Posted on 02/22/2009 5:14:12 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Amnesty International condemned the IDF's conduct during its military operation in Gaza in a report published Monday, and called for an arms embargo on both Israel and the terrorist Hamas group.
"Amnesty International found that the Israeli army used white phosphorus, a weapon with a highly incendiary effect, in densely-populated civilian residential areas in and around Gaza City, and in the north and south of the Gaza Strip," the report says.
"The organization’s delegates found white phosphorus still burning in residential areas throughout Gaza days after the ceasefire came into effect on 18 January - that is, up to three weeks after the white phosphorus artillery shells had been fired by Israeli forces.
"Amnesty International considers that the repeated use of white phosphorus in this way in densely-populated civilian areas constitutes a form of indiscriminate attack, and amounts to a war crime," it adds.
The report also criticizes the US' role in the war as Israel's main supplier of weapons, recommending that the Obama administration halt all further military aid to Israel.
Amnesty claims that the US intends to supply Israel with $30 billion worth of weapons over the next 10 years, according to an agreement signed in 2007, an increase of 25% from the pre-Bush days. Thus, the organization claims, the US was a contributing factor to Israel's bombing of Gaza.
In conclusion, the report calls on the UN to impose a total weapons embargo on Israel, Hamas, and the other armed organizations until methods to block their use for "violations of international law" can be found.
'Report is not objective'
The Foreign Ministry stated in response to the report that its description of the fighting in Gaza was "tendentious", and that it did not "maintain a reliance on objective and professional criteria."
The ministry further stated that the report:
* Ignores the basic fact that Hamas is a terror organization and is recognized as such by the European Union, the US, and other countries.
* There is no mention in the report to Hamas' intentional use of civilians as human shields.
* The report mentions Hamas' fire on Israeli civilians, but ignores its dimensions.
* The weaponry used by the IDF is in keeping with international guidelines and its use by Western armies.
* The IDF has never intentionally harmed civilians and the descriptions that appear in the report were uttered by subjective civilians under Hamas' influence, as many independent investigations by the international press have revealed.
* The international community has accepted the fact that the military conflict occurred by the fault of Hamas, but the Amnesty report is almost totally dedicated to criticism of Israel.
* The comparison between Israel and Hamas' weapons supply is out of order. Can the weapons owned by al-Qaeda be compared to those employed by NATO forces?
* Amnesty pretends to determine the sources that participated in the war. The organization has neither the tools nor the ability to do so.
* Amnesty refrains from mentioning that Hamas is supported by extremist regimes against the legal government of the Palestinian Authority.
AI is FOS. A bunch of stinking hippies afraid of getting A REAL JOB.
Uh huh.
It’s really hard to take Amnesty International seriously.
Well, isn't that just precious.
And those delegates names are???? Achmed? Yassir?
What about rockets fired at Israeli settlements? What about IEDs? What about random bombings and human bombs? What about midnight raids and beheadings?
Those idiots at AI haven't even acknowledged the atrocities of Hamas or any other terrorist group, for that matter. Yet they announce some kind of scientific revelation that WP is highly incindiary and therefore not a kinder gentler way of killing bad guys. Duh!
If the "organization's delegates found white phosphorous still burning...in Gaza...up to three weeks after the...shells had been fired", it is certain that Palestinian propagandists put it there. 2. The Israeli artillery shells weren't WP, they were smoke shells.
Meaning that Amnesty International and the media who promote this bullcrap are either a.) propagandists themselves and believe their audience is ignorant or b.) they are themselves ignorant as fenceposts.
Why, oh, why is the truth so very damn difficult for the media...???
That wasn’t Willy Pete, that was the baby formula Hamas was asking for in the Arty cannisters.
The felt wedge WP is a time-fuzed base ejecting round that throws out 4 inch-long felt wedges soaked in WP. When employed in airbursts as the IDF used them, it scatters burning WP in wide clusters and they burn there for a long time. If they come in contact with skin, they stick to the skin and they burn terribly and it cannot be put out unless you can immerse the victim in water - but it reignites as soon as it hits air again.
I've seen WP burns and they are only burns I've seen that go all the way through a limb and the only burns I've seen that bleed.
There can be no legitimate reason to use a weapon like that against an urban population, particulary used in groups of targets as they were. Gaza is too densely populated to assume that they would only hit legitimate fighters. I lived in Gaza for a while as a UN observer and the place is packed tightly with people.
We have to face the truth when we see it and there are times when even our friends and allies have to be called to account. I despise Hamas and the other terrorist organizations but we won't win if we condone the use of horrific weapons against populated areas.
That helped me understand what was going on a lot better. Thanks. Maybe you should post that as an analysis/vanity?
I wish more people would observe the UN. It would make it easier to get rid of it.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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