Posted on September 16, 2009 - by Venik

UN Finds Israeli War Crimes

The report by the UN fact finding mission on the Gaza conflict released on September 15 brings to light numerous war crimes committed by Tzahal against Palestinian civilians. A few quotes from the UN report:

The mission concluded that actions amounting to war crimes and possibly, in some respects, crimes against humanity, were committed by the Israel Defense Force (IDF).

The mission finds that the conduct of the Israeli armed forces constitute grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of willful killings and willfully causing great suffering to protected persons and as such give rise to individual criminal responsibility…

It [the US mission] also finds that the direct targeting and arbitrary killing of Palestinian civilians is a violation of the right to life.

(source: Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, UNO, Sept. 15, 2009)

The UN’s findings did not come as a surprise to the Israeli military. As early as January 25 – more than two months before the UN fact finding mission was mandated – the Prime Minister of Israel promised legal assistance to Tzahal servicemen who become subjects of war crimes prosecutions.

The Israeli government official said a letter was sent to Goldstone, a South African judge, through the Israeli embassy in Geneva informing him and the council that Israel believed it was “impossible to cooperate with the committee” in its inquiry.

(source: Israel will not cooperate with UN Gaza inquiry, Reuters, April 15, 2009)

Shortly after the UN’s fact finding mission was formed in early April, Israel officially refused to cooperate with the UN mission. Clearly, the Israeli regime was well aware of the atrocities committed by its poorly trained army of conscripts and was busy covering up the bloody mess in Gaza.

Among the primary reasons behind the UN’s decision in April to investigate allegations of war crimes in Gaza were reports that the Israeli military used white phosphorus (WP) munitions against Palestinian civilians. WP munitions – usually in the form of artillery shells, mortar rounds, and aviation bombs – are used primarily to create smokescreens concealing friendly forces. But WP munitions are also effective as incendiary weapons against concentrations of enemy personnel and flammable targets.

Use of white phosphorus munitions against civilian targets is in violation of Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Neither the US nor Israel signed Protocol III of the Convention. The US is selling WP munitions to Israel and the great Gaza barbecue continues. The use of WP munitions as incendiary weapons is also outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention, but proving intent in this case is nearly impossible.

Israeli government and military officials fiercely denied the use of WP munitions in Gaza. Unfortunately for the spin doctors in Tel Aviv, photographic evidence obtained by a number of foreign journalists in Israel, including reporters from The Times, showed stockpiles of WP munitions at forward-deployed Israeli artillery positions.

The light gray 155mm rounds are marked with the designation M825A1, an American-made white phosphorus munition. This photo was made by The Times reporter at an Israeli artillery position bombarding Gaza in January 2009.

Tzahal officials decided to put up a smokescreen of their own and told the journalists that the artillery shells in the photos were empty. The explanation given was beyond ridiculous:

“Confronted with the latest evidence, an IDF spokeswoman insisted that the M825A1 shell was not a WP type. “This is what we call a quiet shell – it is empty, it has no explosives and no white phosphorus. There is nothing inside it,” she said.

“We shoot it to mark the target before we launch a real shell. We launch two or three of the quiet shells which are empty so that the real shells will be accurate. It’s not for killing people,” she said.”

(source: Gaza victims’ burns increase concern over phosphorus, by Michael Evans and Sheera Frenkel, The Times, January 9, 2009)

Video and photographic evidence obtained by Reuters reports in Gaza proved these claims wrong as well.  Photos show numerous white lines streaking across the sky and showering Gaza with burning phosphorus. WP artillery shells are equipped with time fuses. The detonation occurs at an altitude of several hundred feet, but increasing the time delay by a fraction of second would cause the warhead to go off closer to the ground, burning people and buildings.

Photos from the 2008-2009 Gaza war clearly show WP munitions being detonated very near the ground, to maximize the incendiary effect.

In March of 2009 Human Rights Watch published a 71-page report Rain of Fire, Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza, detailing Israel’s use of WP munitions against civilians in Gaza.

This 71-page report provides witness accounts of the devastating effects that white phosphorus munitions had on civilians and civilian property in Gaza. Human Rights Watch researchers in Gaza immediately after hostilities ended found spent shells, canister liners, and dozens of burnt felt wedges containing white phosphorus on city streets, apartment roofs, residential courtyards, and at a United Nations school. The report also presents ballistics evidence, photographs, and satellite imagery, as well as documents from the Israeli military and government.

(source: Rain of Fire, Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza, Human Rights Watch, March 2009)

In Israel’s defense, it should be mentioned that the brutal measures taken by Tzahal in Gaza were necessary due to the unprofessional nature of the Israeli army. The myth of mighty Tzahal comes primarily from brilliant PR and a couple of brief wars against Third World countries several decades ago. Today’s Tzahal derives its experience primarily from street fighting against poorly armed militia and unarmed civilians.

Excessive brutality is really Tzahal’s only hope for working out a final solution to the Palestinian problem. As the UN report confirms, this brutality was not something that happened by chance in the heat of a battle. According to the UN, the war crimes committed by Tzahal were methodical and premeditated.

Gallery: Israeli invasion of Gaza, 2008-2009

Gallery: Use of white phosphorus munitions by Israel in Gaza, 2008-2009

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