Rights and Accountability 15 November 2012
Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike in Gaza city on 15 November 2012.
APA imagesAn Israeli minister has called for the army to bomb Gaza until the population flees en masse into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, and for water and electricity supplies to be cut, a clear case of incitement to war crimes.
Israel Katz, Israel’s transport minister, was quoted on the Orthodox website B’Hadrei Haredim on 11 November:
Israel must act in Gaza with a very clear policy. The leadership of the Hamas, which is responsible for all the attacks and shooting, must be eliminated. Beyond that, we must detach from Gaza in a civilian manner – electricity, water, food, and fuel – and transition into a policy of deterrence, just like in Southern Lebanon.”
Why don’t they shoot at us from Southern Lebanon and do from Gaza? Because there is no clear boundary with Gaza. Because the civilian link with Gaza is unreasonable. Gaza should be considered a border, and every time we are hurt, hurt back [retaliate]. When I see Palestinian citizens escaping into Sinai, the way Lebanese citizens escape toward Beirut when there is a round of fire against Israel – we will then know that the deterrence has been achieved.”
Calling for war crimes
Katz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, appears to be inciting war crimes of the kind Israel committed in Lebanon and previously in Gaza.
In July 2006, hundreds of thousands of civilians in Lebanon fled their homes to escape an indiscriminate Israeli onslaught that left 1,200 people, mostly civilians, dead, and the country’s infrastructure devastated.
Israel’s bombardment of the civilian areas came to be known as the “Dahiya doctrine” after the southern suburb of Beirut that was leveled by Israeli attacks.
According to the UN-commissioned Goldstone Report, Israel applied the “Dahiya doctrine” again during its 2008-2009 attack on Gaza. The report said on page 23:
The tactics used by Israeli military armed forces in the Gaza offensive are consistent with previous practices, most recently during the Lebanon war in 2006. A concept known as the Dahiya doctrine emerged then, involving the application of disproportionate force and the causing of great damage and destruction to civilian property and infrastructure, and suffering to civilian populations.
The Goldstone report noted that Israeli officials had explicitly articulated the goals and methods of this strategy.
Such use of indiscriminate and “disrproportionate” force (there is no such thing as proportionate force against civilians), calculated to destroy civilian infrastructure and cause suffering, amounts to a war crime.
Now, just as in those previous cases, Israeli ministers are not shy about publicly stating their criminal intent, confident of the international impunity and complicity that has so far protected them from accountability.
Israel’s current assault, which it began by breaking a truce with Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza, has claimed at least 22 Palestinian lives in recent days, with dozens of injuries.
Sixteen Palestinians have been killed since 14 November, the latest a 10-month old baby named Hanin Tafish. Yesterday, Israeli bombardment killed 11-month-old Omar Masharawi, the son of a BBC staffer in Gaza.
Three Israelis were killed this morning in retaliatory rocket fire from Gaza.
With thanks to Dena Shunra for spotting and translation.
Comments
Nothing new
Permalink John replied on
In 2009, Benzion Netanyahu (Bibi's father) said:
"The Jews and the Arabs are like two goats facing each other on a narrow bridge. One must jump to the river – but that involves a danger of death. The strong goat will make the weaker one jump … and I believe the Jewish power will prevail. [This] will include withholding food from Arab cities, preventing education, terminating electrical power and more. They won’t be able to exist, and they will run away from here. But it all depends on the war, and whether we will win the battles with them..."
Source: http://972mag.com/the-late-ben...
The tail at last is shown ..the kind of Nazi think,...
Permalink Peter replied on
Yes, there you have it... only Nazis are capable of such things
Looks like Israel has no solution to overcome the Palestinians and they are sooo frustrated. Come on , it it had been another country long ago Palestine would have been captured and subdued... because countries do not count their dead when they go to war ... Israel does.
Hamas, hezbollah etc do not .. so they will win... in this modern age where natives do not fight back with bows and arrows.....
Israsel is luck they have the might of USA there ... and the Muslims have been stuidly fooled to kill each other to the glee of Western powers. like France and USA now supportling opening armed terrorists on a sovereign nation just for their own convenience.
.... and Hamas even declared they would not help Iran in the event of Iran/Israeli conflict when the only reason Iran hates Israel is the Palestinian issue.
If there is no Iran , today the Palestinians would long ago been stateless permanently with no one to fight for them ...waiting the champion of Democracy USA? Ha ...forget it. that is the biggest culprit of all.
Sad but true
Support for Palestinians
Permalink Wayne Telfer replied on
I watched a short interview on TV this morning with a young Palestinian woman, during a report on the latest Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Asked if she felt as if the world cared about their plight, she replied that the believed the answer was no for governments, but she knew from the internet, that there was a lot of support from the people.
I don't know anyone in my circle of friends who are not on the side of the Palestinians, yet we have to listen in disgust to our government (Australia) support Israel. I am not a Muslim, in fact I don't have any religion, so the issue for me is not clouded by religious affiliations. It is a simple matter of justice and human rights. The Palestinian People have neither.
We have sent our armed forces overseas many times to fight and die to defend others from the very things Israel is guilty of, yet for some frustratingly inexplicable reason, our government continually supports the oppressor in this conflict, while the majority of people they represent don't. Israel has committed on Palestinians, every atrocity the Nazis committed on their people, short only of the gas chambers and ovens. They are as committed to their "Jewish State" free of "Arabs", as the Nazis were committed to an Arian Europe free of Jews. How anyone can support Israel defies logic.
I can not imagine what it is like to live continually under siege for as long as Palestinians have. I don't know where they get the strength to carry on, but I sincerely hope that they continue to do so until the governments of the world have the guts to say to Israel, enough, stop now or we will stop you.
Peace be with you.