Plaintiff (accuser). Once the allegations are made it is up to the defendant to refute them. However, it is not enough to allege wrong doing. The Plaintiff must provide concrete proof of the same. Simply accusing Israel of war crimes without solid evidence is disingenious and criminal in and of itself. A case in point is the Al-Dura matter. Alot of noise was made over an incident that in the end was proven to be a fabrication. The Palestinians and their supporters have a track record of falsification and fabrication of fact. Before Israel needlessly investigates itself, it should demand strict proof of the allegations against it. Hearsay, the usual Palestinian tactic, is inadmissable as evidence.

has gone mad and still trying to teach us moral. What grade are you exactly and who tought you moral, the Arabs? No wonder Arabs never contribute anything to the world, they just lack guidence and common sense. I bet yu think its ok to kill your sister for going out with a white man is justified? Teach us more moral please.

I cross two checkpoints daily.

What more proof do you need before you acknowledge Israeli war crimes? The Israeli Gov and the IDF themselves have admitted to the 3 war crimes I have stated previously in this thread. Proof of using civilians as human shields: 1) The IDF has admitted using Palestinians as human shields 2) Hundreds if not thousands of documented testaments from victims used as human shields. 3) Documented reports based on investigations from Israeli and international HR Orgs as well as the UN. 4) Previous Israeli court ruling first putting a stay on this immoral practice and then later actually banning this practice. Proof of collective punishment in the Gaza Strip: 1) An Israeli government document was obtained which describes the blockade not as a "security measure" but as "economic warfare" against the Hamas. To quote: "A country has the right to decide that it chooses not to engage in economic relations or to give economic assistance to the other party to the conflict, or that it wishes to operate using 'economic warfare'". 2) Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has gone on the record to confirm that the Israeli blockade of Gaza is not a “security measure” but rather a measure of collective punishment, to quote: "It can't be possible that Israel will allow massive amounts of merchandise to enter the Gaza Strip at the same time that Gilad is rotting in a Hamas cellar" Proof of targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip: 1) Actual physical proof is abundant, thousands of destroyed civilian homes, schools, hundreds of businesses and factories, food production facilities, roads, wells, farmland, etc, etc. 2) Documented reports from the UN (Goldstone) and HR Orgs citing that these structures were not used by Hamas. 3) Testimonies from Israeli Generals and Israeli Gov officials previously admitting targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure as well as intention to commit these war crimes (ie: towards civilians in Lebanon and Syria). The proof mentioned above is by and large based on Israeli High Court rulings, Israeli Gov documents, testimonies given by Israel Gov officials and members of the IDF all of which are on public record. Even without the likes of the Goldstone findings there is enough confirmation from Israeli sources to affirm Israeli war crimes.

By your standards every single country in the world except those that never engaged in an armed conflict is a war criminal. This by itself cheapens the meaning of "war crimes", such as Holocaust or Rwandan genocide. You are a hypocrite because you demand Israel to act according to standards not observed by anyone in the world.

perhaps he/she does not pass through the check points, but until you Pal supporters and lovers of terrorism cease this despicable love of everything and anything that kills Israelis and Jews, the checkpoints stay, maybe forever. I would rather that Israel stay alive and thrive then give in to an immoral world where the upholders of every value that we in the west have to explain themselves to the likes of you so-called lovers of murder.

it's not a war crime if that same populace votes for and fights with terror to eliminate another people. The Arabs have been trying to do this since 1947 and even prior. Shame on you for forgetting this, and for your cozying up and ass licking of the Arabs.

In January 1972, twenty -six unarmed protesters and BYSTANDERS were shot by soldiers of the 1st batallion of the Parachute Regiment (an elite regiment?) during a peaceful march (organized by a civil rights organization, not by the equivalent of Hamas or even PLO) in Derry, occupied Northern Ireland. Six men and seven TEENAGERS died of their wounds. Two protesters were run down by vehicles. The initial British investigation conducted immediately after the massacre cleared the British soldiers and authorities. The second investigation produced findings according to which the controversy could be re-opened and also had the potential to lead to criminal investigations for some of the soldiers. British PM, David Cameron, issued a formal apology on behalf of the UK, a mere 38 years after the event. Now, I am not quite that familiar with what went on in Northern Ireland, but I don't think I have ever heard of Irish suicide bombers blowing themselves up all over the UK, in buses, cafes, markets, on Easter or Christmas eve, I don;t remember them shooting rockets at Manchester and Liverpool or Glasgow and Edinborough for that matter, nor did they time the landing of the rockets to coincide with the early morning hours when children are going to school or kindergarten, as they do in Sderot and Gaza vicinity. Therefore, Alistair, if this is the standard set by your own country, strive to set your own house in order before you feel entitled to slam Israel. So far, our record kinda beats yours.

it is relevant because i have looked all over the british newspapers and have never found any post of yours of other armies slaughtering innocents on the battle field, bombing villages, torturing the residents, blowing up homes and entire civic compounds...then saying, ooops! our mistake..sorry! we don't see you posts criticising hamas bombardment of israeli innocents for over 8 years in which 128 israelis got killed , maimed and entire israeli children population suffered in shelters for 8 years. you never commented on that occurence. i wonder why??? one never sees a negative post of yours condemning the american and brisitsh and german armies in iraq slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocents as well as terrorists as war criminals. i wonder why? we never heard a beep out of you when 10,000 missiles rained on a sovreign nation. i wonder why? we never heard a beep out of you when palestinian suicide bombers blow up civilians in israel creating an unimagonable carnage. we never hear your posts condemning the palestinians use of children as martyrs and suicide bombers and comments on their indoctrination of innocent children to hate and blow up. i wonder why? so you see, it is relevant to criticise your one sided posts. what is good for the goose is good for the gander. israel should never be looked at as any different from any other army in the world who commits atrocities unimaginable compared to the idf . if we see you are as concerend about other armies doing the very same things you accuse israel of, which they do multiply, then i can say that you are being fair. until then, what yoy are doing is a hate campaign against only one country which you hold to standards you never hold other armies to. this is called antisemitism and you are one. hameed aboughaze, iranian

The goal of the IDF is to prosecute the war with a minimum of IDF and civilian casualties. Their use of "human shields" was typically done in a way to forward this goal. Though it is still wrong and illegal. The goal of Hamas is to maximize Gazan and Israeli civilian casualties. IDF casualties fall under the category of "dead jews are good jews." They have an operational success when civilians are killed by them or by Israelis (as Hamas uses human shields for this express purpose). Your childlike sense of morality prohibits you from managing to distinguish the two sides.

i could not have said this better. good for you. great post to the imbecil allistair. hameed aboughaze, iranian

-swer yes they did blow up cafes,pubs,shops and buses all over our country and yes they blew up shopping centres in manchester they mortared our police stations they blew up cars here there and every where and ambushed our soldiers with roadside bombs and rifles they killed thousands. our country was targeted only scotland got of scot free and you mentioned the only crimes our soldiers commited ,I had friends die at the hands of the ira and we would never and did never behave as bad as israeli soldiers and we didn't need hasbara to lie for us either ,we dont call demonstrations riots and we dont call resistors terrorists and we dont occupy and we dont steal and we dont destroy homes because we are nothing like you

Hameed I am sure you will agree that it is a despicable war crime for Hamas to use civilians as human shields - would you also agree that it is a despicable war crime when the IDF use innocent civilians as human shields? After all the Israeli high court ruled that this cowardly act was illegal and the IDF has admitted to using human shields over 1,200 times between 2000 and 2005. Isn’t the use of human shields by the IDF just as morally despicable as when Hamas uses human shields? Actually I hold Israel/the IDF to the standards that they themselves pontificate. After all it was the IDF that claims to be “the most moral army in the world” wasn’t it? It is a strange contradiction isn’t it – claiming to be the most moral army in the world yet having one of the worst human rights records and a list of horrendous war crimes? Hameed how can I be “antisemitism" by simply pointing out that the superior moral values which Israel and the IDF hold themselves to is contrary to the actual track record of war crimes and human rights abuses?

Overall I can concur with Alistair’s post. The Irish IRA did indeed commit war crimes comparable with the Palestinians. The IRA targeted civilians and blew up buses, pubs as well as targeting British army bases and soldiers. I would also say that the British Army had a shoot to kill policy and committed a number of atrocities (Bloody Sunday being the most famous). However the main point I would agree upon is that the British Army and Gov did not engage in the same wanton murderous policies that the IDF/Israeli Gov has engaged in. For example there is no record of the British Army destroying Irish homes as a deterrent to Irish terrorists; the British Army did not obliterate entire Irish neighborhoods, etc.

when my enemy wants my annihalation i fight with whatever means necessary. The incitement and education of young people in Gaza is about to turn those .75 million kids into terrorists who hate Israel and do anything they can to eliminate its existence. you forget MATTY, that Israel is supplying water and electricity to these terrorists, soemthing no other country in the world would ever do. You also forget MATTY, that Israel issued warnings to people to leave their homes from which they were harboring terrorists like themselves. you forget MATTY, that these people are not capable of governing themselves, are raised and filled with hate, and vow to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic Sharia state. I don't give a S**T whether they suffer or not. I don't want that in my neighborhood. If you want it then go and live with them. Matty, you are clearly an avowed hater of Israel and Jews. You demonstrate it in everyone of your talkbacks. I feel sorry for you.

you left out the most important point, Alistair, NO ONE wanted to annihalate you and advocate the destruction of your country and people. YOU were not surrounded by enemies sworn to your destruction in their charter. You are naive to compare the two. and you have no intellectual basis upon which to do so.

Where did Alistair even mention the UK? He didn’t, you just want to read in what you want. Kinda proves my point, no army is innocent of war crimes and Israel is no different from any other army. Wow such idiot logic, by this same reasoning we can say that Hamas has never been successfully prosecuted for war crimes, does this infer that Hamas is blameless of war crimes just because it was never successfully prosecuted?

Don't even open Matty's( who does not matter) posts. I don't. Why open them? You already have a good idea of what he can write-after a while you see that it is all the same jargon. DOn't get heated about him. Ignore the "human". He will eventually quiet down.

I guess you don’t like people pointing out that the IDF has a horrific human rights record and has documented war crimes. I guess your response to this is to bury your head in the sand and pretend that such criticism doesn’t exist. Alas such criticism does exist and rightfully so. I hate to break it to you Ilana but by ignoring me these war crimes will not go away. I would also like to point out the lie you just told: I hate to bring logic into this matter but if you have never opened my posts how do you know what I am stating? Obviously you have opened my posts, otherwise you would not have an opinion on the matter, thus your claim that “I don't (open Matty’s posts)” is a blatant lie.

you approach these issues (and knee-jerk Zionists) with measured equanimity. bravo sir!

The british army killed hundreds of civilians in Northern Ireland whereas the Irish Rebuplican Army most of the time gave warnings before they blew up cafes ,pubs shops and buses but that was because of the illegal occupation of the British Army of Ireland When they blew up soldiers with roadside bombs that was legitimate resistance against an occupying army My irish friend told me that when he travelled back to Ireland he was regularly roughed up by British soldiers .The reason why you have not heard of British atrrocities is not because they did not happen it is just that they were not reported .Have you heard of Baba Moussa who was beaten to death by British soldiers ,.His crime was that he was a hotel receptionist Ps the IRA were resistors but you call them terrorists and by the way you illegally occupy Northern Ireland the Falklands Gibralter YOU threw Hunfreds of civilians of Diego Garcia and you occupy three Bases in Cyprus and how many homes have you bombed in Afghanistan and Iraq and you illegally occupy these countries

Michael why can’t you answer the two questions I asked you? Namely: 1) Tell me Michael why did the IDF cause sonic booms over Gaza city other than to terrorize the collective population? 2) Tell me Michael why did the Israel ban the imports of children’s toys, certain foods, and medical equipment from entering Gaza for 4 years? Why can’t you answer these two simple questions Michael? You live in NY which is free of Palestinian ‘terror attacks’ just how exactly are these ‘terrorists’ going to annihilate you?! You also mention that “i fight with whatever means necessary”, just how exactly are you ‘fighting’ against a non-existent ‘enemy’ in NY? Actually by Israel occupying Gaza (and the WB and E Jerusalem) and collectively punishing the entire population these children will learn how to ‘hate Israel’ all by themselves without Hamas et al lifting a finger. Hey guess what? If Israel would stop its occupation and blockade of Gaza (and the WB and E Jerusalem) Israel, as the belligerent occupying power, would not be obliged under international law to provide for these ‘protected people’. Have you any proof that these civilians were harboring terrorists? I guess not. LOL! Funny how they were doing just fine before they were occupied by Israel isn’t it? Well with such a hateful attitude can you really expect the Palestinians to give a S**T about you? Just a reminder Michael - you live in NY, not a lot of Palestinians moving into your neighborhood, I think you are quite safe to live with your bigoted mindset.

shooting at civilians raising white Flag ..will place in that category .

Us Irish had a long terrible history against the English and British establishment. However, ten years ago, while you lot went on a land grab for settlements, the Brits started listening to us and mending fences. They established a genuine enquiry that indeed found the Bloody Sunday soldiers guilty of murder, unlike the whitewashes you lot engage in on a daily basis. Bloody Sundays happen on a regular basis in Palestine.They never used f16 jets and Apache helicopters on Irish urban areas. They didn't rain down phosphorus and missiles on Dublin. The kind of behaviour you lot engage in today is the kind of stuff the British were doing 400 years ago, except you have modern technology to aid you. Alaister and the Brits are alright. The football hooligans and occasional twat tabloid gutter press get up my nose occasionally, and that's about it. You lot, on the other hand, are not only murdering thugs. Your actually unhinged, because you believe G-d is backing you up in this endevour of yours. Alaister has nought to worry bout in relation to this isle of mine, his house is well in order in that regard

It is very rare to get encouragement among a playing field of Zionist Ynuts hell-bent on negating reality and insisting that Palestinians do not warrant the same simple basic human rights that are enjoyed on a daily basis by Israelis. Thank you Wanda for your kind words.

You have not all perished in Auschwitz. No matter how you try to be gentle to the enemy bent on "finishing the job", Salma from "palestine" will never forgive you your survival. Just ... stay safe. That is the worst punishment that you inflict on her kind. She will keep projecting crimes of her people upon you (sorry, but rocket attacks on Sderot is a bona fide collective punishment, not the other way around). Fight back. Now that we cleared the questions about Jews causing the plague, poisoning the wells, and blood for matzos, it is time to fight a new, modern blood libel - alleged war crimes. She cannot accept your survival, so in revenge persevere like you did for the last four thousand years. You have survived the pharaoh, haman, Stalin and Hitler. Don't become quitters now.

Perhaps if the Israelis acted more like the Russians in Chechnya or the US and UK in Afghanistan & Irak their soldiers would be safer and the world would think twice about messing with Israel in the first place...Where has your deterrence gone ? You must be concerned with staying alive, let the hate dogs bark and just in case they become too much to bear put them out of their misery...