Thereby giving the global jihad a tremendous moral boost. More reckless dhimmitude and antisemitism from the UN: "Goldstone Report Empowers Terrorists," by Judith Apter Klinghoffer for History News Network, September 15:
RICHARD GOLDSTONE'S COMMISSION CONCLUDED:
There is evidence that both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, during the recent conflict over the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
International terror just received an amazing shot in the arm. A UN appointed committee has placed Israel and Hamas on the same moral/legal plane. By so doing, it has further increased the effectiveness of the terrorist strategy of using human shields.
What can be more beneficial to a Hamas, Taliban or Al Qaeda terrorist than surrounding himself/herself with captive, innocent civilians, especially women and children? Hence, the best location for a terrorist hideout is a hospital or, at least, a school. On the unlikely event that such a placement would fail to prevent a targeted killing, it would, at the very least, further his cause by undermining the moral, legal and, perhaps, even economic well being of the state seeking to defend its citizens. For such collateral damage is bound to bring down on such state (Israel, US, NATO members, etc.,) the wrath of the so called international human rights community.
In other words, Goldstone and company are insuring that terrorist organization such as Hamas no longer have a strategic interest in harming only as many Israelis as they can but also as many Palestinians as they are able....
This Goldstone Commission was initiated by the UN's Human Rights Council, infamous for their condemnations of Israel. Meanwhile the millions of people killed in Africa and Asia through the years are not the subject of such a commission. I am still waiting for China to be mentioned on the subject of Tibet. The UN has become an impediment to any real hope for peace. It needs to be revamped or the US together with its allies need to create a new world organization.
War crime is an objective crime. Deliberately killing or simply assaulting women and children and non-combatants of any sort is a crime, even in a war.
Except when it isn't.
Spies are non-combatants. Generally, when captured, they are summarily shot. It's a rule of war. We accept it as such.
Recently some men in a car in Somalia were killed by U.S. forces. They were civilians in a car. We machine-gunned them and grabbed their dead bodies for identification later. No order to surrender, no warrant to search them, no trial by jury. They weren't shooting at anyone, not causing any trouble, so far as I read. Soy/estoy. Doing and am. They might not have been "doing" anything, but they "exist[ed]." The fact of their existence is the crime, and a big one deserving summary execution. They hadn't played by existing and well-established rules of war. Because of that, they died.
Rules are a matter of reciprocity: you do, and I will. The rest, i.e. sympathizing with the enemy, is either sentimentality or out-right collusion with the enemy. It makes sympathizers our enemies. That's not playing by the rules. Thus, there are no rules other than those self-imposed by common Human decency. Westerners have too much of it. It becomes not merely indecent, it is a menace to us all. We look to our enemies for permission to struggle on our own behalf. We become our enemies' collaborators in our own destruction. Our own governments and many of our fellow citizens become our enemies. They aren't playing by the rules.
Then there are no rules but prudence and personal conscience. And it's still moral. We have a moral imperative to survive onslaughts by our enemies. The rest isn't worth arguing about.
"during the recent conflict over the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said on Tuesday."
Really? "Conflict over the Gaza Strip"? I thought Israel unilaterally vacated the Gaza Strip. I thought the conflict had something to do with attacks on Israel (pre-1967 Israel at that) emanating from the Gaza Strip. Silly me.
The UN as usual proves itself to be an irrelevance in the world at large. What does surprise me is that in this case they actually mentioned Hamas proof indeed that Hamas's actions must really have been so bad they could not be simple swept under the rug as usual. The UN's total inability to criticise China, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan etc etc etc just shows what an Islamophile Socialist dominated irrelevance it is.
Richard Goldstone must know that Israel did, and does, it's utmost to reduce civilian casualties, even to the extent of dropping pamphlets and cell phone calls to warn of impending strikes, but to highlight this would have jeopardized his standing with the United-against Israel-Nations Human Rights Council.
You don't get money in your back pocket by exposing the truth of what happened in Gaza when you are being paid by a bunch of thugs intent on bringing about the downfall of Israel.
Richard Goldstone must know that Israel did, and does, it's utmost to reduce civilian casualties, even to the extent of dropping pamphlets and cell phone calls to warn of impending strikes, but to highlight this would have jeopardized his standing with the United-against Israel-Nations Human Rights Council.
You don't get money in your back pocket by exposing the truth of what happened in Gaza when you are being paid by a bunch of thugs intent on bringing about the downfall of Israel.
I'm covering this at the blog today, too - particularly Tim Franks' breathless, uncritical 'analysis' piece for the BBC.
The world needs to know the utter poison that lies beneath the words 'United Nations Human Rights Council'.
I guess the UN has forced Israel's hand in this matter.
It's time to bring in the Mossad using night goggles they will have to parachute in undercover of darkness, approach these hospitals, schools etc. with great stealth, enter the buildings after blowing the power and kill the terrorists without killing innocent civilians.
It sounds impossible but it isn't. I've seen it done in "made for TV movies".
Sheesh...where is Ziva David when you need her?
That is basically what the leftists of the UN and the world are expecting of Israel.
I have said it often before and I'll say it again and again.
Israel must quit the UN. Israel must quit the UN. Israel must quit the UN.
It does not and can not get fair treatment at the hands of this vile, anti semitic, Muslim dominated organisation.
I heard an Australian radio interview with one of the four commissioners, human rights lawyer Hina Jilani. Her opinion is that "in the 21st century, occupation is absolutely not acceptable" and Gaza is occupied by Israel - "everything that happens in Gaza is controlled, and is in the hands of Israel."
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2009/s2688061.htm
With her taking that position, the rest of the report is bound to be massively anti-Israel, and Israel was quite right not to cooperate with the commission.
davidp - isn't that Hina Jilani quote - "everything that happens in Gaza is controlled, and is in the hands of Israel" - a classic blend of antisemitic conspiracy theory and also a total denial that people inside Gaza might have any responsibility for *anything* that they do?
Why did not the interviewer ask her, point blank, about such things as 'honor' murders and forced veiling of females (which happen right across the Islamosphere, not just in Gaza), blowings up of music shops and internet cafes, arrest of a woman for laughing at the beach, the murder of the Arab Christian Rami Ayyad for running a Bible shop, and the multiple shootings, torturings and defenestrations of the members of one jihad gang, by another?
And as for Gaza being 'occupied'..beats me why nobody ever looks at a map and contemplates the fact that one end of the Gaza strip *borders on Arab Islamic Egypt*. So why is no-one shrieking at EGYPT for not allowing free passage of persons and goods?
You're right dda, Egypt controls that section of the border, so Hina Jilani is not even right about the border control - Egypt sometimes opens the border, Egypt choses how much to control the smuggling tunnels.
I'm tempted to protest against her with a sign "Stop the occupation of Switzerland" - under her terms, Germany, France, Italy and Austria are occupying Switzerland.
She doesn't really mean Israel controls everything. She's just trying to claim the the treaty responsibilities of an occupying power apply to Israel in Gaza. You're very right about the total denial that people inside Gaza might have any responsibility for *anything* that they do.
If Gaza is not "occupied", since it shells one neighbour and sends terrorists into the other neighbour, then it is their own fault if the neighbours don't let them import anything. Hamas even break the Geneva convention rules on feeding civilians during a siege, so under the treaties, Israel could lawfully cut off everything.
IT was good that Mark Colvin didn't let her get away with is all - he said "That sounds like a siege rather than an occupation" and her response was quite weak.