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UN Gaza War Report Leaves No Room for Israeli Self-Defense

(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - While the UN Human Rights Council report acknowledged that Hamas' indiscriminate firing of rockets at Israeli cities were acts of terrorism, it concentrated most of its fire on Israel's attempts to defend its citizens. The report not only mischaracterized Israel's highly restrictive rules of engagement that often put Israel Defense Forces personnel in danger, but also seeming to grant Hamas impunity to wage a terror war against Israel's existence. In effect, the report claimed that those trying to stop terror are the real criminals. The legal process by which IDF strikes are approved is geared toward saving civilian lives and goes beyond any notion of what international law requires. Indeed, the Israeli rules, which often endanger Israeli soldiers and allow terrorists to escape simply because of the possibility that civilians might be harmed, go well beyond the practices of other Western nations, including the U.S. in its conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff concluded that Israel not only acted properly but also constituted a model for the conduct of armed forces in asymmetrical conflicts. We know that the UN would not dare label any military operation such as the one conducted by Israel as illegal were it carried out by any other nation.
2015-06-23 00:00:00
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