UN rights chief: Israeli strikes in Gaza may be war crimes
The 24-9 vote, with 14 abstentions, capped a special Human Rights Council session on the rights situation faced by Palestinians
By Jim W. Dean, Managing Editor
…from the Washington Post
[ Editor’s Note: We have all been here before. When the shooting and bombing starts, the accusations begin to fly. Under the UN Charter, a country who is attacked has the right to respond.
Israel has always appointed itself judge and jury, ignoring anyone else’s rights when it chooses to do so when they have these cyclical flare ups. No major power has ever stood up to any of Israel’s travesties.
As for the US, American politicians are compromised via having a guaranteed primary opponent to take their seat away if they do not follow Israeli dictates to the letter.
That makes the US not really the ‘great’ country we claim to be. When a little country in the Middle East can do this via its US domestic political muscle, we are hence a partially occupied country. It has gone on my entire adult life.
The big deal in this story is that the UN is going where it has not gone before. The investigation is opened ended, having an ongoing mandate, and the Zionists are really unhappy about that. They do not like to give an inch, as they know what that can lead to.
There will never be peace with a Netanyahu government, that is for sure. That was the opportunity that the Lapid-Bennett coalition teased the public with, by providing an alternative to Bibi.
But he cut them off at the river by orchestrating the attacks on Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, knowing that would force Hamas to retaliate with the only way they could, via its rocket barrages which inflicted a lot more damage than reported… Jim W. Dean ]
First published … May 27, 2021
GENEVA — The top U.N. human rights body on Thursday passed a resolution aimed to intensify scrutiny of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, after the U.N. rights chief said Israeli forces may have committed war crimes and faulted the militant group Hamas for violations of international law.
The 24-9 vote, with 14 abstentions, capped a special Human Rights Council session on the rights situation faced by Palestinians. The session and the resolution were arranged by Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries, which have strongly supported Palestinians in their struggles with Israel.
It would be the first such COI with an “ongoing” mandate.
…The Palestinian Authority welcomed the resolution, saying …“This reality of apartheid and impunity can no longer be ignored,” it added.
…“Air strikes in such densely populated areas resulted in a high level of civilian fatalities and injuries, as well as the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure,” Bachelet said.
“Such attacks may constitute war crimes,” she added, if deemed to be indiscriminate and disproportionate in their impact on civilians. Bachelet urged Israel to ensure accountability, as required under international law in such cases, including through “impartial, independent investigations” of actions in the escalation.
