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Monday, August 25, 2014

ISRAEL AND GAZA CIVILIAN CASUALTIES - A QUESTION OF INTENT - And proof of how Palestinian Hamas uses civilians as human shields

As we have seen, under international law, in many cases the question of intent is paramount to determine whether one is guilty of war crimes. In the two major accusations against Israel by the anti-Israel crowd, of violating the principles of distinction and proportionality, that intent is clearly not there.

On the contrary. Israel has great disincentive to kill civilians, and great incentive to keep them as safe as possible while targeting terror targets. 

Hamas, however, makes no secret of its intent, at least in Arabic. It is instructing its members, and indeed all Palestinian Arabs, to kill every Jew they can.




Note:  This only counts the targets of the rockets, not the terrorism that Barham called for to attack every Jew.)

We've seen Hamas claim that they are legally allowed to attack every Israeli:
...[W]e hurried to strike anywhere in Israel - from Dimona to Haifa - and we made you hide in shelters like mice. . .

Again, we warn you - if your government does not agree to all of our conditions, then all of Israel will legally remain open to our weapons fire.


Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum:
Our rockets are aimed at the Hebrews, the murderers, the Israelis, the criminals.

Barhoum againAnyone who has a knife, a club, a weapon, or a car, yet does not use it to run over a Jew or a settler, and does not use it to kill dozens of Zionists, does not belong to Palestine.

When one factors in the essential feature of intent, then the "scorecards" that we have been seeing for the past six weeks are proven to be deceptive. Because the only scorecard that matters is the intent of the attackers, and when that is factored in, it looks like this:
 
When people accuse Israel of "genocide" or "ethnic cleansing" or "targeting civilians" or "indiscriminate bombing" or "war crimes" they are knowingly inverting both international law and simple morality.

Not only that, but they are proving their own bigotry, because there is no ethical difference between falsely accusing a racial or religious group of being bloodthirsty and falsely accusing a national group of the same.

Any discussion of the relative morality of Israel and Hamas that ignores intent is in itself immoral

Source - http://elderofziyon.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/a-question-of-intent.html#.U_tYAMog-M8


RELATED

Children like Daniel Tragerman are intentionally targeted by Palestinian Hamas. 


דניאל טרגרמן הי"ד
Daniel Tragerman, age 4, killed by Palestinian Hamas mortar shell launched from a Gaza school.
 
Read more -
 
  
 ISRAEL warns targets before they are hit, so as to minimize civilian casualties
 
Read more on this and on Hamas' use of human shields below:

 
New York Times - Israel Warns Gaza Targets by Phone and Leaflet
 
Washington Post - ‘Roof knocking’: The Israeli military’s tactic of phoning Palestinians it is about to bomb. 
The warnings are not always heeded. After the "warning rocket" hit a house, a group of young men ran inside. It was unclear whether they thought their presence would stop the bombing or whether they wanted to be martyrs.
 
 
PALESTINIAN HAMAS USING HUMAN SHIELDS
 
CAPTURED HAMAS COMBAT MANUAL EXPLAINS THE BENEFITS OF HUMAN SHIELDS IN GAZA
Using human shields is a war crime
 
 
 
Conclusive Proof that Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields
 
Algemeiner - Wall Street Journal published a photograph by Nick Casey of Hamas spokesman Mushir Al Masri using a local hospital as a backdrop to give interviews. The hospital and its patients served, in effect, as a shield for Masri to speak to reporters without being targeted by Israel. A few days after it was posted, the Journal had removed Casey’s photo from its website without explanation.
 
Meanwhile, a French journalist in Gaza, Radjaa Abu Dagga, published an article in the French newspaper Liberation, describing how when he was taken in for questioning by Hamas, the interrogators used a room in the Al Shifa hospital – proof that Hamas is using the hospital as a shield. But that article, too, was deleted from the Liberation web site after a short time.
 
Sreenivasan Jain, a courageous reporter for New Delhi Television (NDTV), posted a detailed expose on August 5, showing Hamas terrorists assembling, and then firing, a rocket right in the middle of a neighborhood filled with residential buildings and hotels. His amazing report can be seen on the NDTV website.
 
Captured Hamas warfare manual includes detailed instructions on how to use the civilians of Gaza against Israel. It explains how because of Israel’s concern about civilian casualties, Hamas can use the “presence of civilians” to its military advantage.
 
Having civilians nearby causes the Israelis
 
 “(1) Problems with opening fire; (2) Problems in controlling the civilian population during operations and afterward; (3) Assurance of supplying medical care to civilians who need it.”
 
The “Urban Warfare” manual also emphasizes the benefits of damage to civilian property:
 
“The destruction of civilian homes: This increases the hatred of the citizens towards the attackers [the IDF] and increases their gathering [support] around the city defenders (resistance forces[i.e. Hamas]).”
 
 
 
July 15, 2014 article on this blog:
 
PALESTINIAN DELEGATE TO THE UNHRC ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HAMAS TARGETING OF ISRAELI CIVILIANS IS A WAR CRIME  
Why so many civilians get killed in Gaza but not in Israel?


The Israeli army does what NO OTHER army has ever done:  it gives prior notice to people in the target area to leave the site. 

HOWEVER, Hamas needs victims for propaganda purposes, so it tells victims to remain where they are.  Not only that, but Hamas selects private homes, schools, hospitals, and mosques to stash their arsenal and to position their rocket launchers. 
 
In other words, while Israel provides shelter for its people, Hamas uses them as shields and victims for war propaganda.

Cartoon above:  Branco, Legal Insurrection http://legalinsurrection.com/
 
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Palestinian envoy to the UNHRC: 
Israelis warn civilians before the attacks.  We don't.

 
The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Ibrahim Khreisheh, admitted in an interview translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) that the Palestinian Authority unity government (PUG) — which includes Hamas — does not abide by international law and commits war crimes.

Kreisheh made the statement while responding to a question presented to him on PA TV last week about the PUG demand to appear to the International Criminal Court at The Hague (ICC) against Israel.
 
"The missiles that are now being launched against Israel, each and every missiles constitutes a crime against humanity, whether it hits or missed, because it is directed at civilian targets… Therefore, targeting civilians, be it one civilian or a thousand, is considered a crime against humanity,” he said. 
 
Khreisheh further stated that while firing from PLO-controlled areas, Hamas does not warn civilians before firing on them. By doing so, he said, the terrorist organization is committing a war crime.
 
Read more and watch video with his statements.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/plo-envoy-to-unhrc-israelis-warn-civilians-before-attacks-we-dont/2014/07/13/
 
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Palestinians proud of their tactic of embedding their arsenal and rocket launchers in schools, mosques, hospitals, and other civilian sites.
 
In previous operations, IDF footage and photos have shown how Palestinian terrorists hide weapons and munitions in mosques, schools and other sensitive civilian sites, in direct contravention of international law.
 
Some Israeli leaders have referred to this practice as a "double war-crime": firing missiles indiscriminately at Israeli civilians, while using Palestinian Arab civilians as human shields.
 
During the current escalation Hamas has openly boasted about the "success" of this strategy, and the IDF has published extensive evidence of the practice.
 
CARTOON says The thing I hate most about the Israelis is how they shamelessly bomb civilian areas.

Read more and watch video
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182765#.U8VV8Zsg-M8
 
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Seeking human shields,
Hamas tells Gazans to ignore Israeli warnings


Hamas has instructed Gaza residents to ignore text messages and phone calls urging them to evacuate buildings, in an apparent effort to grow its supply of "human shields." The calls and messages are sent by Israeli military officials in order to give civilians time to evacuate the area, and are communicated before the IDF targets a house terrorists were using as cover for firing missiles at Israel or for other military purposes.

The Hamas-run Palestinian Authority Interior Ministry said in a message to Gaza residents that the messages "are designed to weaken our resolve and to sow panic and fear among us, in light of the failures of our enemies. We call on Gaza residents not to pay attention to these messages and not to leave their homes."

The message did not say whether Hamas would dispatch personnel to ensure that individuals inside targeted buildings remain inside.
 
 The IDF published video and photographic evidence of the use of human shields by Hamas. In a screenshot of a television broadcast from July 8, civilians gather on the roof of the home of a Hamas terrorist who was targeted by the IDF. They did so in order to act as human shields and deter an imminent IDF attack, explained the military.
 
In one instance near the start of Operation Protective Edge, seven people were killed after locals responded to an Israeli warning flare by flocking to act as human shields at the site of the intended strike just moments before it was hit.
 
Read more here:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182741#.U8Vti5sg-M8
And here:
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/hamas-orders-civilians-to-die-in-israeli-airstrikes/

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Hamas orders civilians not to heed Israeli warnings of impeding attack


“The interior ministry warned citizens about Israel sending messages telling them to leave their houses,” according to translations of the official Arabic statement provided by Oren Adaki, an Arabic language specialist at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
Human shields“The goal of these actions is to create confusion among the citizens,” the Interior Ministry said, instructing “all citizens to not heed these messages from Israel.”
“The goal of these messages is terrorizing citizens and to cause panic among them,” read the statement, which instructs Palestinians to “not do what the messages instruct them to do,” Adaki explained.
“The ministry [is] calling all our people not to deal or pay attention to the psychological warfare carried out by the occupation through rumors that broadcast across his media and delivering publications and communications on the phones of citizens, and the lack of response for each of these means, which aims to weaken the domestic front in light of great steadfastness of our people to face the aggression,” the Hamas Interior Ministry for National Security stated on Thursday in an order published in English and Arabic.
The Israeli military attempts to communicate with Palestinians and warn them of upcoming attacks via paper leaflets, text messages, and phone calls, among other means.
Source -  http://israelmatzav.blogspot.co.il/2014/07/hamas-orders-civilians-to-die.html#links
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Israel warns civilians to stay out of harm's way.
  Hamas sends them back in.
 
Analysis and accounts of several instances where Gaza civilians become human shields
Read more - http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/07/israel-warns-civilians-to-stay-out-of-harms-way-hamas-sends-them-back-in/
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
United Nations says that most Palestinian victims of Israeli attacks chose to remain in site despite Israeli warnings.
 
UN Report: Most Gazan civilians injured chose to ignore Israeli warnings
"...In most cases, prior to the attacks, residents have been warned to leave, either via phone calls by the Israel military or by the firing of warning missiles."
 
Read more
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=64288
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Canada calls on allies to support Israel
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement in response to the situation in Israel:  “The indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel are terrorist acts, for which there is no justification. It is evident that Hamas is deliberately using human shields to further terror in the region.

“Failure by the international community to condemn these reprehensible actions would encourage these terrorists to continue their appalling actions. Canada calls on its allies and partners to recognize that these terrorist acts are unacceptable and that solidarity with Israel is the best way of stopping the conflict.

“Canada is unequivocally behind Israel. We support its right to defend itself, by itself, against these terror attacks, and urge Hamas to immediately cease their indiscriminate attacks on innocent Israeli civilians.  Canada reiterates its call for the Palestinian government to disarm Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups operating in Gaza, including the Iranian proxy, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”


Source:  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182855#.U8VT1Zsg-M9
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Muslim Brotherhood organization that met with White House officials calls for Islamic war against Israel -  Hamas is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/07/Muslim-Brotherhood-Org-That-Met-With-Obama-White-House-Calls-For-Islamic-War-Against-Israel
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Gaza Hamas engages in nuclear terrorism by targeting the Israeli nuclear reactor at Dimona
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/10/Nuclear-Terrorism-Hamas-Targets-Israel-s-Dimona-Reactor
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Palestinians use photos from Syria to smear Israel online
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/09/Pro-Hamas-Use-Pictures-From-Syria-Haiti-Against-Israel
 
BBC exposes Hamas supporters using photos from other conflicts and other times to blame Israel
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.ca/2014/07/bbc-exposes-pallywood-lies-in.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iran the power behind Hamas aggression
http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63598184

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Israeli zoo elephants gather around to protect their young when sirens go off
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/07/israeli-zoo-elephants-gather-around.html


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