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UN Blames Israeli Army for Gaza War Attacks
UNITED NATIONS - A United Nations inquiry Tuesday blamed Israel for six serious attacks on UN buildings during its Gaza offensive, drawing fury from Israeli officials who accused the UN body of bias.
The report was drawn up by an independent commission of inquiry set up to investigate nine cases in which UN buildings in the impoverished Gaza Strip were damaged by bombardments or arms fire during the three-week war.
Palestinian civilians and medics run to safety as white phosphorus from an Israeli shell rains down on a UN school in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip on January 17. (AFP/File/Mohammed Abed) The findings present the latest criticism of Israel over the war it launched against the Hamas-run territory on December 27 in response to ongoing rocket fire from Gaza militants. More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died.
"In six of the nine incidents, the board concluded that the death, injuries and damage involved were caused by military actions, using munitions launched or dropped from the air or fired from the ground, by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)," the report said.
A seventh less serious incident was also blamed on Israeli light arm fire during the 22-day December-January offensive, while the eighth was attributed to a Palestinian faction, probably Hamas.
The probe by the United Nations Headquarters Board of Inquiry however could not determine who was to blame for the ninth incident.
The report accused Israel of failing to protect UN buildings and the civilians inside them, and recommended that the United Nations seek damages.
But Israeli officials, reacting even before the report was published, accused the United Nations of being misleading.
"The state of Israel rejects the criticism in the committee's summary report, and determines that in both spirit and language, the report is tendentious, patently biased, and ignores the facts presented to the committee," the foreign ministry said in a statement early Tuesday.
"The committee has preferred the claims of Hamas, a murderous terror organization, and by doing so has misled the world."
The headquarters for the UN Palestinian relief organization (UNRWA) was among the UN buildings damaged along with several UN-run schools during the offensive.
"IDF actions involved varying degrees of negligence or recklessness with regard to United Nations premises and to the safety of United Nations staff and other civilians within those premises, with consequent deaths, injuries and extensive physical damage and loss of property," the report said.
And it concluded "that no military activity was carried out from within the United Nations premises in any of the incidents."
UN chief Ban Ki-moon told a press conference: "I intend to seek reparations for damages incurred by the UN."
And he also countered the Israeli criticisms highlighting the "independent nature" of the inquiry, adding: "I have no authority to alter or to change the contents of the report."
The inquiry also demanded that UN leaders urge the Jewish state to formally retract allegations that Palestinians had fired from two UN-run buildings.
"The board recommended that the United Nations should seek formal acknowledgement by the government of Israel that its public statements alleging that Palestinians fired from within the UNRWA Jabalia school on 6 January and from within the UNRWA Field Office compound on 15 January were untrue and are regretted," the report said.
The Israeli foreign ministry hit back that even though Israel had cooperated fully with the committee and presented it with various intelligence material, "none of this information is reflected in the report."
"The report completely ignores the eight years of attacks against Israel that preceded the decision to initiate the operation, and ignores the difficult circumstances on the ground as dictated by Hamas and its methods of armed operation" from within heavily populated civilian areas, it said.
41 Comments so far
Show Alldoes it really matter, what the un or the world says? america will veto any thing anti israel. our green lights have to stop. biden, rahm, and kerry were at the aipac convention. the zionist white house was well represented.
New axes of Evil
Israel, Israel, Israel
The U.S./Israeli alliance from Hell hasn't even begun to show the world what it's capable of.
Bring America Back !!!! Well Kurt, I personally think that Sept 11, 2001,
was a pretty good showing of it !!!!
****Unless of course, you still think a cave-dwelling boogieman and 19 airline
school flunkouts pulled off the technical Genius which was 9/11 ????
Demolitioned !!! Man, Demolitioned !!
Obviously the IDF and Israeli government go ballistic (which is what they do best, after all) whenever any responsible body offers investigation and analysis contradicting Israel's official compulsive white-washing and pathological denial of their innumerable criminal and immoral atrocities against the Palestinians.
I'm no Talmudic scholar, but I'm perplexed-- can it really be kosher to constantly squeal like a stuck pig?
· Yr Obd't Servant
Maybe if you were a Talmudic scholar, you would be against Zionism. I'm not one myself, so I'm not sure.
http://knol.google.com/k/miriam-woelke/the-talmudic-reason-for-anti-zionism/yihux797iuse/5#
Please explain.................
Please read the link, then search The Google........................................
"The report completely ignores the eight years of attacks against Israel that preceded the decision to initiate the operation"
as it should. the UN was not part of those aleged attacks.
"ignores the difficult circumstances on the ground as dictated by Hamas and its methods of armed operation" from within heavily populated civilian areas"
again as it should, since Hamas was not shooting from the big white buildings with a UN flag.
what about the white phosphorous munitions used to incinerate the UN food aid that had only just arrived after international outcry? I bet he forgot about that.
What I don't understand is, why the Israeli government doesn't realize that by instantly screaming "bias" or "anti-semitism" everytime someone criticizes them, they actually bolster the anti-semites case. If they would only admit once and awhile that, hey, we screwed up, they might start to get some sympathy.
Unless of course they actually WANT people to be anti-semitic...having an enemy seems to be good for business lately.
The Israeli power structure is terminally infected with post-holocaust PTSD and they refuse to deal with it. Instead they have come to embody the old "you become what you hate" adage. It's pretty twisted. My Israeli friends tell me that the country is basically under the control of 5 families, all descended from holocaust survivors, all controlling various aspects of the economy, all deeply involved with AIPAC. It's another crime family syndicate, much like the US with the Bushes, Rockefellers, DuPonts, etc.
Keep in mind that the profits these wars "earn" through continual re-arming, are making certain people very wealthy, in terms of money anyway. The impoverishment of the soul is something these war profiteers are too far gone to even feel anymore.
Ideology and religion, while still the surface reasons for all of this insanity, are really cover stories. It's about money, oil, land, and domination.
Very good info. I'd disagree with your last statement though in this sense: the need to accumulate wealth (greed) and dominate is itself based in a certain brand of religion (I would say Old Testament/Torah, combined with the organizations that grew up around them.)
Anti-Semetism has changed meanings as it is actually used to mean Anti-Zionism. You can hate Jews all you want, but it you support Israel, you're not Anti-Semetic. You can have fought for the rights of the repressed, including Jews, for all your life - but if you're also for the rights of Palestinians, you are Anti-Semetic.
Given that being for the rights of all peoples including Palestinians and opposing their genocide is "Anti-Semetic", I'll leave it to you to decide how perjorative that is.
Israeli FURY?
Do tell.
Now they'll be issuing tee shirts with not only the pregant palestinian woman in the crosshairs, but inside a building that says UN--and the slogan: ONE SHOT, THREE KILLS.
So much discussion! All you have to do is look at the facts.
Israel is the historical land owned by the Israelis. It was given to them free of charge by Yaweh, the God of War and Weather, several thousand years ago. Yahweh's only conditions were that, as the Israelis advanced, they would kill every living thing and destroy all but a few chosen cities. On a couple of occasions when they kept a few animals alive to sacrifice to Yaweh, He punished them severely for breaking his order and leaving something alive.
Now, several thousand years after having been dispersed from the land, they have returned. Is it any surprise that they began cleansing their homeland just as they did in the time of the prophets? They still worship the same neurotic, bloody-minded god that they did in the old days. Not only that, but He has grown from a local god to the great God of all.
Now, understanding this, it should be easy to figure out what is going on in the Middle East. Israel is always right! God told them so. Any people squatting on the land that they slaughtered their way across a few thousand years ago are to be destroyed.
As Yahweh's Chosen People, they can do no wrong, so don't question whom they kill or enslave, they are just following the mandate of their god.
Any questions, class? You can read all about it in the Old Testament, and in the writings of some of the modern rulers of Israel. Class dismissed.
Great post. Yahweh is a sociopath...look at the Abrahamic religions...all three of them, bloody murderers in the name of their god.
Frustrating. My best friend is a good liberal, but when he comes to Israel, he's as Zionist as they come.
US Voter Blames Congress for Gaza War Attacks - Baby Butchers All!
I like minitrue's post - Israel does feel they have the right to do as they please and that they are never wrong.
after all - to the israelites the rest of us are nothing but gentile or even worse, PIGS!
There is something seriously wrong here, and the fact that Zionist/Israel has our government wrapped around their little finger, well that just makes shit a whole lot worse for everyone on this planet.
Bring America Back !!!!.Thanx, I needed that !! And Zion is a 4 letter word too !
Israel has the same response to any challenge to its collective behavior as Tony on the Sopranos. A real case of self centered twisted logic.
Some that study history, suggest that the group that is in charge of the policies of Israel are really not the genuine Jews of the historical past.
Some writings of the 1st Century make reference as follows
"Of them that say they are Jews, and are not, but are of the synagogue of SATAN."
Sort of shows a real departure from a people that had the 10 COMMANDMENTS for an example of JUSTICE and Love for a neighbor and how to get along with others.
Only 6 incidents out of 9? Whatever happened to the other 3, were they blown down by the wind?
And Israel gets more and more emboldened and insolent by the day. Still, they wonder why the world 'hates' them and why they're so 'persecuted' - yah, yah, if they could only look in the mirror to see the ugliness the rest of us sees.
And all I want to know is, what is the UN going to do now? It's about time that somebody at that puppet organization gets some balls to do what they're supposed to and stop this kind of behavior and self-righteouness.
It's always honorable to man up and claim responsibility for your actions, you damaged buildings, you should pay to have them repaired. It has nothing to do with bias or anti jewish thoughts it has to do with not destroying a peaceful organizations buildings.
Well Duh! Now we can all disregard this information because of the Holocaust. The Holocaust has become a license for ethnic cleansing. Go Israel! Cleanse you little genocidal hearts out...America will support you. There is no evil too great for you to commit and lose our support.
UN Gaza report 'outrageous, one-sided': Peres
Wed May 6, 1:05 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Israeli President Shimon Peres Wednesday blasted as "outrageous" and "one-sided" a UN inquiry that blamed Israel for six serious attacks on UN buildings during its Gaza offensive.
The world can see for itself what Shatan Peres calls "one-sided" -
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/gaza-horror-large-photo-gallery-of-gaza-massacre-by-israel/
One-sided? The Israelis did all the killing and the Palestineans did all the dying.
Repeal UNGA-181 now!
FU!!! Really all these "Palestinians" are within most of Israelis boundaries. Slaves or indentured servants. Its just like the american immigrants and the natives and imported blacks folk. All this really is, is manslaughter for land. "If I can't have it, you can't" B.S. Id really like to sit down and discuss what is really wrong with this "israeli approach" to this "ancient" war, but, if everyone can't figure it out, I'll be no help. Israel is like an ex wife, I'm glad she is fu$king something else up besides me/you. Sorry Palestine, she moved to your neighbourhood. I wish the mentality was out of my own hood.
Is the government of Israel more like a child victim of sexual abuse, destined to be the abuser?
Don't hate me because that was beautiful.
Settle down, and when you do, then post. Unless you're spewing to intentionally muck up the site.
Bring America Back !!!!.......The Zionists will Lie and Deny until they are backed into a corner called The Truth==then they will admit their crimes when they think the Global heat is over. They did the same thing when they intentionally attacked the ship US Liberty.
**Wonderful report from the UN, and makes us proud they sit in the US--NYC.
**While the UN's Ban ki Moon files for reparations against Israel, perhaps they
can file to bring back 300 to 400 innocent children, and 1100 other dead
Gazans !! How much are they worth ?
We all can get to peace faster when we recognize that some Israelis embrace total war with the Palestinian refugee camps, some don't, and some waver back and forth from year to year listening to both sides' arguments. Oddly enough, the Palestinians are human too. They have their "give me war or death" camp, their peace camp and their thinkers also. Outsiders think that the Palestinians are all Muslims, but a good number are Christians with allegiance to Rome. American Jews are also quite split over Palestinian war issues.
For that matter, Americans are split over the country's use of Agent Orange in Vietnam, the use of depleted uranium shells in Iraq, and the maintenance of 20,000 rubble-bouncing atomic bombs. Some are concerned that we've left an environmental wasteland after the war. Some think that mass killing (war) is wrong, period. Others don't care about the Iraqis so much but the blowback is killing Gulf War vets. Still others just want to win wars at any cost.
" Oddly enough, the Palestinians are human too." Yes that is extremely odd. As for the "some Israelis", the tiny and ineffective minority of Israelis is not enough to give cover to what is happening there. Not enough by a long shot.
this is madness.
No this is isreali politics as usual. They want nothing more than to keep this "war" going forever. The palestinians play right into their hands with every rocket, holding themselves down.
This is unfortunate........ The Palestinian terrorists have always used the practice of operating under the "shelter" of civilians or other undesirable "targets" when attacking Israel. The refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla are where this tactic was honed... They would attack Israeli civilians and then hide among their own civilians leaving the choice one of not responding or of killing innocents, knowing that they could use the carnage for their own political gain. This has been repeated again and again, and in fact this whole recent conflict was of the same character. To suggest that these were wanton attacks by Israel on the UN is grossly unfair. The munitions may have been Israeli, but clearly the attacks were brought on by fighters willfully drawing fire to the UN structures. The blame is being unreasonably assigned. When your facility is being used by one side as shelter in a war zone, you had better do something about it or these kinds of consequences will result. The UN is simply wrong about this.
Nother zionist troll...Blame the victims for your own atrocities....
It's not a refugee camp! IT'S A PRISON AND THE PRISONERS ARE RIOTING!
They are hungry, thirsty, impoverished and repressed.
Their lives are not in the NEWS, the news is about lies.
At long last, Sir, do Zionists have NO dignity? Joe McCarthy had more integrity than the entire lot of you.
Oregoncharles
Stonetool .. the people you call "terrorists" are, by law, entitled to resist the occupation of their territory. And according to the same international law, Israel is required to serve the needs of the occupied people. Israel continues to defy the law as it spreads settlements far beyond the UN mandated 1967 borders. And all the while, Israel makes life miserable for the Palestinian people, bulldozing down their homes, killing anyone who resists, refusing to recognize elected leaders, trapping over a million people behind impenetrable walls. And the latest, the brutal massacre of 1500 trapped Palestinians. Why?
the US and Israel want Palestine gone forever. The only way to make this happen is to terrorize the people so that they leave. Their lives are made unbearable, by design. Millions have already left. Those who stay either lack the resources to go or are committed to saving what's left of Palestine. It's their home, after all.
Israel receives more money from the US than any other government in the world. They use these gifts - the money, the bombs, the fighter jets, the white phosphorous weapons - to brutalize the Palestinian people.
Does it have anything at all to do with "god's will" or is a matter of Israel's prime location, location, location? Israel makes quite a nice launching pad for the US empire's war on the Middle East? And for Israel, they can once and for all rid themselves of the burden of responsibility for Palestinians. They are in the process of channeling the Nazis. I feel sorry for their progeny. This is a dark period for Israelis.
It just seems like isreal is becoming everything it's people should despise. No one is right in this conflict. lose/lose
Yes, but we should not do nothing... which, of course, always aids the powerful.
The Khazar-spawned genetic strain has a non-human monster configuration.
It goes almost with out saying, that Israel is the author of most of the worlds woes. The Nazi's saw the truth back in the last century, to bad that we stopped them!
I notice the odd mention that Hamas fired on Israelis from amongst civilians a very nasty crime. However I see no mention of arms found where civilians have been murdered, rather odd don't you think?