Gaza War Crimes, by Gråulf

My daughter is at the International Court at The Hague, and she is having a difficult time with the conflict in the Middle East. On one hand, she is a bleeding heart liberal, and terribly upset about the human suffering in Gaza. On the other hand, she is afraid to let her coworkers know she is Jewish, because Arab sympathizers at the court might compromise her work, as well as her safety. Much of Europe is rife with vociferous anti-Israel rhetoric, and anti-Semitism is on the raise. Nor are Jews in the US entirely spared. For 2007, FBI figures show that among 1,477 religiously motivated hate crimes reported, 9% were anti-Islamic, 9.5% were anti-other religion, 4.4% were anti-Catholic, and 68.4% were anti-Jewish.

Now the United Nations, and the International Court at The Hague, are considering charging Israel, as well as individual Jewish citizens, with war crimes. One of the most ardent advocates for a war crimes trial is a Danish lawyer, and professional busybody, by the name of Elna Sondergaard. In an article published in the Palestine Chronicle she writes:

• “The brutal and indiscriminate Israeli attacks on the Palestinian population in Gaza during the last weeks have entailed numerous violations of basic norms of international law, such as the principles of proportionality and distinction (between civilians and combatants; and between civilian and military targets). Military acts, such as intentionally targeting schools and other civilian facilities are considered violations of international humanitarian law in relation to which the state of Israel bears responsibility – but they also constitute serious crimes under international law (e.g., war crimes and eventual crimes against humanity) in relation to which individuals should stand trial.”

This is not a lady I would want on the jury. As you can see from her language, she already knows who the guilty party is.

In stark contrast to that article, the Jerusalem Post interviewed Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian Justice minister, MP and law professor at Montreal’s McGill University. It is his opinion that Hamas has systematically violated international agreements related to armed conflict.

• “Hamas is committing at least six violations of international law, Cotler explained.
• "First, the deliberate targeting of civilians is in and of itself a war crime," he noted, referring to the Hamas rockets fired at southern towns for eight years.
• "A second war crime is when Hamas attacks [from within] civilian areas and civilian structures, whether it be an apartment building, a mosque or a hospital, in order to be immune from a response from Israel," he went on. "Civilians are protected persons, and civilian areas are protected areas. Any use of a civilian infrastructure to launch bombs is itself a war crime."
• That Hamas bears legal responsibility for the harm to civilians in areas from which it fires is enshrined throughout international law, he said: "In the general principles of customs binding on nations, in the specific international law of armed conflict [also called] international humanitarian law, in the Fourth Geneva Convention, in decisions of the International Court of Justice and the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda - it's all set out there."
• Third, he explained, "the misuse and abuse of humanitarian symbols for purposes of launching attacks is called the perfidy principle. For example, using an ambulance to transport fighters or weapons or disguising oneself as a doctor in a hospital, or using a UN logo or flag, are war crimes."
• The fourth violation, "of which little has been made, is the prohibition in the Fourth Geneva Convention and international jurisprudence against the direct and public incitement to genocide. The Hamas covenant itself is a standing incitement to genocide. [Similarly,] just before this fighting started, I saw Hamas leaders on television referring to Israel and Jews as the sons of apes and pigs."
• The fifth crime relates to the scope of the attack on civilians, which upgrades the violation to a crime against humanity. According to Cotler, "when you deliberately hit civilians not infrequently but in a systematic, widespread attack, that's defined in the treaty of the International Criminal Court and international humanitarian law as a crime against humanity."
• The final war crime for which Hamas is responsible is the recruitment of children into armed conflict.”

People around the world can lay the blame for the Gaza war on Israel or on Hamas, depending on who they support, but I would argue that the population of Gaza is culpable in this conflict, and legitimate targets. The Gazan’s elected a terrorist organization as their government, knowing their fanatical agenda, and they were well aware that electing Hamas would limit international aide. They were aware that Israel would close the Gaza crossings if they continued to smuggle weapons across the border, and shooting rockets into Israel. And they were certainly aware that Israel would attack in response to the barrage of rockets fired at Israel after the Cease Fire expired.

It is easy for a bunch of armchair pacifists to talk about proportional response, and about charging soldiers at war with crimes against humanity; but if there is a crime to be prosecuted, it is that the world, and especially the Arab World, has allowed Palestinians to live in refugee camps for two generations.


Gråulf