Thursday, October 15, 2009
Israel Violated Nuremberg Principles in UN Report
Israel Violated Nuremberg Principles in UN Report
October 15, 2009
In a sad, sad, paradox of history, an analysis of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) aerial bombing of unprotectected civilian Gaza by American F-16 fixed wing aircraft, shows that Israel violated several of the Nuremberg Principles, as well as the principles of the Geneva Conventions.
The UN Human Rights Council has ended a day of debate on whether to endorse a report into the Israeli war on Gaza. The report by veteran South African judge Richard Goldstone accuses both Israel and Hamas of war crimes. Human rights groups worldwide have welcomed the report as well-balanced, but Israel and the US are still in war crime denial mode and say it is biased.
The Nuremberg Principles are a set of guidelines established after World War II to try Nazi members who also committed genocide against the Jewish and travelling community in Europe. They were established to decide what constitutes a war crime. The Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties and three protocols that establish the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment of the victims of war.
According to Nuremberg Principle I, "Any person who commits an act which constitutes a war crime under international law is responsible therefore and liable for punishment." As detailed in the "Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict," also known as the "Goldstone Report," several crimes against unarmed civilians were committed by the Israel Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
The UN investigated 11 incidents in which the IDF launched direct attacks against civilians with lethal murderous outcome. The facts in all except one case, states the Mission, indicate no justifiable military objective. According to the report, "From the facts ascertained in all the above cases, the Mission finds that the conduct of Israeli armed forces constitutes grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of willful killings and willfully causing great suffering to protected persons and as such, give rise to individual criminal responsibility. It also finds that the direct targeting and arbitrary killing of Palestinian civilians is a violation of the right to life."
Both Israeli government and its military officials are responsible for the IDF actions during Operation Cast Lead. As Nuremberg Principle III states, "The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a war crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible government official does not relive him from responsibility under international law."
It has been argued that those that were following orders are not guilty of crimes, and the responsibility for those crimes falls on the superior officers. However, Nuremberg Principle IV states that, "The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him."
Nuremberg Principle VI establishes three kinds of crimes punishable as crimes under international law: crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Among crimes against peace are those crimes "involving planning, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances."
Although the Government of Israel has the duty to defend its citizens, it is clear that Operation Cast Lead was a war of aggression against Gazans, out of any reasonable proportion and aimed at inflicting massive damage on Gaza's civilian population. According to a study carried out by B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, 1,387 Gazans were killed during operation Cast Lead, a figure that includes 773 civilians and 330 combatants.
Among the war crimes established by Nuremberg Principle VI are the, "...plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity." The UN Mission investigated several incidents involving the destruction of industrial infrastructure, food production, water installations, sewage treatment plants and housing. Among the installations destroyed by the IDF was the el-Bader flour mill, the only operating flour mill in Gaza.
As stated in the UN report, "...the Mission finds that there has been a violation of the grave breaches provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Unlawful and wanton destruction which is not justified by military necessity amounts to a war crime. The Mission also finds that the destruction of the mill was carried out to deny sustenance to the civilian population, which is a violation of customary international law and may constitute a war crime. The strike on the flour mill furthermore constitutes a violation of the right to adequate food and means of subsistence."
The UN Mission also investigated four incidents in which the IDF coerced Palestinian civilian men at gunpoint to take part in house search operations. The men, blindfolded and handcuffed, were forced to enter houses suspected of having combatants, ahead of the Israeli soldiers. "From the facts available to it, the Mission is of the view that some of the actions of the Government of Israel might justify a competent court finding that crimes against humanity have been committed," states the report.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that Israel will never allow its soldiers and war-time leaders to appear before an international war-crimes tribunal regarding the IDF conduct during the war on Gaza. This is th same denial of Holocaust that prevented war criminals being prosecuted previously from the Second World War.As stated in the UN Mission report, however, "In the context of increasing unwillingness on the part of Israel to open criminal investigations that comply with international standards, the Mission supports the reliance on universal jurisdiction as an avenue for States to investigate violations of the grave breach provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, prevent impunity and promote international accountability."
A vote is expected on Friday human rights groups fear that calls for the civilian victims grievances will once again be buried by diplomatic wrangling and denial of the Holocaust in Gaza which includes the infanticide of more than a third of the murdered defenseless babies of Gaza who were bombed from the sky by American F-16s and burned by the use of chemical warfare from the Israeli army, paid for by American taxpayers.
"A culture of impunity continues to prevail in the occupied territories and in Israel," Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at Thursday's opening of the special meeting of the UN Human Rights Council. She called for "impartial, independent, prompt and effective investigations into reported violations of human rights and humanitarian law".
The British Broadcasting Corporation who are also in denial about these war crimes and the Holocaust in Gaza, earlier refused to broadcast an international appeal for the victims of these war crimes. While the corporate media in general also tend ignore and minimize coverage the assassination of reporters covering such war crimes in Palestine, Ireland and worldwide.
While the report urges the Security Council to refer allegations to the International Criminal Court if either side fails to investigate suspects of War Crimes within six months, international observers are watching whether countries such as the US, UK will continue to aid the denial of war crimes and continue to prevent the prosecution of UN allegations or support post Obama Nobel peace prize.
The wars and terrorism conducted against ordinary people in the Middle-east for more than 50 years now is a result of divisions sown by the previous British colonial regime.Ireland was Britain's first colony. Many claim that the continuous war by Israel, is a proxy war of neo-colonialism, which is occurring in almost all British ex-colonies by allies of the UK/US axis amid seeds of division sown by the British in their international strategy of divide and conquer, whether it be along racist, religious or ethnic divisions fostered.
Millions of ordinary working people continue to be murdered daily as a result of it worldwide, while the international corporate media deny, censor and instigate it.
BBC BRUTISH BULLSCUTTER COPERATION
Don't even give them a chance to launch their Bullscutter !
Oh, no. Brutish Bullscutter Coperation. Don't come fucking near me today. Dear Jaysus, you Kerry fucking recruits and gobshites all over the Irish media are their by-product. There are so many things I could say to express my deep mistrust and yes, anger of these new media Irish opinion makers. Their world service can be a titillating export but their rampant censorship of the restless native's replies stinks to high heaven, of arrogance, cultural imperialism and age old repression.
I don't vote right wing as far as I know, so maybe that also explains my antagonism to them. I don't believe the Brutish Bullscutter Coperation, which henceforth will be simply called the BBC, offer anything approximating legitimate alternatives for this country, indeed any country but thats their business. I disagree with their monarchy, class system of commoners, lords, inherited privilige and intolerance of diversity or alternatives.
Lest you think nationalism is blinding me, do not confuse my rants against Brutish Bullscutter with the many Scottish, English and Welsh friends I have known down through the years, most of whom are the salt of the Earth in my opinion and great people.
It goes against every fibre of my being and tradition to be rude to people but you have got to stand up for your identity these days or become a smiling zombie product of their pundits and seductive manipulating bullscutter.
Brutes are people too but we must take this tour d'arse with all of its insanity, as a relief from the bland sanitized, couldn't give a fuck mercenary BULLSCUTTER ! of our age.
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