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Human rights group accuses Israel of war crimes
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Published: 03.08.06, 08:52
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31. Show us your proof!!
Moshe Nathan ,   Shanghai   (08.03.06)
The HRW claims that “Our research shows that Israel’s claim that Hizbullah fighters are hiding among civilians does not explain, let alone justify, Israel’s indiscriminate warfare,”. How this doesn’t explain? How fast they conducted this “research” what evidences they have gathered? Did they ask the IDF to show them the videos of some of the bombing? Show us your proof! Death of small children is definitely a tragedy but what the IDF can do if Hizbullah fires rockets from the homes, schools, mosques and even hospitals. Some “civilians” stock rockets in their house basement. As Israeli ambassador to the UN said – “ if you sleep with rockets don’t be surprised not to wake-up alive in the morning”
32. Arabs/Muslims commit war crimes everyday. Remember Darfur?
Daisy ,   USA   (08.03.06)
And the two dozen Arab countries where non-Muslims and women are treated like crap.
33. to #12
Robert Tilden ,   Sheridan, WY   (08.03.06)
You Write: "I was brought up to believe that Israel was a just state, and that Jews were deserving of a homeland. I don't know that I support that anymore, given the extreme selfish hatred that most Jews condemn all their Arab neighbors with who do not obey them. This on top of treating them like dogs. And you wonder why Palestinians try and fight back?" This has nothing to do with Israel's right to exist. Even Germany still exists after WWII. You live in Canada, Canada for over 100 years was acting in cultural genoside of the native peoples. Treating like Dogs? show me where? You are such a hypocrite, do you suggest China has no right to exist? remember the cultural revolution? Tibetens are being bred out of existance as we speak, Muslim minorites in China as well. How about how France treats Muslims? In Israel Muslims are free to dress according to their customs. Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself. Israel has prooven it can live in peace with other arab countries, Egypt and Jordan. It is the Arabs that keep fighting, amung each other and with Israel.
34. War Crimes
Robert Tilden ,   Sheridan, WY   (08.03.06)
Here is a Challange: Find one war where there were no war crimes. What is known 'Asymentric warfare' is even more prone to 'war crimes' from the nature of the blurring of the lines between civilians and military. I wonder how Human Rights Watch knows who is Hizbollah and who is not? do they Hizbollah have 'name, rank ans sirial number'? They assume every person under 18 is a civilian but does Hizbollah not allocate virgins for minors? Come on Human Rights Joke Watch. The only people who dont have any war crimes in their record in the last 400 years are the Swiss and I thank God there are no more Swiss and Sweden, model countries, they would have fendded off the Nazis with the help of 'Human Rights Watch'
35. Human rights groups are full of crap.
Avraham ,   Netivot   (08.03.06)
They are one sided & ignore the human rights of Israeli citizens to live in peace & with security. Well world, we will not roll over & die just to please you! Am Yisroel Chai V'Kayaim!
36. war crimes.
g.man ,   manchester u.k.   (08.03.06)
Israel should sue the Lebanon government allowing attacks to come from there,to attack Israeli civillians.And for good measure they should take legal action against unifil for failing to do its job and protect innocent Israeli civillians.And after it has won both cases the lenanease civillians should do the same.
37. NGOs promote the Durban strategy ..
michael ,   tel aviv & london   (08.03.06)
THE USE of EU funding and official frameworks under the cover of "civil society" for virulent anti-Israeli incitement is blatantly unethical. Under the guise of "peace partners" and "human rights" programs the EU, and the governments of Canada, Switzerland and Norway fund NGOs that promote the Durban strategy of painting Israel as a "racist apartheid state." The reduction of the role of NGOs in the political war against Israel would be an important step toward removing the justification of terror. The funders - private organizations, individuals and governments - in whose name the NGOs act need to take control to end this incitement, and halt the shameful distortion of the legitimate principles undergirding the pursuit of human rights and the advancement of international law.
38. Who is "Human Rights Watch" ?
Isaac Haskiya ,   Roskilde - Denmark   (08.03.06)
Before attaching too much importance to what is coming out of their mouths one should know who is speaking: socialists hibernating in their pacifistic utopia, besserwissers who ignore history, biased eyes who see what they want to see at a distance of many thousand kilometers, Arab symphatizers, amateur Gandhis, grass smokers...? Whoever or whatever they are they should be ignored once their stupidity and ignorance is thrown at their faces!
39. Read the report at the website
Shai ,   Israel   (08.03.06)
1) There were, I believe, about 3000 sorties. They analyzed the results of about 2 dozen, only some of which they claim amount to "war crimes" and drew their conclusions - about 0.5% of the total, during a two day examination of South Lebanon about sites they did not witness, but about which they surveyed those who did. With Israel, they expect perfection, though their examination amounted to no more than a drive-through assessment. Hezbollah gets a free pass, and is under "examination" at this time. Odd that 2 days of hearsay is enough to draw conclusiosn about Israel, but a mass of evidence is not enough to draw conclusions about Hizbollah. 2) "Hezbollah occasionally did store weapons in or near civilian homes and fighters placed rocket launchers within populated areas or near U.N. observers, which are serious violations of the laws of war because they violate the duty to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. However, those cases do not justify the IDF’s extensive use of indiscriminate force which has cost so many civilian lives. " Actually, it's tendentious to say that force on these targets is "indiscriminate" when it's intentional. Given ample warning to leave, and given the threat these sites pose when not destroyed, there are many instances where it DOES, under the law, justify lethal force of a proportion that destroys the target EVEN if civilians will die in the process, presuming they've been given warning to leave. HRW presumes that the IDF needed to provide taxis, cheap gas, doctors for sick relatives, etc. in order to have fully exercised their obligation to warn. This is simply not the case. This was the government of Lebanon's obligation. 3) That HRW has no evidence that a target was military does not mean Israel had no evidence of this. THe HRW should have stated that they discounted this likelihood. 4) The report frequently has no connection between cause and effect. See this sentence for example: "Israel has justified its attacks on roads by citing the need to clear the transport routes of Hezbollah fighters moving arms. (nothing) indicate that any of the attacks on vehicles documented in this report resulted in Hezbollah casualties or the destruction of weapons." But wasn't it meant to prevent transport of arms? You'll find many others examples - this report is simply "yellow journalism" by a NGO, nothing more.
40. HRW has a history of supporting terrorists
Nannette ,   London, UK   (08.03.06)
On July 23, 2006 NGO Monitor published Dr. Avi Bell's analysis of the Selective and Distorted Application of International Law in Human Rights Watch's Q&A on Lebanon War, which charged HRW with "whitewashing Hezbollah's crimes of aggression - and ... hiding Lebanon's, Syria's and Iran's legal responsibilities, diminishing other Hezbollah war crimes, and amplifying imagined Israeli wrongdoing." Bell's report was republished by the New York Sun on July 25. Roth responded with a July 31 letter to the Sun, arguing that "Iranian, Syrian, and Lebanese governments are not currently fighting in Lebanon" and that "...by design or callous indifference, Israeli bombing has killed hundreds of Lebanese civilians." Bell's response to Roth was published in the Sun on the same day, along with an editorial by the paper. Bell countered that "[i]n his letter, Mr. Roth demonstrates a lack of the very qualities of objectivity, nonpartisanship and careful investigation that he claims characterize HRW." And the Editorial strongly criticized Roth for "supersessionism, the de-legitimization of Judaism, the basis of much anti-Semitism " when he "concludes his letter with a slur on the Jewish religion itself that is breathtaking in its ignorance." http://www.ngo-monitor.org/archives/infofile/bell_roth_text_310706.html
41. Shame on Kenneth Roth, director of Human Rights Watch
CAL ,   USA   (08.03.06)
Wow! Human Rights Watch (HRW) wants to be a protector of Human Rights but based on their blind 'research' their lies create hatred and animosity. They state “Our research shows that Israel’s claim that Hezbollah fighters are hiding among civilians does not explain, let alone justify, Israel’s indiscriminate warfare.” What research? Come on HRW....what terrorist organization is supporting you? Every media outlet that has people on the ground have clearly stated that the terrorists (Hezbollah) use and have always used civilians as shields. Further the Hezbollah coawards are notorious for staging tragedies. Your 'research' should view some of the pictures of the so called massacre at Qana. Some of those bodies look like they died weeks before. Isn't it amazing how one terrorist is in all the pictures ( http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/07/who-is-this-man.html). Looks very suspicious....be honest HRW! The IDF is the only army in the world that has consistently dropped leaflets warning civilians to evacuate and in many cases they have called ahead. HRW states "Otherwise, Palestinian militant groups might ‘warn’ Israeli settlers to leave their settlements and then feel justified in attacking those who remained.” - come on Ken of HRW, be honest, in our lifetime we will never see the terrorists, the Palestinians and/or Hezbollah. warn before they are coming. In fact it is only Israel that truly does its best to protect innocent Humans. It is important to protect Human Rights, but it is worthless and makes one very seriously question the credibility of HRW when they spew falsehoods and terrorist propaganda without true 'research'. They are doing a disservice to you, to me and to those whose rights you wish to protect.
42. Only if you knew how we felt?
Sim ,   Lebanon/Australia   (08.03.06)
Only if you israelis knew how we felt...the same palestinians that killed your people killed ours. The same hizbullah that killed your people are those that are the cause of destruction in our country. You blame us for hizbullah? How much aid does Israel get from america? Military and non-military? How do you expect lebanon to be able to disarm hizbullah? We DONT HAVE AN ARMY!!! If they are able to damage the IDF one of the most powerful armies what do you think they would do to the lebanese? If you think you can take out hizbullah you are wrong....u need to form agreeements with hte lebanese gov and people, not with violence! It is obvious this is a Muslim/Jew war, why should Lebanese Catholics pay the price , better yet why should lebanese and israeli kids pay the price. I think olmeret has forgotten his faith, which does not accept Murder and he is showing himself as bad as nasrallah. Someone wakeup Sharon! My final word is this: Lebanese people want peace its up to the israeli people! PEACE
43. no war crimes
Helen ,   new york   (08.03.06)
For all of you israeli: what do u name the fact when IDF attacks a car with a family inside? it was yesterday when they hit by 2 rockets a car with a family inside: a man his 9months pregnant wife and their daughter. They are Hezbollah Terrorists HEIN????????????????
44. sanction against israel ?
simon ,   Germany   (08.03.06)
this what just decide. the islamic summet in Malaysia. PS:I just wonder where the US is leading the state of israel with this dirty war
45. lebanon
graeme ,   england   (08.03.06)
The awful truth is that Hizbollah placed already dead bodies in the basement of that building and staged the whole thing. Evidence that points to the whole thing being an evil sham is beginning to mount: 1 The bodies do not show injuries consistent with a full building collapse; 2 the IDF missile hit the building hours before it collapsed, which raises the question as to why the people were not evacuated in this time; 3 the IDF cannot account for the collapse of the building - it was in fact detonated with Hiz ordinance; 4 the IDF were firing missiles at the town through the night, which would make it impossible to sleep; 5 there is a very suspicious person holding up babies for the cameras who has been in photos doing the same thing in the last few years; 6 The dead baby was paraded by this person for hours in front of the media - bizarre and not consistent with someone there as a 'health' worker; 7 there was a massive poster lamenting the Qana tragedy and slamming Israel, which can only have been prepared before the building collapsed; 8 the IDF have been warning the locals for weeks to get out - granted that somehad no means to leave, but it is definitely very strange that the children were not evacuated immediately and it is VERY odd that they were in a basement in the middle of a war zone with no men with them... Hizbollah are an evil, terrorist group. They are scum, the lowest of the low. Their depravity is proven and they are proven liars - witness the recent fake bombing of civilians on a beach. One other thing that convinces me Qana stinks to high heaven: where are the parents identifying the bodies? Indeed, where are the parents at all? Nowhere to be seen. Starting inconsistencies, no witnesses, unexplained events - all ignored by the self-proclaimed 'quality' news providers - Pathetic. Israel should come out publicly and say what is increasingly obvious - that Hizbollah used dead bodies to score a propaganda hit. Force CNN, BBC and other apologists to look more closely at the story. Lastly - I pray for the poor children of Lebanon. That their parents allowed scum like Hizbollah to enter their lives like this is shameful.
46. SHAME ON ISRAEL
Mary ,   London   (08.03.06)
Go beyond your internal propaganda...watch the human casualties resulting from your war...how can you justify that???
47. to #43
(08.03.06)
yesterday Israeli news showed a video, taken by the IDF during a search for rockets in villages. They came into a doctors office, and found guns, automatic weapons and ammunition. The terrorists use EVERY mean they have to kill. the IDF could have flatten Lebanon. leaving it clean of weapons, Hezbollah and obviously all civilians that live there. BUT - it tries to use the appropriate force to accomplish its goals - to get rid of Hezbollah, and not the civilians. Why do you think that the IDF warns DAYS in advance, that it is going to attack a region? Do you really believe that they do it in order to kill civilians. Helen - this is a war. and unfortunately innocent people get hurt. Israel tries to minimize these errors, as opposed to the Hezbollah acts which are: to kill as many Israelis as they can.
48. #12, 43
Pat ,   USA   (08.03.06)
And any person else can go get a proctoscope without the lube if they think Israel is resposible for any type of "war crime." The only thing Israel is guilty of is not taking hizbollah and pushing them to the northern border of lebanon. War crimes? Think again!
49. To 43
Shai ,   Israel   (08.03.06)
Q: For all of you israeli: what do u name the fact when IDF attacks a car with a family inside? A: A vehicle that we thought was transporting weapons or Hezbollah insurgents, SINCE WE WARNED THE LEBANESE TO GET OUT OF THERE, BECAUSE EVERYTHING THAT MOVES WILL BE A TARGET, AND WE DON'T WANT TO HIT CIVILIANS!!!!! We don't have an obligation to value the lives of Lebanese more than they value it themselves. The warning was given well in advance, humanitarian corridors opened, and the Lebanese government had the ability to assist all those who for any reason couldn't get out on their own. We have no obligation to present our citizens as targets for Hizbollah weapons, which is the net result of Lebanon having allowed itself to give Hizbollah a civilian cover. Civilian deaths were the direct result of Lebanese misfeasance and Hizbollah malfeasance.
50. Shame on England
To Mary   (08.03.06)
watch the human casualties resulting from your war ON IRAQ...how can you justify that???
51. To 42
Shai ,   Israel   (08.03.06)
The damage Hizbollah did to the Israeli army and Israel is very minimal. A total of about $1 billion, which we will absorb as the cost of six years of lessons learned about how irrational is the land for peace formula. How could you equate Olmert to Nasrallah? How could you make us believe that Lebanon wants peace, and that the key is in our hands, after these 6 years when you stood by doing nothing to prevent Hizbollah from making a military nest of South Lebanon? We did not lose many from the thousands of Hizbollah missiles, but that we have lost any has done not only damage to those who lost their lives and those who knew them, it has completely undermined the land for peace formula that the UN worked to concretize. Many of us, me included, had a "prove it to me" attitude about the land for peace formula. We were willing to give it a try. The opposite was proven - land is used as a launching pad to menace peace, not increase it. Let's put the obligations and rights where they belong. If Lebanon is to have the rights of an independent nation, it has to take the obligations of an independent nation. Amongst those are defending its borders. Peretz said Lebanon was being small minded about this task, and he was right. That small-mindedness has led to your situation. I'm sorry things did not go well for you, especially the Christian community. But your silence in the face of Hizbollah's attacks on Israel eventually came home to roost.
52. To 46
Shai ,   Israel   (08.03.06)
I justify it by reducing our own human casualties. Maybe you aren't aware of the threat, potential and actualized, that Hizbollah represents as the surrogate of Syria and Iran. As General George Patton said, "your job is not to die for your country, but to make the other sonovabitch die for his country". If they hadn't started this conflict by taking our soldiers, if Lebanon hadn;'t allowed its country to be the proxy front of Iran and Syria, there wouldn't be a need to justify the human casualties resulting from this war, because THERE'D BE PEACE!!!
53. Sami # 22
ChanahS ,   Israel   (08.03.06)
Israel is not holding Lebanese land, it is fighting on Lebanese land. Have you forgotten that this whole mess started when your stupid Hamas crossed the border and abducted an Israeli soldier from Israel (killing two others), followed by Hizbollah sending a barrage of rockets into Israel and pulling the same stunt, this time abducting 2 and killing 4.
54. To Mary #46
Mo Shi Ko ,   Shanghai, China   (08.03.06)
In retaliation for the V2 attack on London the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) between February 13 and February 15, 1945 bombed the city of Dresden in Germany. During the evening of February 13 796 Avro Lancasters and 9 De Havilland Mosquitoes were dispatched in two separate waves and dropped 1,478 tons of high explosive and 1,182 tons of incendiary bombs by the early hours of February 14. The second attack, 3 hours later, was an all-Lancaster attack by aircraft and 529 Lancasters dropped more than 1,800 tons of bombs with great accuracy. As a result of this bombing there were around 25,000 officially buried dead. Out of 28,410 houses in the inner city of Dresden, 24,866 were destroyed. An area of 15 square kilometres was totally destroyed, among that: 14,000 homes, 72 schools, 22 hospitals, 18 churches, 5 theatres, 50 banks and insurance companies, 31 department stores, 31 large hotels, 62 administration buildings as well as factories such as the Ihagee camera works. Wow…is this a “measured proportional response”?
55. Roth's faulty logic
Bern ,   Cape Town   (08.03.06)
Roth's statement that “Israeli warnings of imminent attacks do not turn civilians into military targets. Otherwise, Palestinian militant groups might ‘warn’ Israeli settlers to leave their settlements and then feel justified in attacking those who remained.” misses the point: The Israeli army doesn't place its soldiers and military equipment and installations in or near civilian areas. Hence, if Hizbollah wants to target soldiers or army equipment there can be no justification for it targeting civilian areas. And what does Israel stand to gain by targeting civilians? The entire report is muddled.
56. SHAME ON ISRAEL
Tabat ,   London UK   (08.03.06)
Evil, vicous, barbaric crimes...the IDF and Zionists have blood on their hands. G-d sees the errors of your ways and will make you see them in the future.
57. Human rights watch and 43
Gijs ,   Netherlands   (08.03.06)
HRW has become an extreme leftwing organisation. They are not interested in facts, HRW has lost reality. HRW has replaced reality , HRW is "rapidly approaching that psychic land from which few travelers return, the land in which facts are the products of wishes, in which friends betray and in which an asylum chair may be the throne of God..." HRW has no integrity left whatsoever. To 43 you are at risk if you don't stcik to reality. Look at the facts; who started this war? And consequently who can end it?
58. # 43 Helen New York
ChanahS ,   Israel   (08.03.06)
Do you feel the same way about the million Israelis being INTENTIONALLY barraged by hundreds of katyusha rockets each day? About the 500,000 Israelis who have had to flee their homes, which are being bombarded daily? About the hundreds of Israelis lying in hospital with bodies torn by the steel ball bearings they put in their warheads to create maximum damage. Is that not a war crime? Or does the fact that Hizbollah is a terorist group (ie not an organized army) excuse them from all moral obligations and dilemmas (as if they ever had any).
59. # 43 Helen New York
ChanahS ,   Israel   (08.03.06)
Do you feel the same way about the million Israelis being INTENTIONALLY barraged by hundreds of katyusha rockets each day? About the 500,000 Israelis who have had to flee their homes, which are being bombarded daily? About the hundreds of Israelis lying in hospital with bodies torn by the steel ball bearings they put in their warheads to create maximum damage. Is that not a war crime? Or does the fact that Hizbollah is a terorist group (ie not an organized army) excuse them from all moral obligations and dilemmas (as if they ever had any).
60. Hizbolla does not value its people alive
mike ,   Chicago, USA   (08.03.06)
Geared up for attack uses children as shields and good at being a victim while busy trying to destroy Israel Bad at getting people out of battlefield Hizbolla virus is infectious and deadly
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