14 june 2015
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Government-sanctioned report is released as 'pre-emptive strike' ahead of international UN report due to come out this month; authors say report provides evidence to justify Israel's decision to launch war in Gaza based on international law.
At least 44 percent of the 2,125 Palestinians killed during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer were identified by the IDF as armed fighters belonging to Hamas or other terror organizations in the Strip, according to an Israeli report released Sunday. The Foreign Ministry's report presents Israel's diplomatic, military and legal positions on the events of Protective Edge, ahead of the release of a UN |
committee's report on Monday. The international report will only be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 29, but the two warring sides, as well the members of the UN Security Council, will receive a copy of it this week.
The 277-page report, which cited Israel's internal probes and statements from Western leaders backing its right to self-defense, suggested the Netanyahu government hoped to defuse criticism from the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) inquiry in advance.
Deeming the HRC biased, Israel boycotted its investigators as it did those from the council who looked into its 2008-09 Gaza offensive. That HRC inquiry accused Israel of war crimes.
According to Israel, the actions of Hamas and other terror groups in the Strip that are detailed in the report constitute as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and a blatant violation of international law.
UN numbers of casualties in Gaza differ from Israel's, stating 2,256 Palestinians, including 1,563 civilians, were killed in the 50-day conflict.
The report disputes the UN figures, saying confirmed non-combatants made up 36 percent of the Palestinian dead and many militants were misidentified as civilians.
"Harm to the civilian population also occurred as the result of unfortunate - yet lawful - incidental effects of legitimate military action in the vicinity of civilians and their surroundings, and as a result of the inescapable constraint of commanders not being infallible, intelligence not being perfect and technological systems sometimes failing," the report says.
The Palestinians rejected the Israeli report. "The Israeli decision to deny targeting civilians in Gaza is the logical continuation of what Israel did in Gaza," Ehab Bseiso, spokesman of the Palestinian unity government told AFP.
Therefore, the report published on Sunday "does not change our position to demand an international investigation," he said. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, meanwhile, called the Israeli report worthless, saying "Israeli war crimes are clear because they were committed in front of live cameras". Hamas has denied any wrongdoing, saying it acted to protect Palestinians.
Hamas' war crimes
The Israeli report presents a list of war crimes committed by Hamas and the other terror organizations in the Gaza Strip and includes testimony and evidence which prove, according to Israel, that Hamas' strategy was to direct the fighting to urban areas and use the civilian population there as a human shield.
It also lists the locations of military command centers operating from civilian structures, mosques used as firing posts for snipers, schools used to store weapons and rockets, explosives planted in civilian structures and tunnels dug from inside civilian structures and residential areas.
The report also includes examples of instances in which Hamas forced civilians to arrive in fighting zones and stay there, and instructed them to ignore IDF warnings given before attacks on targets in those areas. The Israeli report further details several instances in which the Palestinian militants posed as civilians or as IDF soldiers.
Also detailed are the main events that led to the launch of Operation Protective Edge, Israel's main objectives, the terror targets the IDF acted against, the humanitarian aid Israel allowed into the Gaza Strip, the damage caused to the Israeli civilian population, Israel's inspection and investigation mechanisms, and more.
"From 2000, Hamas' terror activity has led to the death of at least 1,265 Israelis; Hamas fired over 15,200 rockets and mortars at Israeli citizens (4,500 of which during Protective Edge), covering some 70 percent of Israel's population;
Hamas dug at least 32 tunnels which cross the border between Gaza and Israel, meant to commit terror attacks against Israeli population centers," the report states. Therefore, "Israel's decision to launch a large-scale military operation against Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip as part of the ongoing armed conflict these organizations led was justified according to international law."
The report also details Israel's humanitarian efforts to send medical equipment, food and other supplies into the Gaza Strip during the fighting, despite the fact Hamas and the other terror groups were attacking the border crossings while supply was being let through.
With regards to the proposals for ceasefire, the report states that "had Hamas accepted the first Egyptian-mediated ceasefire, the one Israel accepted on July 15 that had the same conditions as the ones Hamas eventually accepted on August 26, 90 percent of casualties could have been prevented."
According to the report's authors, the information collected focused on facts, data and the legal aspects of the fighting against Hamas and the other terror factions in the summer of 2014.
Israel has been working on the report for several months and its authors says the report proves that Israel followed international law and made great efforts to avoid hurting innocent people, whether by using the "Knock on the Roof" procedure or by dropping flyers and calling Palestinian homes to warn them an imminent strike was coming.
The report calls to examine the incidents in which civilians were hurt in Gaza must be against the backdrop of the war crimes committed by Hamas and its use of civilian population, alongside Israeli effort to prevent harming civilians and adhere to international law. Israel, the report says, did not intentionally act to cause damage to the civilian Palestinian population and its surroundings during the confrontation, and deeply regrets this damage.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli report was meant to be a pre-emptive strike, noting that "this report is especially important because the State of Israel is under an unprecedented de-legitimization attack. This attack is not relevant, it's political. Its goal is to tarnish the State of Israel, and we intend to respond to this attack... We will act wherever we need to for as long as we need to in order to deal with false claims and anti-Israeli initiatives."
The 277-page report, which cited Israel's internal probes and statements from Western leaders backing its right to self-defense, suggested the Netanyahu government hoped to defuse criticism from the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) inquiry in advance.
Deeming the HRC biased, Israel boycotted its investigators as it did those from the council who looked into its 2008-09 Gaza offensive. That HRC inquiry accused Israel of war crimes.
According to Israel, the actions of Hamas and other terror groups in the Strip that are detailed in the report constitute as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and a blatant violation of international law.
UN numbers of casualties in Gaza differ from Israel's, stating 2,256 Palestinians, including 1,563 civilians, were killed in the 50-day conflict.
The report disputes the UN figures, saying confirmed non-combatants made up 36 percent of the Palestinian dead and many militants were misidentified as civilians.
"Harm to the civilian population also occurred as the result of unfortunate - yet lawful - incidental effects of legitimate military action in the vicinity of civilians and their surroundings, and as a result of the inescapable constraint of commanders not being infallible, intelligence not being perfect and technological systems sometimes failing," the report says.
The Palestinians rejected the Israeli report. "The Israeli decision to deny targeting civilians in Gaza is the logical continuation of what Israel did in Gaza," Ehab Bseiso, spokesman of the Palestinian unity government told AFP.
Therefore, the report published on Sunday "does not change our position to demand an international investigation," he said. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, meanwhile, called the Israeli report worthless, saying "Israeli war crimes are clear because they were committed in front of live cameras". Hamas has denied any wrongdoing, saying it acted to protect Palestinians.
Hamas' war crimes
The Israeli report presents a list of war crimes committed by Hamas and the other terror organizations in the Gaza Strip and includes testimony and evidence which prove, according to Israel, that Hamas' strategy was to direct the fighting to urban areas and use the civilian population there as a human shield.
It also lists the locations of military command centers operating from civilian structures, mosques used as firing posts for snipers, schools used to store weapons and rockets, explosives planted in civilian structures and tunnels dug from inside civilian structures and residential areas.
The report also includes examples of instances in which Hamas forced civilians to arrive in fighting zones and stay there, and instructed them to ignore IDF warnings given before attacks on targets in those areas. The Israeli report further details several instances in which the Palestinian militants posed as civilians or as IDF soldiers.
Also detailed are the main events that led to the launch of Operation Protective Edge, Israel's main objectives, the terror targets the IDF acted against, the humanitarian aid Israel allowed into the Gaza Strip, the damage caused to the Israeli civilian population, Israel's inspection and investigation mechanisms, and more.
"From 2000, Hamas' terror activity has led to the death of at least 1,265 Israelis; Hamas fired over 15,200 rockets and mortars at Israeli citizens (4,500 of which during Protective Edge), covering some 70 percent of Israel's population;
Hamas dug at least 32 tunnels which cross the border between Gaza and Israel, meant to commit terror attacks against Israeli population centers," the report states. Therefore, "Israel's decision to launch a large-scale military operation against Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip as part of the ongoing armed conflict these organizations led was justified according to international law."
The report also details Israel's humanitarian efforts to send medical equipment, food and other supplies into the Gaza Strip during the fighting, despite the fact Hamas and the other terror groups were attacking the border crossings while supply was being let through.
With regards to the proposals for ceasefire, the report states that "had Hamas accepted the first Egyptian-mediated ceasefire, the one Israel accepted on July 15 that had the same conditions as the ones Hamas eventually accepted on August 26, 90 percent of casualties could have been prevented."
According to the report's authors, the information collected focused on facts, data and the legal aspects of the fighting against Hamas and the other terror factions in the summer of 2014.
Israel has been working on the report for several months and its authors says the report proves that Israel followed international law and made great efforts to avoid hurting innocent people, whether by using the "Knock on the Roof" procedure or by dropping flyers and calling Palestinian homes to warn them an imminent strike was coming.
The report calls to examine the incidents in which civilians were hurt in Gaza must be against the backdrop of the war crimes committed by Hamas and its use of civilian population, alongside Israeli effort to prevent harming civilians and adhere to international law. Israel, the report says, did not intentionally act to cause damage to the civilian Palestinian population and its surroundings during the confrontation, and deeply regrets this damage.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli report was meant to be a pre-emptive strike, noting that "this report is especially important because the State of Israel is under an unprecedented de-legitimization attack. This attack is not relevant, it's political. Its goal is to tarnish the State of Israel, and we intend to respond to this attack... We will act wherever we need to for as long as we need to in order to deal with false claims and anti-Israeli initiatives."
Israel to release internal report on conduct during Operation Protective Edge to preempt UN report slammed by PM as 'baseless blaming' of Israel.
Israel will issue a report on Sunday arguing its 2014 Gaza offensive was lawful, a move aimed at pre-empting the release of findings of a UN war crimes investigation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as a waste of time.
Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday that "whoever wants a baseless automatic accusation against Israel can waste their time reading the UN report."
Instead, he said an Israeli report - and an unofficial report compiled by a group of retired Western generals - shows "the truth." Both documents say Israel did its utmost to avoid civilian casualties. Launched after a surge of cross-border rocket fire by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, Israel's two-month offensive last year, which included heavy shelling and air strikes into the densely populated enclave, killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Sixty-seven Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel also died in the conflict.
"Whoever wants to know the truth, let them read this report," Netanyahu, accusing Hamas of hiding behind non-combatants by deliberately operating in crowded Palestinian neighborhoods, told his cabinet in remarks made public. "Whoever wants to continue with baseless blaming of the state of Israel, let them waste time reading the report by the UN commission. We, for our part, will continue protecting our soldiers. They will continue protecting us."
The inquiry by the UN Human Rights Council into possible war crimes by Israel and the Islamist Hamas militants controlling the Gaza Strip is due to publish its findings this month, having postponed the release from March to consider further evidence. Israel says it did everything possible to prevent civilian casualties. Israel's critics accuse it of using excessive force and acting with impunity.
In March, Makarim Wibisono, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian territories, said the disparity in casualty figures on the two sides "reflects the (skewed) balance of power and the disproportionate cost born by Palestinian civilians, raising questions as to whether Israel adhered to the international law principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions."
No Israeli cooperation
Israel declined to cooperate formally with the UN council, accusing it of pro-Palestinian bias. The council's former chief investigator, William Schabas, resigned in February over consultancy work he previously did for the Palestine Liberation Organization.
On Friday, the Friends of Israel Initiative, a private European advocacy group, published assessments by several retired military chiefs from various countries defending Israel's conduct of the Gaza war. In March, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, another pro-Israel advocacy group based in the United States, published a similar report.
Israel will issue a report on Sunday arguing its 2014 Gaza offensive was lawful, a move aimed at pre-empting the release of findings of a UN war crimes investigation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as a waste of time.
Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday that "whoever wants a baseless automatic accusation against Israel can waste their time reading the UN report."
Instead, he said an Israeli report - and an unofficial report compiled by a group of retired Western generals - shows "the truth." Both documents say Israel did its utmost to avoid civilian casualties. Launched after a surge of cross-border rocket fire by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, Israel's two-month offensive last year, which included heavy shelling and air strikes into the densely populated enclave, killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Sixty-seven Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel also died in the conflict.
"Whoever wants to know the truth, let them read this report," Netanyahu, accusing Hamas of hiding behind non-combatants by deliberately operating in crowded Palestinian neighborhoods, told his cabinet in remarks made public. "Whoever wants to continue with baseless blaming of the state of Israel, let them waste time reading the report by the UN commission. We, for our part, will continue protecting our soldiers. They will continue protecting us."
The inquiry by the UN Human Rights Council into possible war crimes by Israel and the Islamist Hamas militants controlling the Gaza Strip is due to publish its findings this month, having postponed the release from March to consider further evidence. Israel says it did everything possible to prevent civilian casualties. Israel's critics accuse it of using excessive force and acting with impunity.
In March, Makarim Wibisono, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian territories, said the disparity in casualty figures on the two sides "reflects the (skewed) balance of power and the disproportionate cost born by Palestinian civilians, raising questions as to whether Israel adhered to the international law principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions."
No Israeli cooperation
Israel declined to cooperate formally with the UN council, accusing it of pro-Palestinian bias. The council's former chief investigator, William Schabas, resigned in February over consultancy work he previously did for the Palestine Liberation Organization.
On Friday, the Friends of Israel Initiative, a private European advocacy group, published assessments by several retired military chiefs from various countries defending Israel's conduct of the Gaza war. In March, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, another pro-Israel advocacy group based in the United States, published a similar report.
13 june 2015
The permanent Israeli mission at the UN was accused, on Saturday, of misleading envoys of permanent missions of other member states in New York.
An official at one of the permanent missions for a European country told Days of Palestine that the Israeli mission had circulated misleading information about its human rights record in occupied Palestine.
“We received emails from the Israeli mission, including direct instructions, which is against our sovereignty as a state, not to believe the recent Human Rights Watch report and rely only on two organisations they recommended,” the official said.
“When we googled these NGOs, we knew that they were Israelis,” the official, who preferred to keep the name of his Western-European country unknown, added.
He further criticised the Israeli behaviour at the UN, which is often supported by the United States. “We are disgusted in some of the European countries about what Israel and the US are doing,” he said, “It is rather shameful that Israel attempts to mislead us.”
Showing his anger while speaking to Days of Palestine, he said: “Israel should understand that European countries have certain red lines when it comes to Human rights. We cannot stand with Israel when it comes to human rights violations such as killing children in Gaza and before in Lebanon.
“There is now more awareness among member states at the UN, where they do not take the Israeli account unquestioned.”
Meanwhile, the official said he would reveal the name of some organizations that the Israeli occupation is using to mislead member states and promote its “false account” regarding human rights.
A number of leading international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have several times accused the Israeli occupation of carrying out flagrant human rights violations against Palestinians.
The latest massive genocidal human rights violation took place last summer during the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, when the Israeli occupation killed more than 2,260 Palestinians, UN said, around 500 of whom were children.
An official at one of the permanent missions for a European country told Days of Palestine that the Israeli mission had circulated misleading information about its human rights record in occupied Palestine.
“We received emails from the Israeli mission, including direct instructions, which is against our sovereignty as a state, not to believe the recent Human Rights Watch report and rely only on two organisations they recommended,” the official said.
“When we googled these NGOs, we knew that they were Israelis,” the official, who preferred to keep the name of his Western-European country unknown, added.
He further criticised the Israeli behaviour at the UN, which is often supported by the United States. “We are disgusted in some of the European countries about what Israel and the US are doing,” he said, “It is rather shameful that Israel attempts to mislead us.”
Showing his anger while speaking to Days of Palestine, he said: “Israel should understand that European countries have certain red lines when it comes to Human rights. We cannot stand with Israel when it comes to human rights violations such as killing children in Gaza and before in Lebanon.
“There is now more awareness among member states at the UN, where they do not take the Israeli account unquestioned.”
Meanwhile, the official said he would reveal the name of some organizations that the Israeli occupation is using to mislead member states and promote its “false account” regarding human rights.
A number of leading international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have several times accused the Israeli occupation of carrying out flagrant human rights violations against Palestinians.
The latest massive genocidal human rights violation took place last summer during the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, when the Israeli occupation killed more than 2,260 Palestinians, UN said, around 500 of whom were children.
Families outraged after IDF closes inquiry into airstrike that killed four children, concluding that troops adhered to rules of engagement.
The father of one of four Palestinian children killed on a Gaza beach during last summer's war between Hamas militants and Israel said Friday he was outraged by the Israeli military's announcement it was closing its internal inquiry without indictments.
He expressed hope that the incident would be part of a Palestinian war crimes case against Israel expected to be presented to the International Criminal Court.
"There is no justice in the internal investigation," Mohammed Bakr told The Associated Press Friday. "We are counting on the ICC and human rights. We are not afraid and we are confident we will win because the world is with us."
Israel has, in the past, pointed to the credibility of its internal investigations as proof that the involvement of the ICC was unnecessary.
The four boys, all cousins aged 9 to 11, were killed while playing on a beach off a coastal road west of Gaza City. Seven others -- adults and children -- were wounded in the same airstrike. The incident drew international attention and condemnation.
The military's statement on Thursday was released late at night -- something the Israeli military has done in the past when announcing the closure of similar investigations. The military said the boys' deaths were a tragic accident, caused when it mistook them for Hamas gunmen. It concluded that no international or Israeli rules of engagement were broken in the incident.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Thursday's announcement comes after the military police conducted an extensive investigation that questioned many soldiers involved in the planning and implementation of the strike.
He said on Facebook that it took place in an area "which was utilized exclusively by militants." Aerial surveillance identified several figures, believed to be Hamas militants, enter a compound there.
"It should be stressed that the figures were not identified at any point during the incident, as children," Lerner said
Witnesses at the time said a pair of Israeli airstrikes hit the beach; the first hit a container on a nearby jetty and the second struck the children as they were running away from the first strike.
Lerner called the children's death "tragic" and said that steps are being taken to "minimize the risk" of a similar incident happening again.
The conflict last summer between Israel and Hamas claimed the lives of more than 2,200 Palestinians and 73 people in Israel.
Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israeli population centers and heavily armed Gaza militants tunneled into Israel for attacks during the 50-day war. Israel used airstrikes from jets, helicopters and drones as well as thousands of artillery rounds.
The military's announcement comes as Israel braces itself for an upcoming report on last summer's war by a United Nations commission.
The father of one of four Palestinian children killed on a Gaza beach during last summer's war between Hamas militants and Israel said Friday he was outraged by the Israeli military's announcement it was closing its internal inquiry without indictments.
He expressed hope that the incident would be part of a Palestinian war crimes case against Israel expected to be presented to the International Criminal Court.
"There is no justice in the internal investigation," Mohammed Bakr told The Associated Press Friday. "We are counting on the ICC and human rights. We are not afraid and we are confident we will win because the world is with us."
Israel has, in the past, pointed to the credibility of its internal investigations as proof that the involvement of the ICC was unnecessary.
The four boys, all cousins aged 9 to 11, were killed while playing on a beach off a coastal road west of Gaza City. Seven others -- adults and children -- were wounded in the same airstrike. The incident drew international attention and condemnation.
The military's statement on Thursday was released late at night -- something the Israeli military has done in the past when announcing the closure of similar investigations. The military said the boys' deaths were a tragic accident, caused when it mistook them for Hamas gunmen. It concluded that no international or Israeli rules of engagement were broken in the incident.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Thursday's announcement comes after the military police conducted an extensive investigation that questioned many soldiers involved in the planning and implementation of the strike.
He said on Facebook that it took place in an area "which was utilized exclusively by militants." Aerial surveillance identified several figures, believed to be Hamas militants, enter a compound there.
"It should be stressed that the figures were not identified at any point during the incident, as children," Lerner said
Witnesses at the time said a pair of Israeli airstrikes hit the beach; the first hit a container on a nearby jetty and the second struck the children as they were running away from the first strike.
Lerner called the children's death "tragic" and said that steps are being taken to "minimize the risk" of a similar incident happening again.
The conflict last summer between Israel and Hamas claimed the lives of more than 2,200 Palestinians and 73 people in Israel.
Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israeli population centers and heavily armed Gaza militants tunneled into Israel for attacks during the 50-day war. Israel used airstrikes from jets, helicopters and drones as well as thousands of artillery rounds.
The military's announcement comes as Israel braces itself for an upcoming report on last summer's war by a United Nations commission.
Just ahead of a UN report on alleged war crimes, high-level former military commanders and military leaders release summary of fact-minding mission , concluding that Israel was careful to abide by the law.
A multi-national group of former senior military and political leaders on Friday released its findings that during Operation Protective Edge, "Israel not only met a reasonable international standard of observance of the laws of armed conflict, but in many cases significantly exceeded that standard."
The release of the findings comes not long before the UN Human Rights Council's release of its own findings on Israel's actions during last summer's conflict.
Unlike the Human Rights Council's committee, which some suspect of one-sidedness and with which Israel is not cooperating, the commanders and statesmen who arrived as friends of the Friends of Israel organization – including former heads of state – have received full cooperation from Israel, on both a political and military level.
The group appointed 11 individuals from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Australia, and Colombia. The visit to Israel occurred in late May.
Heading the delegation was General Klaus Naumann, former Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee – the most senior officer in NATO.
"Our mission to Israel was unprecedented," said the group in the summary of its findings. "We were the first such multi-national group of senior officers to visit the country. We were granted a level of access to the Israeli government and Defense Force that has not been afforded to any other group, from the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Minister of Defense, Moshe Ya’alon, right down to the field commanders responsible for fighting the battle on the ground."
The group said it was aware of allegations that Israel committed war crimes during Operation Protective Edge. But it said it had reached the opposite conclusion. According to the group, it found instead that Israel had sought to avoid a conflict for months despite receiving rocket fire at civilians, and was ultimately forced into a defensive war. Furthermore, the group said that deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians by Hamas and the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields were clearly war crimes.
"We believe that in general Israeli forces acted proportionately as required by the laws of armed conflict and often went beyond the required legal principles of proportionality, necessity and discrimination," read the findings. "The measures taken were often far in excess of the requirements of the Geneva Conventions. They sometimes placed Israeli lives at risk. To an extent these steps also undermined the effectiveness of the IDF’s operations by pausing military action and thus allowing Hamas to re-group and replenish."
Regarding the number of Palestinian deaths during the operation, more than 2,000, the report emphasized that in a population of 1.8 million, many deaths that are unrelated to fighting will occur over the course of 50 days of war. Some, said the report, were killed when Hamas attacks against Israel failed. While the report accepted Israel's estimate that half of the 2,000 were terrorists, it acknowledged that many civilians were as a result of Israeli military action.
"We recognize that some of these deaths were caused by error and misjudgment…" the report continued. "But we also recognize that the majority of deaths were the tragic inevitability of defending against an enemy that deliberately carries out attacks from within the civilian population.
"We must therefore consider that Hamas and its terrorist associates, as the aggressors and the users of human shield, are responsible for the overwhelming majority of deaths in Gaza this summer." (see report below, June 12)
A multi-national group of former senior military and political leaders on Friday released its findings that during Operation Protective Edge, "Israel not only met a reasonable international standard of observance of the laws of armed conflict, but in many cases significantly exceeded that standard."
The release of the findings comes not long before the UN Human Rights Council's release of its own findings on Israel's actions during last summer's conflict.
Unlike the Human Rights Council's committee, which some suspect of one-sidedness and with which Israel is not cooperating, the commanders and statesmen who arrived as friends of the Friends of Israel organization – including former heads of state – have received full cooperation from Israel, on both a political and military level.
The group appointed 11 individuals from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Australia, and Colombia. The visit to Israel occurred in late May.
Heading the delegation was General Klaus Naumann, former Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee – the most senior officer in NATO.
"Our mission to Israel was unprecedented," said the group in the summary of its findings. "We were the first such multi-national group of senior officers to visit the country. We were granted a level of access to the Israeli government and Defense Force that has not been afforded to any other group, from the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Minister of Defense, Moshe Ya’alon, right down to the field commanders responsible for fighting the battle on the ground."
The group said it was aware of allegations that Israel committed war crimes during Operation Protective Edge. But it said it had reached the opposite conclusion. According to the group, it found instead that Israel had sought to avoid a conflict for months despite receiving rocket fire at civilians, and was ultimately forced into a defensive war. Furthermore, the group said that deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians by Hamas and the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields were clearly war crimes.
"We believe that in general Israeli forces acted proportionately as required by the laws of armed conflict and often went beyond the required legal principles of proportionality, necessity and discrimination," read the findings. "The measures taken were often far in excess of the requirements of the Geneva Conventions. They sometimes placed Israeli lives at risk. To an extent these steps also undermined the effectiveness of the IDF’s operations by pausing military action and thus allowing Hamas to re-group and replenish."
Regarding the number of Palestinian deaths during the operation, more than 2,000, the report emphasized that in a population of 1.8 million, many deaths that are unrelated to fighting will occur over the course of 50 days of war. Some, said the report, were killed when Hamas attacks against Israel failed. While the report accepted Israel's estimate that half of the 2,000 were terrorists, it acknowledged that many civilians were as a result of Israeli military action.
"We recognize that some of these deaths were caused by error and misjudgment…" the report continued. "But we also recognize that the majority of deaths were the tragic inevitability of defending against an enemy that deliberately carries out attacks from within the civilian population.
"We must therefore consider that Hamas and its terrorist associates, as the aggressors and the users of human shield, are responsible for the overwhelming majority of deaths in Gaza this summer." (see report below, June 12)
12 june 2015
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Key preliminary findings on the 2014 Gaza Conflict by a high level international military group as submitted to the UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry, which is expected to issue its report next week.
______ HIGH LEVEL INTERNATIONAL MILITARY GROUP THE GAZA CONFLICT IN 2014 From 18th – 22nd May 2015, the High Level International Military Group, made up of 11 former chiefs of staff, generals, senior officers, political leaders and officials from the United States, Germany, the |
United Kingdom, Holland, Spain, Italy, Australia and Colombia visited Israel for a fact-finding mission on the 2014 Gaza conflict. We were led by General Klaus Naumann, former Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, the most senior officer in the Alliance, and Giulio Terzi, former Foreign Minister of Italy. Also in the group were Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper, formerly US State Department Ambassador at Large for war crimes issues; and Mr Rafael Bardaji, former National Security Adviser to the Government of Spain.
This was part of a longer term project by our group, whose principal concern is how civilian lives can be protected and military forces can fight effectively when operations must be conducted in a densely packed civilian area. We will be producing a full report this autumn.
Our mission to Israel was unprecedented. We were the first such multi-national group of senior officers to visit the country. We were granted a level of access to the Israeli government and Defence Force that has not been afforded to any other group, from the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Minister of Defence, Moshe Ya’alon, right down to the field commanders responsible for fighting the battle on the ground.
We were well aware of the allegations made by some governments, the United Nations, human rights groups and the media, that Israel acted outside the laws of armed conflict in Gaza. Some have suggested that the IDF lacked restraint or even deliberately targeted innocent civilians.
Our findings lead us to the opposite conclusion. We examined the circumstances that led to the tragic conflict last summer and are in no doubt that this was not a war that Israel wanted. In reality Israel sought to avoid the conflict and exercised great restraint over a period of months before the war when its citizens were targeted by sporadic rocket attacks from Gaza. Once the war had begun, Israel made repeated efforts to terminate the fighting. The war that Israel was eventually compelled to fight against Hamas and other Gaza extremists was a legitimate war, necessary to defend its citizens and its territory against sustained attack from beyond its borders.
In the main Hamas’s rocket attacks deliberately and indiscriminately targeted Israeli civilian population centres in the south of the country. We visited one, the kibbutz Nahal Oz, at which more than 150 Hamas rockets had been directed last summer, causing loss of life and large-scale destruction. Many attacks were also launched against major cities further north including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Hamas deliberately fired missiles at Ben Gurion International Airport, disrupting and threatening international civil air traffic. There is no doubt that all of these attacks constitute war crimes.
Hamas also constructed an array of tunnels, using materials diverted from humanitarian supplies, which penetrated the border between Gaza and Israel, in many cases emerging close to civilian communities. We entered one such tunnel, which extended over two kilometres, terminating only a few hundred yards from a kibbutz and likely intended to eventually bore into the kibbutz itself. We can only conclude that these tunnels were designed, at least in part, to attack, kill and abduct Israeli civilians. This again constitutes a war crime.
Hamas launched attacks against Israel from the heart of its own civilian communities in Gaza and positioned its munitions and military forces there also, including in schools, hospitals and mosques. As well as carefully documented IDF evidence of this, we have viewed international media footage confirming several cases and are aware of senior Hamas officials’ own claims to have used human shields. A recent report by the UN Secretary General confirmed that in some cases Hamas even used UN facilities for storing munitions and launching attacks.
Again, these actions clearly amount to war crimes. The laws of armed conflict not only forbid the use of human shields but also demand that combatant forces ensure their civilians are physically evacuated from combat areas. Hamas made no effort to evacuate civilians; on the contrary, there are documented cases of them compelling civilians to remain in or return to places where they expected Israeli attacks to come.
The Israel Defence Force employed a series of precautionary measures to reduce civilian casualties. Each of our own armies is of course committed to protecting civilian life during combat. But none of us is aware of any army that takes such extensive measures as did the IDF last summer to protect the lives of the civilian population in such circumstances.
We were briefed on the IDF’s strict procedures and standards for confirming the validity of a military target and the presence or absence of civilians, and the stringent requirements for both military and legal authorisation to attack a target. We were briefed on some cases where the IDF declined to attack known military targets due to the presence of civilians, risking, and in some instances costing, Israeli lives.
Measures taken to warn civilians included phone calls, SMS messages, leaflet drops, radio broadcasts, communication via Gaza-based UN staff and the detonation of harmless warning explosive charges, known as “knock on the roof”. Where possible the IDF sought also to give guidance on safe areas and safe routes.
We were briefed on the IDF’s proportionality principles and calculations used in circumstances where an attack was likely to result in civilian deaths. We believe that in general Israeli forces acted proportionately as required by the laws of armed conflict and often went beyond the required legal principles of proportionality, necessity and discrimination.
We were briefed in detail on Israel’s humanitarian efforts to reduce the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza. The measures taken were often far in excess of the requirements of the Geneva Conventions. They sometimes placed Israeli lives at risk. To an extent these steps also undermined the effectiveness of the IDF’s operations by pausing military action and thus allowing Hamas to re-group and replenish. Supplies provided to the civilian population by Israel were often commandeered by Hamas for military use.
We understand that over 2,000 people died in Gaza during the conflict. In a population of approximately 1.8 million, over a 50-day period many would have died of causes unrelated to the fighting. We also know that some died when Hamas’s attacks against Israel went wrong, and a recently published report by Amnesty International asserts that Hamas murdered at least twenty-three people in Gaza during this period, and tortured dozens more.
On the basis of close scrutiny of open source records as well as from secret intelligence, the IDF informed us that they assess that over half of those declared dead were combatants from Hamas and other groups that were engaged in the fighting – a figure higher than that commonly asserted by the UN, which takes its own assessment from Hamas sources. This nevertheless leaves a deeply concerning number of civilian deaths, perhaps around 1,000, many of whom were killed as a result of Israeli military action.
We recognise that some of these deaths were caused by error and misjudgement as we mention below. But we also recognise that the majority of deaths were the tragic inevitability of defending against an enemy that deliberately carries out attacks from within the civilian population. We must therefore consider that Hamas and its terrorist associates, as the aggressors and the users of human shield, are responsible for the overwhelming majority of deaths in Gaza this summer.
In war, as in all facets of life, mistakes are made, including errors of judgement, confusion and technical failure. Also individual soldiers sometimes act unlawfully, against military policy, rules of engagement and military law. All of this of course occurred among IDF forces in the Gaza conflict as it does in all military forces.
We were extensively briefed by the IDF’s Military Advocate General and by other military lawyers. We have been informed that where transgressions and errors are alleged these cases are subject to rigorous, transparent investigation and if necessary criminal proceedings and punishment. The Israeli military legal system includes a number of robust checks and balances, on which we were briefed; including oversight by the country’s widely respected supreme civil judiciary.
We agree with the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, who following the Pentagon’s fact-finding mission to Israel, went on record last November as saying that in the 2014 Gaza conflict, “Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties”.
Our overall findings are that during Operation Protective Edge last summer, in the air, on the ground and at sea, Israel not only met a reasonable international standard of observance of the laws of armed conflict, but in many cases significantly exceeded that standard. We saw clear evidence of this from the upper to the lower levels of command. A measure of the seriousness with which Israel took its moral duties and its responsibilities under the laws of armed conflict is that in some cases Israel’s scrupulous adherence to the laws of war cost Israeli soldiers’ and civilians’ lives.
Signed by the members of the High Level International Military Group that visited Israel 18th – 22nd May 2015,
Giulio Terzi – former Foreign Minister of Italy.
General Klaus Naumann – former Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.
General Vincenzo Camporini – former Chief of the Defence Staff of Italy.
Admiral Jose Maria Teran – former Chief of the Joint Staff of Spain.
Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper – former US State Department Ambassador at Large for war crimes issues.
Mr Rafael Bardaji – former National Security Adviser for the Spanish government.
Lieutenant General David A Deptula – former Standing Joint Force Air Component Commander, United States Pacific Command.
Major General Jim Molan – former Chief of Operations, Headquarters Multi National Force, Iraq and Commander of the Australian Defence College.
Colonel Eduardo Ramirez – Member of Colombian Congress and former Chief of Security, Colombia.
Colonel Vincent Alcazar – former senior United States Air Force officer in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Colonel Richard Kemp – former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan.
31 May 2015
The project was sponsored by the Friends of Israel Initiative.
This was part of a longer term project by our group, whose principal concern is how civilian lives can be protected and military forces can fight effectively when operations must be conducted in a densely packed civilian area. We will be producing a full report this autumn.
Our mission to Israel was unprecedented. We were the first such multi-national group of senior officers to visit the country. We were granted a level of access to the Israeli government and Defence Force that has not been afforded to any other group, from the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Minister of Defence, Moshe Ya’alon, right down to the field commanders responsible for fighting the battle on the ground.
We were well aware of the allegations made by some governments, the United Nations, human rights groups and the media, that Israel acted outside the laws of armed conflict in Gaza. Some have suggested that the IDF lacked restraint or even deliberately targeted innocent civilians.
Our findings lead us to the opposite conclusion. We examined the circumstances that led to the tragic conflict last summer and are in no doubt that this was not a war that Israel wanted. In reality Israel sought to avoid the conflict and exercised great restraint over a period of months before the war when its citizens were targeted by sporadic rocket attacks from Gaza. Once the war had begun, Israel made repeated efforts to terminate the fighting. The war that Israel was eventually compelled to fight against Hamas and other Gaza extremists was a legitimate war, necessary to defend its citizens and its territory against sustained attack from beyond its borders.
In the main Hamas’s rocket attacks deliberately and indiscriminately targeted Israeli civilian population centres in the south of the country. We visited one, the kibbutz Nahal Oz, at which more than 150 Hamas rockets had been directed last summer, causing loss of life and large-scale destruction. Many attacks were also launched against major cities further north including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Hamas deliberately fired missiles at Ben Gurion International Airport, disrupting and threatening international civil air traffic. There is no doubt that all of these attacks constitute war crimes.
Hamas also constructed an array of tunnels, using materials diverted from humanitarian supplies, which penetrated the border between Gaza and Israel, in many cases emerging close to civilian communities. We entered one such tunnel, which extended over two kilometres, terminating only a few hundred yards from a kibbutz and likely intended to eventually bore into the kibbutz itself. We can only conclude that these tunnels were designed, at least in part, to attack, kill and abduct Israeli civilians. This again constitutes a war crime.
Hamas launched attacks against Israel from the heart of its own civilian communities in Gaza and positioned its munitions and military forces there also, including in schools, hospitals and mosques. As well as carefully documented IDF evidence of this, we have viewed international media footage confirming several cases and are aware of senior Hamas officials’ own claims to have used human shields. A recent report by the UN Secretary General confirmed that in some cases Hamas even used UN facilities for storing munitions and launching attacks.
Again, these actions clearly amount to war crimes. The laws of armed conflict not only forbid the use of human shields but also demand that combatant forces ensure their civilians are physically evacuated from combat areas. Hamas made no effort to evacuate civilians; on the contrary, there are documented cases of them compelling civilians to remain in or return to places where they expected Israeli attacks to come.
The Israel Defence Force employed a series of precautionary measures to reduce civilian casualties. Each of our own armies is of course committed to protecting civilian life during combat. But none of us is aware of any army that takes such extensive measures as did the IDF last summer to protect the lives of the civilian population in such circumstances.
We were briefed on the IDF’s strict procedures and standards for confirming the validity of a military target and the presence or absence of civilians, and the stringent requirements for both military and legal authorisation to attack a target. We were briefed on some cases where the IDF declined to attack known military targets due to the presence of civilians, risking, and in some instances costing, Israeli lives.
Measures taken to warn civilians included phone calls, SMS messages, leaflet drops, radio broadcasts, communication via Gaza-based UN staff and the detonation of harmless warning explosive charges, known as “knock on the roof”. Where possible the IDF sought also to give guidance on safe areas and safe routes.
We were briefed on the IDF’s proportionality principles and calculations used in circumstances where an attack was likely to result in civilian deaths. We believe that in general Israeli forces acted proportionately as required by the laws of armed conflict and often went beyond the required legal principles of proportionality, necessity and discrimination.
We were briefed in detail on Israel’s humanitarian efforts to reduce the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza. The measures taken were often far in excess of the requirements of the Geneva Conventions. They sometimes placed Israeli lives at risk. To an extent these steps also undermined the effectiveness of the IDF’s operations by pausing military action and thus allowing Hamas to re-group and replenish. Supplies provided to the civilian population by Israel were often commandeered by Hamas for military use.
We understand that over 2,000 people died in Gaza during the conflict. In a population of approximately 1.8 million, over a 50-day period many would have died of causes unrelated to the fighting. We also know that some died when Hamas’s attacks against Israel went wrong, and a recently published report by Amnesty International asserts that Hamas murdered at least twenty-three people in Gaza during this period, and tortured dozens more.
On the basis of close scrutiny of open source records as well as from secret intelligence, the IDF informed us that they assess that over half of those declared dead were combatants from Hamas and other groups that were engaged in the fighting – a figure higher than that commonly asserted by the UN, which takes its own assessment from Hamas sources. This nevertheless leaves a deeply concerning number of civilian deaths, perhaps around 1,000, many of whom were killed as a result of Israeli military action.
We recognise that some of these deaths were caused by error and misjudgement as we mention below. But we also recognise that the majority of deaths were the tragic inevitability of defending against an enemy that deliberately carries out attacks from within the civilian population. We must therefore consider that Hamas and its terrorist associates, as the aggressors and the users of human shield, are responsible for the overwhelming majority of deaths in Gaza this summer.
In war, as in all facets of life, mistakes are made, including errors of judgement, confusion and technical failure. Also individual soldiers sometimes act unlawfully, against military policy, rules of engagement and military law. All of this of course occurred among IDF forces in the Gaza conflict as it does in all military forces.
We were extensively briefed by the IDF’s Military Advocate General and by other military lawyers. We have been informed that where transgressions and errors are alleged these cases are subject to rigorous, transparent investigation and if necessary criminal proceedings and punishment. The Israeli military legal system includes a number of robust checks and balances, on which we were briefed; including oversight by the country’s widely respected supreme civil judiciary.
We agree with the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, who following the Pentagon’s fact-finding mission to Israel, went on record last November as saying that in the 2014 Gaza conflict, “Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties”.
Our overall findings are that during Operation Protective Edge last summer, in the air, on the ground and at sea, Israel not only met a reasonable international standard of observance of the laws of armed conflict, but in many cases significantly exceeded that standard. We saw clear evidence of this from the upper to the lower levels of command. A measure of the seriousness with which Israel took its moral duties and its responsibilities under the laws of armed conflict is that in some cases Israel’s scrupulous adherence to the laws of war cost Israeli soldiers’ and civilians’ lives.
Signed by the members of the High Level International Military Group that visited Israel 18th – 22nd May 2015,
Giulio Terzi – former Foreign Minister of Italy.
General Klaus Naumann – former Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.
General Vincenzo Camporini – former Chief of the Defence Staff of Italy.
Admiral Jose Maria Teran – former Chief of the Joint Staff of Spain.
Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper – former US State Department Ambassador at Large for war crimes issues.
Mr Rafael Bardaji – former National Security Adviser for the Spanish government.
Lieutenant General David A Deptula – former Standing Joint Force Air Component Commander, United States Pacific Command.
Major General Jim Molan – former Chief of Operations, Headquarters Multi National Force, Iraq and Commander of the Australian Defence College.
Colonel Eduardo Ramirez – Member of Colombian Congress and former Chief of Security, Colombia.
Colonel Vincent Alcazar – former senior United States Air Force officer in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Colonel Richard Kemp – former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan.
31 May 2015
The project was sponsored by the Friends of Israel Initiative.
Israel showed care in a just Gaza war
By Major-General Jim Molan (Ret.)
We sat in the Israeli kibbutz 800m from the closest Gaza Strip buildings. Four Israeli women told stories of life during Operation Protective Edge, the 50-day conflict last year between Israel and Hamas, of the rain of rockets and mortars, 15 seconds’ warning, days in shelters and of a four-year-old child killed by shrapnel. The rockets impacted on every aspect of life but the effect of finding one of the many sophisticated tunnels dug over several years at the very door step of the kibbutz for Hamas fighters to kill civilians more precisely and personally was an even greater shock.
“It is not the people of Gaza,” the woman said still visibly disturbed. “It is Hamas. We are of the Left of Israeli politics and want peace so much. The sound of our planes flying overhead to bomb Gaza challenged every belief I have. But we will not live with terror. Before Hamas we had Palestinian friends in Gaza and we care for those people, it is not their fault. Perhaps we will be friends again one day.”
Having spent a week in Israel courtesy of a pro-Israel organisation, I found myself saying rather gratuitously: “As a foreigner with only a week in Israel, I say that your military truly reflects your care for the people of Gaza.” I meant well, knowing that perhaps 2200 Gazans died of all causes in the latest clash, but she turned on me, saying: “Of course they do. They reflect our values. They are our sons.”
A week before I would not have been prepared to make the statement that the Israeli military “cared”. Despite the negative inference of most reporting, I had expected that Israel observed international law. This requires that wars be just, and fought in accordance with principles of proportionality, humanity, discrimination and necessity. Of course there is vast room for interpretation, with one man’s proportionality being the Human Rights Council’s war crime.
I suspect that I was invited to Israel because I had publicly criticised the bizarre 2010 UN Goldstone Report on a previous war in Gaza, and I was as a general in Iraq experienced in the practical application of the laws of armed conflict on a similar battlefield.
Now having spent a week in Israel with a group of senior military, police and lawyers researching Israel’s moral approach to warfighting, the results exceeded my expectation. I do not take a position on Israel’s legitimacy, the two-state solution, settlements or the occupation. With a moral and professional eye, I focused on this one conflict.
As a result, I am much more comfortable now that I can make the case I expected to make, although our assessment process still has some time to go.
I can say that Israel’s prosecution of Operation Protective Edge not only met a reasonable international standard of observance of the laws of armed conflict, it exceeded them significantly, often at cost to Israeli soldiers and citizens. It did this to preserve the life and property of those trying to kill Israeli citizens. Where there were individual failures, Israel is taking transparent legal action.
In war any military can exceed the “reasonable” standard. According to the strict internal review methods that were applied to my conduct of military operations back in Iraq, my actions were always legal, and where I could, I exceeded them. The IDF did this and more.
Many will still question how Israel can have acted legally given its losses were markedly less in soldiers and civilians. Israel is so strong and Hamas so weak. We all saw the grainy videos of houses being demolished by bombs.
Those who hate Israel will continue to make the case that everything Israel does is bad and that Hamas was struggling nobly for Palestinian freedom. I do not ask anyone to necessarily believe what I say, but at least there is an obligation to be equally sceptical of what Hamas says.
Given our examination of the cause of Operation Protective Edge, it would be indefensible to argue that Israel wanted it, initiated it or sustained it, or that Israel acted in anything other than defence of its citizens. On this basis alone, Israel’s war was just. It will be interesting to see if the imminent UNHRC report and the ICC inquiry can deliver fairness. Many do not understand it is not illegal to kill civilians in war as long as that is not the purpose of your actions, hence the appalling term “collateral damage”. Unlike our fight in Iraq or Afghanistan, Israel fights repeatedly in the same neighbourhood, and so its understanding and its intelligence is far superior to anything that I have enjoyed in similar targeting decisions that I have made.
While acknowledging the tragedy of death in war and given the immense capability of the IDF, it stands to Israel’s everlasting credit that far more did not die. But from the very top of the command chain down to the infantry and pilots, the personal moral position that individuals took was mirrored in the targeting processes, decisions on the ground and in the real care taken.
War can brutalise, but the Israelis scrupulously “cared” for the Palestinians. By contrast, Hamas was an enemy whose central strategy was to directly target the Israeli population and who repeatedly used their own population as human shields, both of which in any fair system would constitute major war crimes.
The women of the kibbutz were proud of their sons, but they would also be proud of what one senior Israeli commander whose soldier son was about to deploy to Gaza, recounted.
“Come back alive,” he said in farewell, “but come back human.” I wonder what the Hamas version of this farewell would be.
Jim Molan is a retired major-general in the Australian Army.
31 May 2015
The project was sponsored by the Friends of Israel Initiative.
By Major-General Jim Molan (Ret.)
We sat in the Israeli kibbutz 800m from the closest Gaza Strip buildings. Four Israeli women told stories of life during Operation Protective Edge, the 50-day conflict last year between Israel and Hamas, of the rain of rockets and mortars, 15 seconds’ warning, days in shelters and of a four-year-old child killed by shrapnel. The rockets impacted on every aspect of life but the effect of finding one of the many sophisticated tunnels dug over several years at the very door step of the kibbutz for Hamas fighters to kill civilians more precisely and personally was an even greater shock.
“It is not the people of Gaza,” the woman said still visibly disturbed. “It is Hamas. We are of the Left of Israeli politics and want peace so much. The sound of our planes flying overhead to bomb Gaza challenged every belief I have. But we will not live with terror. Before Hamas we had Palestinian friends in Gaza and we care for those people, it is not their fault. Perhaps we will be friends again one day.”
Having spent a week in Israel courtesy of a pro-Israel organisation, I found myself saying rather gratuitously: “As a foreigner with only a week in Israel, I say that your military truly reflects your care for the people of Gaza.” I meant well, knowing that perhaps 2200 Gazans died of all causes in the latest clash, but she turned on me, saying: “Of course they do. They reflect our values. They are our sons.”
A week before I would not have been prepared to make the statement that the Israeli military “cared”. Despite the negative inference of most reporting, I had expected that Israel observed international law. This requires that wars be just, and fought in accordance with principles of proportionality, humanity, discrimination and necessity. Of course there is vast room for interpretation, with one man’s proportionality being the Human Rights Council’s war crime.
I suspect that I was invited to Israel because I had publicly criticised the bizarre 2010 UN Goldstone Report on a previous war in Gaza, and I was as a general in Iraq experienced in the practical application of the laws of armed conflict on a similar battlefield.
Now having spent a week in Israel with a group of senior military, police and lawyers researching Israel’s moral approach to warfighting, the results exceeded my expectation. I do not take a position on Israel’s legitimacy, the two-state solution, settlements or the occupation. With a moral and professional eye, I focused on this one conflict.
As a result, I am much more comfortable now that I can make the case I expected to make, although our assessment process still has some time to go.
I can say that Israel’s prosecution of Operation Protective Edge not only met a reasonable international standard of observance of the laws of armed conflict, it exceeded them significantly, often at cost to Israeli soldiers and citizens. It did this to preserve the life and property of those trying to kill Israeli citizens. Where there were individual failures, Israel is taking transparent legal action.
In war any military can exceed the “reasonable” standard. According to the strict internal review methods that were applied to my conduct of military operations back in Iraq, my actions were always legal, and where I could, I exceeded them. The IDF did this and more.
Many will still question how Israel can have acted legally given its losses were markedly less in soldiers and civilians. Israel is so strong and Hamas so weak. We all saw the grainy videos of houses being demolished by bombs.
Those who hate Israel will continue to make the case that everything Israel does is bad and that Hamas was struggling nobly for Palestinian freedom. I do not ask anyone to necessarily believe what I say, but at least there is an obligation to be equally sceptical of what Hamas says.
Given our examination of the cause of Operation Protective Edge, it would be indefensible to argue that Israel wanted it, initiated it or sustained it, or that Israel acted in anything other than defence of its citizens. On this basis alone, Israel’s war was just. It will be interesting to see if the imminent UNHRC report and the ICC inquiry can deliver fairness. Many do not understand it is not illegal to kill civilians in war as long as that is not the purpose of your actions, hence the appalling term “collateral damage”. Unlike our fight in Iraq or Afghanistan, Israel fights repeatedly in the same neighbourhood, and so its understanding and its intelligence is far superior to anything that I have enjoyed in similar targeting decisions that I have made.
While acknowledging the tragedy of death in war and given the immense capability of the IDF, it stands to Israel’s everlasting credit that far more did not die. But from the very top of the command chain down to the infantry and pilots, the personal moral position that individuals took was mirrored in the targeting processes, decisions on the ground and in the real care taken.
War can brutalise, but the Israelis scrupulously “cared” for the Palestinians. By contrast, Hamas was an enemy whose central strategy was to directly target the Israeli population and who repeatedly used their own population as human shields, both of which in any fair system would constitute major war crimes.
The women of the kibbutz were proud of their sons, but they would also be proud of what one senior Israeli commander whose soldier son was about to deploy to Gaza, recounted.
“Come back alive,” he said in farewell, “but come back human.” I wonder what the Hamas version of this farewell would be.
Jim Molan is a retired major-general in the Australian Army.
31 May 2015
The project was sponsored by the Friends of Israel Initiative.
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Israel's internal probe has concluded that the missile attack that killed four Palestinians children on a beach in Gaza last summer was the result of collateral damage.
The Israeli military has cleared itself from all responsibility in the deaths of the four Bakr cousins who were killed last summer on a beach in Gaza. (18+ video) The children: Ismail, Ahed, Zakaria, and Mohammed aged between nine and eleven. The boys had been playing on the beach when an Israeli fired missile killed the boys and injured several others. The results of the Israeli investigation which exonerated Israel of culpability for the children's deaths was released late Thursday night by Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner. The internal report noted that the Israeli strike targeted what Israel claims was a weapons compound which Israel alleges was being used by Hama's Naval Police and the report asserts that the compound housed numerous commandos. Israel's report contradicts international journalists accounts who witnessed the incident from the ground, International journalist, Jonathan Miller, of Britain's Channel 4 News, along with NBC;s correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin, and Peter Beaumont of The Guardian each witnessed the missile strike first hand. A New York Time photojournalist, Tyler Hicks, was on the scene and captured images of the boys playing on the beach followed by the missile strike which killed them. |
Each of the journalists reported that the Israeli strike came from an Israeli naval vessel in the Mediterranean, contrary to the new Israeli internal report which alleges the attack was from the air.
The international journalists reported that they ran to the beach following the Israeli attack but were too late to save any of the children who died at the scene,
Jonathan Miller of Channel 4 tweeted at the time: "Three shells hit fishermen's beach just next to hotels," This further contradicts the Israeli report which claims a single missile was fired at what the report calls a "Hamas compound." Miller later tweeted: "Children wounded by shrapnel treated by foreign journalists on terrace of al-Deira hotel #Gaza."
NBC's man on the ground in Gaza tweeted: "4 Palestinian kids killed in a single Israeli airstrike. Minutes before they were killed by our hotel, I was kicking a ball with them #gaza."
Ayman Mohyeldin said during his report on NBC Nightly News from Gaza, on July 16, 2014, that the deaths of the four children illustrated that the warnings Israel boasts before attacks on Gaza which were supposed to urge civilians to evacuate prior to a strike were ineffective. The warnings Israel allegedly gave civilians came less than one minute prior to the bombings giving civilians no time to evacuate. In addition, these warnings did not come with a notice of where the missile would strike or where to evacuate to.
Contrary to Israel's internal report on the killing of the four cousins in which the report claimed the target was a Hamas weapons cache, journalists reported that they only saw a small fisherman's hut containing a few fishing tools where the children had been playing hide-and-seek. All of the international journalists who reported the deaths of the cousins stated that the fishing shack was within view of the hotels they were staying and they never witnessed any militants in the area of weapon storage facilities.
The children killed while playing on the beach that day were Mohammed Bakr, 11, Ahed Bakr and Zakariya Bakr, both aged 10, and the youngest, Ismail Bakr, nine. The Bakr cousins were killed when they were hit by three explosive rounds. Three died as they were fleeing the beach after the first child was killed.
Three other people were injured in the Israeli attack. Those injured were Hamad Bakr, 13, who was hit by shrapnel in the chest; his cousin Motasem, 11, injured in his head and legs, and Mohammad Abu Watfah, age 21, who was hit by shrapnel in his abdomen,
The conclusion of Israel's internal investigation exonerating it for the death of the four Bakr boys comes as it is under a preliminary investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to determine whether war crimes were committed by the Jewish State during its bloody attack on Gaza in the summer of 2014.
According to the United Nations, 2, 200 Palestinians were killed in the bloody 50-day offensive on Gaza. The UN reports that of those killed, 1,492 were civilians. Of the total dead, nearly 600 were children (video 18+).
The internal Israeli report which absolved Israel of the deaths of the Bakr children never speaks to why Israeli military personnel who fired on the beach in Gaza failed to identify that children were playing on the beach at the time of the attack.
The international journalists reported that they ran to the beach following the Israeli attack but were too late to save any of the children who died at the scene,
Jonathan Miller of Channel 4 tweeted at the time: "Three shells hit fishermen's beach just next to hotels," This further contradicts the Israeli report which claims a single missile was fired at what the report calls a "Hamas compound." Miller later tweeted: "Children wounded by shrapnel treated by foreign journalists on terrace of al-Deira hotel #Gaza."
NBC's man on the ground in Gaza tweeted: "4 Palestinian kids killed in a single Israeli airstrike. Minutes before they were killed by our hotel, I was kicking a ball with them #gaza."
Ayman Mohyeldin said during his report on NBC Nightly News from Gaza, on July 16, 2014, that the deaths of the four children illustrated that the warnings Israel boasts before attacks on Gaza which were supposed to urge civilians to evacuate prior to a strike were ineffective. The warnings Israel allegedly gave civilians came less than one minute prior to the bombings giving civilians no time to evacuate. In addition, these warnings did not come with a notice of where the missile would strike or where to evacuate to.
Contrary to Israel's internal report on the killing of the four cousins in which the report claimed the target was a Hamas weapons cache, journalists reported that they only saw a small fisherman's hut containing a few fishing tools where the children had been playing hide-and-seek. All of the international journalists who reported the deaths of the cousins stated that the fishing shack was within view of the hotels they were staying and they never witnessed any militants in the area of weapon storage facilities.
The children killed while playing on the beach that day were Mohammed Bakr, 11, Ahed Bakr and Zakariya Bakr, both aged 10, and the youngest, Ismail Bakr, nine. The Bakr cousins were killed when they were hit by three explosive rounds. Three died as they were fleeing the beach after the first child was killed.
Three other people were injured in the Israeli attack. Those injured were Hamad Bakr, 13, who was hit by shrapnel in the chest; his cousin Motasem, 11, injured in his head and legs, and Mohammad Abu Watfah, age 21, who was hit by shrapnel in his abdomen,
The conclusion of Israel's internal investigation exonerating it for the death of the four Bakr boys comes as it is under a preliminary investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to determine whether war crimes were committed by the Jewish State during its bloody attack on Gaza in the summer of 2014.
According to the United Nations, 2, 200 Palestinians were killed in the bloody 50-day offensive on Gaza. The UN reports that of those killed, 1,492 were civilians. Of the total dead, nearly 600 were children (video 18+).
The internal Israeli report which absolved Israel of the deaths of the Bakr children never speaks to why Israeli military personnel who fired on the beach in Gaza failed to identify that children were playing on the beach at the time of the attack.
In light of the UN report to be submitted next week, IDF advocate general opens three more probes into alleged unsanctioned use of weapons by IDF soldiers during Gaza war last summer.
Leading up to the release of a UN report investigating alleged war crimes committed during the war in Gaza last summer, IDF Advocate General Danny Efroni announced Thursday that the army was extending its criminal investigations into suspected violations committed by soldiers and officers during the war.
The international investigative committee examining the events of Operation Protective Edge is expected to submit its report next week to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, as well as to Israel and the Palestinians.
Efroni ordered the Military Police Investigative Division to look into three additional incidents which raise suspicions of illegal use of weapons by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians.
The most serious of the three incidents involves the death of nine Palestinians who were sitting at a café on the Khan Younis beach on July 9, 2014, and were killed by Israeli Air Force bombs.
The IDF said that a military investigative team that examined the incident following complaints from pro-Palestinian groups has delivered its findings to the military advocate general. The findings reveal that the attack was carried out based on reasonable suspicion, but not in accordance with IDF's rules of engagement.
Another serious incident involves a suspected unsanctioned firing by IDF soldiers at a Palestinian clinic.
Captain Dima Levitas, company commander of the 7th Armored Brigade, was killed by a Palestinian sniper on July 22, along with Captain Natan Cohen. Dima's fellow soldiers, who were unable to attend his funeral because of continued fighting in the Gaza Strip, decided, as a tribute, to fire tank shells at the Palestinian clinic from which the sniper fire originated. His comrades-in-arms said the barrage was a salute in memory of their friend.
Levitas's battalion commander Lt.-Col. N.'s testimony about the incident was published in an IDF magazine: "We decided to fire a barrage of shells at the place where Dima lost his life, but life has a rhythm of its own, and exactly a second later they fired back at us." Another officer from the battalion said the shelling was "closure, and not vengeance." Nonetheless, the IDF advocate general viewed the incident differently, and it is likely the battalion commander will be investigated as a suspect.
The third investigation concerns the beating of a Palestinian detainee by IDF soldiers.
No decision yet on 'Black Friday'
The IDF decided to close a criminal investigation, without filing criminal charges, into the deaths of four children on the fisherman's beach near the port of Gaza, known as the police marine compound.
The army says that an examination of photos and videos documenting the attack by the IDF as well as Palestinian media, along with the refusal of a Palestinian eyewitness to be questioned by the IDF, have led to the decision to close the case, among other things.
The army also said that a container loaded with Hamas military equipment was also bombed in that attack. In addition, the army claimed the children who were killed were not identified as children by the troops, and that warning fire was given prior to the attack.
The IDF advocate general also decided not to open a criminal investigation into the incident in which 15 Palestinians were killed in the attack on the Al-Salam building in Gaza City, where an Islamic Jihad commander was hiding.
In addition, it was decided not to open a criminal investigation into the attack on a Hamas military operations room in Khan Younis targeting two Hamas fighters, in which eight members of the Al-Najar family were killed.
In this incident, the IDF argued, there was deliberately no prior warning given to civilians, because such a warning could have hindered the success of the mission. "So far, claims regarding 190 incidents have been transferred to the military investigative team, 105 of which have already been investigated and referred to the IDF advocate general for final decision," an IDF statement stated.
"Of these incidents, the military advocate general decided to open a criminal investigation into seven of them. Some of these investigations are ongoing, some have been completed and their findings are being examined by the military advocate general, and a decision has already been taken with regard to some of the incidents.
"Regarding 19 additional incidents, the military advocate general decided to end the procedure without opening a criminal investigation. Dozens of other incidents are still under various stages of examination and their findings will be transferred to the military advocate general later on. Moreover, following claims that established a reasonable suspicion of a criminal offense, the military advocate general has so far ordered to open criminal investigations into15 incidents, two of which have been closed."
So far, the military advocate general has decided to serve a criminal indictment on one case in which Golani soldiers looted thousands of shekels from a Palestinian home in Shuja'iyya. Moreover, since the end of the war, it was decided to open criminal investigations, which are still ongoing, into a series of incidents in which dozens of Palestinian civilians were killed by IDF fire.
One of the most dramatic decisions yet to be taken by the advocate general involves whether or not the officers and fighters of the Givati Brigade will be investigated over the outcome of their attempt to locate 2nd.-Lt. Hadar Goldin, in what has come to be known as the events of Black Friday in Rafah, which led to the death of at least 40 Palestinians.
The prevailing view among senior IDF officers is that the military advocate general will refrain from opening a criminal investigation into the incident, if only because of public outcry of the last six months and criticism within the military against such a possibility.
The operational investigations found gaps concerning the conduct of the war and the choice to send forces to locate terror tunnels during a cease-fire, but they did not find cases of shooting at civilian targets.
Nonetheless, the advocate general over the last year has said that it is precisely the military advocate general's criminal investigations, as well as a thorough examination of inspection teams that were established, that will constitute a significant answer to international law claims that will arise against Israel in tribunals such as the The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.
Officially, the thick report of the Schabas Committee will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva only on June 29, but the commission intends to submit it to both sides in the coming days. Israeli officials predict that as soon as the Palestinians get it they will publish its contents in order to condemn Israel.
Israel boycotted the Schabas Committee, did not participate with it, and did not allow it to enter Israel. Even so, Israeli civilians such as Haim Yelin, Gila Turgeman, the mother of a 4-year-old boy killed by a mortar from Gaza, and Gadi Yarkoni , turned to the committee and testified before it. Even Israeli associations and human rights groups sent the Commission documents that show the Israeli side of the conflict.
Israeli officials say that despite the expected charges in the report, Israel's in a better position than it was during the Goldstone report as it will be easy to argue that it was written under the influence of the anti-Israeli Schabas.
The advocate general said that "credible investigations are not only a legal and moral compass, but a protective tool for officers to be 'clean' of any suspicion, and to avoid international arrest warrants in Europe, as was the case after the Marmara incident and Operation Cast Lead.
Leading up to the release of a UN report investigating alleged war crimes committed during the war in Gaza last summer, IDF Advocate General Danny Efroni announced Thursday that the army was extending its criminal investigations into suspected violations committed by soldiers and officers during the war.
The international investigative committee examining the events of Operation Protective Edge is expected to submit its report next week to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, as well as to Israel and the Palestinians.
Efroni ordered the Military Police Investigative Division to look into three additional incidents which raise suspicions of illegal use of weapons by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians.
The most serious of the three incidents involves the death of nine Palestinians who were sitting at a café on the Khan Younis beach on July 9, 2014, and were killed by Israeli Air Force bombs.
The IDF said that a military investigative team that examined the incident following complaints from pro-Palestinian groups has delivered its findings to the military advocate general. The findings reveal that the attack was carried out based on reasonable suspicion, but not in accordance with IDF's rules of engagement.
Another serious incident involves a suspected unsanctioned firing by IDF soldiers at a Palestinian clinic.
Captain Dima Levitas, company commander of the 7th Armored Brigade, was killed by a Palestinian sniper on July 22, along with Captain Natan Cohen. Dima's fellow soldiers, who were unable to attend his funeral because of continued fighting in the Gaza Strip, decided, as a tribute, to fire tank shells at the Palestinian clinic from which the sniper fire originated. His comrades-in-arms said the barrage was a salute in memory of their friend.
Levitas's battalion commander Lt.-Col. N.'s testimony about the incident was published in an IDF magazine: "We decided to fire a barrage of shells at the place where Dima lost his life, but life has a rhythm of its own, and exactly a second later they fired back at us." Another officer from the battalion said the shelling was "closure, and not vengeance." Nonetheless, the IDF advocate general viewed the incident differently, and it is likely the battalion commander will be investigated as a suspect.
The third investigation concerns the beating of a Palestinian detainee by IDF soldiers.
No decision yet on 'Black Friday'
The IDF decided to close a criminal investigation, without filing criminal charges, into the deaths of four children on the fisherman's beach near the port of Gaza, known as the police marine compound.
The army says that an examination of photos and videos documenting the attack by the IDF as well as Palestinian media, along with the refusal of a Palestinian eyewitness to be questioned by the IDF, have led to the decision to close the case, among other things.
The army also said that a container loaded with Hamas military equipment was also bombed in that attack. In addition, the army claimed the children who were killed were not identified as children by the troops, and that warning fire was given prior to the attack.
The IDF advocate general also decided not to open a criminal investigation into the incident in which 15 Palestinians were killed in the attack on the Al-Salam building in Gaza City, where an Islamic Jihad commander was hiding.
In addition, it was decided not to open a criminal investigation into the attack on a Hamas military operations room in Khan Younis targeting two Hamas fighters, in which eight members of the Al-Najar family were killed.
In this incident, the IDF argued, there was deliberately no prior warning given to civilians, because such a warning could have hindered the success of the mission. "So far, claims regarding 190 incidents have been transferred to the military investigative team, 105 of which have already been investigated and referred to the IDF advocate general for final decision," an IDF statement stated.
"Of these incidents, the military advocate general decided to open a criminal investigation into seven of them. Some of these investigations are ongoing, some have been completed and their findings are being examined by the military advocate general, and a decision has already been taken with regard to some of the incidents.
"Regarding 19 additional incidents, the military advocate general decided to end the procedure without opening a criminal investigation. Dozens of other incidents are still under various stages of examination and their findings will be transferred to the military advocate general later on. Moreover, following claims that established a reasonable suspicion of a criminal offense, the military advocate general has so far ordered to open criminal investigations into15 incidents, two of which have been closed."
So far, the military advocate general has decided to serve a criminal indictment on one case in which Golani soldiers looted thousands of shekels from a Palestinian home in Shuja'iyya. Moreover, since the end of the war, it was decided to open criminal investigations, which are still ongoing, into a series of incidents in which dozens of Palestinian civilians were killed by IDF fire.
One of the most dramatic decisions yet to be taken by the advocate general involves whether or not the officers and fighters of the Givati Brigade will be investigated over the outcome of their attempt to locate 2nd.-Lt. Hadar Goldin, in what has come to be known as the events of Black Friday in Rafah, which led to the death of at least 40 Palestinians.
The prevailing view among senior IDF officers is that the military advocate general will refrain from opening a criminal investigation into the incident, if only because of public outcry of the last six months and criticism within the military against such a possibility.
The operational investigations found gaps concerning the conduct of the war and the choice to send forces to locate terror tunnels during a cease-fire, but they did not find cases of shooting at civilian targets.
Nonetheless, the advocate general over the last year has said that it is precisely the military advocate general's criminal investigations, as well as a thorough examination of inspection teams that were established, that will constitute a significant answer to international law claims that will arise against Israel in tribunals such as the The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.
Officially, the thick report of the Schabas Committee will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva only on June 29, but the commission intends to submit it to both sides in the coming days. Israeli officials predict that as soon as the Palestinians get it they will publish its contents in order to condemn Israel.
Israel boycotted the Schabas Committee, did not participate with it, and did not allow it to enter Israel. Even so, Israeli civilians such as Haim Yelin, Gila Turgeman, the mother of a 4-year-old boy killed by a mortar from Gaza, and Gadi Yarkoni , turned to the committee and testified before it. Even Israeli associations and human rights groups sent the Commission documents that show the Israeli side of the conflict.
Israeli officials say that despite the expected charges in the report, Israel's in a better position than it was during the Goldstone report as it will be easy to argue that it was written under the influence of the anti-Israeli Schabas.
The advocate general said that "credible investigations are not only a legal and moral compass, but a protective tool for officers to be 'clean' of any suspicion, and to avoid international arrest warrants in Europe, as was the case after the Marmara incident and Operation Cast Lead.
