Sealed report documenting the case for crimes against humanity by Bashar al-Asad and others

"The United Nations has drawn up a list of the most senior officials in the Syrian regime, including, it is claimed, President Bashar al-Assad himself, who it says should be investigated for ordering "crimes against humanity" and other gross human rights violations."

November 2011 report the UN's Human Rights Report.

Amira Hass on civilian victims of Israeli fire in the Gaza war (2008-9)

In her piece she refers to "Breaking the Silence", the Israeli group that publishes testimony drawing on personal experiences of former Israeli soldiers.

This UK Channel 4 segment offers interviews with three former Israeli soldiers who fought in the Gaza War, all members of Breaking the Silence".

US Response to Gaza: April 21, 4:30 pm at MIT

Goldstone Commission member Desmond Travers

"5. What is your view of the claim by Israeli officials that the IDF is the most “moral” army in the world?

"Given the tactics, the weapons used, and the indiscriminate targeting, I think this is a dubious claim."

Bill Moyers interviews Judge Richard Goldstone

Biblical support for the Walzer-Margalit essay, earlier referenced here

In light the important Goldstone report and earlier reports on the Gaza war*, it is apt to also recall the important essay by Michael Walzer and Avishai Margalit, which takes the Israeli army to task for failing to applying different standards of non-combatant immunity to Palestinian as opposed to Israeli civilians. If you have not read the essay, you will find the links in the following posts.

The Walzer-Margalit essay.

Earlier comments and response.

*Euphemistically described by the NYTimes as a "crackdown on Hamas", in a profile of Michael Oren, the U.S.-born Israeli Ambassador in Washington. The piece reads as though from an Hadassah magazine, and includes a comment from an associate at Georgetown U. who strains credulity by noting that former U.S. citizen was not ideological in his writings.

Israeli report--no surprise--argues that its war was proportionate and respected humanitarian law

With the UN investigation headed by Richard Goldstone poised to release its report [in August], the new Israeli document is obviously intended to dampen Goldstone's impact. While the report refers to ongoing investigations of Israeli actions stemming from the war, the tone of narrative suggests that Israeli soldiers and officers will likely be absolved of any serious charges.

While the report avows Israel's deep respect for humanitarian law and Israel's regret for civilians' suffering, Israel's actions since the war ended would seem to undermine its claims.

For instance, Israel's systematic destruction of irrigation systems and agricultural wells in parts of Gaza indicates that one purpose of Israeli policy is to undermine Gazan's ability to sustain more than a subsistence economy at best.

The treatment of the 2008 ceasefire is revealing because it blames Hamas for ending the ceasefire, but says nothing about Israeli actions in November 2008 that effectively ended the ceasefire. These actions are explicitly noted in a report released by the Israeli Foreign Ministry (follow link here).

In short, those of you who have been following events closely will find no particular surprises here, but the report does offer Israel's official version of events.

Update: "Nothing to hide" IDF shuns Rabbis for Human Rights and their push for an independent inquiry into Gaza war actions.

Exchanges of letters continue on the Margailit/Walzer essay on the IDF and the tagetting of civilians

'Israel: Civilians & Combatants': An Exchange - The New York Review of Books

Link to essay

Earlier exchange

Amira Hass reports that the Israeli army is working hard to insure that no more soldiers break the silence

With Goldstone commission expected to issue their report in August, damning reports already released by HRW and Amnesty, and a variety of legal actions in progress around the globe, officials of the "most moral army" (as Ehud Barak insists on labeling the Israeli army) are apparently working hard to keep soldiers who fought in Gaza quiet. Therefore, this is a good time to see what all the fuss is about and read "Breaking the Silence".

Hass observes that:

"The testimonies in the booklet prove again and again the reliability of the testimony by Palestinians. And vice versa: The Palestinian affidavits prove the authenticity of the soldiers' statements.

"The accumulating testimonies prove that it wasn't a matter of rotten apples but rather a conscious policy. Therefore the IDF and the government that sent it into action must prevent further such confirmations of the truth.

"It suits the IDF that after their release, soldiers travel to Peru and Colombia to bury their agonized memories or belated insights - as adults. The IDF prefers that its demobilized soldiers travel to Goa to get stoned out of their minds before Breaking the Silence activists reach them."

Breaking the Silence: 30 IDF soldiers disclose the gulf between declared policy and practice in the Gaza war

See BBC site for download of the book.

Goldstone human rights investigation of Gaza war continues; meanwhile, important reports from HRW and Amnesty

Human Rights Watch criticizes Israel for its failure to take sufficient steps to distinguish between civilians and combatants when using drone-launched missiles.

Amnesty International castigates Israel for its failure to properly investigate the alleged war crimes of its army, and also condemns Hamas for committing war crimes by firing indiscriminate rockets at civilian targets.

Amnesty's coverage of the unrest in Iran is also noteworthy and is available in Persian and English.

An exchange on the Margalit/Walzer piece

'Israel & the Rules of War': An Exchange - The New York Review of Books
Original piece.

The SG's Board of Inquiry report on 9 incidents in the Gaza war

The Secretary-General Off the Cuff

The full report has not been released but an extended summary, which Ban Ki-Moon claims is faithful to the full report, was prepared by the UN Secretariat. The summary is available here. Even in summarized form the report--examining a total of nine incidents--reveals pattern of intentional targeting of UN facilities by the Israeli army, which exercised inadequate regard for protected persons and sites. Several untruthful claims by Israeli officials are noted. In one instance it found Hamas gunmen responsible for firing, in another it did not determine responsibility.

See this informative Guardian report, and UN-Truth has a nice summary about the release of the Board of Inquiry report.

The Israeli reaction to the report was to accuse the investigators of bias and negligence. Citing Israel's own inquiry, the statement claims that the IDF did not intentionally fire on UN installations. "The State of Israel rejects the criticism in the board's summary report, and determines that in both spirit and language, the report is tendentious, patently biased, and ignores the facts presented to the committee. The board of inquiry has preferred the claims of Hamas, a murderous terror organization, and by doing so has misled the world."

Perhaps the most noteworthy component of the Israeli statement is in the final paragraph: "Israel views the publication of the report's findings as the end of the internal UN inspection process." In that regard, Ban Ki-Moon has indicated that there will no further investigations, in contrast to the recommendations of the Board of Inquiry.

The "most humane" army

Soldiers often extol their moral purpose, their selflessness and their ethics while vilifying their enemies as deviant and immoral. In this sense, Israeli soldiers are no more chauvinistic than those who serve under other flags. Any respectable army includes training on military ethics, including the Laws of Warfare. This training would include standards for the treatment of prisoners, the protection of civilians and the conduct of soldiers in hostile areas.

Yet, Israeli civilian and military leaders often claim that the Israeli army is not just ethically informed but exceptionally moral and humane. As the accumulation of reports of IDF misbehavior and war crimes during the Gaza war once again demonstrate, refering to the IDF as "the most humane army in the world" is an oxymoron.

Ashkenazi: IDF is a ‘moral’ army | JTA - Jewish & Israel News: "'I don't believe that soldiers serving in the IDF hurt civilians in cold blood, but we shall wait for the results of the investigation,' Ashkenazi said, adding that the IDF 'is the most humane army in the world.'"

The Israeli army: realities versue hype

Richard Falk's important report on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian territories. The report is noteworthy for its attention to war crimes allegations in connection with Israel's assault on Gaza, December 27, 2009-January 18, 2009. Many of these issues have been addressed here in various postings.

Also worth pondering is Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's widely quoted claim in connection with revelations from Israeli soldiers about the intention murder of Palestinian civilians in Gaza:

"I still say we have the most moral army in the world. Of course there may be exceptions but I have absolutely no doubt this will be inspected on a case-by-case basis," he said.

By "most moral" Barak means the "most ethical" army in the world.

My own view, which reflects my observations of the Israeli army in action in Lebanon and in the occupied territories, as well as my studies and review of primary and secondary materials on the IDF in action, is that the Israeli army frequently operates with rules of engagement that do not respect the immunities of protected persons, i.e., non-combatants, and that permit the wanton destruction of private property (the Gaza campaign is the most recent illustration). Moreover, Israeli soldiers who engage in looting, who abuse prisoners and who use disproportionate or indiscriminate firepower are seldom seriously punished, if they are punished at all. Therefore, I would argue that Barak's claim is not accurate, although it may have PR value.

Does this mean the other side behave like angels? Not at all; but it is past time to understand that the Israeli army is hardly the most ethical or moral army in the world.

I would add that Israeli military actions have often made more enemies for Israel, while solidififying anti-Israeli solidarity. I first wrote about this many years in my early articles on Lebanon, as well as in my book Amal and the Shi'a, and especially the chapter on "Making Enemies in Lebanon".

Murders in Gaza

IDF in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement - Haaretz - Israel News

See this commentary also.

A host of highly respected international figures renew the call for a commission on war crimes to investigate the Gaza war

Another finding by Amnesty concerning the Israeli Army's "wanton destruction" in the Gaza war

Amnesty argued that the IDF systematically destroyed homes and other structures that did not pose a proximate military threat.
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Gaza homes destruction 'wanton': "Benjamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres Netanyahu to form Israel"

In response to Amnesty's earlier call for an arms embargo on Israel and Hamas, see this argument that Amnesty's position implies a significant change in the laws of warfare.

The Gaza War: Antecedents and Consequences

The article is also available en Español.

Tallying the Israeli gains and losses in Gaza

Article - WSJ.com

I plan to publish a longer assessment here, but there seems little doubt that the Gaza war was led to a significant shift in Israeli-Turkish relations, as illustrated in the following report:

Speaking from Ankara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said Israel should be barred from the United Nations while it continues to ignore UN demands to end the fighting in Gaza.

"How is such a country, which totally ignores and does not implement resolutions of the UN Security Council, allowed to enter through the gates of the UN?" he said.

Erdogan's comments came hours ahead of Friday's official visit to Turkey by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general.

The Turkish leader also added his voice to widespread condemnation of Israel's bombing of a UN compound in Gaza on Thursday.

"The UN building in Gaza was hit while the UN secretary general was in Israel... this is an open challenge to the world, teasing the world," he said.

And also in Ankara, President Abdullah Gül has said he is "ashamed on behalf of humanity" because of Israel's offensive against the Gaza Strip. "I feel ashamed on behalf of humanity about what's happening. I feel sadness about the world's silence and inability to secure a cease-fire in an environment where so many children have died."