Israel may have committed war crimes during Gaza offensive, UN says

The UN has said that Israel may have committed war crimes in its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, in which hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been killed in the last two weeks, and voted with only one abstention to launch an international inquiry.

"There seems to be a strong possibility that international law has been violated in a manner that could amount to war crimes,"Navi Pillay the UN high commissioner for human rights said in Geneva.

Read more here: Israel may have committed war crimes during Gaza offensive, UN says | World news | The Guardian




I don't feel qualified to judge whether war crimes have been committed, but I do think that it's a possibility which should be checked out.

What about the Hamas attacks, no war crimes there? Transparent bias on the part of this UN weenie.

Israel has 79 unresolved UN resolutions and condemnations, do we think they have any concern for human rights, the rule of law or international law? For a people who arguably suffered the most in the last century, memory runs short.

shrubnose said:

The UN has said that Israel may have committed war crimes in its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, in which hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been killed in the last two weeks, and voted with only one abstention to launch an international inquiry.

"There seems to be a strong possibility that international law has been violated in a manner that could amount to war crimes,"Navi Pillay the UN high commissioner for human rights said in Geneva.

Read more here: Israel may have committed war crimes during Gaza offensive, UN says | World news | The Guardian




I don't feel qualified to judge whether war crimes have been committed, but I do think that it's a possibility which should be checked out.

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I don't know whether they have or not, although by warning everyone where they are going to attack and giving them time to leave, you would think that any attacks would not be a war crime.

I do, however, know that indiscriminate targeting of civilians by rocket fire, suicide bombers and attack squads coming out of tunnels... is a war crime.

clownboy said:

What about the Hamas attacks, no war crimes there? Transparent bias on the part of this UN weenie.

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Oh for Pete's sake. Yes indeed lets see UN condemnation on Hamas as well. Now want to speak to Israel's war crimes, again, or not.

clownboy said:

What about the Hamas attacks, no war crimes there? Transparent bias on the part of this UN weenie.

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From the source article:

She also condemned Hamas and other militant groups for "indiscriminate attacks" on Israel.

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clownboy said:

What about the Hamas attacks, no war crimes there? Transparent bias on the part of this UN weenie.

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The UN has consistently looked away whenever Palestinians commit attrocities.

Is Isreal a signatory for the ICC? If not there's not much the UN can do except maybe make a military intervention.

Redress said:

From the source article:

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And where is the UN investigation on that matter?

Beaudreaux said:

I don't know whether they have or not, although by warning everyone where they are going to attack and giving them time to leave, you would think that any attacks would not be a war crime.

I do, however, know that indiscriminate targeting of civilians by rocket fire, suicide bombers and attack squads coming out of tunnels... is a war crime.

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Cute new avatar Beau, did you just pose for that this morning? (just kidding) its nice.

The German said:

And where is the UN investigation on that matter?

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Is Hamas a member of the UN?

The German said:

The UN has consistently looked away whenever Palestinians commit attrocities.

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Where does this **** come from? The UN regularly condemns Hamas,

The attack came as diplomats from the United States and United Nations visited Israel in hopes of negotiating a ceasefire. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Israel's efforts to stop Hamas rocket fire were entirely justified, adding that no country would accept a similar situation.

"We condemn strongly the rocket attacks, and these must stop immediately," Ban said during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

http://www.investigativeproject.org/4472/un-eu-condemn-hamas-rocket-attacks-us-airlines

Montecresto said:

Oh for Pete's sake. Yes indeed lets see UN condemnation on Hamas as well. Now want to speak to Israel's war crimes, again, or not.

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Not really. First, "possible" war crimes in this context are just code for "down with that evil Israel". Second, of the two, neither is a High Contracting Party making the Geneva Conventions not applicable here.

Beaudreaux said:

I don't know whether they have or not, although by warning everyone where they are going to attack and giving them time to leave, you would think that any attacks would not be a war crime.

I do, however, know that indiscriminate targeting of civilians by rocket fire, suicide bombers and attack squads coming out of tunnels... is a war crime.

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Where did you get the authority to declare anything a war crime?

Who gave you that power?

Fill us in.

Israel committing war crimes.......who would have ever thunk that? I thought that the shelling of a hospital was a particularly nice touch......

clownboy said:

Not really. First, "possible" war crimes in this context are just code for "down with that evil Israel". Second, of the two, neither is a High Contracting Party making the Geneva Conventions not applicable here.

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This is hardly the first time that the UN has condemned Israel for war crimes, or violation of human rights.


Issues relating to the State of Israel, the State of Palestine and other aspects of the Arab–Israeli conflict occupy repeated annual debate times, resolutions and resources at the United Nations. Since its founding in 1948, the United Nations Security Council, as of January 2010, has adopted 79 resolutions directly critical of Israel for violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the U.N. Charter, the Geneva Conventions, international terrorism, or other violations of international law. Lebanon is the subject of 15 Israeli violations of UNSC resolutions, including resolutions condemning the use of military force, condemning the violations of cease-fire agreements, and demanding withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.[2]


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel,_Palestine,_and_the_United_Nations

I think a lot of the things Israel did could be qualified as war crimes as Netanyahu himself stated that they are killing civilians but it is Hamas who makes them do it. If you saw those interviews. So he doesn't deny the death of civilians, he just says that it's Hamas's fault. But he did say that he is trying to not kill them... but you know... trying and failing, spectacularly.

And I know a lot of people are going to hate this but this is the truth.

Also, another issue. And this is really the greater issue.
Israels' greatest sin is not the fact that it is now in Gaza. Once it crossed that border, aside from mass executions or chem attacks or such clear cut ethnic cleansing acts, I absolve Israel of any fault of the civilians deaths because they're there. The deaths of the civilians that israel kills is still on israels' hands, ofc, but it is the inevitable result of going into Gaza and doing what they do with shelling and bombing because once they stepped inside Gaza, this was bound to happen. Why? because Hamas isn't your normal enemy. It's not like they're fighting someone who has an army that flies under a banner that has rules of war and respects international norms. Netanyahu is correct, Hamas sees citizens are expendable PR tools. Ofc, he is also playing their game and giving them a ton of PR tools...

But Netanyahu had to expect that this was going to happen. He fueled anti-semitic sentiments against arabs (biblically speaking, arabs are semites too) and now he has to satisfy the bloodlust of the part of the israeli public that demands it. And now... well... we'll see how it ends. Either way, nobody is going to be happy if they have a shred of empathy or common sense. If you are a psycho, you'll be hella happy.

shrubnose said:

Where did you get the authority to declare anything a war crime?

Who gave you that power?

Fill us in.

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Wow shrub, did you ever open a can of worms with this thread!!

Redress said:

Is Hamas a member of the UN?

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Not being a UN member doesnt protect you from investigations into charges of crimes against humanity.

Redress said:

Is Hamas a member of the UN?

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No, but Palestine kinda is. At least in the eyes of 70% of the countries in the UN. Hamas doesn't exist, it's technically a political party, though it is a terrorist group... well, a resistance group if you're a palestinian supporter.

Montecresto said:

Where does this **** come from? The UN regularly condemns Hamas,

The attack came as diplomats from the United States and United Nations visited Israel in hopes of negotiating a ceasefire. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Israel's efforts to stop Hamas rocket fire were entirely justified, adding that no country would accept a similar situation.

"We condemn strongly the rocket attacks, and these must stop immediately," Ban said during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

UN, EU Condemn Hamas Rocket Attacks; US Airlines Cancel Israeli Flights :: The Investigative Project on Terrorism

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Condems.

But no investigations against Hamas crimes.

As I said before.

Montecresto said:

Cute new avatar Beau, did you just pose for that this morning? (just kidding) its nice.

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It's a selfie. I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Glad you like it.

The German said:

Condems.

But no investigations against Hamas crimes.

As I said before.

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You said they look the other way, when as a point of fact they are looking directly at Hamas's use of rockets that they cannot control and condemning it. So don't accuse the UN of looking the other way.