Israel bombs Gaza killing 200+

[LetTheTruthBeTold]

Originally Posted by Stylerod

You're right. I don't think soldiers could have mistaken the child for a Hamas fighter. Which makes me think it could have been Hamas that shot her. There seems to be a pattern of it.

From the story above.


Somewhere here someone posted video's of Hamas killing their own people, so I wouldn't put it past them.

Your right Israeli military just took one look at this poor girl and gave the gun to Hamas and told them to pull the trigger.

And when a Jordanian doctor Rawya Borno said "civilians, including children, were rounded up and killed by Israeli troops that was all a hoax right.

And 9 year old Abduallah Samouni who explains that Israeli soldiers executed his father shooting him as he came out was a big bluff right.

And when Ahmed was beside his dead mother who was clutching his brother Nasser both dead was a fake story. I guess to you like the IsraHELL believe that these children have been manipulated right.

Don't count on bringing down the hope and spirit of these Palestinians because it is not going to happen. These Palestinian children are warriors.

THAT WHICH DOESN'T BREAK ME , ONLY MAKES ME STRONGER" is the motto that the Palestinians in Gaza live by.

Israel Accused of Executing Parents in Front of Children in Gaza - By Murray Wardrop (LATEST UPDATE - 27/1/09)

[JaJae]

This is still continuing...
VOA News - Rocket Fire from Gaza Continues to Hit Israel

Israeli police say a rocket from Gaza has exploded in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon.

Officials say no one was hurt in Tuesday's attack, and no one has claimed responsibility for the incident.

Limited rocket and mortar fire has resumed from Gaza since a truce was reached two weeks ago that ended Israel's three-week-long offensive in the Gaza Strip.

[kinggovernor]

UN backtracks on claim that IDF strike hit Gaza school
By Amos Harel

The United Nations has reversed its stance on one of the most contentious and bloody incidents of the recent Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza, saying that an IDF mortar strike that killed 43 people on January 6 did not hit a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school after all.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061351.html

UN disseminates lies and a willing media swallows them | The Australian

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

UN backtracks on claim that IDF strike hit Gaza school - Haaretz - Israel News

UN disseminates lies and a willing media swallows them | The Australian

I had heard something about this from a Palestinian eye witness who came forward and said he witnessed the bombing from inside the school. He said three mortars landed in the street and never touched any buildings. Some debris came in and hurt some people inside, but no major injuries for the people inside the school other than some scratches. The people that got severely and critically harmed were out in the street.

It's interesting how long it took for the UN to correct this story... after peace talks had begun. It's a pretty simple story to check... the school obviously doesn't have a hole in it and doesn't look bombed. They have employees who work inside the building. If they wanted the truth or wanted to release the truth they could have. They chose to assist the Palestinians by spreading propaganda.

I think Israel still has some owning up to do as to why they bombed that location, but I think some honest reporting and integrity by the UN is needed in these types of affairs. Clearly the UN is unwilling to be nonpartisan and has an agenda.

[LetTheTruthBeTold]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

UN backtracks on claim that IDF strike hit Gaza school - Haaretz - Israel News

UN disseminates lies and a willing media swallows them | The Australian

It looks like the IDF pressured the UN to retract their statement.


Take a look at this interview with Mark Regeve Israeli spokesperson admitting that Israel attacked the UN School. It is sad to see the UN bowing down to Jewish Lobby. The next thing Israel can pressure the UN to say is that they never attacked the UN school and that over 40 innocent lives were not lost in that massacre alone.

YouTube - BBC argues with Israeli Spokesman over...

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by LetTheTruthBeTold

It looks like the IDF pressured the UN to retract their statement.


Take a look at this interview with Mark Regeve Israeli spokesperson admitting that Israel attacked the UN School. It is sad to see the UN bowing down to Jewish Lobby.

that damn Jewish lobby

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by LetTheTruthBeTold

It looks like the IDF pressured the UN to retract their statement.


Take a look at this interview with Mark Regeve Israeli spokesperson admitting that Israel attacked the UN School. It is sad to see the UN bowing down to Jewish Lobby.

I can't watch your video from work, but the evidence is clear. Teachers at the school who lost students to the bombs have come out to say the reports were false. There's even more evidence than that though... the building doesn't have a big friggin hole in it. Anyone still clinging to this story is clinging to propaganda.

[motivez]

Definitely a bump, but for the doubters who seem to think the only credible news coming out of that region is from an American or pro-Israel outlet and that they couldn't have possibly done anything wrong:

BBC News - Israel reprimands top officers over UN compound strike

Top Israeli officers reprimanded
Israel has revealed it has reprimanded two top army officers for authorising an artillery attack which hit a UN compound in Gaza last year.

In the attack on 15 January 2009 the compound was set ablaze by white phosphorus shells.

The admission is contained in the Israeli response to the UN's Goldstone report, which concluded both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes.

Both officers have retained their ranks, according to reports.

The Israeli army has not specifically said that the rules of engagement were broken over the use of white phosphorus.

During the 22-day conflict last year, media pictures showed incendiary shells raining down on a UN compound.

ANALYSIS
Paul Wood, BBC News, Jerusalem
Buried in paragraph 108 of the Israeli report to the UN is the key fact of the document. Two senior officers were reprimanded for failing to follow their own rules of engagement.

This is an explosive admission, especially as this is about an incident involving white phosphorus and Israel had always maintained that this was not misused in Gaza.

This is the first time that Israel has acknowledged, at least in part, allegations by that civilians were jeopardised by the misuse of artillery at the main UN warehouse in Gaza City.

The officers will not face criminal prosecution. That is something the Israeli political-military establishment is desperate to avoid. They fear it would be disastrous for morale and would damage the ability of Israel's army to fight the next war.

However, Israel's problem is that if its own investigations appear to the outside world to be a whitewash, the UN is all the more likely to order a special tribunal at The Hague.

The officers were named in Israeli media reports as Gaza Division Commander Brig Gen Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Col Ilan Malka.

"Several artillery shells were fired in violation of the rules of engagement prohibiting use of such artillery near populated areas," the Israeli response to the Goldstone report says.

The officers were charged with "exceeding their authority" in ordering the use of the weapons in the attack.

An Israeli Defence Force spokesman said that the reprimand would be noted on their records and would be considered if they apply for promotion in future.

Brig Gen Eisenberg is still in command of Israel's Gaza division, and Col Malka has been moved to the West Bank under the same rank, according to the Reuters news agency.

'Evidence'

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the military was investigating about 150 allegations. There was enough evidence in 36 cases to pass those claims to military police for criminal investigations.

"In this particular case, it was not referred to criminal investigation, it wasn't decided that there was evidence of criminal wrongdoing and a reprimand was warranted," Mr Regev said, referring to the shells fired on the UN compound.

Criminal proceedings have so far been opened in one case, concerning an alleged theft of a credit card from a Palestinian family by an Israeli soldier.

The soldier used the card to withdraw hundreds of dollars, Israeli media reported.

Mr Regev said there would be "serious consequences" for soldiers found guilty of criminal conduct.

'Hush money'

A Hamas spokesman said the disciplinary action was "further admission of Israel's guilt" over alleged war crimes.

But he said he did not expect any further action to be taken against military officers.

He said Israel had paid the United Nations $10.5 million (£6.6 million) in damages to repair their compounds, which he called "hush money".

A UN representative who was in the compound in Gaza city during the attack told the BBC he "expected full accountability from the Israelis".

Two UN staff and two Palestinians sheltering in the compound were seriously injured, he said.

A doctor at Gaza city's main hospital told the BBC he treated hundreds of Palestinians for phosphorus burns during the offensive.

UN demands

The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says it is the first time Israel has revealed it reprimanded any officer for his actions during the offensive, named Operation Cast Lead by the Israeli military.

Our correspondent says the admission was buried in the document handed to the UN on Friday.

The UN General Assembly has demanded that both Israel and Hamas launch independent investigations into their conduct during the Israeli operation which began in December 2008.

An Israeli official said the submission to the UN was not intended to respond in detail to the allegations and incidents outlined in the Goldstone report, but to explain why the Israeli justice system was "reliable" and "independent".

The Islamist movement Hamas has denied that its forces deliberately targeted civilians with rockets.

Both sides have until 5 February to respond in detail to the UN General Assembly's request for independent investigations to be launched.

White phosphorus, which is used to lay smokescreens, is legal for use on open ground but its use in built-up areas where civilians are found is banned under international conventions.

So, we have an admission that they illegally used phosphorous, but of course, Israel is refusing to prosecute its people who are guilty of war crimes.

[Stylerod]

Israel admits when they do something wrong. Hey, maybe they aren't so bad after all!

[motivez]

Admitting something without prosecuting those involved doesn't even begin make up for the fact that they did it in the first place and it cost people their lives.

Their non-admission didn't mean shit to begin with, anyone who didn't have a blind spot about Israel doing things wrong knew what really happened already..

[LookingUp]

Originally Posted by motivez

Admitting something without prosecuting those involved doesn't even begin make up for the fact that they did it in the first place and it cost people their lives.

Originally Posted by motivez

Their non-admission didn't mean **** to begin with, anyone who didn't have a blind spot about Israel doing things wrong knew what really happened already..

In any war situation I doubt there can truly be any completely guitless party. Anyone who is observant or knows anything about human nature could not believe that Israel never does anything wrong. My questions are, "Why is Israel held to a different standard than any other nation or group?" "Why is the cry of war crimes loudest against Israel?"



"For an example of such ineffective megaphone diplomacy, consider Judge Richard Goldstone’s report into the Gaza conflict for the UN, released last September. Both dangerously and unreasonably, Judge Goldstone implied an equivalence between the indiscriminate rocket fire with which Hamas bombarded Israel and the steps that Israel subsequently took to defend itself. While he alleged war crimes on both sides, he reserved his strongest ire for Israel’s “disproportionate” use of force and its “deliberate targeting” of Palestinian civilians. "
White Phosphorus -Times Online



Tuesday Jan 13, 2009
Double Standard Watch: Israel is well within its rights


Posted by Alan Dershowitz


"What if Israel defended its citizens the way the British, the French, the Americans and the Russians did? When German rockets hit British cities during the World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill retaliated by bombing German cities, killing thousands of German civilians, and promised to continue until Germany's unconditional surrender. The United States did the same following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The French did much worse in Algeria and the Russians showed no concern for civilian life in Chechnya or Georgia.
The IDF, on the other hand, has gone to extraordinary lengths to minimize civilian casualties, despite the reality that Hamas deliberately fires its rockets from densely populated civilian areas and hides its rocket launchers in schools, hospitals and mosques.
Every Hamas rocket attack against Israeli civilians - and there have been more than 6,500 of them since Israel ended its occupation of Gaza - is an armed attack against Israel under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which authorizes member nations to respond militarily to armed attacks against it.
Under international law, Israel is entitled to do whatever it takes militarily to stop Hamas rockets from targeting its civilians. Every Hamas rocket has the potential to kill dozens of Israeli civilians. Recently one hit a school just hours after the principal dismissed the students, fearing such an attack. If the rocket had hit and killed hundreds of schoolchildren, would those who protest Israeli actions acknowledge that Israel would then have the right to respond? No country needs allow terrorists to play Russian roulette with the lives of its children.
In fact, under international law, Israel has the right to declare all-out war against the Hamas-controlled government of Gaza. In an all-out war, there would be no obligation to provide humanitarian assistance, electricity or any other services to an enemy who had started the war by an armed attack.
No one condemned Great Britain and the United States for the collateral damage it caused while trying to defeat those who attacked it during the second world war. Moreover, Germany did not deny the right of Great Britain or the United States to exist. The Hamas Charter not only denies Israel's right to exist, it calls for the complete destruction of the Jewish state. Surely Israel has as much right to defend its citizens as did the United States and Great Britain.
Why then is Israel singled out for such ferocious criticism?
Indeed, the only reason Israel has not won overwhelming military victories in Lebanon in 2006 and in Gaza now, is that Israel has decided to engage in only limited and proportional military actions designed simply to stop the rocket attacks. Yet it is being condemned both for not winning a decisive victory and for killing too many civilians.
Hamas has learned how to manipulate the media's coverage of Israeli military actions. They deliberately fire their rockets from behind civilian shields in order to provoke Israel to respond and kill civilians. They are then ready to bring out the cameras to record and transmit every civilian death around the world.
Well, not quite every civilian death. The day before Israel launched its air attack against Hamas, Hamas fired a rocket in the general direction of Sderot. The rocket fell short of its mark and landed in Gaza - killing two young Palestinian girls. Hamas, which imposes total censorship in Gaza, refused to allow cameras to record or transmit pictures of these dead Palestinian girls, because they were killed not by Israeli rockets, but rather by Palestinian rockets.
The Hamas tactic is encouraged by selective condemnation of Israel. Such condemnation creates a win-win situation for Hamas terrorism. Every time they kill an Israeli civilian, they win; every time Israel kills a Palestinian civilian, Hamas also wins.
The only way to defeat this cynical tactic is for the international community to place the blame squarely on Hamas for engaging in the double war crime of targeting Israeli civilians and using Palestinian civilians as human shields."
Dershowitz is a professor of law at Harvard. He is the author of many books, including, most recently, "The Case Against Israel's Enemies."

[Stylerod]

Originally Posted by motivez

Admitting something without prosecuting those involved doesn't even begin make up for the fact that they did it in the first place and it cost people their lives.

Their non-admission didn't mean shit to begin with, anyone who didn't have a blind spot about Israel doing things wrong knew what really happened already..

They are surrounded by countries that want them destroyed. I expect them to respond with what might seem like extreme force when they are being threatened. I don't think they have a choice. Let's face it, most Arab countries don't respect anything but strength and extreme force. It's how they govern and control their own people.

That's not to say I think Israel should have free reign to just randomly kill everyone. I just don't jump up and get excited when they respond to attacks with a massive show of force.

[JaJae]

I disagree with Israel violating international despite Hamas doing so without reprimand. But here is an article that tells both sides of the story:
Israeli officers get 'slap on wrist' for white phosphorus use in Gaza - Times Online

Israel has reprimanded two senior army officers who were responsible for firing white phosphorus artillery shells at a UN compound during last year’s offensive in Gaza.

In the first admission of any wrongdoing the Israeli military found that Brigadier-General Eyal Eisenberg and Colonel Ilan Malka were guilty “of exceeding their authority in a manner that jeopardised the lives of others”.

The Israeli report was in response to a damning UN investigation into the Gaza war, which concluded that both Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian group, had committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity and which called on both sides to investigate the conduct of their forces.

The reason Israel claims white phosphorus was used:

The IDF report said: “The primary rationale for deploying smoke screening munitions containing white phosphorus was to produce a smokescreen to protect Israeli forces from the Hamas anti-tank crews operating adjacent to the UNRWA headquarters. Such a smokescreen has proven an effective response to the anti-tank threat, since it effectively blocks the enemy’s field of view . . . The smokescreen created during the fighting in Tel al-Hawa was effective in achieving its military objective.” It concluded: “In the absence of the smokescreen, the fight would have continued in this area, and the IDF would have had to use reactive fire to engage anti-tank units, with the likelihood of greater civilian harm.”

UN officials argue that the use of white phosphorus caused millions of dollars in damage and could have led to a “great loss of life”.

Hamas put its tanks next to the UNRWA headquarters and started firing at the IDF. Israel was faced with the option of firing back and killing even more civilians and blowing up UNRWA headquarters or deploying a white phosphorus smoke screen to end the assault. They chose the latter.

There is no good choice for Israel while Hamas uses civilian outlets for protection. Regardless of how Israel retaliated they would have been scrutinized.