War Crimes- Blame the Victims

On the day when the UN admits that Israel didn't actually kill anyone in the so-called school atrocity (but that's all right because we've all forgotten about the Gaza War), comes this amazing bit of double-think from the NGOs. Apparently because Hamas is a terrorist organisation that targets civilians, we don't have to worry about them, but Israel says that it doesn't target civilians so you've got to keep your eyes on them. What a crazy bunch those NGOs are.

From Melanie Phillips:

Hamas war crimes? Obviously. So blame the victim
Thursday, 5th February 2009




Even by their usual standards, the excuse that ‘human rights’ groups have now come up with to explain the fact that, while they devote obsessive attention to alleged human rights abuses by Israel they all but ignore those unambiguously committed by Hamas, is pretty jaw-dropping. It’s because the war crimes by Hamas are too obvious. The Jerusalem Post reports Sarit Micha’eli of the Israeli NGO B’tselem as saying that it was clear that Hamas was in violation of the requirement of the distinction between civilian and military targets:

‘It makes it quite easy regarding Hamas. It is quite clear that they are attacking and targeting civilians. When someone straps a bomb on themselves or fire missiles at civilians, the details are less important. It is clearly a war crime without even looking at the details,’ she said. ‘Even if they fired a Kassam missile as a military target, the fact that it is an inaccurate weapon, it would still count as an indiscriminate attack.’

‘With Israel things are more complicated because Israel states it does not deliberately target civilians and that it safeguards them. With Israel, you have to investigate each specific incident because even if a civilian is killed in an attack, it doesn't mean it's necessarily a war crime. Targeting civilians is a war crime, but the damage to civilians in a given situation isn't indicative of a war crime."’

‘The Israeli authorities deny everything, so one has to prove what happened in a way that you don't need to do with the Palestinian rockets,’ said Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International.

So because Hamas clearly targets civilians, this can be ignored because it is indisputably a war crime; but because Israel does not target civilians and actually safeguards them -- and thus does not commit a war crime -- it has to be investigated and defamed on the basis that it has done so.

And that’s why, according to NGO Monitor, NGOs issued over 300 statements in condemning Israel’s policy in Gaza in 2008 alone, but only a handful of statements condemning over 6,500 rockets fired on Israel from Gaza since disengagement in 2005.

That’s the trouble with genocidal violence. It’s just too damned obvious to bother with. So much more rewarding to vilify the victims instead.

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