Amnesty International, one of the most reliable Cassandras of our age, has once again demonstrated its utter insensitivity to geopolitical reality, has called for an arms embargo on Israel and Hamas, following the recent Gaza massacre
Amnesty International has released a report accusing Israel and Hamas of war crimes, which both have denied. To accusations of the use of phosphorus weapons against the Gazan population, Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said, in a remarkable display of Jewish wit,that Israel “did not use any such munition as an anti-personnel weapon,” adding that “we are investigating ourselves.” One cannot but wonder why Israel investigates, when the results are already known to Mr. Regev. In fact, Mr. Regev seems to know better than the IDF itself, which is investigating at least one specific incident of phosphorus use against populated areas.
It seems that the issue is not whether Israel (or Hamas) committed war crimes, but whether such standards apply at all. The Palestinians say that they are vindicated because Israel has enormously more firepower, while Israelis say that they are merely acting in self-defence. Hamas does not even represent a state! Thanks in part to US abettment, the land between the Jordan and the Sea is a strange place, a twilight zone where normal standards of law do not apply, making this almost a biblical conflict in its insulation from the modern international system. An arms embargo? In my dreams.
Just a point- Israel HAS sighned the geneva coventions. It has also been appying most of the 4th on the occupied territories up until the “hinatkut”. There is a question as to whether the conventions apply in this case, since Hamas does not represent a state and is not acting on Israeli territory.
Funny, I recall that the conventional wisdom was that Israel didn’t sign the conventions. I guess it’s my fault for not checking properly… I’ll put in a fix. Thanks!
they didn’t sighn the additional protocols to te conventions, but not everyone have. And also, the conventions are now considered customary law, which means it doesnt really matter if they have sighned it or not.