18 nov 2010
IDF officer suspected of covering up Gaza killing
Commander allegedly attempted to block probe by not giving a report on the death of a Palestinian woman to Military Advocate-General Mandelblit.
An IDF commander is suspected of blocking an investigation into the death of a Palestinian in Gaza, according to reports released on Thursday.
The officer is suspected of not submitting the results of a probe about a woman killed when she approached a Givati Brigade station during Operation Cast Lead.
Military Police is investigating the case, which involves officers in the Rotem battalion of the Givati Brigade, who were supposed to give a report to Military Advocate-General Maj.-Gen. Avichai Mandelblit.
The oversight was revealed during the trial of S., the soldier accused of killing the Palestinian woman in the report. S.'s case was opened in April 2010, when a reserve officer said that he found the report, which had not been transferred to Mandelblit, on an IDF laptop computer.
The soldier's lawyers have demanded that the trial be stopped until Military Police finish investigating the commanders in the case.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=195853
IDF officer suspected of covering up Gaza killing
Commander allegedly attempted to block probe by not giving a report on the death of a Palestinian woman to Military Advocate-General Mandelblit.
An IDF commander is suspected of blocking an investigation into the death of a Palestinian in Gaza, according to reports released on Thursday.
The officer is suspected of not submitting the results of a probe about a woman killed when she approached a Givati Brigade station during Operation Cast Lead.
Military Police is investigating the case, which involves officers in the Rotem battalion of the Givati Brigade, who were supposed to give a report to Military Advocate-General Maj.-Gen. Avichai Mandelblit.
The oversight was revealed during the trial of S., the soldier accused of killing the Palestinian woman in the report. S.'s case was opened in April 2010, when a reserve officer said that he found the report, which had not been transferred to Mandelblit, on an IDF laptop computer.
The soldier's lawyers have demanded that the trial be stopped until Military Police finish investigating the commanders in the case.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=195853
|
|
The video was posted to YouTube by Assaf Kintzer, an Israeli activist with Anarchists Against the Wall. The caption reads, "IOF soldiers celebrating the destruction of houses in Gaza during 'Cast Lead'." Kintzer says the video, which was shot using a mobile phone, was sent to him by an anonymous Israeli soldier who served in Gaza.
http://bit.ly/akMv2W Israelis 'enjoy Gaza war destruction'
An Israeli activist has published a new video showing that Israeli soldiers are joyful over destroying Palestinian homes during the offensive against the Gaza Strip. |
The video, posted on the internet on Thursday, showed that the Israeli soldiers were laughing and exclaiming as they witnessed a series of explosions destroying three Palestinian houses, Maan news agency reported.
After the first two houses were exploded, one of the Israeli soldiers was heard saying, according to the English subtitles, "It's all documented. It's all on camera. What about the third house? Give me the third house please [laughs]."
Following the third explosion, the same soldier is heard saying, "There's nothing like this [laughs.] Bye, Gaza, bye. Wow, dude, what a thing!"
"How small are we. We're so small compared to this," he says, as the camera pans around to show the soldiers lying on the ground as they witness the destruction.
Israeli activist Assaf Kintzer said that he obtained the video from a soldier who was deployed in Gaza during the attack.
The Israeli military launched a deadly assault on the beleaguered Gaza Strip at the turn of 2009, killing at least 1,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The coastal enclave has been under Israeli siege since June 2007.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/150659.html
Video shows Israeli soldiers cheering destruction in Gaza
Israeli soldiers appear on camera cheering on the destruction of Palestinian houses in Gaza in a video that surfaced Thursday.
The video, shot with a mobile phone during Israel's winter attack on Gaza, shows soldiers laughing and exclaiming as they witness a series of explosions destroying three Palestinian houses. Sporadic gunfire is heard in the background.
After the first two houses are destroyed, one soldier is heard remarking, according to the English subtitles, "It's all documented. It's all on camera. What about the third house? Give me the third house please [laughs]."
Later, after the third explosion, the same soldier is heard saying, "There%u2019s nothing like this [laughs.] Bye, Gaza, bye. Wow, dude, what a thing!"
"How small are we. We're so small compared to this," he says, as the camera pans around to show the soldiers lying on the ground as they witness this destruction.
The video was posted on Youtube by Israeli activist Assaf Kintzer, who obtained it from a soldier who was deployed in Gaza during the three-week attack on Gaza. The clip began to circulate on Israeli blogs on Thursday afternoon.
Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the offensive in December 2008 and January 2009. A UN fact finding mission accused Israel in 2009 of committing war crimes during the invasion.
The soldiers in the clip are reported to be members of the Israeli army's Golani Brigade.
The emergence of the video follows a series of incidents in which materials posted on social networking websites revealed embarrassing behavior by Israeli soldiers. In August a scandal erupted after a soldier posted on Facebook photos of herself posing next to bound, blindfolded Palestinian detainees
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333227
After the first two houses were exploded, one of the Israeli soldiers was heard saying, according to the English subtitles, "It's all documented. It's all on camera. What about the third house? Give me the third house please [laughs]."
Following the third explosion, the same soldier is heard saying, "There's nothing like this [laughs.] Bye, Gaza, bye. Wow, dude, what a thing!"
"How small are we. We're so small compared to this," he says, as the camera pans around to show the soldiers lying on the ground as they witness the destruction.
Israeli activist Assaf Kintzer said that he obtained the video from a soldier who was deployed in Gaza during the attack.
The Israeli military launched a deadly assault on the beleaguered Gaza Strip at the turn of 2009, killing at least 1,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The coastal enclave has been under Israeli siege since June 2007.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/150659.html
Video shows Israeli soldiers cheering destruction in Gaza
Israeli soldiers appear on camera cheering on the destruction of Palestinian houses in Gaza in a video that surfaced Thursday.
The video, shot with a mobile phone during Israel's winter attack on Gaza, shows soldiers laughing and exclaiming as they witness a series of explosions destroying three Palestinian houses. Sporadic gunfire is heard in the background.
After the first two houses are destroyed, one soldier is heard remarking, according to the English subtitles, "It's all documented. It's all on camera. What about the third house? Give me the third house please [laughs]."
Later, after the third explosion, the same soldier is heard saying, "There%u2019s nothing like this [laughs.] Bye, Gaza, bye. Wow, dude, what a thing!"
"How small are we. We're so small compared to this," he says, as the camera pans around to show the soldiers lying on the ground as they witness this destruction.
The video was posted on Youtube by Israeli activist Assaf Kintzer, who obtained it from a soldier who was deployed in Gaza during the three-week attack on Gaza. The clip began to circulate on Israeli blogs on Thursday afternoon.
Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the offensive in December 2008 and January 2009. A UN fact finding mission accused Israel in 2009 of committing war crimes during the invasion.
The soldiers in the clip are reported to be members of the Israeli army's Golani Brigade.
The emergence of the video follows a series of incidents in which materials posted on social networking websites revealed embarrassing behavior by Israeli soldiers. In August a scandal erupted after a soldier posted on Facebook photos of herself posing next to bound, blindfolded Palestinian detainees
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333227
8 nov 2010
IOF soldiers shot any Palestinian talking on mobile phone in Gaza war
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) invading the Gaza Strip in late 2008 and early 2009 shot at any Palestinian citizen talking on a mobile phone, Hebrew website Walla said.
The Givati brigade members were ordered to arrest any Palestinian carrying a mobile phone during the war on Gaza and in the event of noncompliance they would shoot him on the belief that he was conveying field information to resistance fighters about the soldiers' moves, the website elaborated on Sunday.
The Israeli military police had started investigating the case, the site said, adding that the soldiers had fired without warning on any Palestinian talking on a mobile phone and on many occasions injured the civilians. A member of the brigade revealed that they were ordered to shoot on sighting anyone carrying a mobile.
Israeli military sources said that those who gave the orders were not known, but a big number of soldiers and officers were questioned over the past few weeks after international human rights groups published reports on the murder of innocent Palestinians in the war on Gaza.
http://bit.ly/bkGXV1
IOF soldiers shot any Palestinian talking on mobile phone in Gaza war
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) invading the Gaza Strip in late 2008 and early 2009 shot at any Palestinian citizen talking on a mobile phone, Hebrew website Walla said.
The Givati brigade members were ordered to arrest any Palestinian carrying a mobile phone during the war on Gaza and in the event of noncompliance they would shoot him on the belief that he was conveying field information to resistance fighters about the soldiers' moves, the website elaborated on Sunday.
The Israeli military police had started investigating the case, the site said, adding that the soldiers had fired without warning on any Palestinian talking on a mobile phone and on many occasions injured the civilians. A member of the brigade revealed that they were ordered to shoot on sighting anyone carrying a mobile.
Israeli military sources said that those who gave the orders were not known, but a big number of soldiers and officers were questioned over the past few weeks after international human rights groups published reports on the murder of innocent Palestinians in the war on Gaza.
http://bit.ly/bkGXV1
6 nov 2010
Israeli mentor: Human shields save lives
The author of the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) Code of Conduct has strongly defended the military's use of "the enemy's" civilians as human shields.
Asa Kasher, known as the forces' "ethic" guru, said on Tuesday "there are situations in which the use of the enemy's civilian population to defuse a potentially explosive situation is not only ethically permissible, it also saves lives," Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported.
The remarks came after two Israeli soldiers were convicted of using a Palestinian boy as a human shield during Tel Aviv's December 2008-January 2009 war on the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.
The troops had recklessly endangered the life of the nine-year-old boy by forcing him to check suspected booby traps.
Human rights groups say the conviction proves Tel Aviv committed war crimes in Gaza, said Press TV's correspondent in the Gaza Strip on Monday.
This is a new indicator, shows that the Israeli occupation forces committed war crimes against the Palestinians. And this required a follow-up from the international community to get the Israeli real war criminals, the Israel leaders to specialized courts, as what happened in the ex-Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Amjad Shawa of the Palestinian NGO Network told the correspondent.
The United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict, also known as the 'Goldstone Report,' has accused Tel Aviv of committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the offensives.
Those, the report holds, include deliberately targeting of the civilians and the forces' "systematically reckless" way of determining the use of white phosphorus in built-up areas, notably on the UN Relief and Works Agency compound in the Gaza City as well as two Gaza-based hospitals.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/145411.html
IDF's ethics guru slams High Court ban on human shields
Asa Kasher endorses military court conviction of two Givati soldiers, but says neighbor procedure can sometimes save lives.
Sunday's highly publicized military court conviction of two Givati soldiers for using a Palestinian boy as a human shield should serve as an opportunity to contest the Supreme Court's sweeping prohibition of such behavior, formally known in the IDF as neighbor procedure, Prof. Asa Kasher, author of the IDF's code of ethics, said Tuesday.
What those two soldiers did was wrong, said Kasher in a telephone interview, endorsing the military court ruling. But there are situations in which the use of the enemy's civilian population to defuse a potentially explosive situation is not only ethically permissible, it also saves lives.
In many instances of confrontation between IDF forces and a terror suspect who has barricaded him or herself inside a building, neighbors who are either family from the same clan or friends can peacefully and effectively neutralize the situation, Kasher explained.
Neighbors often have a vested interest in preventing the IDF from destroying the building where the suspect is hiding because they live in the same building; relatives or loved ones also have a desire to save the terrorist's life, Kasher explained.
If they volunteer to do so of their own free will they should be allowed to, said Kasher.
On Sunday the IDF Southern Command's Military Court ruled that two Givati Division soldiers acted inappropriately when they ordered a Palestinian boy to open bags suspected of containing bombs during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last year. The two staff sergeants face up to a three-year prison sentence.
The IDF uses the term neighbor procedure to describe the use of the enemy's civilian population to perform duties normally performed by IDF soldiers.
In 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that the neighbor procedure was unlawful according to international law.
Then chief justice Aharon Barak argued that there was a ban on using residents as part of the occupying army's military effort and added that as a rule, [the local resident] is not allowed to renounce his rights as accorded by humanitarian law in Clause 8 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
This was true even if cooperation was offered for a desired end, such as bringing about a peaceful end to a potentially violent confrontation.
Kasher, a professor of philosophy at Tel Aviv University who first drafted The Spirit of the IDF (Ruach Tzahal) in 1994 and helped update the moral code in 2001, is also the co-author with Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin of 11 Principles for Fighting Terrorism, which is used to educate officers on the IDF's rules of engagement.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=190354
Israel is right to be concerned
We can learn much from the Israeli government's decision this week to suspend a special strategic dialog with the United Kingdom because of concerns that Israeli officials could be arrested and indicted with crimes against humanity in the UK, according to a British law that provides for universal jurisdiction in such cases, i.e., a suspect of any country can be charged, detained and tried in a British court even if the alleged crimes occurred in a third country and did not include British citizens among the victims.
Israel's Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni recently cancelled a trip to London as did Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor this week, because he was advised that he risked being arrested.
Palestinians in the UK in recent years have filed charges against Israeli officials and British courts have issued arrest warrants for some Israeli officials, though none have actually been taken into custody. The important dimension of this is the concern among many Israelis justified, in my view that Israel is being subjected to a de-legitimization campaign. This is exactly what is happening, and it scares Israelis more than anything else in the world.
The one most-coveted thing that Israel lacks in the eyes of its Palestinian foes and other Arab and international critics is legitimacy and acceptance. It's one thing if Yemen, Algeria or Somalia do not recognize Israel, but it is another and much more significant thing entirely if the UK government the historical midwife of Zionism and the Israeli state issues arrest warrants charging Israeli officials with crimes against humanity.
Exactly 93 years ago this week the British government issued the Balfour Declaration that pledged support for the creation of a national home for the Jewish people. Now, London joins others in the world who seek to hold accountable to the international rule of law those Israeli leaders at the helm of that Jewish national home that is the sovereign state of Israel sovereign, but still largely unaccepted in its present configuration.
Israel is not particularly worried about its military security, given its known conventional and nuclear capabilities. It has been in a constant state of war with its neighbors for the past 62 years because it has never been fully and formally acknowledged as legitimate by its Arab neighbors.
Israel is strong militarily, politically, economically, culturally, and technologically but it remains vulnerable and uneasy because it is not accepted in the Middle East as a normal, legitimate country. This is primarily because it has refused to come to terms with the national and territorial rights of the Palestinian people whom it largely dispossessed, ethnically cleansed, displaced and exiled in the process of creating the Jewish-majority state of Israel.
All the Arab states have formally offered to coexist in peace with Israel on the basis of the 2002 Arab peace plan which Israel has steadfastly ignored, so this is not about destroying Israel, as Zionist zealots and other howlers claim. The de-legitimization campaign aims to point out that Israeli official actions are often criminal in nature when Israel uses massive and disproportionate force, siege tactics, collective punishment, mass incarceration, torture, assassination, colonization, land theft and other such illegal and criminal behavior in its routine dealings with Palestinians and other Arabs.
The reason Israel reacted so vehemently and almost irrationally last year to the Goldstone Commission report on both Israel's and Hamas conduct of the 2008-09 Gaza war was because this represented a frightening new form of formally sanctioned global criticism of Israel's excessive use of violence, and, more importantly, sought international follow-up to hold Israel and Hamas accountable for their behavior.
It's one thing if Yemen, Algeria or Somalia accuse Israel of war crimes, but it is another thing altogether when the organs of the UN do this through a commission headed by one of the world's most respected jurists. Israel has predicated its entire foreign policy since its inception on being able to use any force it deems necessary to protect and assert itself.
The criticisms it is receiving, and legal moves such as the Goldstone Commission or the British indictments, are much more frightening to Israel than any missiles it might face from its surroundings, because they chip away at the one indispensable element that Israel has always relied on for its security, wellbeing and Zionist self-assertion: impunity in military actions across the entire Middle East, its colonization of Arab lands, and its structural dispossession and subjugation of the Palestinian people.
This is Israel's Achilles Heel, which is why this movement to challenge Israeli impunity is so significant, and will continue to grow until it achieves a political resolution that is fair to both Palestinians and Israelis, who can enjoy equal rights in a configuration of mutually satisfying statehood, and affirms rather than tramples on the dictates of the global rule of law.
Israel is right to be worried, because its criminal behavior is finally being subjected to formal global scrutiny.
http://bit.ly/cSevo7
Boy used as human shield by Israeli soldiers speaks out
Majid Rabah, age 11, had a broad smile on his face as he relaxed at his family's apartment in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City on Monday, 4 October. He had just heard the news that the two Israeli soldiers who had used him as a human shield had been convicted of their crime in an Israeli military court.
The incident took place on 14 January 2009, in the midst of Israel's 22-day long invasion and bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which killed 1,400 Palestinians -- half of them women and children -- and injured thousands of others.
Effaf Rabah, Majid's mother, recalled that on that day, as the Israeli bombardment of Tel al-Hawa intensified, "I took Majid and his two sisters down to our building's basement to find a safe shelter from the Israeli tank shells and missiles." Many other families had taken shelter in the basement and many had bags or suitcases with milk and food for their children, Effaf Rabah recalled.
"Several Israeli soldiers broke into the basement, took the men away and rounded up the women and children." Effaf Rabah remembered the terrifying moment when the two soldiers approached: "they took Majid from among us, put him in front of them and headed toward the bathrooms."
Majid, still smiling, remembers the moment: "They grabbed me and I wet myself." Then the soldiers ordered Majid to inspect a bag that they suspected of being booby-trapped. "They ordered me to open the bag, but I didn't understand them," Majid said. "Then a soldier slapped me in the face and opened fire on the bag."
Prompted by family members and friends, Effaf Rabah pursued Majid's case with the non-governmental organization Defence for Children International - Palestine Section. In November 2009, Effaf was summoned along with Majid to the Israeli side of Erez border crossing where they both met with an Israeli army officer to discuss their case.
Then on 3 May this year, Effaf was summoned again to Erez where she, Majid and their lawyer met with an Israeli prosecutor. The next day the three were taken to Beer al-Sabe in southern Israel where they gave testimony at the first ever trial for a human rights violation during the Israeli attack.
"I didn't expect my son would be so courageous to speak out and so fluently about what happened to him in the basement. Now we are all relieved that justice has prevailed as we have heard the two soldiers were convicted by the court," Effaf said.
The soldier could face up to three years in prison.
While a moment of justice is sweet for the Rabah family, it is exceedingly rare. What happened to the Rabah family and its neighbors on that day was happening all over Gaza, as Israel's war machine terrorized and traumatized the entire population of 1.5 million with round-the-clock bombardments and deafening overflights from warplanes, and ground incursions which devastated entire neighborhoods displacing tens of thousands.
According to investigations by numerous human rights groups and the UN-commissioned Goldstone report, Israeli soldiers carried out cold-blooded killings of unarmed civilians, used civilians as human shields, harassed others and even stole cash and credit cards from a number of Gaza families. Many of the alleged crimes amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Goldstone report concluded.
A UN Human Rights Council follow-up committee last week found that Israeli authorities had not conducted credible investigations into allegations and evidence documented in the Goldstone report.
The use of human shields by Israel's army has been a repeated occurrence during various Israeli invasions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 2005, the Israeli high court ruled the practice illegal. There have been more than 150 complaints about soldiers' conduct during the most recent attack on Gaza, including 36 for alleged war crimes. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, only 47 have been investigated and most of those were closed with no action taken ("The IDF can't play the victim on its actions in Gaza," 5 October 2010).
Majid, now almost 12, says he is glad for the court ruling. Asked if he expects that Israeli soldiers might harass him again in the future, Majid expressed hope that they would not. "If there is peace, I, the children of Palestine and the children of Israel will enjoy peace, rather than suffer more wars," he said.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11558.shtml
Israeli mentor: Human shields save lives
The author of the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) Code of Conduct has strongly defended the military's use of "the enemy's" civilians as human shields.
Asa Kasher, known as the forces' "ethic" guru, said on Tuesday "there are situations in which the use of the enemy's civilian population to defuse a potentially explosive situation is not only ethically permissible, it also saves lives," Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported.
The remarks came after two Israeli soldiers were convicted of using a Palestinian boy as a human shield during Tel Aviv's December 2008-January 2009 war on the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.
The troops had recklessly endangered the life of the nine-year-old boy by forcing him to check suspected booby traps.
Human rights groups say the conviction proves Tel Aviv committed war crimes in Gaza, said Press TV's correspondent in the Gaza Strip on Monday.
This is a new indicator, shows that the Israeli occupation forces committed war crimes against the Palestinians. And this required a follow-up from the international community to get the Israeli real war criminals, the Israel leaders to specialized courts, as what happened in the ex-Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Amjad Shawa of the Palestinian NGO Network told the correspondent.
The United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict, also known as the 'Goldstone Report,' has accused Tel Aviv of committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the offensives.
Those, the report holds, include deliberately targeting of the civilians and the forces' "systematically reckless" way of determining the use of white phosphorus in built-up areas, notably on the UN Relief and Works Agency compound in the Gaza City as well as two Gaza-based hospitals.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/145411.html
IDF's ethics guru slams High Court ban on human shields
Asa Kasher endorses military court conviction of two Givati soldiers, but says neighbor procedure can sometimes save lives.
Sunday's highly publicized military court conviction of two Givati soldiers for using a Palestinian boy as a human shield should serve as an opportunity to contest the Supreme Court's sweeping prohibition of such behavior, formally known in the IDF as neighbor procedure, Prof. Asa Kasher, author of the IDF's code of ethics, said Tuesday.
What those two soldiers did was wrong, said Kasher in a telephone interview, endorsing the military court ruling. But there are situations in which the use of the enemy's civilian population to defuse a potentially explosive situation is not only ethically permissible, it also saves lives.
In many instances of confrontation between IDF forces and a terror suspect who has barricaded him or herself inside a building, neighbors who are either family from the same clan or friends can peacefully and effectively neutralize the situation, Kasher explained.
Neighbors often have a vested interest in preventing the IDF from destroying the building where the suspect is hiding because they live in the same building; relatives or loved ones also have a desire to save the terrorist's life, Kasher explained.
If they volunteer to do so of their own free will they should be allowed to, said Kasher.
On Sunday the IDF Southern Command's Military Court ruled that two Givati Division soldiers acted inappropriately when they ordered a Palestinian boy to open bags suspected of containing bombs during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last year. The two staff sergeants face up to a three-year prison sentence.
The IDF uses the term neighbor procedure to describe the use of the enemy's civilian population to perform duties normally performed by IDF soldiers.
In 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that the neighbor procedure was unlawful according to international law.
Then chief justice Aharon Barak argued that there was a ban on using residents as part of the occupying army's military effort and added that as a rule, [the local resident] is not allowed to renounce his rights as accorded by humanitarian law in Clause 8 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
This was true even if cooperation was offered for a desired end, such as bringing about a peaceful end to a potentially violent confrontation.
Kasher, a professor of philosophy at Tel Aviv University who first drafted The Spirit of the IDF (Ruach Tzahal) in 1994 and helped update the moral code in 2001, is also the co-author with Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin of 11 Principles for Fighting Terrorism, which is used to educate officers on the IDF's rules of engagement.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=190354
Israel is right to be concerned
We can learn much from the Israeli government's decision this week to suspend a special strategic dialog with the United Kingdom because of concerns that Israeli officials could be arrested and indicted with crimes against humanity in the UK, according to a British law that provides for universal jurisdiction in such cases, i.e., a suspect of any country can be charged, detained and tried in a British court even if the alleged crimes occurred in a third country and did not include British citizens among the victims.
Israel's Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni recently cancelled a trip to London as did Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor this week, because he was advised that he risked being arrested.
Palestinians in the UK in recent years have filed charges against Israeli officials and British courts have issued arrest warrants for some Israeli officials, though none have actually been taken into custody. The important dimension of this is the concern among many Israelis justified, in my view that Israel is being subjected to a de-legitimization campaign. This is exactly what is happening, and it scares Israelis more than anything else in the world.
The one most-coveted thing that Israel lacks in the eyes of its Palestinian foes and other Arab and international critics is legitimacy and acceptance. It's one thing if Yemen, Algeria or Somalia do not recognize Israel, but it is another and much more significant thing entirely if the UK government the historical midwife of Zionism and the Israeli state issues arrest warrants charging Israeli officials with crimes against humanity.
Exactly 93 years ago this week the British government issued the Balfour Declaration that pledged support for the creation of a national home for the Jewish people. Now, London joins others in the world who seek to hold accountable to the international rule of law those Israeli leaders at the helm of that Jewish national home that is the sovereign state of Israel sovereign, but still largely unaccepted in its present configuration.
Israel is not particularly worried about its military security, given its known conventional and nuclear capabilities. It has been in a constant state of war with its neighbors for the past 62 years because it has never been fully and formally acknowledged as legitimate by its Arab neighbors.
Israel is strong militarily, politically, economically, culturally, and technologically but it remains vulnerable and uneasy because it is not accepted in the Middle East as a normal, legitimate country. This is primarily because it has refused to come to terms with the national and territorial rights of the Palestinian people whom it largely dispossessed, ethnically cleansed, displaced and exiled in the process of creating the Jewish-majority state of Israel.
All the Arab states have formally offered to coexist in peace with Israel on the basis of the 2002 Arab peace plan which Israel has steadfastly ignored, so this is not about destroying Israel, as Zionist zealots and other howlers claim. The de-legitimization campaign aims to point out that Israeli official actions are often criminal in nature when Israel uses massive and disproportionate force, siege tactics, collective punishment, mass incarceration, torture, assassination, colonization, land theft and other such illegal and criminal behavior in its routine dealings with Palestinians and other Arabs.
The reason Israel reacted so vehemently and almost irrationally last year to the Goldstone Commission report on both Israel's and Hamas conduct of the 2008-09 Gaza war was because this represented a frightening new form of formally sanctioned global criticism of Israel's excessive use of violence, and, more importantly, sought international follow-up to hold Israel and Hamas accountable for their behavior.
It's one thing if Yemen, Algeria or Somalia accuse Israel of war crimes, but it is another thing altogether when the organs of the UN do this through a commission headed by one of the world's most respected jurists. Israel has predicated its entire foreign policy since its inception on being able to use any force it deems necessary to protect and assert itself.
The criticisms it is receiving, and legal moves such as the Goldstone Commission or the British indictments, are much more frightening to Israel than any missiles it might face from its surroundings, because they chip away at the one indispensable element that Israel has always relied on for its security, wellbeing and Zionist self-assertion: impunity in military actions across the entire Middle East, its colonization of Arab lands, and its structural dispossession and subjugation of the Palestinian people.
This is Israel's Achilles Heel, which is why this movement to challenge Israeli impunity is so significant, and will continue to grow until it achieves a political resolution that is fair to both Palestinians and Israelis, who can enjoy equal rights in a configuration of mutually satisfying statehood, and affirms rather than tramples on the dictates of the global rule of law.
Israel is right to be worried, because its criminal behavior is finally being subjected to formal global scrutiny.
http://bit.ly/cSevo7
Boy used as human shield by Israeli soldiers speaks out
Majid Rabah, age 11, had a broad smile on his face as he relaxed at his family's apartment in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City on Monday, 4 October. He had just heard the news that the two Israeli soldiers who had used him as a human shield had been convicted of their crime in an Israeli military court.
The incident took place on 14 January 2009, in the midst of Israel's 22-day long invasion and bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which killed 1,400 Palestinians -- half of them women and children -- and injured thousands of others.
Effaf Rabah, Majid's mother, recalled that on that day, as the Israeli bombardment of Tel al-Hawa intensified, "I took Majid and his two sisters down to our building's basement to find a safe shelter from the Israeli tank shells and missiles." Many other families had taken shelter in the basement and many had bags or suitcases with milk and food for their children, Effaf Rabah recalled.
"Several Israeli soldiers broke into the basement, took the men away and rounded up the women and children." Effaf Rabah remembered the terrifying moment when the two soldiers approached: "they took Majid from among us, put him in front of them and headed toward the bathrooms."
Majid, still smiling, remembers the moment: "They grabbed me and I wet myself." Then the soldiers ordered Majid to inspect a bag that they suspected of being booby-trapped. "They ordered me to open the bag, but I didn't understand them," Majid said. "Then a soldier slapped me in the face and opened fire on the bag."
Prompted by family members and friends, Effaf Rabah pursued Majid's case with the non-governmental organization Defence for Children International - Palestine Section. In November 2009, Effaf was summoned along with Majid to the Israeli side of Erez border crossing where they both met with an Israeli army officer to discuss their case.
Then on 3 May this year, Effaf was summoned again to Erez where she, Majid and their lawyer met with an Israeli prosecutor. The next day the three were taken to Beer al-Sabe in southern Israel where they gave testimony at the first ever trial for a human rights violation during the Israeli attack.
"I didn't expect my son would be so courageous to speak out and so fluently about what happened to him in the basement. Now we are all relieved that justice has prevailed as we have heard the two soldiers were convicted by the court," Effaf said.
The soldier could face up to three years in prison.
While a moment of justice is sweet for the Rabah family, it is exceedingly rare. What happened to the Rabah family and its neighbors on that day was happening all over Gaza, as Israel's war machine terrorized and traumatized the entire population of 1.5 million with round-the-clock bombardments and deafening overflights from warplanes, and ground incursions which devastated entire neighborhoods displacing tens of thousands.
According to investigations by numerous human rights groups and the UN-commissioned Goldstone report, Israeli soldiers carried out cold-blooded killings of unarmed civilians, used civilians as human shields, harassed others and even stole cash and credit cards from a number of Gaza families. Many of the alleged crimes amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Goldstone report concluded.
A UN Human Rights Council follow-up committee last week found that Israeli authorities had not conducted credible investigations into allegations and evidence documented in the Goldstone report.
The use of human shields by Israel's army has been a repeated occurrence during various Israeli invasions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 2005, the Israeli high court ruled the practice illegal. There have been more than 150 complaints about soldiers' conduct during the most recent attack on Gaza, including 36 for alleged war crimes. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, only 47 have been investigated and most of those were closed with no action taken ("The IDF can't play the victim on its actions in Gaza," 5 October 2010).
Majid, now almost 12, says he is glad for the court ruling. Asked if he expects that Israeli soldiers might harass him again in the future, Majid expressed hope that they would not. "If there is peace, I, the children of Palestine and the children of Israel will enjoy peace, rather than suffer more wars," he said.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11558.shtml
4 nov 2010
Britain Caves To Israeli Pressure; Agrees To Revoke 'universal Jurisdiction' Law
In his visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories this week, British Foreign Secretary William Hague reported being 'ambushed' by Israeli officials who cancelled a high-level security briefing with Hague in response to a British threat to arrest an Israeli official for war crimes.
Hague said he resented this move by Israel, since the British coalition government had already agreed to change the 'universal jurisdiction law' which allows for the prosecution of foreign citizens who have engaged in crimes against humanity.
Israeli officials have faced increasing threats of arrest by a variety of countries which use the universal jurisdiction law. According to Amnesty International, the law of universal jurisdiction is a requirement for all states who are signatories to the Convention against Torture and the Inter-American Convention, which states that whenever a person suspected of torture is found in their territory, they must submit the case to their prosecuting authorities for the purposes of prosecution, or to extradite that person.
Most recently, Israeli Cabinet Minister Dan Meridor had to cancel a trip to England November 1st after British intelligence officials warned him that he could face an arrest warrant upon entry into the UK.
Meridor is just the latest in a string of Israeli officials who have been cited for potential war crimes, including former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former Israeli defence minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, former Defense chief-of-staff Moshe Ya'alon, former air force chief Dan Halutz, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni, among others. Most were cited for the ongoing Israeli military occupation of Palestine, and attacks against Palestinians, while Ariel Sharon was cited for his role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon in 1982.
The British Foreign Secretary's trip to the region this week was also criticized by Israeli officials due to the Secretary's decision to meet with Palestinians who recently lost their homes to violent Israeli settler takeovers in East Jerusalem.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59826
Britain Caves To Israeli Pressure; Agrees To Revoke 'universal Jurisdiction' Law
In his visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories this week, British Foreign Secretary William Hague reported being 'ambushed' by Israeli officials who cancelled a high-level security briefing with Hague in response to a British threat to arrest an Israeli official for war crimes.
Hague said he resented this move by Israel, since the British coalition government had already agreed to change the 'universal jurisdiction law' which allows for the prosecution of foreign citizens who have engaged in crimes against humanity.
Israeli officials have faced increasing threats of arrest by a variety of countries which use the universal jurisdiction law. According to Amnesty International, the law of universal jurisdiction is a requirement for all states who are signatories to the Convention against Torture and the Inter-American Convention, which states that whenever a person suspected of torture is found in their territory, they must submit the case to their prosecuting authorities for the purposes of prosecution, or to extradite that person.
Most recently, Israeli Cabinet Minister Dan Meridor had to cancel a trip to England November 1st after British intelligence officials warned him that he could face an arrest warrant upon entry into the UK.
Meridor is just the latest in a string of Israeli officials who have been cited for potential war crimes, including former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former Israeli defence minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, former Defense chief-of-staff Moshe Ya'alon, former air force chief Dan Halutz, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni, among others. Most were cited for the ongoing Israeli military occupation of Palestine, and attacks against Palestinians, while Ariel Sharon was cited for his role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon in 1982.
The British Foreign Secretary's trip to the region this week was also criticized by Israeli officials due to the Secretary's decision to meet with Palestinians who recently lost their homes to violent Israeli settler takeovers in East Jerusalem.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59826
3 nov 2010
Prosecutors House Vandalized Over Conviction of Gaza Soldiers
Graffiti was found on house of Major-General Avichai Mandelblit this morning in response to the prosecutor's conviction of two Israeli soldiers.
The graffiti called Mandelblit a "traitor" and compared him to Judge Richard Goldstone, the head of a commission for the United Nations that charged both Israel and Hamas with committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in the winter of 2008 and 2009.
The Petah Tikva Police and Investigating Military Police have begun a joint investigation regarding the incident.
The perpetrators appear to be protesting the conviction of two Israeli soldiers for crimes committed in Gaza. The convicted officers ordered a Palestinian child to open a bag they believed to be suspicious.
Mandelblit has recently decided to open such investigations into the military, arousing heated opposition in right wing circles, who believe that the judge should unconditionally support the soldiers.
A military representative said today "Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi backs the judge advocate general's activity and decisions, which are aimed at maintaining the IDF's rules, values and norms as an ethical army acting in accordance with the IDF's spirit, and fully condemns the attacks against the judge advocate general and his family members."
This is the second incident of vandalism in Mandelblit's home, following the placement of fliers near his home that said "Take your hands off Israeli soldiers".
Mandelblit is also investigating the case of Commander Colonel Ilan Malka, who ordered the bombing of a home that housed a Palestinian family, killing 21. The cases against Israeli soldiers who committed crimes against civilians during the Gaza war continue to come to light.
http://bit.ly/9bYIOC
Israel halts 'special strategic dialogue' with Britain to protest arrest warrants
British universal jurisdiction empowers judges to issue arrest warrants for nearly any visitor accused of war crimes anywhere in the world; visiting Foreign Secretary William Hague wants law changed, embassy says.
Israel has canceled its special strategic dialogue with London to protest a law that enables Britain to arrest visiting Israeli officials for alleged war crimes, officials in Jerusalem said Wednesday.
The move was announced during British Foreign Secretary William Hague's two-day visit to the region.
"The strategic dialogue has indeed been postponed," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP. "The visit by Foreign Minister Hague is an important phase in the ongoing exchange between the countries and the question of Israeli officials being unable to travel to Britain will be on the top of the agenda as far as we are concerned."
Britain is one of the European pioneers of universal jurisdiction, a broad legal concept that empowers judges to issue arrest warrants for nearly any visitor accused of committing war crimes anywhere in the world.
Pro-Palestinian activists have sought to use this concept to press charges against Israelis involved in military operations in Palestinian territories, particularly since last year's Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. British officials have vowed to change the law.
A diplomatic source said that the annual strategic dialogue - launched two years ago to boost relations - broke off at the beginning of the year and did not take place last month as planned.
Karen Kaufman, spokeswoman for the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, said that the issue would be raised during Hague's visit. "The British government understands that we have a real problem and we are dealing with it," she said, adding that Hague has expressed interest in changing the British law.
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor earlier this week became the latest Israeli official to cancel a visit to Britain for fear of arrest.
Last spring, pro-Palestinian activists persuaded a London judge to issue an arrest warrant for Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, who was foreign minister during the war in Gaza last year. The warrant was withdrawn after Livni canceled her trip, but the matter strained relations between Britain and Israel.
A delegation of senior Israel Defense Forces officers last spring canceled their own planned visit to the U.K a month later.
http://bit.ly/9fyeYL
Israel Tells Britain It Will Not Engage In Strategic Talks Before Legal Changes
The Israeli government told Great Britain that Israel will not continue with strategic talks until London reviews its laws concerning war crimes, Israeli radio reported on Wednesday.
According to Israeli radio, the announcement came as William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, began a two-day visit to the region to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders. In addition, he will sign a co-production film treaty with the right wing Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, which will "help stimulate productivity in both countries' film industries."
British law allows judges to issue arrest warrants against any foreign national visiting the UK, if the person in question has a proven role in war crimes. The Israeli Forging Ministry spokesperson, Yighal Palmer, told AFP that the specific law is problematic.
This law and the problems it creates to the movement of Israeli leaders are a top priority during Hague's visit, Palmer told AFP.
In the past, British arrest warrants were issued against Tzepi Livni, the former Israeli forging minster, current defense minister Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and many others for committing war crimes against Palestinians. None of them were arrested.
http://bit.ly/adG2e7
Prosecutors House Vandalized Over Conviction of Gaza Soldiers
Graffiti was found on house of Major-General Avichai Mandelblit this morning in response to the prosecutor's conviction of two Israeli soldiers.
The graffiti called Mandelblit a "traitor" and compared him to Judge Richard Goldstone, the head of a commission for the United Nations that charged both Israel and Hamas with committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in the winter of 2008 and 2009.
The Petah Tikva Police and Investigating Military Police have begun a joint investigation regarding the incident.
The perpetrators appear to be protesting the conviction of two Israeli soldiers for crimes committed in Gaza. The convicted officers ordered a Palestinian child to open a bag they believed to be suspicious.
Mandelblit has recently decided to open such investigations into the military, arousing heated opposition in right wing circles, who believe that the judge should unconditionally support the soldiers.
A military representative said today "Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi backs the judge advocate general's activity and decisions, which are aimed at maintaining the IDF's rules, values and norms as an ethical army acting in accordance with the IDF's spirit, and fully condemns the attacks against the judge advocate general and his family members."
This is the second incident of vandalism in Mandelblit's home, following the placement of fliers near his home that said "Take your hands off Israeli soldiers".
Mandelblit is also investigating the case of Commander Colonel Ilan Malka, who ordered the bombing of a home that housed a Palestinian family, killing 21. The cases against Israeli soldiers who committed crimes against civilians during the Gaza war continue to come to light.
http://bit.ly/9bYIOC
Israel halts 'special strategic dialogue' with Britain to protest arrest warrants
British universal jurisdiction empowers judges to issue arrest warrants for nearly any visitor accused of war crimes anywhere in the world; visiting Foreign Secretary William Hague wants law changed, embassy says.
Israel has canceled its special strategic dialogue with London to protest a law that enables Britain to arrest visiting Israeli officials for alleged war crimes, officials in Jerusalem said Wednesday.
The move was announced during British Foreign Secretary William Hague's two-day visit to the region.
"The strategic dialogue has indeed been postponed," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP. "The visit by Foreign Minister Hague is an important phase in the ongoing exchange between the countries and the question of Israeli officials being unable to travel to Britain will be on the top of the agenda as far as we are concerned."
Britain is one of the European pioneers of universal jurisdiction, a broad legal concept that empowers judges to issue arrest warrants for nearly any visitor accused of committing war crimes anywhere in the world.
Pro-Palestinian activists have sought to use this concept to press charges against Israelis involved in military operations in Palestinian territories, particularly since last year's Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. British officials have vowed to change the law.
A diplomatic source said that the annual strategic dialogue - launched two years ago to boost relations - broke off at the beginning of the year and did not take place last month as planned.
Karen Kaufman, spokeswoman for the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, said that the issue would be raised during Hague's visit. "The British government understands that we have a real problem and we are dealing with it," she said, adding that Hague has expressed interest in changing the British law.
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor earlier this week became the latest Israeli official to cancel a visit to Britain for fear of arrest.
Last spring, pro-Palestinian activists persuaded a London judge to issue an arrest warrant for Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, who was foreign minister during the war in Gaza last year. The warrant was withdrawn after Livni canceled her trip, but the matter strained relations between Britain and Israel.
A delegation of senior Israel Defense Forces officers last spring canceled their own planned visit to the U.K a month later.
http://bit.ly/9fyeYL
Israel Tells Britain It Will Not Engage In Strategic Talks Before Legal Changes
The Israeli government told Great Britain that Israel will not continue with strategic talks until London reviews its laws concerning war crimes, Israeli radio reported on Wednesday.
According to Israeli radio, the announcement came as William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, began a two-day visit to the region to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders. In addition, he will sign a co-production film treaty with the right wing Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, which will "help stimulate productivity in both countries' film industries."
British law allows judges to issue arrest warrants against any foreign national visiting the UK, if the person in question has a proven role in war crimes. The Israeli Forging Ministry spokesperson, Yighal Palmer, told AFP that the specific law is problematic.
This law and the problems it creates to the movement of Israeli leaders are a top priority during Hague's visit, Palmer told AFP.
In the past, British arrest warrants were issued against Tzepi Livni, the former Israeli forging minster, current defense minister Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and many others for committing war crimes against Palestinians. None of them were arrested.
http://bit.ly/adG2e7
