Is Israel committing war crimes in Gaza?

[cali]

The latest round of fighting in Gaza once again raises questions about what measures are permissible and what are forbidden in times like these. Legal discussion of the subject is based on three main principles: the principle of distinction which requires to distinguish between civilians and combatants and to attack only combatants and military targets; the duty to take precautionary measures to avoid hurting civilians; and if a military target is being hit but civilians are liable to be harmed, this is illegal unless the harm to civilians is proportionate to the concrete and direct military advantage expected to result from the attack.

Clearly, the first principle is not being followed by Hamas, which is indiscriminately firing rockets into Israel with the intention of harming the civilian population. It’s easy to say and prove without going into a complicated discussion that with this rocket fire Hamas is committing war crimes. The positioning of the rockets and rocket launchers in the midst of a civilian population is also unacceptable, and if Hamas is using civilians as a human shield, this is a war crime.

But bear in mind that it’s not just deliberate targeting of civilians that is prohibited. Strikes that by their nature will indiscriminately harm civilians, or civilian objects, alongside military targets, are also forbidden. Moreover, military strikes aimed solely at a military target but which hurt civilians may be prohibited if precautionary measures were not taken, or if the amount of expected civilian casualties is not proportionate.

Although each instance must be separately and carefully examined, the data that indicates that many of the casualties in Gaza are civilians, combined with some reports about the circumstances in which these civilians died, raises the prospect that Israel has committed forbidden actions, some of which could possibly be defined as war crimes. The quantity of these cases makes it very difficult to absolve them based on arguments of “inaccuracy” or “error.”

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http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.604974

[cali]

2. ugh. first of all YOU know zip zilch and nothing about what I know

about the history of Israel, my dear. So telling me to go study the history of Israel is nothing but presumption and arrogance on your part.

Secondly, conflating Jews with the actions of the Israeli government is repugnant. Thirdly, defending Hamas is repulsive.

I don't know if English isn't your native language, but your post is nigh on unintelligible.

Ugh.

[Tetris_Iguana]

3. Yes

Then again war itself is a crime (or at least should be) so the bar for war crime is very low, IMO.

[bemildred]

4. +1. War is the just large scale crime. nt