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UN expert slams 'tragic' international failure in Gaza
AFP
Published: 23.12.09, 23:36
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1. anti-Israel activist
Dov ,   USA   (12.24.09)
Mr. Falk defends murderers no matter what the cause.
2. "UN human rights expert"
Yoni ,   Sydney   (12.24.09)
3. "UN human rights expert"
Yoni ,   Sydney   (12.24.09)
a contradiction in terms!
4. Barak and Livni
Israel Israeli ,   Tel Aviv   (12.24.09)
Everyone knows that the Goldstone report is false. Barak and Livni should go to the Hague for trial. After the case is dismissed, Israel could pursue Goldstone for libel and encouraging genocide. Instead, by refusing to go to trial, they give people like Falk ammunition to attack Israel.
5. Expert?
Ricardo Macher ,   KarneiShomron Israel   (12.24.09)
This person Falk, is an expert as per whom? Has he ever seen a map of the Gaza strip? Does he know they have a border with Egypt? Is he conscious that the UN in arab's affairs is the biggest failure of them all? I'm sure he gets at least a five zero salary
6. Egypt has a border with Gaza...
Richard Falk= ,   anti-semite   (12.24.09)
last time i checked. Falk (the Israel hater) can call his Egyptian friends and ask them to open their border he likes(but he wont because he needs to blame Israel in order to keep getting a check)
7. Goldstone's Brother Hard At Work
Reality Check ,   Zion   (12.24.09)
Can someone tell G-d that Passover is over so that he stops sending us these plagues .. Goldstone, Falk, Axelrod, Emanual and the other self hating Jews that must go around the world attacking Israel. In fact this articele is incorrect in calling him a human rights expert, no expert could sit by with Mugabe running around free and at the same time attack Israel. Notice how Falk's history starts after the rocket fire, he has no problem with hamas bombing Israeli children, only Israel defending itself. Anyway, Falk is a known quanity, a truely biased anti Israeli who has made himself irrelevent to the debate. Until the people of Gaza repudiiate terrorists for leaders, they can suffer. Where is it is writtent that we must take care of our sworn enemies.
8. Egypt is blockading Gaza TOO!
Eugene Reiss ,   Great Neck, USA   (12.24.09)
Mr. Falk should petition the OIC to punish Egypt. Where is his moral consistency.
9. :: The Gaza Ghetto
Matty Groves ,   Fairport   (12.24.09)
In effect Israel is denying basic humanitarian aid to 0.75 million children. The ongoing blockade of imports/exports as well as international aid are a deliberate attempt/policy by Israel to create a Humanitarian Disaster in Gaza. Sure Israel will allow a bare minimum amount of aid into Gaza but the only just enough so there will not be international condemnation/outrage at Israelis attempt to push the people of Gaza into the sea. As Israel could not annex Gaza via the illegal settlements it is now making the people of Gaza suffer a slow death. This wanton cruel and malicious collective punishment will be recorded in History as a dark chapter of Israel’s inhumanity to man.
10. #4 Obviously those who deny the report,
Adele ,   Toronto   (12.24.09)
will believe it's false. Covering your ears and going "lalalalalala warcrime allegations are false" wont make it true. Libel and encouraging genocide? Are you off your rocker?
11. To all those criticizing egypt.
Paul ,   Australia   (12.24.09)
Israel controls Gaza’s air space and Gaza’s territorial waters and is therefore an illegal blockade, which is an act of war. This isn't about Israel's or Egypt's right to control its own border, because no one in their right mind would dispute this. This is about Israel controlling foreign borders.
12. Adele #10 - Obviously you have no read or researched the rep
Wonderer   (12.24.09)
ort if you are saying it is TRUE. Goldstone has said that HIS report would not stand up in a court of law. This is beacause its mostly hearsay with no real evidence. You are the one who should try reading. Apart from him admitting it was not fact. Its was organized by countries like Saudi, China, Cuba, with the open conclusion that israel has committed war crimes. The people involved in a court would be considered bias before it even began from their comments to their actions. The report is riddled with lies, including by many 'civilians' who admit they are Hamas terrorists, much of it has been shown to be untrue. Many of the statistics are taken from groups whose stats have been discredited many times. It also seems to ingore the FACT that Hamas does everything in its power to hide behind innocents and blame Israel for anything that goes wrong. Hamas were also killing their own people by the dozens during cast lead. There is no REAL EVIDENCE. Obviously those who accept
13. gaza
to no 9   (12.24.09)
On the contrary. Israel is too humane with the murderous Gazans( Hamas) Who else would put up being attacked with rockets and when they defend themselves are called human rights violators ? Currently it is again in vogue to attack the Jews , The current world stage has not changed from the 1930s
14. re
to no 10   (12.24.09)
you certainly did not understand what NO 4 WAS saying he did not encourage war crimes , but you also ignore facts . Hamas is attacking Israel and nobody in their right mind can deny Israel to defend herself
15. The Crackpot Comes out of the Woodwork
Rob ,   USA   (12.24.09)
This dangerous, extremist crackpot needs to be shunned and ignored for the inveterate fool that he has always been.
16. #10, except there has been extensive responses
Danny   (12.24.09)
to the report showing at the bare minimum 30 out of the 36 incidents were bare-faced lies. It is the supporters of the report who are going lalalala it is is true despite copious evidence that most of the report is simply fake.
17. #6
Shlomo Kamra   (12.24.09)
There are 4 bodies that can authorize the opening of the border with Egypt, and Israel has the controlling say. So guess what stupid, the gate is rarely opened, and when it is, it is only for a short time, and is very much restricted, because the evil jews have the controlling say, backed by the USA. The world needs to kick Israel out of all aspects of border control, and put in a peacekeeping force instead.
18. "Special Rapporteur"
Cameron ,   USA   (12.24.09)
Very hip-sounding, dignified title! The Gaza folk are in a pathological trap of their own making.
19. Why don't they bycot Egypt? Because its an "Islamic country"
Hanna   (12.24.09)
20. Blah Blah.
Brad ,   USA   (12.24.09)
Ok. There is something that the world needs to know. There is no such thing as a "UN human rights expert". Now that everyone has that straight, any destruction inflicted on Muslims by Israel, for all time, has been well earned. Muslims in the middle east have been at war with the Jews, without cause, for centuries, and it has continued until and including today. The UN is just another bunch of useful idiots in suits. The UN is just a bullcrap machine. Money ( especially from the U.S.) goes in, and bullcrap comes out.
21. :::::#10, Still engaging in First Nations denial?
Genuine Tosefta ,   Tveria   (12.24.09)
get off of your butt, leave the stolen lands you dwell on to the Natives you dispossessed and return to your ancestral European home
22. Special Rapporteur?
Sarah B ,   U.S.A. / Israel   (12.24.09)
What in the world is that? Should be "Raconteur" because of all the lies and story-telling. That said, not a word about Egypt's blockade, eh? So much for the credibility of the United Nations special whatever.
23. "UN Expert" - "Giant Shrimp"
Seth ,   Washington, DC   (12.24.09)
24. To #9 Matty Groves
Ben ,   USA   (12.24.09)
Hello Mr. Groves. I'm a Jew in New York, and I have been looking at your talkbacks on Ynet for a while now. I would really like to understand you- I'm not 'arguing' with you...I feel that we need to sort out Israel's problems in the Middle East once and for all. Now, to get on with my talkback...for some reason, whenever I see your talkbacks, they really pop out at me. Not really because they are so amazingly written- just because the fact that you use logic ONLY one-sided. It's all very true that the situation is dire in Gaza...and something needs to be done, right now. But what is Israel supposed to do? Israel first tried to appease the Arabs by giving them the entire Gaza strip...then, Hamas took over and started firing rockets at civilians. The rockets went on for EIGHT YEARS! Now, Israel tried to curb the rocket attacks on its civilians again and again...but to no avail. In any normal country- lets say the US. What would be the course of action taken against rocket attacks from lets say, Mexico? Well, the US would probably send an entire army to stop them...resulting in thousands of lives. Maybe the US would even invade! Lets get back to Israel...what is Israel supposed to do to stop the rocket attacks on civilians? It already gave up land to the Arabs, hoping that by giving land it will help calm down the region- but as you know, that didn't turn out that well :( So finally, Israel decided to do something about this. They attacked Hamas in the Gaza strip, and as you probably know, they tried the utmost to warn civilians in the area (phone calls, door-to-door warnings, pamphlets, etc) to minimize casulties. However, as you probably know as well, Hamas is a terror organization. Therefore, they have no problem launching rockets from hospitals, schools, and the like, with no care to civilians. As much as I wish it weren't so, civilians were killed. Even though this is a tragedy- but this is war! In war, unfortunatly, there are always civilian casulties. Now, I'm not going to go into why the entire world, for some reason, condemmed Israel for its actions in Gaza. In fact, I really think they tried as hard as they can to stop the rocket attacks, and minimize civilian casulties as much as possible. What I would really like to ask from you is the following: Israel needs to keep a blockade on Gaza, to prevent Hamas from restocking their ammunition and bunkers and so on. However, as you said, Gazans are suffering. If Israel opens all the borders, it will have the same problem that it had only a few years ago- terrorists blowing up buses and pizza shops. I would like to ask you- what, in your opinion, should Israel do? On one hand, Israel needs to protect itself- and I hope you agree with that. On the other hand- the people of Gaza are suffering. What do you think Israel should do? I am trying to look at the situation as unbaised as possible...and please, answer back- I would like to understand you as well. Hopefully, there will be peace in the Middle East very soon!
25. Blockade Is a Sieve
emanon ,   USA   (12.24.09)
Want proof how ineffective the blockade is? Terrorstians have no trouble getting guns, explosives and other means of war in and out of Gaza. This re[port also assumes the terrorstinians actually WANT something that can be used for peaceful purposes. Falk must be related to Goldstone. Same mentality.
26. hamas in gaza
Barney ,   USA   (12.24.09)
whose goal is to destroy Israel should rot where they are or get their arab "brothers' to open crossing to egypt. truth is they dont want anything to do with the terrorists either. since when is a country obligated to support an entity that call for its destruction. even a thick headed matty and addy ought to understand that. what a bunch of hypocrites. they made their bed-lie in it and quit whining to the world
27. Falk
eli ,   united states   (12.24.09)
Falk has a long history of anti-Israeli statements. His extreme left wing political ideology has been the basis of his venom. As a so-called international law expert, you can count on him for an academic or legal justifications for hatred of Israel in spite of his Jewish heritage.
28. No excess of food allowed in Gaza on bare minimum
Bloodyscot ,   Dallas, Texas   (12.24.09)
Most food growing and process means were destroyed at the end of Cast Lead, including gardens, fruit trees, green houses and flour mill. Only certain imports of food allow mainly beans and rice which allows for only daily needs. If Israel has need to control Gaza at some point it will likely use lack of food at a weapon, since it seems to be preventing any buildup of extra food in Gaza.
29. There are some who purposely forget Goldstone's comments
EST ,   Miami USA   (12.24.09)
in re. to his report ... It is being misquoted and anti-Israelis are using only one side of it...they very happily forget Hamas and the terrorists - the muderous shelling of Sderot for eight years, etc., etc. etc. and as far as occupied lands are concerned....they twist historical events and change international law when it suits them. People forget, Palestinians were hounded out of Jordan when they tried to take over in the 70's, they were hounded out of Egypt for the same reason and from other places as well. It is only when Israel defends its citizens from their murdering sociopaths that anti-Semites scream and yell..
30. # 9
Birdi ,   Israel   (12.24.09)
You conveniently forget that Gaza has a border with Egypt who has also closed the border. I wonder why?
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