On the one hand there was this:
We don’t have to be monsters: The new neuroscience of genocide and mass murder
and then there was this:
A Mockery of Justice: Israel Clears Itself for 2014 Killing of Children on Gaza Beach
(which was later removed - here's what it originally said:
Families and witnesses respond with outrage and calls for ‘international community to act’
This print memorializes the children killed by Israel’s
July 2014 attack on Gaza City beach: Mohammad Ramiz Bakr (11), Ahed Atef
Bakr (10), Zakariya Ahed Bakr (10), and Ismail Mahmoud Bakr (9). (Image
by Nicole Manganelli/emprints)
The Israeli military announced Thursday it has exonerated itself for killing
four children on a beach in Gaza during last summer’s seven-week
military assault on the besieged strip, prompting expressions of outrage
and demands for justice from family members and international
journalists who witnessed the attack.
“There is no justice in the internal investigation,” declared
Mohammed Bakr, father of 11-year-old Mohammad Ramiz Bakr, who was slain
in the bombing along with his cousins Ahed Atef Bakr (10), Zakariya
Ahed Bakr (10), and Ismail Mahmoud Bakr (9).
“We are counting on the [International Criminal Court] and
human rights,” added the bereaved father. “We are not afraid and we are
confident we will win because the world is with us.”
On July 16 of last year, the children were struck and
killed by Israeli explosives while they played soccer on Gaza City’s
beach. In addition to the four who were slain, three people aged 11 to
21 were severely wounded.
Tragically, the attack was not unique. The Israeli air war
and ground invasion, politically and financially backed by the United
States, was waged against one of the most densely-populated areas in the
world, where roughly half
of residents are children and Palestinians are not able to leave due to
a military blockade and siege. At least 2,145 Palestinians were killed
in 50 days, the vast majority of them civilians and at least 578 of them
children.
However, because the beach attack was waged in plain view
of a hotel patronized by international journalists, it was thrust into
the global media spotlight, with many prominent reporters serving as
direct eye-witnesses and some even aiding the wounded.
“Children, maybe four feet tall, dressed in summer clothes,
running from an explosion, don’t fit the description of Hamas
fighters,” he added.Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks was one of the witnesses. “There is no safe place in Gaza right now,” he wrote soon after the attack. “Bombs can land at any time, anywhere.”
However, after the subsequent internal investigation of the
killing, the Israeli military cleared itself of wrongdoing, declaring
the killings an accident. In a statement
released Thursday, Israeli Army spokesperson Lt Col Peter Lerner said
that “the Military Advocate General found that the attack process in
question accorded with Israeli domestic law and international law
requirements.”
The statement went on to claim that the attacks were
justified because Israeli forces had reason to believe the children were
Hamas “militants.” However, investigators admitted that the probe only
included testimony from Israeli soldiers and officers.
The military’s version of events were quickly called into question by witnesses, including The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont, who pointed out the following discrepancies:
Beaumont was never contacted for a statement despite being a
willing witness.The numerous journalists in the area found no evidence
of Hamas combatants near the site at the time of the attack.The bombing
occurred at a crowded civilian beach often frequented by workers as well
as sunbathers and swimmers.It is not clear from the investigation how
the military failed to recognize that the victims were clearly children.
Moreover, the military’s proclamation of its innocence contradicts the recent testimony
of its own soldiers. Last month, 60 Israeli officers and soldiers who
took part in the war said that the “massive and unprecedented harm”
inflicted on the population of Gaza stemmed from the top of the chain of
command, which gave orders to shoot indiscriminately at civilians.
Josh Ruebner, policy director for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, toldCommon Dreams,
“The killing that occurred on the beach that day was magnified a
hundred fold [during last summer’s war]. Yet there have been no cases in
which Israel has held itself accountable for any of these horrific war
crimes in Gaza, either from last summer or Operation Cast Lead in 2009.
The U.S. is complicit.”
The results of Israel’s inquiry were announced just days after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon removed
the Israeli military from an official list of groups that violate
children’s rights, following heavy pressure from the United States and
Israel. Israel, backed by the U.S., has vigorously opposed UN
investigations into war crimes.
“Israel behaves as if it’s a country above international law,” declared
Zakariya Bakr, the uncle of the killed Bakr cousins, on Friday. “We
urge the international community to act seriously to stop this farce.”
***
DQ: Israel continues to face growing pressure from the international community. As The Guardian
recently reported, the Palestinian-led Boycott Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) movement has reached such a scale and scope, attracting strong
support among international unions, university campuses and sporting
federations, that it is now viewed as a “strategic threat” by Isreali
government officials.
After years in which Israeli officials and commentators
have loftily dismissed the impact of BDS – which seeks to persuade
businesses, artists, governments and academic institutions to boycott
Israel over its long occupation of the Palestinian territories –
Israel’s new rightwing government has in recent days singled out the
movement for criticism.
The issue appears to have been given added impetus since
Palestinian efforts to have Israel suspended from the scandal-ridden
world football organisation Fifa failed on Friday.
Criminalizing Anti-Israel Protest, Everywhere
So serious is the threat posed by BDS that Israel has even
pursuaded the U.S. government to use its global influence to dissuade
national governments and global corporations from adding their weight to
the cause. The chosen vehicle for this new tactic will be sweeping
global trade agreements like TPP and TTIP.
Here’s more from Ynet News:
The United States House of Representatives on Friday
approved a measure to allow a “fast track” process for a free trade
agreement between the US and Europe, which includes a section obligating
EU countries to refrain from any kind of boycotts on Israeli goods.
The measure requires the government to fight governments,
international organizations, companies, and individuals working to
boycott Israel…
The bill further supports an American probe into companies
pushing for or surrendering to the boycott and instructs the president
to report to Congress on boycott activities after 180 days since the
bill’s implementation, as well as describe what steps the US government
is taking to encourage foreign countries and international organization
to stop boycotting.
