Obama, as I read more about him, was an opportunist. And he tended to give in
too easily to pressure from those with whom he disagreed, probably because he
thought it was in his best interests to do so. It's a real tragedy because he
had a mandate from the people to make real positive change, but he lacked the
will .
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2018 11:07 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: In Wake of Gaza Massacre, Israeli Leaders Should
Be Prosecuted for War Crimes
If only we could arrest all of the violent Leaders around the world, and put
them on trial. Another thing I've never forgiven Barack Obama for, was his
refusal to support a full investigation of the Bush administration's war
crimes.
Many of the people I respect are People of Color...Barack Obama is not among
them.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/6/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In Wake of Gaza Massacre, Israeli Leaders Should Be Prosecuted for War
Crimes Friday, April 06, 2018 By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout | News
Analysis
A Palestinian man wears a gas mask as he walks in the smoke during a
protest in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 6, 2018. Clashes
erupted on the Gaza-Israel border Friday, a week after Israeli force
killed 19 Palestinians at similar demonstrations. (Photo: Abbas Momani
/ AFP / Getty Images)
On March 30, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers shot 773 unarmed
Palestinian protesters in Gaza, killing 17 and wounding 1,400. Twenty
remain in critical condition. The protesters were marching to demand
the internationally mandated right of return of refugees to their
cities and villages in what now constitutes Israel.
The Israeli leaders who ordered the massacre were in clear violation
of international law. They should be prosecuted for war crimes.
Premeditated Use of Deadly Force Against Peaceful Protesters
The use of deadly force against the peaceful protesters was premeditated.
The IDF deployed 100 snipers to the border fence between Gaza and
Israel, where 30,000 to 40,000 Palestinians had gathered for the Great
March of Return. In a damning tweet, later deleted, the IDF wrote,
"Nothing was carried out uncontrolled; everything was accurate and
measured, and we know where every bullet landed."
Jihad al-Juaidi, director of the ICU at the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza,
told Al Jazeera that all of the injured people who came to the
hospital were shot in the head, pelvic joints or knee joints. "This
shows that Israeli forces were shooting-to-kill, or to cause
disabilities," al-Juaidi stated.
B'Tselem, a Jerusalem-based human rights organization, characterized
the military orders as "shoot-to-kill unarmed Palestinians taking part
in these demonstrations."
"Israeli soldiers were not merely using excessive force, but were
apparently acting on orders that all but ensured a bloody military
response to the Palestinian demonstrations," Eric Goldstein, deputy
director of Human Rights Watch's (HRW) Middle East and Africa
division, stated.
Senior IDF officers told Haaretz before the protest that a large
number of casualties was "a price we would be willing to pay to
prevent a breach" of the fence at the border.
Israeli leaders fostered the false narrative that Hamas was sponsoring
the protest. Jason Greenblatt, US envoy to Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations, followed suit, tweeting, "Hamas is encouraging a hostile
march on the Israel-Gaza border" and accused Hamas of "inciting
violence against Israel."
To read more stories like this, visit Human Rights and Global Wrongs.
But the demonstration was actually organized by several Palestinian
civil society organizations. "No Palestinian faction, organization or
group can claim this march as its own. Hamas was simply riding the
wave," Jamil Khader wrote on Mondoweiss. Palestinian flags, not
factional ones, were visible.
Conflating civilians with terrorists and framing the planned response
as protection against a security risk, Israeli authorities referred to
Gaza as a "combat zone."
Lethal Force Can Only Be Used if Imminent Threat to Life
It is illegal to shoot unarmed civilians under international
humanitarian law. Some protesters threw rocks and burned tires near the
border fence.
But
HRW found "no evidence of any protester using firearms or any IDF
claim of threatened firearm use at the demonstrations." No Israeli
soldiers were killed and "the army did not report any injuries to soldiers."
"Even if a Palestinian was throwing a stone, the chances that under
these conditions such an act could cause an imminent threat to life --
the only situation that would justify the use of lethal force under
international law
-- are infinitesimal," Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the US
Campaign for Palestinian Rights, wrote on HuffPost. "Indeed, even if
Palestinians were trying to climb the fence, that would not give
Israel the right to use lethal force."
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director of HRW,
concurred, stating, "Israeli allegations of violence by some
protesters do not change the fact that using lethal force is banned by
international law except to meet an imminent threat to life."
Indeed, the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by
Law Enforcement specifies, "intentional lethal use of firearms may
only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life."
"Senior Israeli leaders who unlawfully called for the use of live
ammunition against Palestinian demonstrators who posed no imminent
threat to life bear responsibility" for the deaths and injuries, HRW
asserted in a statement.
That includes Israel's prime minister, defense minister and chief of staff.
B'Tselem, which has called for Israeli soldiers to disobey patently
illegal orders, described the legal duty to disobey unlawful orders:
"It is also a criminal offense to obey patently illegal orders.
Therefore, as long as soldiers in the field continue to receive orders
to use live fire against unarmed civilians, they are duty-bound to refuse to
comply."
Prosecute Israeli Leaders in International Criminal Court
Israeli leaders responsible for the deaths and injuries on March 30
should be prosecuted in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power has a legal
duty to protect the occupied. Grave breaches of the convention
constitute war crimes. They include willful killing; willfully causing
great suffering or serious injury; intentionally directing attacks
against the civilian population; and intentionally launching attacks
with knowledge they will cause incidental loss of life or injury to
civilians The IDF committed all of these grave breaches on March 30.
Furthermore, under international humanitarian law, the IDF failed to
comply with the principles of distinction and proportionality.
Distinction requires parties to a conflict to direct their attacks
only against people taking part in the hostilities. Proportionality
prohibits an attack if the damage to the civilian population will be
greater than the military advantage anticipated from the attack. The
IDF violated both of those principles on March 30.
An independent commission of inquiry convened by the UN Human Rights
Council to investigate Israel’s 2014 massacre in Gaza documented the
deaths of
2,251
Palestinians, which included 1,462 civilian deaths and the injuring of
11,231 Palestinians. Six civilians and 67 soldiers were killed and
1,600 injured on the Israeli side. The commission concluded that
Israel, and to a lesser extent, Palestinian armed groups, had likely
committed violations of international humanitarian law and
international human rights law, some constituting war crimes.
Currently, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is conducting a preliminary
examination into the 2014 massacre. She should expand her inquiry to
include the events of March 30, 2018.
US Vetoes Security Council Resolution Calling for Investigation
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and European Union diplomatic
chief Federica Mogherini advocated independent investigations into the
use of deadly force by the IDF at the border fence on March 30. But
the day after the massacre, the United States vetoed a Security
Council resolution that called for an "independent and transparent
investigation" and affirmed the right of Palestinians to peaceful protest.
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's defense minister, said the IDF soldiers
"deserve a medal" for protecting the border. "As for a commission of
inquiry -- there won't be one," he declared on Israeli Army Radio.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised his troops for
"guarding the country's borders" and permitting "Israeli citizens to
celebrate the [Passover] holiday peacefully," adding, "Well done to our
soldiers."
Rabbi Alissa Wise, deputy director of Jewish Voice for Peace, noted in
a statement, "The Israeli military evidently believes that any time
Palestinians assert their basic rights in any way, they will be
considered violent, and met with deadly violence."
Meanwhile, the Palestinian protests are slated to last until May 15,
the day Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, or the "great catastrophe"
of 1948-9, when Israel expelled 800,000 Palestinians from their lands
to create Israel.
Approximately 70 percent of the 1.3 million Gazans are refugees.
"I think the only way truly forward is to recognize that there is a
root
cause: 70 years of Nakba," Wise said.
Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.
Marjorie Cohn
Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law,
former president of the National Lawyers Guild, deputy secretary
general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and an
advisory board member of Veterans for Peace. The second, updated
edition of her book, Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and
Geopolitical Issues, was published in November. Visit her website:
MarjorieCohn.com. Follow her on Twitter:
@MarjorieCohn.
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