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UN Report On Israel's 2014 Gaza War Postmortems |
By
Stephen Lendman |
| A separate article explained how Israel ducked responsibility
for premeditated naked aggression on 1.8 million Gazans - outrageously
justifying the unjustifiable as expected. Rogue states blame victims for their high crimes. Occupied Palestinians endured Israeli oppression for nearly half a century with no letup in sight. Its government and military officials belong in the dock at the ICC but won't get there. They remain free to kill again with impunity - with full US support. One rogue regime supports another. Admiral John Kirby now serves as US State Department spokesman (aka propagandist). He's a former Pentagon press secretary in charge of its managed news misinformation coverup of war crimes. Former Bloomberg News chief Washington correspondent Peter Cook replaced him. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced his appointment days earlier. On Tuesday, Kirby debunked the COI Gaza war report - explaining Israel committed serious high crimes. Indisputable evidence proves it. Not according to Kirby, saying: "(W)e challenge the very foundation upon which this report was written, and we don’t believe that there’s a call or a need for any further Security Council work on this." "(W)e reject the basis under which this particular commission of inquiry was established because of the very clear bias against Israel in it." In other words, any factual explanation of indisputable Israeli crimes of war and against humanity on top of its lawless, suffocating siege is considered biased. Washington does not "support any further UN work on this report" or referral to the International Criminal Court, Kirby added. Any Security Council resolution criticizing Israel or recommending punitive action will automatically be vetoed. Separately, Israel began the first of what may be other retaliatory measures following the COI's report. It cancelled national service slots it finances for NGO's criticizing its Gaza aggression. Hardline Agriculture Minister in charge of National Civic Service Uri Ariel said "(t)he whole essence of national service is service for the state of Israel and its citizens." "I will not allow under any circumstances a delusional reality in which Israel finances slots for young people who will act against its soldiers. We will not fund organizations like these no matter what legal acrobatics were done now to make this bug kosher." In other words, any group or individual holding Israel responsible for high crimes is automatically targeted for recrimination. B'Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) are two organizations specifically named. B'Tselem co-founder/current Meretz party leader Zehava Gal-On responded to Ariel saying his "decision about human rights organizations, whose only sin was to be cited in the UN Human Rights Council report, is a crude political punishment, and we will make sure to cancel it." It's a "despicable trick designed to intimidate and silence the voices that don’t align with the government’s position. This is a dangerous opening and cannot be dismissed as trivial. This conduct is characteristic of shadowy regimes." B'Tselem was targeted before unsuccessfully. National-Civilian Service Administration director Sar-Shalom Djerbi tried revoking its national service slots once before - claiming its activity is "against the state of Israel and IDF soldiers in Israel and around the world." Separately, the human rights group responded to Netanyahu's hollow criticism of COI findings calling it "hardly surprising." "(T)he report holds him and other top military and government officials in Israel responsible for the horrifying, massive harm caused to civilians in Gaza in Operation Protective Edge," said B'Tselem. "Although senior government and military officials" knew targeting residential neighborhoods would kill civilians, "they ordered the lethal policy to continue." "Unacceptably, the only official Israeli response to the commission’s grave findings has been to deny the allegations and pass the buck." "Israel’s investigations of the operation to date have served solely to whitewash suspected wrongdoings, and most governmental efforts have been devoted to deflecting accusations and disseminating propaganda." "A healthy society should face the criticism and thoroughly investigate the allegations of serious human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law." COI chairwoman Mary McGowan Davis summed up the horror Israel inflicted on defenseless Gazans saying "the extent of the devastation and human suffering…was unprecedented and will impact generations to come." Nuremberg Principles apply but aren't enforced for countries like Israel, America and their rogue allies. They define crimes against peace to include: "(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances; (and) (ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i)." No two countries more warrant accountability than America and Israel - guilty of the highest of high crimes multiple times over, free to repeat them because nothing is done to stop them. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. |
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