Some votes are eminently forgettable. Others are not.
Today's vote in the mistakenly-named UN Human Rights Council is the latter. Although denunciations of Israel have become commonplace in the Council, this vote provides a window into the souls of those 47 member states that currently belong to this Geneva-based body, and what we see will be long remembered.
In effect, the countries were asked a rather simple set of questions.
Could they distinguish between a democratic state, Israel, and a terrorist entity, Hamas?
Could they recall that one nation, Israel, had left Gaza completely in 2005, while another group, Hamas, had seized control two years later, ousting the Palestinian Authority and strengthening ties with terrorist-funding, weapons-supplying Iran?
Could they recognize the legitimate right of a nation, Israel, to self-defense against a non-state actor, Hamas, that openly declares a desire to obliterate it?
Could they differentiate between the arsonist in the conflict, Hamas, and the firefighter, Israel?
Could they grasp the inherent challenge for a military, in this case Israel's, to uproot a terrorist infrastructure, that of Hamas, which had deeply embedded itself in a civilian population?"
Could they acknowledge what was obvious to a top British military officer, Colonel Richard Kemp, that one party to the conflict, Israel, had gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid civilian casualties?
Could they admit that the UN Human Rights Council was so viscerally anti-Israel, as evidenced by the stunning fact that 80 percent of its resolutions adopted over the past three years have focused on Israel alone, that it could not be deemed an objective body?
Could they recognize that the mandate of Judge Richard Goldstone and his three colleagues, including one who had publicly convicted Israel before joining the group, was inherently biased, charged with investigating what were already deemed to be Israeli "war crimes," while ignoring the thousands of Hamas missile and mortar attacks that preceded Israel's entry into Gaza?
And could they accept that the resolution before them spoke only of Israel, not of Hamas?
The verdict is now in.
Twenty-five countries voted for the resolution.
In most cases, there were no surprises.
All the members of the Arab League and most of the Organization of the Islamic Conference voted in lockstep to condemn Israel. No news there.
And the worst offenders against human rights, quite naturally, supported the resolution, happy to have attention once again deflected from their own shameful records. Again, no news there.
But there were a few unhappy surprises, particularly Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.
As democratic countries, they should have known better. Was there more to gain by opposing Israel than supporting it, or, at the very least, abstaining? Or were they motivated by some fanciful notion of human rights in the abstract that was completely detached from the reality on the ground thousands of miles away in the Middle East?
Then there were the six countries - Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Ukraine and the United States - that stood up to the mob and voted against the resolution. Their moral clarity and political principle were on display. They deserve appreciation and recognition.
We should remember these six countries, just as we recall those that stood up to the herd mentality in Geneva at the so-called Durban II conference in April which similarly singled out Israel for denunciation--Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and the United States.
And then there are the other 16 countries that did not vote in favor of the resolution, some abstaining, others absenting themselves.
In a multilateral setting, those actions can at times be acts of bravery. Not always, however.
It was regrettable that Britain and France, with their profound understanding of Middle Eastern realities, were not in the hall to cast a "no" vote. They should have been.
On the other hand, kudos to Mexico and Uruguay, the only Latin American countries on the Human Rights Council not to vote in favor.
And it was gratifying to see several African nations - Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Gabon - break group ranks and not endorse a one-sided resolution that even Richard Goldstone himself condemned today for its inherent unfairness.
Courage and principle are always in short supply.
When they're on display, as several countries demonstrated in Geneva, they should be acknowledged. But when they are overridden, and injustice and expediency become norms of the day, we must speak out loud and clear.
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While both groups embrace Islamic values as their core ideology and driving principle, their political actions appear to be driven more by realpolitik than Quranic mandate.
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Meanwhile, the Arab and Iranian regimes rule over 350 million people, with brutality permitting little or no internal dissent. The left has lost critical perspective on a conflict in which Israel has been repeatedly attacked by Hamas and Hezbollah, organizations that go after Israeli citizens and use their own people as human shields. These groups are supported by the government of Iran, which has openly declared its intention not just to destroy Israel but to murder Jews everywhere. This incitement to genocide is a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Hamas and Hezbollah chose to wage war from densely populated areas, deliberately transforming neighborhoods into battlefields. They know that more and better arms are flowing into both Gaza and Lebanon and are poised to strike again. And they know that this militancy continues to deprive Palestinians of any chance for the peaceful and productive life they deserve. Yet Israel, the repeated victim of aggression, faces the brunt of criticism.
Now i am not a military expert but i believe that one of the fundamental principles of modernwarfare is to destroy the resolve of the civilian population and hence forment opposition to fighting and destroying the supply centers and supply lines of the ennemy which are in this case the main Palestinian cities (germans and allies used the same tactics on occasions in WWII). War is ugly but it is what it is and there is no reason going to war and risking the death of young Israeli men if you won't do it right (which happens to be morally wrong).. .
With all those Palestinians in a small territory, how many dead Palestinians do you think there would be if the Israelis "targeted civilians?" The allies killed 40,000 in a single night firebombing Dresden. The US killed 90,000 civilians in a single night firebombing Tokyo.
The Rwandans killed 800,000 in a few weeks with machetes. And you think the best the Israelis could do is 1400 dead if they were targeting civilians? Do you have any idea how absurd that is? A better question is how was Israel able to keep the civilian toll so low, since the Palestinians fired their rockets from the midst of civilian areas, and fought dressed as civilians?
How dare you compare the Israelis to the Germans in WWII. The Germans rounded up towns into synagogues and set them on fire. If the Israelis used the German WWII tactics there would be civilian casualties in the hundreds of thousands.
War is not a video game, it is not a perfect science. Life and death decisions have to be made in a split second, and mistakes get made. No country in the world has ever done a better job of avoiding civilian casualties. I defy you to find one that comes close - 2 million leaflets warning of targets, 100,000 phone calls warning.
What is it with you people? Earth to lunatics! Get real!
"The IDF faces a challenge that we British do not have to face to the same extent," said Col. Richard Kemp, speaking on behalf of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch.
"It is the automatic, Pavlovian presumption by many in the international media, and international human rights groups, that the IDF are in the wrong."
He argued Israeli forces took "extraordinary measures" to give civilians in Gaza notice of targeted areas, including dropping two million leaflets and making 100,000 phone calls.
"Despite all of this, of course innocent civilians were killed. War is chaos and full of mistakes. There have been mistakes by the British, American and other forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq, many of which can be put down to human error. But mistakes are not war crimes," Col. Kemp said.
http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=2113471
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=2044597
My name is Dr. Mirela Siderer....Judge Richard Goldstone, in July you invited me to testify. I told you my story. I am known by my patients -- including many women from Gaza. For me, every human being is equal.
On May 14, 2008, my life was changed forever. I was working in my clinic. Suddenly, the building was hit by a missile, fired from Gaza. I was terribly wounded....My patient was also wounded, and more than 100 others. Next month will be my eighth operation.
Judge Goldstone, I told you all of this, in detail. I testified in good faith. You sent me this letter, saying, "Your testimony is an essential part of the Mission's fact-finding activities."
But now I see your report. I have to tell you: I am shocked.
...Why are there only two pages (0f 500 pages) about Israeli victims like me, who suffered thousands of rockets over eight years?... Why did you not tell me that this council judged Israel guilty in advance last January? Why did you not tell me that members of your panel signed public letters judging Israel guilty in advance?
Judge Goldstone, you, too, signed such a letter, saying you were "shocked" about Gaza. But where were you when Gaza attacked my medical clinic, in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law? Where was this council? Why were you all silent?
True.
With regard to the issue at hand the questions no one seems to want to raise are: Can a democratic nation commit acts that go against its declared principles? Can Israel be condemned -or at least accused- for inhumane acts without these accusations become seen as hatred against Israel and jews? Does a democratic state have the right to target innocent civilians merely because it is a "democratic state"?
Can a democratic state be labelled as such even though it completely disregards the human rights of a certain category of its inhabitants?
Does democracy automatically assume blind justice?
But no surprise -
As of January 24, 2008, Israel had been condemned 15 times in less than two years. The UN Human Rights Council, like its predecessor the UN Human Rights Commission, has been criticized by some Western countries for its fixation on Israel while ignoring the actions of neighboring states. This has lead to accusations of the organization being anti-Israeli.[32] By April 2007, the Council had passed nine resolutions condemning Israel, the only country which it had specifically condemned.[33][34] Toward Sudan, another country with human rights abuses as documented by the Council's working groups, it has expressed "deep concern."[33]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Human_Rights_Council#Accusations_of_bias_against_Israel
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\09\30\story_30-9-2009_pg3_4
See also:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/conclusions-about-israels-guilt-in-gaza-were-voiced-well-in-advance-of-a-factfinding-mission-1909917.html
which not only states:
Ms Robinson objected that the mission seemed to her to be "guided not by human rights but by politics".
but goes on to say:
During its investigation, the mission did not ask its witnesses any questions relating to Hamas terrorist activity, the storage of weaponry in civilian areas or the launching of attacks from those areas. Except in one case, it failed to inquire into the widespread reports of the abuse of mosques to hide weapons and terrorist activity.
Both links make most interesting reading. I doubt you'll have anything to report back after reading them.
Its interesting that not only the HUman rights council, but virtually every NGO on earth is "wrong" when it comes to Israel's occupation, but "right": when it comes to China's human rights abuses, or Russia's or Irans (but not the US's of course).
Complaints to Hamas are handled via a one way trip down from the top of a high rise.
"Occupation of Palestine?" You DO know that there never was an independent Palestinian "nation," that Gaza was cruelly administered by Egypt and the West Bank by Jordan prior to the Arab aggression of 1967 that resulted in Israel pushing the Arab armies back?
Interestingly enough, prior to 1967 it was the ARABS who claimed there never was such a thing as an independent Palestine nor Palestinian people (i.e. they claimed the "Arabs of Palestine" were indistinguishable from other Arabs of the ME. Only after the 1967 war made it clear they would not be able to push Israel into the sea did they reverse this position)
As Bill Maher (hardly a flaming conservative said) "How long would the United States put up with rockets from Canada?"
The loss of a single life is tragic. But no country in the history of warfare conducts war as respectfully of human life as Israel. Israel drops leaflets and makes phone calls ahead of time to get civilians out of areas that will be bombed. Israeli planes have turned around when the Palestinians have taken advantage of these warnings to ring civilians around the targets. By contrast, in the second battle of Fallujah, the US indesriminately sent artillery shells into civilian areas for days, with no regard for the consequences.
The "allies" killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq. So where is the UN Human Rights Council report on that?
Where is the UN Human Rights Council on Darfur? Only Israel is singled out when there are far far worse offenders.
All three countries have a recent History of military repression, foreign intervention, looting of natural resources and human suffering.
But those sad chapters in their History, rather than make them wallow in self-pity and self-righteousness, allowed them to empathize with other people's plight and stand for what's right, moral and lawful.
It's a shame that this same lesson has been lost on I$rael.
But if they vote against Israel, they're A-OK with you.
The reason Israel is the only country to be singled out by the UN Human Rights Council is the same reason it is silent on Darfur - 1/3 of the membership of the UN is Muslim, and the vast majority of those countries refuse to even acknowledge Israel's right to exist. Since the ruling government in Sudan is also Muslim, they are willing to overlook Muslim-on-Black Christian violence. So much for that impartial arbiter of human rights, the UN.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wbH03z1plk&feature=player_embedded#
Another Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZQ0gwcmv1M
This link shows WP shells dropped in broad daylight from an helicopter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGy9YqEjD1o&feature=player_embedded#
Well in conclusion maybe it is just as well that Isr. did not let the press in, because the list of war crimes would probably be much worse and with more evidences.
Link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065594.html
In the Goldstone Report both Hamas and the IDF are targeted for war crimes.
Maybe he holds Israel to a higher standard than it's enemies or than any other nation?
It has, after all, and by its own reckoning, behaved better toward Gaza than any other state on the planet would, given similar circumstances.
If a state promotes itself as being so perfect in its activities as does Israel it can hardly complain when it is called to justify its "perfection", and it isn't anyway, it is merely asked to coduct credible investigations of allegations.
Let's get it clear.
Neither Hamas nor Israel has one single thing to be proud of.
Goldstone has reported what was available for him to report.
It is really stupid for Israel and its proponents to refuse to cooperate with the Goldstone Report and then claim it is unbalanced. They had the chance to add balance, chose not to do and now complain.
Stupid is an understatement.
As the Bible says, to whom much is given much is expected.
It is with sadness that I must confess to knowing and loving a number of Israelis who I count amongst the most humane, decent and civilized people on the planet. Unfortunately, they do not rule the roost.
For the past decade the extreme rightist regime has been emboldened by support from the arch-spoiled brat nightmare of Bush II. His Republican culture of lies, wing-nut fundamentalist extremism and delusion that parallels the current deluded view of the Israeli government that they can expand with impunity without accountability and gain acceptance of self-serving propaganda as an alternate reality.
If we want peace, currently hostage to the countless miseries inflicted by the IDF/settlers on the hapless, public relations challenged and logistically, but not humanly inferior Palestinians then Israel will have to start treating them as brothers and strive for justice and healing.
Knee jerk support of militarism is no path to peace. Only justice for the Palestinians will bring long overdue peace to the region and acceptance of Israel.
Ranting and making absurd statement as facts are dreams that are gone. UN group is democratic and political. It is just that the wind is changing.
Most people agree that Israel is a democratic state and Hamas is a terrorist organization. That's why people are surprised. Israel, just like Hamas, has no respect for lives of thousands of civilians.
The (UN Human Rights) Council also heard from a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, who said war crimes accusations against the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) were misplaced.
"The IDF faces a challenge that we British do not have to face to the same extent," said Col. Richard Kemp, speaking on behalf of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch.
"It is the automatic, Pavlovian presumption by many in the international media, and international human rights groups, that the IDF are in the wrong."
He argued Israeli forces took "extraordinary measures" to give civilians in Gaza notice of targeted areas, including dropping two million leaflets and making 100,000 phone calls.
"Despite all of this, of course innocent civilians were killed. War is chaos and full of mistakes. There have been mistakes by the British, American and other forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq, many of which can be put down to human error. But mistakes are not war crimes," Col. Kemp said.
http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=2113471