered. It is victims like his dead children that Israel defines as “human shields” in its propaganda. There is no legitimacy for this interpretation under international law. In circumstances such as these, Hamas is not using human shields, Israel is committing war crimes in violation of the Geneva Conventions and other applicable international law.
Lie #4: Arab nations have not condemned Israel’s actions because they understand Israel’s justification for its assault.
The populations of those Arab countries are outraged at Israel’s actions and at their own governments for not condemning Israel’s assault and acting to end the violence. Simply stated, the Arab governments do not represent their respective Arab populations. The populations of the Arab nations have staged mass protests in opposition to not only Israel’s actions but also the inaction of their own governments and what they view as either complacency or complicity in Israel’s crimes.
Moreover, the refusal of Arab nations to take action to come to the aid of the Palestinians is not because they agree with Israel’s actions, but because they are submissive to the will of the US, which fully supports Israel. Egypt, for instance, which refused to open the border to allow Palestinians wounded in the attacks to get medical treatment in Egyptian hospitals, is heavily dependent upon US aid, and is being widely criticized within the population of the Arab countries for what is viewed as an absolute betrayal of the Gaza Palestinians.
Even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been regarded as a traitor to his own people for blaming Hamas for the suffering of the people of Gaza. Palestinians are also well aware of Abbas’ past perceived betrayals in conniving with Israel and the US to sideline the democratically elected Hamas government, culminating in a counter-coup by Hamas in which it expelled Fatah (the military wing of Abbas’ Palestine Authority) from the Gaza Strip. While his apparent goal was to weaken Hamas and strengthen his own position, the Palestinians and other Arabs in the Middle East are so outraged at Abbas that it is unlikely he will be able to govern effectively.
Lie #5: Israel is not responsible for civilian deaths because it warned the Palestinians of Gaza to flee areas that might be targeted.
Israel claims it sent radio and telephone text messages to residents of Gaza warning them to flee from the coming bombardment. But the people of Gaza have nowhere to flee to. They are trapped within the Gaza Strip. It is by Israeli design that they cannot escape across the border. It is by Israeli design that they have no food, water, or fuel by which to survive. It is by Israeli design that hospitals in Gaza have no electricity and few medical supplies with which to treat the injured and save lives. And Israel has bombed vast areas of Gaza, targeting civilian infrastructure and other sites with protected status under international law. No place is safe within the Gaza Strip."
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4195.shtml
Israeli lies continue to be exposed:
"Yesterday, Israeli forces fired three shells at a United Nations school in Jabalya refugee camp, which it knew was being used as shelter for displaced civilian families. The attack killed at least 46 and wounded 55 others, but Israel said the killings were “according to procedures” and blamed Hamas for provoking the attack, claiming it was using the school secretly and fired mortars from the courtyard. Israel was so outraged in fact that they are considering an official complaint to the UN over the incident.
But the Israeli government’s already flagging credibility took another hit today, when UN investigators shot more holes in the official Israeli story than the military did in the school. They insist there is not a shred of evidence to support the Israeli claim that there were militants in the school."
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/07/un-contradicts-israeli-story-on-school-killings/
"UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness reported this evening that the Israeli army is privately briefing diplomats on the fact that its previous claims about their attack on a UN-run girls’ school in the Gaza Strip, which caused over 100 civilian casualties.
The attack occurred yesterday, when Israeli mortars deliberately fired three shells at the school, which was filled with hundreds of displaced civilians at the time, killing at least 46 and wounding 55 others. As international outrage began to well over the enormous civilian toll of the attack, Israel declared the killings “according to procedures” and claimed Hamas had fired rockets from the school’s courtyard, making the attack on hundreds of innocent civilians self-defense.
Much was made of the claim, including reports that Israel was mulling filing a formal complaint to the United Nations about Hamas’ use of the facility. But as the United Nations poked holes in the official story, Israel is now backing off those claims.
And while Israel had previously claimed to have had proof to back up its story, Gunness says the military is now conceding that the mortar fire they previously claimed came from the school came from elsewhere in the refugee camp. Though Israel is trying to keep its admission of guilt relatively quiet (far more quiet than its allegations that the killings were justified) it will doubtless pay a further price in the court of international public opinion for having once again deliberately targeted a building full of innocent civilians."
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/07/un-israel-admits-claims-about-attacked-school-baseless/
"In what Red Cross chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories Pierre Wettlach described as “a shocking incident,” relief workers found four starving children next to their mothers and other corpses in a neighborhood of Gaza City which Israel had denied them access to for days.
“The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation,” Wettlach added, “but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded.” The action appears, according to the agency, to have violated international humanitarian law.
The young children were too weak to stand, and the Israeli army erected large earthen barriers and denied ambulances access to the neighborhood for four days. After discovering yet more bodies in another house in the neighborhood, the Israeli military ordered the rescue team to leave the area immediately.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the specifics of the latest atrocities, but insists that it “in no way intentionally targets civilians and has demonstrated its willingness to abort operations to save civilian lives.” The claim carries considerably less weight after the Israeli military intentionally attacked a UN-run school full of civilians on Tuesday and unsuccessfully tried to blame Hamas."
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/08/red-cross-israeli-behavior-in-gaza-shocking/
I'm sorry Peter. Just how does an infant...do it to himself?
Of course...they're easy to shoot. Just don't lead them as much when you pull the trigger. Really Peter....did the children do this to themselves too?
Can you at least object to the senseless killing of innocent people?
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
“ISRAEL MUST defend itself against the rockets that are terrorizing our Southern towns,” the Israeli spokesmen explained. “Palestinians must respond to the killing of their fighters inside the Gaza Strip,” the Hamas spokesmen declared.
As a matter of fact, the cease-fire did not collapse, because there was no real cease-fire to start with. The main requirement for any cease-fire in the Gaza Strip must be the opening of the border crossings. There can be no life in Gaza without a steady flow of supplies. But the crossings were not opened, except for a few hours now and again. The blockade on land, on sea and in the air against a million and a half human beings is an act of war, as much as any dropping of bombs or launching of rockets. It paralyzes life in the Gaza Strip: eliminating most sources of employment, pushing hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, stopping most hospitals from functioning, disrupting the supply of electricity and water.
Those who decided to close the crossings – under whatever pretext – knew that there is no real cease-fire under these conditions.
That is the main thing. Then there came the small provocations which were designed to get Hamas to react. After several months, in which hardly any Qassam rockets were launched, an army unit was sent into the Strip “in order to destroy a tunnel that came close to the border fence”. From a purely military point of view, it would have made more sense to lay an ambush on our side of the fence. But the aim was to find a pretext for the termination of the cease-fire, in a way that made it plausible to put the blame on the Palestinians. And indeed, after several such small actions, in which Hamas fighters were killed, Hamas retaliated with a massive launch of rockets, and – lo and behold – the cease-fire was at an end. Everybody blamed Hamas."
http://counterpunch.org/avnery01022009.html
"Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution expressing support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas, while the House of Representatives prepared to act on a similar measure tomorrow."
A pox on both their' Houses!
"World concern over, and opposition to, the Israeli war in Gaza is rapidly mounting:
International pressure intensified sharply on Israel on Thursday, the 13th day of its Gaza assault, after the United Nations suspended food aid deliveries, the International Committee of the Red Cross accused the Israelis of knowingly blocking assistance to the injured, and a top Vatican official defended comments in which he compared Gaza to a concentration camp.
The Israelis have deliberately made it impossible to know the full extent of the carnage and humanitarian disasters because they continue to prevent journalists from entering Gaza even in the face of a now week-old Israeli Supreme Court order compelling them to do so. According to Palestinian sources, there are now 700 dead Palestinians -- at least 200 of them children -- and well over 1,000 wounded. Those numbers are not seriously doubted by anyone. By comparison, a total of 10 Israelis have died -- 10 -- almost all of them by "friendly fire." The unusually worded Red Cross condemnation of Israel was prompted by its discovery, after finally being allowed into Gaza, of starving Palestinian children laying next to corpses, with ambulances blocked for days by the IDF. Even with the relative "restraint" Israel is excercising (the damage it could cause is obviously much greater), this is not so much of a war as it is a completely one-sided massacre.
As a result, much of the world is urging an end to the war and acting to forge a cease-fire -- except the United States. Here, blind and unequivocal support for the Israeli attack is actually increasing almost as fast as the Palestinian body count piles up. Apparently, it isn't enough that we supply the very bombs being dropped on the Palestinians and use our U.N. veto power to prevent any U.N. action to stop the war or even to urge its cessation. The U.S. Congress wants to involve the U.S. further still in Israel's war.
This afternoon, the Democratic-led U.S. Senate did just that by enacting -- via a cowardly voice vote -- a completely one-sided, non-binding resolution that expresses unequivocal support for the Israeli war, and heaps all the blame for the conflict on Hamas and none of it on Israel. Harry Reid -- who jointly sponsored the Resolution with GOP Leader Mitch McConnell -- proudly proclaimed: "When we pass this resolution, the United States Senate will strengthen our historic bond with the state of Israel." On its website, AIPAC is already patting the U.S. Senate on its head for "for conveying America's unequivocal and steadfast support for Israel's right to self-defense."
The Senate resolution is here (.pdf). The very similar House version that was circulated earlier today was drafted by Israel-centric House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.). It is here (.pdf), and is expected to pass early next week -- undoubtedly with overwhelming bipartisan support. ThinkProgess noted yesterday that Democrats took the lead in drafting the Resolution because they did not want to be "out-hawked by the Republicans," though it's hardly unusual for Democrats to march in lockstep with Republicans on Israel more than any other issue.
It's hard to overstate how one-sided this resolution is. It "expresses vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders." Why should the U.S. maintain an "unwavering commitment to the welfare" of a foreign country? It "lays blame both for the breaking of the 'calm' and for subsequent civilian casualties in Gaza precisely where blame belongs, that is, on Hamas." It repeatedly mentions the various sins of Hamas -- from rockets to suicide attacks -- but does not mention a single syllable of criticism for Israel. In the world of the U.S. Congress, neither the 4-decade occupation of Palestinian land nor the devastating blockade of Gaza nor the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements even exist. That may not be mentioned.
The Resolution demands that Hamas take multiple steps towards peaceful resolution but demands that Israel do absolutely nothing. It purports to call for a cease-fire in which the Palestinians make all the concessions and Israel makes none. Worst of all -- in light of the Red Cross condemnation, yesterday's slaughter at the U.N. school, and other similar incidents -- the Resolution disgustingly praises Israel's conduct of the war"
more at: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/08/israel/index.html
"JERUSALEM - Photographic evidence has emerged that proves that Israel has been using controversial white phosphorus shells during its offensive in Gaza, despite official denials by the Israel Defence Forces.
There is also evidence that the rounds have injured Palestinian civilians, causing severe burns. The use of white phosphorus against civilians is prohibited under international law.
The Times has identified stockpiles of white phosphorus (WP) shells from high-resolution images taken of Israel Defence Forces (IDF) artillery units on the Israeli-Gaza border this week. The pale blue 155mm rounds are clearly marked with the designation M825A1, an American-made WP munition. The shell is an improved version with a more limited dispersion of the phosphorus, which ignites on contact with oxygen, and is being used by the Israeli gunners to create a smoke screen on the ground.
The rounds, which explode into a shower of burning white streaks, were first identified by The Times at the weekend when they were fired over Gaza at the start of Israel's ground offensive. Artillery experts said that the Israeli troops would be in trouble if they were banned from using WP because it is the simplest way of creating smoke to protect them from enemy fire.
There were indications last night that Palestinian civilians have been injured by the bombs, which burn intensely. Hassan Khalass, a doctor at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, told The Times that he had been dealing with patients who he suspected had been burnt by white phosphorus. Muhammad Azayzeh, 28, an emergency medical technician in the city, said: "The burns are very unusual. They don't look like burns we have normally seen. They are third-level burns that we can't seem to control."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5470047.ece
You sure are impassioned about this issue. I think we just have to accept that it is official US policy to favor Israel above all else with respect to the region. Of course, we don't have to like it. It is the policy, however. We, the taxpayers, fund their army and subsidize their general fund without any conditions. In no other instance and nowhere else in the world, do we assist another country without definite purpose and specific preconditions for the assistance. I think that in many cases we the people have been sold a bill of goods about Israel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kiyyp9cZdY0&feature=related
"All civilians living in Gaza are collectively guilty for Kassam attacks on Sderot, former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has written in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings.
The letter, published in Olam Katan [Small World], a weekly pamphlet to be distributed in synagogues nationwide this Friday, cited the biblical story of the Shechem massacre (Genesis 34) and Maimonides' commentary (Laws of Kings 9, 14) on the story as proof texts for his legal decision.
According to Jewish war ethics, wrote Eliyahu, an entire city holds collective responsibility for the immoral behavior of individuals..."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1180527966693&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Obviously, this demented so-called rabbi doesn't know the Torah:
(Deuteronomy 24:16) - "Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin."
(Ezekiel 18:20) - "The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself."
This inhumane nutjob...even cites the Shechem Massacre (Genesis 34) as justifacation. Well in this event in the history of the Hebrews the Patriarch Jacob (Israel) and his' wife Leah had a daughter named, Dinah, who was sexually violated by a Hivite named Shechem. To make a long story short...two of Jacob's sons, Levi and Simeon took it upon themselves to massacre the Hivites under Prince Shechem. This was the Jacob's judgement on the matter:
"Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed." ~Genesis 34:30~
Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary
Here is Jacob's resentment of this bloody deed of Simeon and Levi, v. 30. Two things he bitterly complains of:
1. The reproach they had brought upon him thereby: You have troubled me, put me into a disorder, for you have made me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, that is,
"You have rendered me and my family odious among them. What will they say of us and our religion? We shall be looked upon as the most perfidious barbarous people in the world."
2. The ruin they had exposed him to. What could be expected, but that the Canaanites, who were numerous and formidable, would confederate against him, and he and his little family would become an easy prey to them? I shall be destroyed, I and my house. If all the Shechemites must be destroyed for the offence of one, why not all the Israelites for the offence of two? Jacob knew indeed that God had promised to preserve and perpetuate his house; but he might justly fear that these vile practices of his children would amount to a forfeiture, and cut off the entail.
Note, When sin is in the house, there is reason to fear ruin at the door."
http://biblecommenter.com/genesis/34-30.htm
"Editor's note: The following is Rep. Ron Paul's statement on H. Res. 34, "Recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming the United States' strong support for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process."
Madame Speaker, I strongly oppose H. Res. 34, which was rushed to the floor with almost no prior notice and without consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The resolution clearly takes one side in a conflict that has nothing to do with the United States or U.S. interests. I am concerned that the weapons currently being used by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza are made in America and paid for by American taxpayers. What will adopting this resolution do to the perception of the United States in the Muslim and Arab world? What kind of blowback might we see from this? What moral responsibility do we have for the violence in Israel and Gaza after having provided so much military support to one side?
As an opponent of all violence, I am appalled by the practice of lobbing homemade rockets into Israel from Gaza. I am only grateful that, because of the primitive nature of these weapons, there have been so few casualties among innocent Israelis. But I am also appalled by the long-standing Israeli blockade of Gaza – a cruel act of war – and the tremendous loss of life that has resulted from the latest Israeli attack that started last month.
There are now an estimated 700 dead Palestinians, most of whom are civilians. Many innocent children are among the dead. While the shooting of rockets into Israel is inexcusable, the violent actions of some people in Gaza does not justify killing Palestinians on this scale. Such collective punishment is immoral. At the very least, the U.S. Congress should not be loudly proclaiming its support for the Israeli government's actions in Gaza.
Madame Speaker, this resolution will do nothing to reduce the fighting and bloodshed in the Middle East. The resolution in fact will lead the U.S. to become further involved in this conflict, promising "vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state." Is it really in the interest of the United States to guarantee the survival of any foreign country? I believe it would be better to focus on the security and survival of the United States, the Constitution of which my colleagues and I swore to defend just this week at the beginning of the 111th Congress. I urge my colleagues to reject this resolution."
http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=14027
Excellent point, there. It is not the interest of taxpaying US citizens to support Israel unconditionally. Just what do we get out of the deal?
9/11s...I fear.
"Furor over shelling of Gaza families
The death toll in the shelling of a family compound in Gaza has risen to 30, the United Nations said in a report issued Friday, as relief workers continued to comb through wreckage to which they had initially been denied access for days.
The episode has ignited intense international criticism of the Israeli military for its failure to allow relief workers to reach the scene in a timely manner. On Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, also pointed to the deaths in the family compound as cause for an independent investigation into possible war crimes by Israeli forces in Gaza.
"Incidents such as this must be investigated because they display elements of what could constitute war crimes," Pillay told Reuters.
Initial reports on Monday said 11 members of the extended Samouni family had been killed and 26 wounded, according to witnesses and hospital officials, with five children ages 4 and under among the dead.
The new report, by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, was based on eyewitness accounts."
more at: http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/09/mideast/gaza.php?WT.mc_id=newsalert
Thousands Rally in World Capitals Against Israel
10 Jan 2009 22:44:42 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds San Francisco protest)
By Stephen Hird
LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Demonstrators in Washington marched under Palestinian flags and tens of thousands rallied in cities across Europe and the Middle East on Saturday to protest against Israel's offensive in Gaza.
Clashes with police broke out at some rallies in Europe. Danish police said they arrested 75 people at a demonstration in Copenhagen after activists smashed car windows, threw eggs at buses and attacked a McDonalds outlet.
In Washington, several thousand demonstrators gathered in a park opposite the White House to protest the Bush administration's backing for Israel.
"Free Palestine. Let Gaza live!" they chanted as they marched. Some banners called on incoming President-elect Barack Obama to change U.S. policy.
"My country gives billions of dollars a year to support a disgusting regime that practices genocide," said Washington resident Mary Carrick.
Police in riot gear confronted around 20,000 protesters brandishing banners and Palestinian flags outside the Israeli embassy in central London, while Oslo police used tear gas against rock-throwing activists in the Norwegian capital.
About 30,000 took to the streets of Paris, many demonstrators wearing Palestinian keffiyah headscarves and chanting "we are all Palestinians", "Israel murderer" and "peace". Some threw stones at police and burnt Israeli flags.
More at: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LA94876.htm
I don't "hate" anybody. I hate Evil, disingenuousness, foolishness, misplaced and misguided sympathy, lies.
Why don't you, Sir, tell me of YOUR Hatreds? Your hatreds for Truth, Morality, the United States, the West, Good, Jews, Israel, Honesty?
Why don't YOU tell us of the True nature of Islam?
Why don't you tell us of the Coptics in Egypt; the Nuns MURDERED at the hand of Muslims after the condemnation of Muslim violence by the Pope; the "peaceful" treatment of Christians in Iraq; the "practitioners of Peace" throughout Europe, England, Australia, and the United States? Why don't YOU tell us of the targeted Jews and Americans in Bombay, and their torture and subsequent slaughter? Those "practitioners of Peace" who riot, burn, Kill, and chant for Sha'ria and the need for "new and bigger ovens?"
Why don't you brighten our day with the True intent of Islam, the World Caliphate, and the fate of "infidels" who are opposed?
Seems to me, Sir, that the violence in this World comes from the "practitioners of Peace;" and you hate ME, Sir, because I am not fooled by the violent goals of Islam.
I hadn't figured you were... and I am not confused about the intention of Islam.
What a preposterous statement. Islam is not a group of people. There is no generalized point of view by people who practice Islam any more than people who practice Christianity can be accused of a generalized view. The problem you speak of can be laid at the doorstep of terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda does not represent the religion of Islam. While Palestinians practice Islam, they cannot be compared with other practitioners of the faith. Palestinians are living in conditions that you wouldn't want for your house pet. So get off the stereotyping and prejudice and give the Palestinians their due. They are living in poverty without simple things like drinking water. What would be your quality of life under those circumstances? And, wouldn't you blame the people who enjoy the basics just for being citizens on the right side of the blockade? The inequity of the situation defies the very nature of peace. I agree that the rockets that have been aimed and fired at Israel are wrong and do not promote peace. But, somehow, thirty injuries against 700 deaths and 2,000 injuries (at the last count) are a little overkill. How does Israel explain this? With a tired old line about their right to defend themselves. I'm afraid that Israel is not behaving like a country that even pretends to want a solution to the issue, Mark-John. Prejudicial attitudes about the Islamic religion don't offer one sound solution or explain any of the serious difficulties that are the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Putting all Muslims in one group is like saying that all Catholics are child molesters as many Catholic priests molest children.
Did you forget the Operation Rainbow 2004 invasion, too?
We are going to rise up like no other time in the history of Islam and bring justice to an otherwise unjust act of GENOCIDE against the MUSLIM WORLD!
THE UMMAH is JOINING together AGAIN, after years of seperation!
THANK YOU ISRAEL! THANK YOU USA! THANK YOU EGYPT!
YOU'RE CRIMINAL WARS ARE CAUSING THE UMMAH TO JOIN TOGETHER IN SOLIDARITY AGAIN! AL'HAMDULLILAH!
SUNNI & SHIA ARE RISING UP TOGETHER IN AFGHANISTAN, SYRIA, PAKISTAN, IRAQ!
ALLAH AKBAR! ALLAH AKBAR!
I will never fly on an airplane again.
So you may want to rethink it.
If you want peace, work for justice. Israel, the chosen people, should understand this better than any country.
You may want to check out the rant from Candace. I don't recall Judeo/Christians ever blathering this kind of hatred, do you? Allah Akbar, my ass!
Hugs!
"Killing 500 Palestinians and wounding 2,500 others (at the time of writing) is disproportionate. And just as Hamas's indiscriminate bombing of population centers is a crime against humanity, so too is Israel's killing of civilians (at least 130 so far, not to mention the thousands in the years of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza)."
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34647
If you kick the the big kid on the street in the shin enough times, eventually you're going to get your butt kicked but good.
"With still no end in sight to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, growing international concerns about the soaring civilian toll are putting an uncomfortable spotlight on the military’s behavior in a densely populated region. But while their own legal experts insist that the number of civilians killed by the Israeli military and the devastation of an entire enclave are totally irrelevant to the question of the proportionality of the attacks, human rights groups and high ranking UN officials see things a different way.
Earlier today, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted 33-1 to condemn Israel for gravely violating the human rights of Palestinians and called for an independent fact-finding mission to investigate potential violations of international human rights law, particularly in Israeli attacks on UN facilities. Only Canada voted against the the resolution.
Rights group have also accused Israel of targeting civilians, using banned weapons, holding Palestinian families in homes for use as human shields, and attacking medical facilities. Amnesty International said the shelling of residential streets alone was “prima facie evidence of war crimes,” with investigator Donatella Rovera condemning the indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli military."
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/12/growing-calls-for-israel-to-face-war-crimes-investigation/
"Last week, Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, warned that the army had still not exhausted its military options.
Those options have long been in preparation, as the defense minister, Ehud Barak, admitted early on in the offensive. He said he and the army had been planning the attack for at least six months. In fact, indications are that the invasion's blueprint was drawn up much earlier, probably 18 months ago.
It was then that Hamas foiled a coup plot by its chief rival, Fatah, which is backed by the United States. The flight of many Gazan members of Fatah to the West Bank convinced Barak that Israel's lengthy blockade of the tiny enclave alone would not bring Hamas to heel.
Barak began expanding the blockade to include shortages of electricity and fuel. It was widely assumed that this was designed to pressure the civilian population of Gaza to rebel against Hamas. However, it may also have been a central plank of Barak's military strategy: any general knows that it is easier to fight an army – or in this case a militia – that is tired, cold, and hungry. More so if the fighters' family and friends are starving too."
more at: http://www.antiwar.com/orig/cook.php?articleid=14050
"Parash Hill, a nature reserve in southern Israel, is a great spot for a picnic. With lush green fields and a view all the way to the Mediterranean, it is a serene and picturesque place where residents of Sderot come to quietly enjoy nature. But in a nation obsessed with the glories of its latest military adventure, Parash Hill is now a place for Israelis to gather and watch the death unfold.
They come with binoculars. They bring their families and take pictures. They rationalize away the deaths of hundreds of children by reasoning that “when they grow up they’ll also probably be terrorists.” Its like the fourth of July, only instead of watching fireworks and listening to crappy instrumental music on the radio they watch with barely restrained jubilation as their neighbors are killed under a heavy military bombardment and ground forces continue to pour deeper into the Gaza Strip.
The obsession with watching the violence unfold in the Gaza Strip is creeping-out even some of their fellow Israelis, who have dubbed the site “The Hill of Shame” and watch disapprovingly as others participate in Israel’s newest spectator sport."
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/12/israeli-sightseers-flock-to-border-to-watch-gaza-killings/
They've been under attack by their neighbors ever since.
By the way, how do you think the U.S. would react if missiles started flying across the Rio Grand?
"We all know the rationalization for Israel's brutal invasion of the Gaza Strip. After all, it's been reiterated endlessly over the airwaves by official and unofficial spokesmen for the Israeli government, on all channels, and with no rebuttal or skeptical perspective from Palestinians or, indeed, from anyone vaguely sympathetic to their plight. Their argument goes like this: if rockets were coming from Mexican territory and landing in San Diego, posing a threat to the life and safety of American citizens, we all know what would happen.
This is supposed to settle the question of the morality of the invasion, but it doesn't. Because what we are seeing in this argument is a variation on the old cherry-picking technique of the neocons in the Bush administration, who utilized "talking points" that were very selective in their presentation of the facts to make the case for invading Iraq.
What the rationalizers leave out, of course, is the ongoing blockade of Gaza, imposed after Hamas took control in the wake of its overwhelming election victory – and an attempted (and partially successful) coup d'etat by the losers of that election, the Fatah organization of the late Yasser Arafat (now headed up by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas). The blockade itself was an act of war, by which the Israelis struck the first blow.
With this correction made, then, let's revisit – and reverse – the Israeli argument, putting all the known facts in their proper context. If Mexico – in an attempt to regain its lost territory, the promised land of California – invaded California, drove the residents of San Diego from their city, cooped them up in, say, Death Valley, and wouldn't let anything but a basic minimum of consumer goods and medical supplies either in or out, well, we all know what would happen.
I won't waste your time or mine complaining about the brazenly Israeli-centric news coverage of the invasion by the English-speaking media. It's a given, like the weather, or, more accurately, the phenomenon of global warming – a man-made disaster. In any case, what's interesting is how Western perceptions of the Palestinian leadership have evolved over time, always in perfect accordance with the talking points put out by the Israeli embassy.
In the beginning there was Arafat, the first Palestinian leader to come to public prominence in the U.S. and Western Europe, who long embodied the Palestinian cause. Seen through the eyes of Israel's amen corner, he was a perfect villain: a radical, a terrorist, and a vicious anti-Semite, whose name was generally associated with intransigence and violence. The Israelis drove him out of Palestine and pursued him into Lebanon and points beyond, yet he endured. Longevity elevated him to semi-statesman status, and his perseverance would have led to a two-state solution if the U.S. negotiating team hadn't taken their instructions from Tel Aviv. He refused to relegate his people to a collection of defenseless bantustans. Be that as it may, in the end the Israelis besieged the ailing symbol of Palestinian resistance, then gloated that he had died of AIDS, rather than an Israeli bullet in the back of the head.
Fatah, traditionally afforded the same treatment as Arafat, has now been rehabilitated in the eyes of the Western media. In vivid contrast to Arafat's day, today we are told that Fatah is the vessel of pro-Western moderation. Yesterday they were dangerous terrorists who could not be talked to, today they are the recipients of U.S. aid. Abbas has basically taken the position that Hamas provoked the attack by launching rocket attacks after the cease-fire ran out, a position that further erodes his tenuous support among the populace and gives Hamas plenty of ammunition for future political gains.
Hamas, like Fatah before it, is today depicted much as Fatah once was – an exemplar of violent intransigence, an enemy whose fanaticism precludes negotiations, the only difference being the religious element. Fatah was always secular, whereas Hamas wants to establish an Islamic state in what is now Israel and the West Bank. Like Hezbollah, Hamas runs a wide variety of social and humanitarian programs: compared to the notoriously corrupt Fatah, these guys seem like angels to the average Palestinian. When Fatah lost out to Hamas big-time – in elections touted by President Bush as a triumph of democracy – "President" Abbas simply annulled the results, expelled the elected Hamas representatives from the Palestinian parliament, and outlawed the organization. The Israelis took it from there, with the blockade.
The pattern here is clear enough: whenever someone is actually opposing Israeli military aggression, that person or group is automatically characterized as a villain, a fanatic, a terrorist whose existence cannot be tolerated. Having demonized Arafat and driven him to his death, now they push Fatah and go after Hamas. Whichever group is more effective in resisting the occupation is targeted for destruction."
more at: http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=14001
"With hundreds of civilians, mostly women and children, killed during nearly three weeks of fighting in Gaza, there is a growing demand either for an international tribunal or an international commission to investigate charges of war crimes committed by Israel.
But there are fears that any such move may be shot down by the United States, and possibly other Western nations, which continue to politically temper their criticism of Israel despite violations of all the known international conventions protecting women, children, the wounded, and the dying in war zones.
"On an inter-governmental level, the war crimes process is essentially subject to geopolitical control, which means in practice that the criminal wrongdoing of the most powerful [the U.S. government] and its closest friends [Israel] get a free pass," Richard Falk, a professor of international law and a UN human rights expert, told IPS.
Despite widespread condemnation, this practice of "geopolitical impunity" is likely to shield Israel from formal scrutiny with respect to the alleged crimes of war and crimes against humanity associated with its military operations in Gaza since Dec. 27, he added.
...The London-based Amnesty International has asked the Security Council "to take firm action to ensure full accountability for war crimes and other serious abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law."
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told a special session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva that accountability must be ensured for violations of international law.
"I remind this Council that violations of international humanitarian law may constitute war crimes for which individual criminal responsibility may be invoked," she said.
At the special session Monday, the HRC adopted a resolution calling for an "urgent independent international fact-finding mission" to investigate all violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by Israel.
..."There certainly should be a tribunal," Michael Ratner, president of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, told IPS.
While it would look at war crimes committed by all parties, Hamas' actions pale in comparison to the murders committed by Israel, he said.
"The continued impunity of Israel for crimes it has committed encourages it in perpetrating gross violations of humanitarian law," said Ratner, who is also adjunct professor law at Columbia University.
"A tribunal is essential, [but] the United States will likely veto such a Security Counsel resolution. By doing so, it is enabling and condoning war crimes," he warned.
..."There exists the political climate to organize such a tribunal process for Gaza, and it will have worldwide resonance."
In the course of such a democratically conceived grassroots tribunal process, there would also be an opportunity to consider the implications of the U.S. role in providing vast military assistance and unconditional diplomatic support to Israel..."
http://www.antiwar.com/ips/deen.php?articleid=14063
Despite public vows by Israeli politicians to destroy Hamas's military capability, Israeli officials said Tuesday that the movement had lost only a fraction of its fighters and retained a large stockpile of rockets and other armaments. A "few hundred" Hamas fighters have been killed, out of a total force of 15,000, according to a senior Israeli military official.
In a briefing for foreign journalists, the senior official said Hamas still has hundreds of rockets and other missiles. "We do not see where they have a shortage of personnel to fight,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011303170.html
"“It seems at this moment the invasion is beginning at a number of points in the Gaza Strip,” Ramallah-based reporter Hadir Shaheen declared on Saturday, January 3. And he was right. Less than two hours later the beginning of Israel’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip was worldwide news, covered on every website and television station on the planet.
But Hadir Shaheen was the first… he and his fellow correspondent Mohammed Sarhan broke the story to a Beirut affiliate of the Iranian Al-Alam News Network. And what did scooping the hundreds of high-profile international reporters who flocked to Israel during the beginning of the Gaza air campaign get the two for their troubles? In Israel, an indictment and potentially a hefty jail sentence.
Since the start of the war the Israeli government has used national security as an excuse to enact a myriad of draconian new military censorship laws, giving the military considerable power to regulate what private journalists are and are not allowed to say. Reporting the truth about a major military operation before the Israeli military’s Spokesperson Unit had decided it was fit for international consumption now constitutes “passing information to the enemy.”
Israel has had a long history of relative press freedom, but that image is being seriously tarnished by a censorship-happy military that cheerfully ignores the orders of its own Supreme Court in the hopes of keeping tight control over information about its ongoing war. ABC News’ Simon McGregor Wood warns that the ongoing behavior is “placing Israel at risk of appearing like a military dictatorship.”
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/13/israel-indicts-two-journalists-for-reporting-start-of-gaza-invasion/
Israel: 'Still work to do in Gaza'
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090113/twl-israel-still-work-to-do-in-gaza-41f21e0.html
Yes, there are still some people alive...the genocide isn't complete.
That night, the night before the exterminator was to arrive, I got up in the middle of the night and heard a noise in the kitchen. There was a box of candy on the counter. I looked and saw a rat on the kitchen floor, on his hind legs, sniffing for food. At this point I was enraged.
I went out to the supermarket and bought a rat trap. Put a nice piece of bacon on it and set it on the kitchen floor. I went to the living room to wait. SNAP! I heard my trap catch my enemy. Then I went to the kitchen, sat in a chair and watched this arrogant little intruder slowly die.
Summary? Anger and frustration can drive you to seek sick pleasure.
Sick!
You better read up on the history of the conflict.
"On 6 October 2005, the High Court of Justice ruled that it was illegal for the IDF to use Palestinian civilians during military actions. The decision was made on a petition that B'Tselem and six other human rights organizations filed in 2002. The petition followed the IDF's use of Palestinian civilians as human shields since the beginning of the second intifada, primarily during IDF operations carried out in Palestinian population centers, as occurred in Operation Defensive Shield."
http://www.btselem.org/english/Human_Shields/
"Israeli ‘human shield’ claim is full of holes
The notion does not lose currency, even as the death toll climbs. By yesterday, the war in Gaza had left at least 905 Palestinians dead, a little less than half of whom were civilians.
Still, in the view of Israeli leaders, diplomats and spokesmen, Hamas is to blame for the carnage, even though the bodies of the civilians may be pocked with wounds meted out by Israeli bombs, artillery and bullets. The slain non-combatants, they say repeatedly, have been used by Hamas as “human shields”.
Under international humanitarian law, the definition of a “human shield” is quite specific: parties to a conflict are prohibited from using civilians to shield military objectives or military operations from attack.
A recent study by the International Committee for the Red Cross, the widely recognised arbiter over questions related to the laws of war and war crimes, said the use of human shields generally involves cases “where persons were actually taken to military objectives in order to shield those objectives from attack,” with the individuals often held against their will.
As in previous wars, Israel has used the term “human shield” more loosely during its current operation in the Gaza Strip, which today enters its 18th day.
In the deaths of at least 39 Palestinians at the UN’s Al Fakhoura school last week, it was a default position, apparently designed to blunt criticism that its forces were acting too cavalierly towards civilians in Gaza. Justifying Israel’s attack on the school, Israeli officials at first claimed that their fighters were responding to mortar fire from that location.
Then the spokesman for the UN relief agency in Gaza, Christopher Gunness, said the organisation was “99.9 per cent certain” that there had been no militants or militant activity within the school compound. The agency also said that all its schools and other facilities were clearly marked and that their locations had been provided to the Israel Defense Forces.
Mark Regev, the chief spokesman for Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, replied that Hamas was responsible for the deaths because it had used the civilians as “human shields” to try to make their own positions immune from attack. Mr Regev offered no evidence that Hamas fighters had forced Gazan civilians at gunpoint to provide cover for their attacks or protection from retaliation.
While actual proof that Hamas is using human shields appears to be lacking in this incident and others, the repeated accusation by Israel helps buy time and dilutes international pressure for a ceasefire."
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090113/FOREIGN/591536290/1140
On the other hand the IDF is notorious for hiding behind civilians and using them as shields:
"The Israeli Defence Ministry will appeal against a supreme court ruling banning the use of Palestinian human shields in raids, officials said.
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz is prepared to make a personal appearance in court to defend the practice, ministry officials added.
Human rights groups have frequently condemned the use of human shields."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4333982.stm
Dr. Sigmund Freud called this sort of mental imbalance....Projection: Placing the traits that you find unacceptable in yourself onto someone else.
"Israeli Brigadier General Yair Golan, Commander of the former West Bank Division, has been rebuked after a Military Police investigation has verified various reports that his troops had made use of the “human shield procedure” in the West Bank. Golan’s promotion to the rank of major general has also been put on hold. The IDF regularly blames their high civilian death tolls on the notion that their “terrorist” targets use human shields, though the procedure is regularly employed by Israel itself."
http://www.jwharrison.com/blog/2007/10/22/idf-commander-rebuked-for-use-of-human-shields/
"Israel 'shells UN building'
The UN headquarters in Gaza has reportedly been set ablaze after being hit by Israeli shells.
Witnesses and UN officials said the United Nations Relief and Work Agency building was being used as a shelter for civilians fleeing the bombardment of the Palestinian enclave when it was struck.
UN spokesman Chris Guiness said: "Our compound in Gaza has now received three hits, reportedly of white phosphorus.
"Buildings in the compound are on fire, there are loaded fuel tankers nearby. Three people have been injured.
"It is not clear at this stage if they are UNWRA staff or some of the 700 or so civilians who have taken refuge in our compound."
The use of white phosphorous, which causes horrific burns on contact with skin, was banned as a weapon of war in civilian areas under the 1980 Geneva protocol.
An explosion in a Gaza City tower block housing the offices of the Reuters news agency and other media organisations was also blamed on an Israeli shell.
Witnesses said the southern side of the 13th floor of the Al-Shurouq Tower in the city centre had been struck by an Israeli missile or shell and a journalist for the Abu Dhabi television channel.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said the number of deaths in the Gaza Strip after 20 days of fighting had become "unbearable"."
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090115/twl-israel-shells-un-building-41f21e0.html