Et FN organ fordømmer Israel for krigsforbrydelser og manglende proportionalitet skriver Danmarks Radio
FN’s menneskerettighedschef, Navi Pillay, siger i en FN-debat, at der er en stor mulighed for, at Israel bryder folkeretten i Gaza og måske begår krigsforbrydelser.
Pillay siger, at drabene på civile i Gaza - og navnligt drab på børn - vækker bekymring og sår tvivl om, de forholdsregler israelerne tager for at skåne de civile.
Hun siger samtidig, at der mangler proportionalitet i de israelske reaktioner på palæstinensiske islamisters angreb.
Klogeligt har Israel svaret at rådet kan rende og slå knald. Ironisk er det FN, der snarere er skyldig i krigsforbrydelser ved at overdrage de våben Hamas har opbevaret på FNs skoler i Gaza tilbage til netop Hamas og altså således bevæbnet er terrororganisation. I kommentarfeltet på et godt indlæg på 180 Grader skrives der så rigtigt
Hamas (…) lyver rutinemæssigt. Under kampene i 2009 kunne en håndfuld bloggere for eksempel dokumentere, at tæt på 400 arabere som medierne købte som “civile” faktisk var terrorister. Halvandet år efter kampene var ovre indrømmede Hamas´ indenrigsminister da også, at godt halvdelen af de dræbte var terrorister - selv om de under kampene påstod, det næsten kun var civile, der blev dræbt. De er endda ret åbne omkring, at de lyver. På Hamas´ indenrigsministeriums hjemmeside er der en vejledning for pro-Hamas-aktivister i, hvordan man lyver. Uanset hvem der bliver dræbt i Gaza, så skal folk altid kalde dem “uskyldige civile” eller “uskyldige borgere”.
Det samme var tilfældet under antiterror-operationen i Libanon i 2006. Hezbollah påstod, at de skam kun havde mistet 60 mand, selv om enhver der gad tælle antallet af begravelser af Hezbollah-folk i pressen kunne se, at det var større. Efter krigen, da man ikke behøvede lave skrækhistorier om civile ofre, indrømmed Hezbollah, at de havde mistet 250 mand. Hezbollah løj altså om, at et par hundrede af deres terrorister var civile, og så ser man bort fra at stort set ingen andre end Hezbollah selv tror på tallet 250. Libanesiske myndigheder og FN mente, tallet nærmere var 500. Israel angav antallet af dræbte Hezbollah-folk til mellem 6 og 800, og fortalte at de havde navn og adresse på over 500 af dem. Det er ca halvdelen af de dræbte. Indtil videre ser billedet ud til at være det samme i Gaza.
Dertil kommer selvfølgelig, at ingen nogensinde stiller spørgsmålstegn ved, om det nu også faktisk er Israel, der har ansvaret for alle civile ofre. Israel fører ret detaljerede statistikker over, hvor mange raketter der ender i Israel. I Gaza er der tilsvarende organisationer, der tæller hvor mange raketter der faktisk bliver affyret. Det sjove er så, at de to tal langt fra er de samme - hundredevis af raketter bliver affyret, men rammer aldrig Israel. Hvad mon de så rammer? Et oplagt gæt kunne være “civile arabere, som Hamas så kan påstå blev dræbt af Israel”.
Det er det faktuelle når vi taler tabstal. Men det er om proportionalitet det skal handle, et ord, som mange politikere også herhjemme misforstår, men gerne gør brug af i falsk forventing om at de får dem til at fremstå klogere. Shoshana gennemgår proportional krigsførelse på Gatestone Institute
Prof. Horst Fischer, Academic Director of the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, wrote in The Crimes of War Project:
The principle of proportionality is embedded in almost every national legal system and underlies the international legal order. Its function in domestic law is to relate means to ends… In the conduct of war, when a party commits a lawful attack against a military objective, the principle of proportionality also comes into play whenever there is collateral damage, that is, civilian casualties or damage to a non-military objective… attacks are prohibited if they cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, or damage to civilian objects that is excessive in relation to the anticipated concrete and direct military advantage of the attack. This creates a permanent obligation for military commanders to consider the results of the attack compared to the advantage anticipated.
Exactly as Israel does when it aborts missions after finding civilians used as human shields on rooftops.
The Council on Foreign Relations notes:
According to the doctrine, a state is legally allowed to unilaterally defend itself and right a wrong provided the response is proportional to the injury suffered. The response must also be immediate and necessary, refrain from targeting civilians, and require only enough force to reinstate the status quo ante.
What constitutes status quo ante for Israel may be debatable – but surely a return to the period before 75% of Israel’s citizens were terrorized by random rocket fire should be an acceptable definition.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, investigated allegations of war crimes during 2003 invasion of Iraq, and in 2006 published an open letter containing his findings. Included was this section on proportionality:
Under international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute, the death of civilians during an armed conflict, no matter how grave and regrettable, does not in itself constitute a war crime. International humanitarian law and the Rome Statute permit belligerents to carry out proportionate attacks against military objectives, even when it is known that some civilian deaths or injuries will occur.
A crime occurs if there is an intentional attack directed against civilians (principle of distinction) or an attack is launched on a military objective in the knowledge that the incidental civilian injuries would be clearly excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage (principle of proportionality).
Og man kan derfor kun være enig med Israels ambassadør i USA, når han plæderer for at Israels tilbageholdenhed burde udløse Nobels Fredspris. Fra Times of Israel
“Some are shamelessly accusing Israel of genocide and would put us in the dock for war crimes,” Dermer said. “But the truth is that the Israeli Defense Forces should be given the Nobel Peace Prize… a Nobel Peace Prize for fighting with unimaginable restraint.”
Dermer’s comments followed a statement issued by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who on Sunday said that the IDF is the “most humane and bravest army in the world.”
During World War II, the British army responded to German attacks with the “carpet bombing of German cities,” Dermer said. While he was unwilling to criticize the United Kingdom for doing so, he continued, “at the same time, I will not accept, and no one should accept, criticism of Israel for acting with restraint that has not been shown and would not be shown by any nation on earth. I especially will not tolerate criticism of my country at a time when Israeli soldiers are dying so that innocent Palestinians can live.”
USA tæppebombede også i Vietnam. Og igen i Irak da Saddams Republikanske Garde fik et pulver af en anden verden. Og Danmark deltog stolt da mægtige NATO bombede vores vilje igennem på Serbiens bekostning. Og igen i Irak. Og Afghanistan. Og Libyen. Og ingen ved hvor mange vi har dræbt. Osv. osv. Men vi er jo heller ikke jøder.
Det er araberne heller ikke, når de myrder løs på hinanden. Jordan dræbte flere palæstinensere da de fordrev PLO fra deres land, Kuwaitiske militser dræbte 4-5.000 palæstinensere da de fordrev 200.000 af deres tidligere fremmedarbejdere, en besk kommentar til Arafats moralske alliance med Saddam Hussein. Osv. osv.
Proportionalitet er kun for Israel og er et stykke af den anti-semitiske fortælling, der bid for bid dehumaniserer jøderne. Alan M Dershowitz skriver i Gatestone Institute
The media’s exclusive focus on the death toll in Gaza—without explaining that it is largely Hamas’ fault and part of its media strategy—incites hatred and anti-Semitism around the world. It has incited violence against Jews and Jewish institutions in many cities. Much of this violence comes from radicals on the hard left and from radical Islamists. But a recent incident in Italy shows that bigoted hate can come from the mouths of intellectuals as well as the fists of rabble rousers. Gianni Vattimo, who has been called Italy’s most famous philosopher, recently announced that he would personally, “like to shoot those bastard Zionists,” calling them “a bit worse than the Nazis”. He said he was planning to launch a fundraising campaign to buy better rockets for Hamas so that this Jew-hating group can kill more Zionists, by which he means Jewish Israelis. He urged European volunteers to join Hamas and fight alongside of them against Israel, as volunteers fought against Franco during the Spanish Civil War.
It is a crime under the law of the United States and several European countries to provide material support to designated terrorist groups, of which Hamas is one. Vattimo has committed this crime and might well be banned from travel to the United States and other countries or arrested if he travels to countries that have such laws.
The media has a moral obligation to tell the whole truth when it shows the pictures of the dead and counts the bodies on each side. If it fails in this obligation, it becomes complicit in the sins and crimes of bigots such as Vattimo and in the war crimes of Hamas.
Jeg rystes stadigt mere af mediernes korte hukommelse. Det er som indlægget på 180 Grader skrev det samme hver eneste gang. Hamas lyver, der gør Israel ikke. Det er hver gang kun Israel, der afkræves proportionalitet. Og det er hver gang Israel der beskyldes for krigsforbrydelse. Dershowitz har ret, medierne er enablere af Hamas’ krigsforbrydelser og af at styrke den anti-semitiske fortælling for venstrefløjen.