UNHRC debate on Goldstone Report
Photo: Shahar Azran
Lambs tried by wolves
Why does UNHRC so fervently target Israel while ignoring more heinous crimes?
The UNHRC endorsed Goldstone's Gaza report and I, for once, am happy for this just and timely decision. However, it is clearly not enough, as there are still criminals walking among us, some of whom are even occupying key positions in the US and European governments. To fix this unbearable situation, in which criminals are not persecuted simply because of the high positions they occupy, I would like to propose for the Human Rights Council to start from the very head of the pyramid of power, to set an example for all other would-be war criminals. And what example could be more noticeable than the US?
Therefore, it is the UNHRC’s obligation to condemn and indict the Clinton administration, as well as the military and civilian leadership of NATO for war crimes committed against the Serbian people during the 1999 Kosovo War (also known as “Operation Allied Force”) that left more than 500 innocent civilians dead. According to the Human Rights Watch “smart weapons (initially) constituted more than 90 percent of the ordnance employed. By mid-May, this had declined to only 10 or 20 percent of the total.”
This means that as soon as the war started getting too expensive, concern for civilian lives gave way to concern for NATO budget, or maybe it was a deliberate campaign of terror? In any case, this had a horrible toll on human lives and property; “as few as 489 and as many as 528 Yugoslav civilians were killed in the ninety separate incidents in Operation Allied Force.”
I would also like to draw your attention to the completely disproportionate use of force, as is evident from the casualty ratios (2 NATO soldiers killed in non-combat incidents versus almost 700 Serbs, most of whom civilians, killed in the bombings.) In fact, these numbers indicate something closer to a massacre than to an armed conflict. Perhaps a more proper term for the conflict would be “The Kosovo Massacre” and not the Kosovo War.
Among the targets attacked we can find the People's Republic of China embassy in Belgrade, Serbia's main TV station, the Zastava car factory – all illegal targets under the Geneva Convention. Even worse – civilian chemical factories were bombed, which resulted in major pollution incidents and loss of jobs for thousands of uninvolved civilians. Furthermore, cluster bombs were used in the city of Novi Sad resulting in continuing risk of injury for the civilian population of this city to this very day.
Deliberate campaign of terror?
According to the Geneva Convention (Protocol I, Art. 52(2)) legitimate targets include "those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action." This is clearly not the case with all of the above-mentioned targets, thus making their destruction, and the loss of innocent lives which it entailed, clear-cut war crimes that deserve indictment and fair trial in an objective international court.It is even possible that many of these attacks resulted from a deliberate campaign of terror rather than simply gross negligence, as “almost half of the incidents (forty-three out of ninety) resulted from attacks during daylight hours, when civilians could have been expected to be on the roads and bridges or in public buildings which may have been targeted.”
Of course, all the officials involved in the above mentioned crimes will have to be arrested and transported to some neutral country where they will receive a fair and unbiased trial. I would like to propose Israel for this task, since its courts have already earned a reputation of fairness and objectivity in trying war criminals such as the Nazis Eichmann (1962) and Demjanjuk (1986).
Yeah, Clinton will do time in an Israeli prison for crimes against the Serbian people.
Sounds like nonsense?
But wait, there is more! The US isn’t a member of the council and so doesn’t have a say in the matter, but let’s look at some of the actual members of the council and their actions to promote human rights and international justice:Britain chose not to participate in the voting, perhaps finding it difficult to condemn Israel after the Guardian exposed Britain’s use of phosphorus bombs in Afghanistan and torture in Iraq. It didn’t feel quite guilty enough to show support for a fellow democracy trying to defend itself, however, possibly not wishing to anger its loyal Islamic allies. The same allies it bombs, kills and oppresses on a daily basis.
Unlike the indecisive British, Russia bravely voted against Israel. Russia, which did very little to “safeguard the rights of civilians,” and which according to the same HRW had responded to the Chechen’s uprising with a “campaign unparalleled in the area since World War II for its scope and destructiveness.” Yes, one of the nations that voted against Israel is responsible for the worst violence Europe has known since WWII.
Why does charade continue?
Israel’s operation in the 1.5 million Gaza strip has left about 1,400 dead, of which presumably 700 were civilians (according to Amnesty International.) Russia’s attack on the 1.1 million Chechnya has left around 100,000 Chechens dead, of which even the most optimistic accounts place the number of militants to be at around 15,000.And I don’t need to tell you about the crimes of Jordan against the Palestinian refugees carving out a meager existence in its territory during the “Black September” of 1970 or of China’s inhuman occupation and oppression of Tibet and Xinjiang or of the extreme brutality with which the various Palestinian factions deal with one another in Gaza and the West Bank. All these nations have voted against Israel, all these nations are champions of human right violations and yet no one in Europe has yet stood up and cried “foul!” Why?
Why on earth do British, Spanish and Hoggish courts have the audacity to even look at cases directed against foreign subjects having nothing to do with the affairs of the said countries? Why does the UNHRC so fervently levels charge upon charge against Israel while tactfully ignoring far more heinous crimes committed by most of its members? But most of all, why are so many educated and supposedly free-willed people in Europe follow this charade, instead of denouncing it for it is – yet another attempt by the enemies of Israel to harm it using the very values it is the sole representative of in the Middle East – democracy, freedom, and human rights.
Politicians play their Machiavellian games with dozens of ulterior motives, secret agreements and business interests; justice is the last thing on their mind. And so it is the duty of the voter, the so-called “simple citizen,” to have a realistic and balanced image of the world. A brief foray into any human rights website or even the occasional evening spent watching the news will tell you who are the villains of this world and who are its victims.
