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Even Human Rights Watch admits that Hamas rockets targeted Israeli civilians, violating laws of war

Dec 24, 2012 8:01 am By Robert Spencer

When so thoroughly compromised an organization as the Soros-funded Human Rights Watch, which termed Iran’s genocidal calls for the annihilation of Israel not “incitement,” but “advocacy,” admits that Hamas is targeting civilians and violating the laws of war, you can be sure that what Hamas is doing is so far beyond the pale as to have departed from all civilized norms and entered the realm of utter savagery.

“HRW: Hamas rockets from Gaza violated laws of war,” from the Jerusalem Post, December 24 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Armed Palestinian groups firing rockets at Israeli population centers violated the laws of war during Operation Pillar of Defense, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Monday.

“Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim,” said HRW’s Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson. “There is simply no legal justification for launching rockets at populated areas.”

The group also found that Gazan groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Resistance Committee, justified targeting civilian centers as reprisal for Israeli strikes, an act also banned under international law.

Furthermore, such groups “repeatedly fired rockets from densely populated areas, near homes, businesses, and a hotel, unnecessarily placing civilians in the vicinity at grave risk from Israeli counter-fire,” the report said.

The detailed report included examples of rockets being launched from densely populated areas in Gaza, and noted that groups fired from underground tunnels with hatches for the first time. HRW faulted Palestinian armed groups for failing to alert civilians or urge them to evacuate prior to launching rockets in their vicinity.

As the ruling power in the Strip, the human rights group said, Hamas was responsible for reining in the behavior of other groups.

“As the ruling authority in Gaza, Hamas has an obligation to stop unlawful attacks and punish those responsible,” Whitson said.

A week earlier, HRW reported that Israeli attacks on journalists and media facilities during the operation also violated laws of war, saying that Israel provided no specific information to justify claims that they were military targets….

Their moral equivalence is as ridiculous as it is predictable, but it is refreshing that they at least had the residual sense of decency and accuracy to acknowledge Hamas’s crimes.

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Filed Under: Hamas, Israel, Palestinian jihad


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