AC writes:
Amira Hass has an article on the front page of today's Haaretz.com that documents the Israeli army's use of Palestinians as unwilling "human shields" in raids inside the Occupied Territories.
Israel is the prime employer of Palestinians as human shields in its military operations yet walks around with head held high accusing all its foes of practicing the cowardly tactic. Who issues these accusations? Israel's lawyers in the diaspora, Israeli ambassadors, deputies, assistants, and spokespeople.
The proof? Palestinian civilians voluntarily gathered en masse at the site -- typically located in a civilian, overpopulated neighborhood, where, naturally, innocents would be located in any case -- of a potential Israeli assassination attempt or air strike. Instances such as this do not involve a combatant forcing a noncombatant into the line of fire for personal protection. These are instances of civilians offering the only defense they have-- themselves-- as humanitarian shields in the hope of preventing an act of mass violence.
Israel is the prime employer of Palestinians as human shields in its military operations yet walks around with head held high accusing all its foes of practicing the cowardly tactic. Who issues these accusations? Israel's lawyers in the diaspora, Israeli ambassadors, deputies, assistants, and spokespeople.
The proof? Palestinian civilians voluntarily gathered en masse at the site -- typically located in a civilian, overpopulated neighborhood, where, naturally, innocents would be located in any case -- of a potential Israeli assassination attempt or air strike. Instances such as this do not involve a combatant forcing a noncombatant into the line of fire for personal protection. These are instances of civilians offering the only defense they have-- themselves-- as humanitarian shields in the hope of preventing an act of mass violence.
If such acts are war crimes, and
such humanitarian shields are war criminals, then it follows that
Rachael Corrie, Tom Hurndall, the civilians lead by US veteran Kenneth Nichols O'Keefe who travelled to Iraq in 2003 as human shields before the country was plunged into perdition, the environmental activists who put their bodies on the line to protect forests, the Burmese civilians who formed a human chain to protect Burmese monks during the junta's crackdown, tank man of the Tiananmen Square protests, body guards
who are trained and ready to take bullets for their VIPs, and so on,
are criminals guilty of moral transgressions. But no rational person
would concede this, for it is absurd. It is
base casuistry, specious reasoning, and the Israelis and their lawyers
would see it as such were they not deluded and drowning in their own
hypocrisy.
Israel's hypocrisy would be nauseating were it not so hackneyed. In fact, almost paradoxically, Israel embraces its hypocrisy, indeed, defends it, for instance when Shaul Mofaz, then Defence Minister, personally appeared in court to challenge an Israeli Supreme Court ruling banning the use of human shields. The history and evidence of Israel's use of human shields is well documented by several sources in the media and elsewhere, including Yedioth Ahronoth, the BBC, the Guardian, Adalah, Amnesty International, and B'tselem.
And now to the principled Amira Hass:
Israel's hypocrisy would be nauseating were it not so hackneyed. In fact, almost paradoxically, Israel embraces its hypocrisy, indeed, defends it, for instance when Shaul Mofaz, then Defence Minister, personally appeared in court to challenge an Israeli Supreme Court ruling banning the use of human shields. The history and evidence of Israel's use of human shields is well documented by several sources in the media and elsewhere, including Yedioth Ahronoth, the BBC, the Guardian, Adalah, Amnesty International, and B'tselem.
And now to the principled Amira Hass:
The search here, as in the four other homes Daher was
forced to enter that day, was conducted in the same way: He entered
first, with the soldiers behind him. One soldier placed his rifle on
Daher's right shoulder, and pressed down on his left shoulder....
In the meantime, that same Monday morning, Shafiq Daher, too, was continuing his mission of protecting Israel Defense Forces soldiers. The second house he was made to check was also empty. It belonged to the Al-Ajarmi family. Daher did not know that his two oldest sons were accompanying other groups of soldiers, and were being forced to smash holes in the walls of houses using sledgehammers. Nor did he know that at that very moment, a soldier was jamming his rifle into the back of his third son, standing at the door of Abed Rabbo's home.
Abed Rabbo himself, after being forced to smash a hole in the wall that separated his roof from his neighbors' roof and to accompany the soldiers inside, was made to enter several houses near the mosque, break into a car and then go into the Zeydan house. He was then taken to the Katari family's home, where he met Shafiq Daher and told him that his son was all right. At about 2 P.M., a soldier took him outside, pointed to the Abu Hatem house and said, according to Abed Rabbo's testimony: "There were armed people in that house. We killed them. Take off their clothes and take their weapons." At first he refused and said that was not his job. "Obey orders," he was told....
Haaretz spoke with eight residents of I'zbet Abed Rabbo neighborhood, who testified that they were made to accompany IDF soldiers on missions involving breaking into and searching houses - not to mention the family members who remained in the houses the army took over, which were used as firing positions. The eight estimated that about 20 local people were made to carry out "escort and protection" missions of various kinds, as described here, between January 5 and January 12.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated in response: "The IDF is a moral army and its soldiers operate according to the spirit and values of the IDF...." "Following an examination with the commanders of the forces that were in the area in question, no evidence was found of the cases mentioned. Anyone who tries to accuse the IDF of actions of this kind creates a mistaken and misleading impression of the IDF and its fighters, who operate according to moral criteria and international law."
In the meantime, that same Monday morning, Shafiq Daher, too, was continuing his mission of protecting Israel Defense Forces soldiers. The second house he was made to check was also empty. It belonged to the Al-Ajarmi family. Daher did not know that his two oldest sons were accompanying other groups of soldiers, and were being forced to smash holes in the walls of houses using sledgehammers. Nor did he know that at that very moment, a soldier was jamming his rifle into the back of his third son, standing at the door of Abed Rabbo's home.
Abed Rabbo himself, after being forced to smash a hole in the wall that separated his roof from his neighbors' roof and to accompany the soldiers inside, was made to enter several houses near the mosque, break into a car and then go into the Zeydan house. He was then taken to the Katari family's home, where he met Shafiq Daher and told him that his son was all right. At about 2 P.M., a soldier took him outside, pointed to the Abu Hatem house and said, according to Abed Rabbo's testimony: "There were armed people in that house. We killed them. Take off their clothes and take their weapons." At first he refused and said that was not his job. "Obey orders," he was told....
Haaretz spoke with eight residents of I'zbet Abed Rabbo neighborhood, who testified that they were made to accompany IDF soldiers on missions involving breaking into and searching houses - not to mention the family members who remained in the houses the army took over, which were used as firing positions. The eight estimated that about 20 local people were made to carry out "escort and protection" missions of various kinds, as described here, between January 5 and January 12.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated in response: "The IDF is a moral army and its soldiers operate according to the spirit and values of the IDF...." "Following an examination with the commanders of the forces that were in the area in question, no evidence was found of the cases mentioned. Anyone who tries to accuse the IDF of actions of this kind creates a mistaken and misleading impression of the IDF and its fighters, who operate according to moral criteria and international law."
The IDF admits nothing because it is a moral army and can do no wrong to the wretched Palestinians.
It looks like they were moving around with the two male security-risk civilians in custody, going from civilian house to civilian house. Anyone with some knowledge of modern entry techniques knows that one body won't shield you from anything larger than a pistol, nor would you be entering a military position by knocking on the door. So the soldiers were aware the buildings were occupied only by civilians when they moved up the stoop with the neighbor (a Palestinian security policeman) in custody, ahead and to the left, as is proper police procedure.
The way you enter a suspected position is by firing a rocket or demolition charge through the front door. Hass is deliberately obscuring the use of police procedure in a civilian area in order to make it look like the use of human shields in a combat zone.
Cue typical ZioBots to white-wash any and all criticism of Israhell.
No one is buying your kool-aid, freak. Fuck off.
ziobots is the best you can come up with. Pretty feeble.
That Israeli soldiers use innocent Palestinians (including children) as shields is nothing new. It's been known for a long time, and is of course encouraged by senior Israeli leadership, following in the footsteps of earlier Zionist leaders. These folks are real humanitarians, aren't they?
"Before searching a house, we go to a neighbor, take him out of his house, and tell him to call for the person we want. If it works, great. If not, we blow down the door or hammer it open. The neighbor goes in first. If somebody is planning something, he is the one who gets it. Our instructions are to send him inside and have him go up to all the floors and get everyone out of the house. The neighbor can't refuse; he doesn't have that option."
- an Israeli soldier talking about IDF's use of Palestinian human shields
"For three days, I just destroyed and destroyed, the whole area. Any house they fired from came down. And to knock it down, I tore down some more. They were warned by loudspeaker to get out of the house before I come, but I gave no one a chance. I didn't wait. I didn't give one blow, and wait for them to come out. I would just ram the house with full power, to bring it down as fast as possible. I wanted to get to the other houses. To get as many as possible. Others may have restrained themselves, or so they say. Who are they kidding? Anyone who was there, and saw our soldiers in the houses, would understand they were in a death trap. I thought about saving them (Israeli soldiers). I didn't give a damn about the Palestinians, but I didn't just ruin with no reason. It was all under orders. I got a real kick out of every house that was demolished, because I knew that dying means nothing to them, while the loss of their house means more to them. You destroy a house and you destroy forty or fifty people for generations. If one thing does bother me about all this, it is that we didn't wipe out the whole camp." – Moshe Nissim, operating a CAT bulldozer in Jenin
"Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial." — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 25 March, 2001 quoted in BBC News Online
"Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushua in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population." — David Ben Gurion, quoted in The Jewish Paradox, by Nahum Goldmann, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978, p. 99.
"We must expel Arabs and take their places." -David Ben Gurion, 1937
"Any one who speaks in favor of bringing the Arab refugees back must also say how he expects to take the responsibility for it, if he is interested in the state of Israel. It is better that things are stated clearly and plainly: We shall not let this happen."
- Golda Meir, 1961, in a speech to the Knesset, reported in Ner, October 1961
From 2007:
Testimonies taken by B'Tselem reveal that during the army's operation in Nablus in late February, soldiers used two Palestinian children, a fifteen-year-old boy and a eleven-year-old girl, and a twenty-four-year old man as human shields. The use of human shields constitutes a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law and is explicitly and clearly prohibited by Israeli military orders. B'Tselem wrote to the Judge Advocate General and demanded that he immediately order a Military Police investigation into the matter.
Israeli soldiers use two Palestinian minors as human shields
The Israeli defense minister actually defended the practice of using Palestinians as human shields back in 2005:
The Israeli Defence Ministry will appeal against a supreme court ruling banning the use of Palestinian human shields in raids, officials said.
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz is prepared to make a personal appearance in court to defend the practice, ministry officials added.
Human rights groups have frequently condemned the use of human shields.
The Israeli military believes that the use of Palestinian civilians can often defuse a tense situation.
The Israeli supreme court issued its formal ruling last week, saying the practice violates international law.
It had already issued a temporary injunction against the practice in 2002 after a teenager was killed when troops made him negotiate with a wanted militant.
The court ruled out both the placing of civilians in front of soldiers on operations and an "early warning" procedure employed by the army.
In this practice, the Israeli army would force local Palestinians to approach the homes of militants and ask them to surrender.
IDF to appeal human shield ban
During the Israeli war on Gaza, Western media propagated Israeli propaganda that the Palestinian resistance have been using their family members as human shields. Sadly, Israeli propaganda is often presented in Western media as facts, and the Israeli version has been accepted with little verification. The goal is simple: dehumanize the Palestinian by showing that he does not care about his family members, and once that is done it becomes much easier to accept him as a legitimate target.
This dehumanizing campaign is as old as the Zionist movement; it was articulated by Golda Meir (a former Israeli Prime Minister) when she said: Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us. This racist and derogatory comment is often propagated in Western media without a second thought to its dehumanizing consequences. It paints the Arab as a sub-human creature, who has neither affection nor love towards his or her children. When I first heard this racist comment from an American, I felt as if he was telling me: “you are not much of a human as I”!
To this date, the Israel Occupation Army (IOF) still refuses to comply with orders from the Israeli Supreme Court to stop using Palestinian civilians as human shields (click here for a BBC article about this subject). If the IOF is a “professional army” as it claims and it treats Palestinians according to International Law, then:
* I wonder why Israel’s highest court would issue such an order?
* I wonder why IOF refuses to stop using Palestinians as human
shields?
It has been an Israeli strategy from the start to use civilian target as a strategic weapon. Israeli leaders assume this would cause the civilian population to pressure Arab leaders to submit to Israeli dictates. Sadly, this Israeli tactic has been historically effective with the corrupt and unpopular Arab leaders who are more interested in protecting their corrupt regimes than defending their countries. The reader should be reminded of the “Grape of Wrath” agreement between Hizbullah and Israel 1996 which restricted both sides from hitting civilian targets. This agreement signaled the end of the Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon, and as a result a new era in the Arab-Israeli conflict have begun where Israel’s deterrence power suffered a major setback. It should be noted that Israel has been determined not to fall into this trap again; that would explain why Israel rejected signing similar agreements with Hamas.
The Israeli Human Shield
Israel uses 13-year old as human shield so his friends won't throw stones
Israeli soldiers pose for a lighthearted picture next to a boy they killed
Why is it the first persons to comment are apologists for Israel's crimes? Just a pattern I seem to notice occurring alot lately.
Dan, good work pointing all that stuff out but really, you said it earlier: this isn't news, we've known about this, and we will continue to see it happen in the future. There's enough damning evidence to put many of them in jail but really, who's going to stop them from committing these atrocities in future? Gaza happened, and sure, we get condemnation and outrage and two Congressmen visiting the ruins but Israel only titled further to the right and with no red light up ahead to prevent any more lives being taken.
How much is enough?
From 2001:
A group of Western diplomats traveling from Jerusalem to Ramallah claim they saw Israeli troops near Jerusalem firing live ammunition at a group of children throwing stones, even though the children were too far to pose a risk to the soldiers.
Envoys say they saw IDF fire at children
How much is enough?
Joshua, I don't know if it's ever enough for these folks. It's really hard to comprehend their savagery, and the mindset that accompanies it. I surely can't understand it.
Palestinian combatants need to circulate in uniform in areas away from civilians, then, if they don't want civilians to be caught up in police-style operations.
It's a violation of international law for the Israeli military to use civilians as human shields. There are no exceptions to this law. Not even if Palestinian combatants don't circulate in uniform in areas away from civilians. Using civilians as human shields for any reason is a war crime.
There is video footage of the IDF using human shields:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjEd4hJNVCE&feature=related
Using civilians as human shields for any reason is a war crime.
Posted by: Sarah
great news. When do you plan to haul Hamas in front of the world court?
greater news. When do you plan to haul AIPAC and the neocons in front of the world court? After they are tried for treason here in the USA?
As there is no reason for them to be tried for treason, your point is moot.
chris, your value to this world is moot
Good one, Sammy. That really hurt. I guess I should know better then to tangle with the likes of you.
Samuel, I know you thought you were dealing with a strong fighter. chris is all his ilk could muster. I know, I know, it's like slapping a baby.
Posted by: chris berel | February 21, 2009 at 08:32 AM
"great news. When do you plan to haul Hamas in front of the world court?"
Under international law, people who are living under occupation have an absolute right to resist that occupation. They are also under no obligation under international law to remove themselves from their homes and to stop living with their families while resisting occupation. So Hamas is not guilty of using civilians as human shields when they continue to live in and protect their homes while resisting the occupation and during military incursions in to Palestinian areas.
I wish the hasbara would learn how to close their HTML commands.
Under International Law, the palestinian are not occupied. I wish sarah would learn how to shut up.
Regardless, It appears that sarah has just justified the Palestinians who shot a pregnant woman in the head and then dispatch her four young daughters in the same fashion, at point blank range.
All because they believe they are illegally occupied.
So sad that people like Sarah exist.
Under international law, the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem are under an illegal military occupation.
Insulting people is not a valid argument. Nor is putting words in their mouths.
Under International law, Judea, Sumaria, and east Jerusalem are not illegally occupied.
Insulting you has nothing to do with the argument. In your case, it is merely gravy. That you failed to pass that particular law class is a shame.
By the way, International opinion is not law. By law, Israel legally controls land whose ownership is in dispute.
Hopefully this will go in the correct thread.
According to the UN, Israel is in violation of international law because of its occupation of the areas that Israel characterizes as "disputed". In all cases, taking land by conquest is a violation of international law.
Israel is further in violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions because of its transferal of its own citizens into the occupied areas, which is also illegal in all cases.
According to the UN and International law, the land Israel controls, beyond the 1949 armistice lines, are lands in dispute and are not illegally occupied, other than the Golan Heights. That land was not won by a war of conquest but by a war of defense.
Again, International opinion is not law.
There are dozens of UN resolutions calling for Israel to withdraw from the lands it illegally occupied in 1967. A war of defense takes place within the boundaries of the country being defended. Any territory that is taken outside those boundaries is territory that is taken by conquest. Which is a violation of international law.
International law is law, not opinion. Israel is a signatory to these laws, and is therefore bound by them. However, international laws can still be applied to those who have not signed on to them, as we saw in the various war crimes tribunals that have taken place since World War II.
What is Israel's claim of state legitimacy based on if not international law, as formulated through the UN?
(And I am not mentioning they never complied with the conditions for any such legitimacy.)
chris has it right. International law or opinion is not law. Hence, Israel is just a fake state, a collective racist thief
loose in the civilized world. Time to put in down.
While there may be dozens of resolutions, they ignore the law in that the land Israel controls in the west bank is land under dispute and not illegally occupied. Now the Golan Heights is another matter but I believe Israel fully follows the geneva conventions regarding the treatment of the palestinians and Syrians living in the area.
And land captured as a result of a defensive war does not make it a war of conquest.
As for war crimes, please let me know when you bring those Palestinian war criminals to trail. I'll get a ticket to watch.
By the way, UN observer has a better chance of being put down.
"land under dispute"=stolen land. Israel is like the demented one who enters your home, takes it over,
sticks you in a closet and starves you. When you cry out, "Criminal, sadist!" And a reporter hears you from afar, knocks on the door, Israel says, "Hey, what can I say, the land is in dispute. I'm just protecting my self. There's an insane person in the closet. "