Foxes and Henhouses

Putting Hank Paulson in charge of bailing out his banker friends with our tax dollars was not such a good idea. Putting Israel in charge of investigating war crimes in Gaza is not such a good idea either. But it's rude to notice! Tsk tsk.

Under international law, it is the responsibility of the state whose forces are accused to conduct their own inquiry, although the UN Security Council (and the General Assembly) has the power to establish special international tribunals, such as those set up for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Israel says it has the matter in hand.

The Deputy Spokesman at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andy David, told the BBC that "Israel investigates all its actions regardless of outside calls." He said the country did not need "external intervention to conduct any investigation".

He said: "Israel acts according to international laws and with highest regards to morality during combat, even beyond the requirement of the law."

Oh sure, but of course it does. Like remember when that Reuters journalist, Fadel Shana, was murdered by some brave IOF soldier in a tank a mile away, who fired a flechette filled shell at his clearly marked press vehicle, killing him and a bunch of other passersby? Remember that? That was a bit of a stink, right, because those flechette filled shells are sort of frowned upon by the international community.

Although the IDF spokesman refused to comment on operational matters, other IDF sources told JDW that commanders are under orders to use the round sparingly and insist it has been employed on only a “handful” of occasions in Gaza. They said the round is used against targets such as mortar crews who cannot be engaged effectively by automatic fire.

Except this guy Fadel Shana was just a journalist standing a mile away with a camera and a little car. Definitely not to be mistaken for a mortar crew, especially considering that you know the IOF has been provided excellent military technology by the United States, and they certainly would have been able to use things like binoculurs, for instance, to determine the target before firing.

And what happened to this guy? NOTHING!

LONDON (Reuters) - An Israeli tank crew who killed a Reuters cameraman and eight young bystanders in the Gaza Strip four months ago acted properly and will not face legal action, Israel’s senior military lawyer has concluded.

The military advocate-general told the international news agency in a letter sent on Tuesday that troops could not see whether Fadel Shana was operating a camera or a weapon but were nonetheless justified in firing a shell packed with darts that killed him and eight other Palestinians aged between 12 and 20.

…Reuters wrote to Mendelblit on Wednesday with a number of questions, including asking precisely why the soldiers ruled out the possibility that Shana was a cameraman, why the fact he stood in full view of the tanks for some minutes did not suggest he had no hostile intent and why the tank crew, if concerned but unsure, did not simply reverse a few meters out of sight.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel said the army had a “long line of cases clearing its soldiers of deadly negligence”.

It added: “The army is obligated to clearly identify its targets before firing, especially in areas where civilians and journalists are present. The mere suspicion of possible hostilities should not be enough to justify overwhelming deadly force.

“We hope that the army’s conclusion does not appear to give soldiers free license to fire without being sure of the target, greatly hindering the media’s ability to cover the conflict.”

The soldiers are not held to account. And what happens to Israeli settlers when they get all violent on people? NOTHING!

After about thirty seconds of waiting, a small group of very aggressive male Jewish extremists surrounded the international volunteers and began spitting at them, so much so that the internationals described it as “like rain.” Then men from the back of the crowd began jumping up and spitting, while others from the back and side of the crowd kicked the volunteers.

The soldiers, who were standing at the checkpoint just a few feet behind the HRWs, looked on as they were being attacked.

One settler then hit Tove on the left side of her face with an empty bottle, breaking it on her face and leaving her with a broken cheekbone. She immediately fell to the ground and the group of Jewish extremists who were watching began to clap, cheer, and chant. The soldiers, who had only watched until this point, then came forward and motioned at the settlers, in a manner which the internationals described as “ok… that’s enough guys.”

And so forth. Nobody is held accountable where Israel is concerned, so why on earth would anybody in their right mind expect that Israel will do anything but Look The Other Way when investigating its own war crimes against the Palestinians? On the contrary, Israel has promised to support and protect its soldiers against prosecution. What a sick joke.