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IDF: Probes Prove No War Crimes Committed in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday that an internal investigation has determined that no civilians were purposefully harmed by IDF troops during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.
A Palestinian girl does her homework in front of her family's destroyed home in the al-Atatra district of the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2009. (AFP/File/Marco Longari) The inquiries were performed by five IDF colonels who were not involved in the fighting in Cast Lead, and examined reports of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, medical personnel and facilities, United Nations facilities, and also the use of white phosphorous.
The inquiries, which were supervised by IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, did find cases of civilians killed by mistaken fire on the part of IDF troops, but said the incidents were isolated.
Following the release of the investigation results, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the army's willingness to probe itself "one again proves that the IDF is one of the most moral armies in the world.
"The IDF is not afraid to investigate itself and in that, proves that its operations are ethical," said Barak. The defense minister added that he has "complete faith in the IDF, from the chief of staff to the last of the combat soldiers."
Deputy IDF Chief of Staff General Dan Harel said that in the dozens of cases they examined, they found that throughout Cast Lead the IDF "adhered to international law and maintained a high level of professionalism and morality."
The most glaring case of mistaken fire found by the inquiry was the attack on the Al-Dahiyeh family home in the Gaza City neighborhood of Zeitoun, in which 21 members of the same family were killed.
In the incident, the IDF called a household that was suspected of being a weapons storehouse and told the residents to evacuate, saying an attack was imminent.
The subsequent IAF strike, which was targeting a suspected weapons storehouse, landed dozens of meters from its target, slamming into the Al-Dahiyeh household.
The mistaken fire reportedly came as a result of a malfunction in the targeting system of the aircraft carrying out the mission.
The IDF has called the incident "regretful", but said it resulted from "an operational mistake that is bound to happen during intensive fighting."
Another incident reported in the probe's findings was the case of an IAF attack on a truck that military intelligence had reported was carrying Grad rockets. After the attack, which killed 8 Palestinians, including 4 Hamas gunmen, it was determined that the truck was transporting gas canisters.
An Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, called the military's investigation flawed. and said it "does not answer the need for an independent inquiry outside the army that would look at the whole range of violations the army is incapable of looking at."
"Itshows how important it is that Israel cooperate with the fact-finding mission of [Richard] Goldstone that would look at violations," said spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli, speaking on behalf of a group of human rights groups that have made this demand in the past.
Goldstone, a former United Nations chief prosecutor for war crimes, was recently appointed to head a UN investigation into atrocities allegedly committed during Israel's three-week war against Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers.
The investigation called by the UN's Human Rights Council was only supposed to look at Israeli conduct. But Goldstone did not accept the assignment until the mandate was changed to also examine Palestinian actions.
Israel has not said whether it would cooperate with the Goldstone investigation. But it has rejected council investigations in the past, calling them biased.
Among questions being raised is whether Israel used disproportionate force and failed to protect civilians.
In one case, Israeli artillery fire reportedly hit near a UN school where hundreds of Gazans had sought refuge, killing an estimated 42 people. Israeli said its troops were responding to fire from militants near the school, and both the incident and number of casualties have been disputed.
In another instance, Gazans allege Israeli soldiers ordered 110 civilians into a warehouse, then shelled it the next day, killing 30. Israel denies the army targeted the warehouse.
Israel also has been criticized for using white phosphorus weapons, which can be legitimately used in war to create smoke screens or provide illumination.
But rights activists have said its use over populated areas can indiscriminately burn civilians and constitute a war crime.
Israel says its army took great care to avoid harming civilians in Gaza, preceding some airstrikes with leaflets or phone calls warning civilians to flee - a contention confirmed by Gaza residents.
Israel is preparing for potential legal action, barring the media from publishing pictures of officers' faces and their names for fear of
investigations. It has promised legal and financial support for any officers facing trial, despite the difficulty of prosecuting Israelis.
- Posted in
54 Comments so far
Show AllThese findings not only fly in the face of reality, but also make a mockery of Israel's internal review process. In fact, such a thorough exoneration makes it clear to the world that Israel is only interested in propaganda rather than the truth.
But I guess we should all know that by now.
"Israel Finds Israel To Be Innocent"
That's shocking! Although I'm not sure how to miss the point that THE ENTIRE OCCUPATION IS A WAR CRIME.
And what exactly is an "isolated incident"? Isn't every incident isolated? The whole point of the Nuremberg Trials was that the initial act of invasion contains within it "the accumulated evil of the whole" -- meaning each and every "isolated incident" is part of the grave war crime of aggression.
actually: "Israel Finds Israel To Be Innocent"
If you had followed the article more closely, you might have noticed that it was NOT Israel who find the IDF innocent, but the IDF found itself Innocent.
Some within Israel, such as Ha'aretz (the newspaper from which this article was taken) B'Tselem and other Human Right groups, are criticizing the Army for investigating itself, and are asking for additional external investigations.
Please don't put all Israelis under the same umbrella.
Nonsence! The IDF has put the "Genocidal Monster" stigmata on not only all Israelis but also their supporters as well.
Fair enough distinction, but by "Israel" I mean the government. Is there another official investigation pending? If not then this investigation is the official Israeli investigation.
You're right, there are some excellent groups within Israel, including Gush-Shalom, ICAHD, and others.
Putting all Israelis under the same umbrella is unfair. Unfortunately, there all Israelis are, under the umbrella of their Zionist government. Israelis of conscience would do well to get rid of the war criminals leading their nation. We've managed to do it in the US, at least for four years---hopefully.
While I agree many in Israel are against the occupation...they all have to serve in the IDF as a matter of national policy once they turn 18. Very few are exempt from that commitment. Their leaders are all former generals. So Israel is still a military state so there is an aspect of collective guilt when it comes to the occupation.
DCBeltway1 "Their leaders are all former generals."
Netanyahu (the Prime Minister) was a Captain.
Peres (The president) never served in the army.
As for the "collective guilt" argument - Would you equally agree that all the US soldiers’ draftees, who served in Vietnam, also share "collective guilt" over that war?
The lame justification of 21 deaths being "an operational mistake that is bound to happen during intensive fighting," for "The mistaken fire reportedly came as a result of a malfunction in the targeting system of the aircraft carrying out the mission," in not acceptable nor even reasonable, given the circumstances.
There was absolutely no _ I N T E N S E _ "reciprocal" fighting, it was clearly a one-sided attack of the heavily armed IDF invasion air force against a residential area of un-armed civilians. It was not "bound to happen", other than as a result of knowingly using excessive force against a caged group of people in a densely populated area.
Where exactly were these innocent people supposed to "run to" ?
Where exactly was the rush to target coming from in the first place, that someone might get out alive ?
Inexcusable and wanton disproportional violations of the PEACE -- IS a war crime.
Namaste
powerfully_true: "...It was not "bound to happen", other than as a result of knowingly using excessive force against a caged group of people in a densely populated area."
Targeting millitants who are hiding among civilians is not a war crime, according to the Geneva Convention.
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm
Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War
Article 28
The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.
Letto,
Give it up. Stop making excuses for war crimes. Israel is a racist, apartheid, violent, terroristic state. Just deal with it. The world witnessed it. There was nothing the IDF could really hide. Only a war criminal apologist would see it otherwise.
Show me one country in the Middle-East which is less racist, less Apartheid and more progressive than Israel, than we'll talk.
The reason why the IDF can't hide, while armies of other M.E country can, is because of free press. An Israeli newspaper (Such as Ha'aretz) can publish article showing the wrongdoing of the Army and the Government.
The current leaders in Israel look upon and treat Palestinians as vermin. It's true that Israel would not exist if Muslim states had their way. It's true that Muslims dislike Israelis in general and would see them drowning in the sea if possible. I wonder why that is? Israel should be the progressive state in the Middle East, if it has any claim to exist at all. It should not be treating its neighbors like roaches. It acts like the prima donna of the Promised Land. Phooey. I'm sick to death of Israel.
What drug are you on? What country in the ME is having an occupation? Name one? Who are the only two country in the ME that is currently occupying another country or land?
Racism exists everywhere, including the US of A. But nobody practices it as vilely as Israel. You are really trying to divert the attention of the board away from the topic at hand; the practices of ISrael and its genocidal policies.
Horrified: "What country in the ME is having an occupation?"
Morocco (Spanish Sahara), Turkey (North Cyprus), USA (Iraq), Syria (parts of Lebanon), to name a few.
--
Horrified: "Racism exists everywhere, including the US of A. But nobody practices it as vilely as Israel."
Hmm, where did I hear this lie before? Ha, yes, in Ahmadinejad's speech.
Do you, Horrified, also question the Holocaust and claim there are no homosexual in the Middle-East?
Jordan, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia
Oh and Bahrain's Ambassador to the US is a Jewish-Bahraini. Can you imagine Israel sending an Israeli Arab Ambassador to the US let alone a Palestinian one?
Letto: "Show me one country in the Middle-East which is less racist, less Apartheid and more progressive than Israel, then we'll talk."
DCBeltway1: "Jordan, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia"
Jordan is a Monarchy (less Democratic), who has a law that carries death penalty against anyone who sell land to a Jew (more racist and more Apartheid than Israel who doesn't execute people who sell land to Palestinians.)
Turkey Occupy North Cyprus, and fight a war against the Kurds in East Turkey and north Iraq. Also in Turkey - the Army have constitutional right to reverse election results (less Democratic than Israel)
Morocco is a Monarchy (less Democratic) who brutally occupy Spanish Sahara (A territory far bigger than Israel and Palestine combined)
Tunisia: I must admit you may have a point here. This country may be at the same level as Israel in terms of Democracy and Racism. In 1948, approximately 105,000 Jews lived in Tunisia. About 1,500 remain today. After independence in the 1950s, Tunisia's Jewish Community Council was abolished by the government and many Jewish areas and buildings were destroyed for "urban renewal." The only thing that may bring the balance in favour of Israel is that unlike the Israeli / Palestinian conflict - the Jews didn't fight the Muslims there.
Bahrain, is also a Monarchy (Less Democratic).
You can also add the Amerates (Dubai) to the list of semi liberal countries, which is almost as progressive as Israel.
DCBeltway1 "Can you imagine Israel sending an Israeli Arab Ambassador to the US let alone a Palestinian one?"
Yes, I can imagine it.
Arab figures in political, judicial and military positions
Cabinet: Nawaf Massalha, an Arab Muslim, has served in various junior ministerial roles, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Salah Tarif, a Druze Arab citizen of Israel, was appointed a member of Sharon's cabinet without a portfolio. Tarif was later ejected after being convicted of corruption.
In 2007 the first non-Druze Arab minister in Israel's history, Raleb Majadele, was appointed a minister without portfolio, and a month later appointed minister for Science, Culture and Sport.
Knesset: Arab citizens of Israel have been elected to every Knesset, and currently hold 12 of its 120 seats. The first female Arab MP was Hussniya Jabara, a Muslim Arab from central Israel, who was elected in 1999.
Supreme Court: Abdel Rahman Zuabi, a secular Muslim from northern Israel, was the first Arab on the Israeli Supreme Court, serving a 9-month term in 1999. In 2004, Salim Jubran, a Christian Arab from Haifa descended from Lebanese Maronites, became the first Arab to hold a permanent appointment on the Court. Jubran's expertise lies in the field of criminal law.
Foreign Service: Ali Yahya, an Arab Muslim, became the first Arab ambassador for Israel in 1995 when he was appointed ambassador to Finland. He served until 1999, and in 2006 was appointed ambassador to Greece. Other Arab ambassadors include Walid Mansour, a Druze, appointed ambassador to Vietnam in 1999, and Reda Mansour, also a Druze, a former ambassador to Ecuador. Mohammed Masarwa, an Arab Muslim, was Consul-General in Atlanta. In 2006, Ismail Khaldi was appointed Israeli consul in San Francisco, becoming the first Bedouin consul of the State of Israel.
Israel Defense Forces: Arab Generals in the IDF include Major General Hussain Fares, commander of Israel's border police, and Major General Yosef Mishlav, head of the Israeli Home Front Command and current Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. Both are members of the Druze community.
Jewish National Fund: In 2007, Ra'adi Sfori became the first Arab citizen of Israel to be elected as a JNF director.
Israel purposely targets civilians as punishment for allowing anti zionist groups to exist.
No it didn't.
Unlike the Hamas who really targeted civilians, Israel targeted millitants who were hiding among civilians. There is a difference.
Israel's military does target civilians, and does so frequently. This is well documented.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/19/israeli-troops-gaza-shootings-civilians
Of course, an apologist would say that they are all "isolated incidents". Thousands of isolated incidents, over 40+ years.
I couldn't see the link.
During the fighting, many Gazan civilians were hit, but they were not targeted. (Gazan civilians were hit because the militants were using them as human shield, or because of mistakes)
Unlike the Hamas who ordered its militants: "Kill as many Jews as you can," the Israeli government issued no order to hit civilians just for the sake of hitting civilians.
The Israeli army proved that it considers Palestinians not worth the effort to distinguish between civilians and militants. That's the difference. There it was before all the world, a very arrogant military force prancing into Gaza--kinda like the US prancing into Iraq, actually. The bully boys, at it again. The Arabs as a culture are not my cup of tea, but there's no doubt that they are fighting for their homes and their lives.
One side kills with abandon, the other side kills with impunity.
I see the difference.
Ted Markow, The Hamas was targeting civilians while hiding among civilians.
Israel was targeting militants, while trying to minimize civilian casualties. (Yet many were hurt)
The different numbers are not because the Hamas was careful not to hit civilians, but because of IDF's superiority in military power.
Um.....you realize that just because a government says something, it doesn't make it so, don't you?
Unfortunately not.
The Israeli government also didn't order the killing of Israeli soldiers. Yet 3 were killed in friendly fire.
War is hell, and the Hamas should have not started it.
patgarrett: "Liar. Israel deliberately targets children and pregnant women."
Liar, Israel did not deliberately targets children and pregnant women. The Hamas did.
Your lies are exposed for all to see, you piece of anti-Zionist pig, Ahmadinejad's shill.
You are a shill pig liar, shill pig liar, shill pig liar, shill pig liar! Ha ha ha!
Maybe I better go to sleep. It's beyond me to have an intelligent conversation with the likes of you, patgarrett.
...After extensive, news research, which is the basis for the facts and figures of Gilbert’s presentation, a BBC story by journalist Christian Fraser explains that Samar was shot at close range. In Jabaliya, while her grandmother waved a white flag, an Israeli soldier came out of his tank and fired his automatic M16 rifle. Samar’s grandmother was injured and two of Samar’s sisters - Amal, two years-old and Souad, seven years-old - were shot dead. While this was happening, two of the Israeli soldiers at the scene of the crime were eating chocolate and chips.
“Mama, mama, mama,” whispered Samar, a four-year-old girl, Gilbert recalled. “I will never forget her whispers for her mama.” He showed a photo of the opening in Samar’s back: it went into her spinal cord. The injury paralyzed her from the waist-down. Samar was patient and she did not cry.
Israeli soccer matches were suspended during the assault on Gaza. When the games resumed last week, the fans had come up with a new chant: "Why have the schools in Gaza been shut down?" sang the crowd. "Because all the children were gunned down!" came the answer.
Aside from its sheer barbarism, this chant reflects the widespread belief among Israeli Jews that Israel scored an impressive victory in Gaza – a victory measured, not least, by the death toll...
...Every child has a story. A Bedouin friend recently called to tell us about his relatives in Gaza. One cousin allowed her five-year-old daughter to walk to the adjacent house to see whether the neighbours had something left to eat. The girl had been crying from hunger. The moment she began crossing the street a missile exploded nearby and the flying shrapnel killed her. The mother has since been bedridden, weeping and screaming, "I have let my girl die hungry". neve gordon/gael bronner
Re-imagining " B O U N D " and " to _ H A P P E N ".
Gnarly bristling barbing wire,
wraps around abductee Gazillions
Crustily dazed weary wounded eyes
covered tightly dull pain's blood
En'wraptured yieldless adamant righteousness
smoothers truth to disembowel innocence
Wrapping up looseness final ends
sweeping shard's inconvenience away
Usurping waylaid skewered righteousness
No bounteous promise, life obscured pales
Cruel barbarous fanged ZION, sink callously
crowning throats tightly, Palestine begs to leaden rage
BOUND calumny betwixt calamitous times
Twas 'to HAPPEN' direly a barrow brimming.
Namaste
Operation Lead Ass Cast
This must be the cruel joke of the century!
Newsflash: just in!! Internal Nazi probe determines that 6 million Jews committed suicide!!
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
It must be true because the IDF said so.
P.S. Also, we had nothing to do with what happened to you know who...
Israeli Government & Military Universal Report of Total Exculpation and Exoneration:
___________________________________
• It was all just a Merry Mixup.
• We didn't commit any of the war crimes and atrocities they say we committed!
• And besides, we were fully within our rights to do all that stuff we didn't do.
· Yr Obd't Servant
In précis form: "We consider the present circumstances unlikely"
Why do they bother doing this? It just adds insult to injury.
"Following the release of the investigation results, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the army's willingness to probe itself "one again proves that the IDF is one of the most moral armies in the world.
Yes any military that allows investigation of itself by itself is always one of the most moral in the world and even more believable when the motto is "By way of deception we will wage War".
"The IDF is not afraid to investigate itself and in that, proves that its operations are ethical," said Barak.
"No, he continued, "What we're afraid of is external investigations and the reporting of the facts."
Bring America Back !!!!..............So the Fox investigates itself inside the Hen House !!!! The right hand pats the left hand.
***The 5 Stooges show, and I thught there were only 3 Stooges ????
***THE REPORT OF THE FIVE IDF GENERALS IS MEANINGLESS AND REPREHENSIBLE. THE
IDF IS GIVEN TO LYING AND COMPLETE FALSEHOODS. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A MORAL ARMY, YOU BIG, DUMB, SOB/S.
300 TO 400 INNOCENT CHILDREN OF GAZA ARE DEAD== HOW MORAL IS THAT ????
TALK ABOUT PROPAGANDA GARBAGE, THIS IS THE HEIGHT OF IT ALL !!!
Love your sentiments. But God, I hate caps.
They said the same thing about the Amalekites.
They will finally drown in their own bullshit.
Psychopaths lie. They do it so naturally and frequently that they can't tell the difference between truth or lies. And they absolutely have no shame because they do not have a conscience. They want what they want and so Anything Goes without blinking an eye.
Given facts staring them in the face, they are masters at blaming, denying and holding steady to their own internalized "truth" of things because they want what they want.
A Hitler, a Stalin attracted to themselves those who identified with them and what they were about. Psychopaths in high places operate in clusters of like-minded people, aiding, supporting, acting out the crazy, inhumane script which, to all of them is perfectly reasonable and legitimate because they want what they want and that makes it okay.
"Normal" people become confused, off-balance, and disempowered because nothing makes sense anymore. Suggestions and discussion based on rational thinking do not make a dent in terms of changing psychopaths' minds, because they don't get it, and THEY WANT WHAT THEY WANT.
Richard Cheney: We really got some good results from torturing people.
He doesn't get it: that torturing people is unconstitutional, is morally wrong, is against international law ... Doesn't bother him at all. He wants what he wants.
Dangerous, dangerous times across the globe and back again.
The Age of Moral Degeneracy.
peace - /cm
Too ridiculous to deserve any comment.
"Israel says its army took great care to avoid harming civilians in Gaza, preceding some airstrikes with leaflets or phone calls warning civilians to flee - a contention confirmed by Gaza residents."
ATTENTION GAZANS!
You are walled in, starving, unable to cross any checkpoints. The IDF is going to blow your city to hell and you are warned to leave immediately!
(Ignoring this warning absolves us of all responsibility. - The Israeli Government)
Another addition to the volumes of lies under which we live in this world.
Lots of posts about the Israelis and some defending the actions of the Israeli army--but what about us? The U.S.? None of this death and desruction could have happened without the military funding from the United States. We are to blame for the actions of Isreal. We pay them to do the awful things they do.
Let's not waste time talking about how awful the Israelis are. Let's put our anger over these atrocities in the faces of our Representatives in Congress! They voted to use your tax funds to pay for the awful attack on the people in Gaza. Direct your anger and disgust where it belongs---at Congress. Insist that they stop funding the Israeli army.
And Auschwitz was actually a spa with nice hot showers.