We all know that Israel used the kidnapping/murder of three Israeli teens, that it blamed squarely on Hamas, to whip up support for its brutal invasion of Gaza. It's been claimed that Israeli intelligence knew the teens had been killed shortly after they were kidnapped but withheld the information to stoke anti-Hamas sentiment.
Now, with over 1,000 Palestinians dead at Israeli hands, word is out that Israel knew Hamas had nothing to do with those three murders. An Israeli police spokesman is said to have confirmed to BBC reporter, Jon Donnison, that the killings were not the work of Hamas but a "lone cell."
This suggests that the west, especially our own Harper and Baird, were duped by Netanyahu. No need going at length into what this does to Justin's praise of Israel for its "commitment to peace."
MoS, the Disaffected Lib
The right to self defence, as you know, is not open ended but should be proportionate. Also, during military operations, there must be reasonable precautions to minimize the loss of lives of non combatants. Granted there is a lot of grey as to what these two requirements entail in order to satisfy the Geneva Convention.
ReplyDeleteHowever, even if Hamas had been directly responsible for provoking this latest conflict (and this seems to say they were not), it still does not justify the killing of over 800 civilians and untold property damage. Israel, as the occupying power, should have known that Gaza was densely populated and that its actions (air strikes, ground strikes) would have devastating consequences on non combatants.
The very fact that Israel suffered only 3 civilian casualties (including the Thai national) and 43 combatant deaths while over Israel has killed over 200 children as part of the 800 civilian deaths would make it very difficult to convince anyone objective that its response was proportionate or that it had taken reasonable precautions to minimize civilian casualties. It is likely war crimes had been committed by Israel (and by Hamas in the indiscriminate rocket attacks).
Not only was Harper duped, it would seem that the Liberals and NDP were too with their one sided pronouncements of Israel's right to defend itself. Disgusting that we now seem to have a Parliament that seems to have lost its moral compass.