Ken Roth, the former Human Rights Watch head, who turned that NGO into an unextinguishable fount of anti-Israeli animus, has just tweeted from his new post at Princeton, to which he moved after his one-year, extravagantly-paid year at Harvard’s Kennedy School, the following:
“International humanitarian law prohibits collective punishment of…protected persons for acts committed by individuals during an armed conflict. The imposition of collective punishment is a war crime.” — Red Cross @ICRC. https://t.co/xlBswfWUcH
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) October 16, 2023
He goes on to say in his tweet that Israel’s attacks on Hamas in Gaza constitutes “collective punishment.” Elder of Ziyon then takes him to task: “No, Israel isn’t engaging in ‘collective punishment’ under international law,” Elder of Ziyon, October 16, 2023:
He gave the source from the ICRC – and it proves the opposite of his attempt to paint Israel as guilty.
The first paragraph, which he skips, defines collective punishment:
The term refers not only to criminal punishment, but also to other types of sanctions, harassment or administrative action taken against a group in retaliation for an act committed by an individual/s who are considered to form part of the group. Such punishment therefore targets persons who bear no responsibility for having committed the conduct in question.
The word “retaliation” makes it sound as if the action must be done deliberately as a punishment, not as a consequence of going after the actual guilty party.
For example, if a terrorist group gets its arms flown in on flights t a commercial airport, a nation can bomb that airport runway – even if it means that legitimate airplanes cannot land. It definitely affects innocent people but it is not collective punishment, because that is not the intent.
Similarly, other dual use targets – power stations, TV and radio broadcast stations – may be attacked if they are also used by the combatant. (All of these are subject to proportionality analysis, as with any military action.)…
What Hamas did last week was prompted by a genocidal impulse. It was not an attack directed at combatants, though some IDF soldiers were among its victims. The targets were Jews, Jews from babes in swaddling clothes to grandmothers in wheelchairs. Every Jew, not just in Israel, but everywhere in the world, is regarded by Hamas as a legitimate target. It does not depend on what an individual Jew has done, or does, or will do, but only on the fact that someone is a Jew. This is far worse than “collective punishment.” Indeed, no Jew need have done anything to make him fit to be murdered by Hamas; only the fact of his Jewishness counts. That constitutes genocide.
Is Israel now inflicting “collective punishment” on the Palestinians? Has it been rounding up, arresting, or bombing Palestinians in the West Bank, or has it left them entirely alone? In Gaza, has it tried to impose a “collective punishment” on all the residents of the Strip? Quite clearly, no. It has bombed weapons hideouts, rocket launching pads, command-and-control centers, places where Hamas leaders, including the mastermind of the recent attack in Israel, are now crouching in fear. The IDF does its best to warn civilians away from buildings that are soon to be targeted, by text messaging, telephoning, leafletting, and use of the “knock on the roof” technique. It is Hamas that places its men and weapons inside, alongside, or in tunnels under, civilian structures such as schools, hospitals, apartment houses, and mosques. Israeli pilots, too, call off attacks at the last minute if they detect too many civilians in the targeted area.
Right now, Israel has called on the residents of northern Gaza to move south to safety. Instead of inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinians in Gaza, Israel is making enormous efforts to persuade the ordinary civilians of Gaza to flee from the north to the south of the Strip, where Israel has no plans to attack, and where their safety will be assured. In the north, Israel will as usual do everything it can to avoid harming innocent civilians. Inevitably some will be wounded or killed; that is the nature of modern warfare. But Israel’s intent — and intent is everything — is to minimize civilian casualties.
None of this matters to Ken Roth. For several decades he’s been maligning the Jewish state. Why would he let a little thing like the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 stop him now?
rick says
How the heck is “collective punishment” only applied to Israel. Were the actions of Hamas in murdering everyone they saw when conducted their “kill, rape and burn everyone” campaign in Israel not “collective punishment”? What is all war about other than collective punishment. When we, the US, bombed German cities in WW II and killed hundreds of thousands of apparently innocent civilians, not collective punishment? Or dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. Actually in the Middle East especially, Israel practices “collective punishment” much less than do all the other armies or groups in the region. The recent Syrian civil/religious war is all collective punishment on both sides. Lebanon could be called “the nation of collective punishment” instead of just “Lebanon” based on its Shi’ite – Sunnis-Christian killing. Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Algeria all practiced outright killing of civilians. Darfur is a victim of pure collective punishment yet no one uses that term for it. Palestinians groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad want to kill every single Jew. Isn’t that genocidal desire the epitome of collective punishment.
DavidW says
It’s called the “spitball theory of punishment.” Like when someone lobs a spitball and it hit the whiteboard. The teacher turns around and asks who did it. When no one fesses up the teacher gives them all a hard pop quiz and extra homework.
When animals rape, torture, and murder innocent civilians all of the animals and their allies should be eliminated.
Wellington says
Roth has a moral compass and a common sense compass which are completely broken (though he has still been enriched nonetheless, arguably not just in spite of these two deficiencies but precisely because of them).
I would add here that it remains a feature of anti-Semitism, one of many disgusting features of this evil, that Jews are held to a standard that so many others are not held to, especially by followers of the worst religion of all time though dhimmis aplenty like Roth continue to do their “bit” to ensure such ignorance, malevolency and hypocrisy are regularly “replenished.” .
James Lincoln says
Collective punishment by Israel ?
No!
The IDF has deep concern regarding any “collateral damage” – perhaps to a fault.
Ray Jarman says
I would like to ask Roth if the killing of Palestinian civilians trying to flee south in an effort to avoid being killed as the Israeli military has advised them to do is collective aggression. I would certainly call it a war crime against one’s own citizens.
John says
Those Palestinians and their supporters who are complaining now about Palestinian casualties – aren’t they the same ones who were recently rejoicing at Israeli people being murdered?
In Gaza and in various capitals around the world they were cheering, clapping, and passing round pastries. I’ve never seen any Israeli people celebrating the deaths of Palestinians like that.
Reziac says
I wonder how many of those whining about “international law” know that the U.S. is not signatory to some of the international agreements they’re whining about (including, to my understanding, those covering war crimes), and does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
OLD GUY says
Well Ken why don’t you use that same LAW/Rule against Hamas and Palestine and every other jew and infidel hating muslim person and country? Or doesn’t it fit your narrative ? You sound just like the NAZI supporters who defended Germanys attacks on its neighboring countries in the early 1940s. Wrong idea then wrong idea now. I suppose if they destroyed your home and killed your family you would send them food, medical supplies and weapons as a show of your good faith.
The Istanbulian says
That would make Islam, with its rules for disobedience and those who don’t submit, collective punishment.