Turkey wants UN body to discuss Gaza 'war crimes'

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday his country would push the Security Council to discuss a report by U.N. investigators accusing Israel and Palestinian militants of war crimes in the Gaza war.

"We will definitely take the position to discuss this issue on the Security Council," Erdogan told reporters.

A U.N. fact-finding mission led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone issued a report last week that said both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants had committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, during the December-January war in the Gaza Strip.

The report urged the Security Council to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court in The Hague if either Israel or Palestinian authorities failed to investigate and prosecute those suspected of the crimes within six months.

Erdogan, who is in New York for the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, said through an interpreter there should be "accountability" for anyone guilty of war crimes in Gaza.

"We're in favor of opening discussions on the Goldstone report and whoever is the guilty party, they should be identified and face the necessary sanctions," he said."

more

[madeline_con]

1. Why does the reporter write 'war crimes' as if there is a question

as to the validity of the claim?

[Howardx]

2. hahaha

why do you think?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Why don't we just have an investigation... you know, the type that

lead nowhere and accomplish nothing. If Dick and George can run free, well you get the picture.

[Chulanowa]

4. Because that's the only way it gets published

There are two myths that must be maintained in the media.

1) Israel is always right
2) Arabs are evil subhumans

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. This from a nation where it is illegal to discuss openly the Armenian genocide

[choie]

6. Thank you, ProgressiveProfessor!

While I absolutely believe war crimes were committed by Israel, the hypocrisy of Turkey pressing for an investigation while their lobbyists pressure American congresspeople into blocking any recognition of the Armenian genocide is truly mind-bending.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Turks know genocide when they see it

[proteus_lives]

8. Sure, if they're willing to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

If they're willing to do that, why not?

[IndianaGreen]

9. The Israel-is-beyond-blame knee jerkers are sounding like..... the Pope

Does this sound familiar to any of you. The "they all do it" excuse that parents often hear from a trouble making child.

Sex abuse rife in other religions, says Vatican

Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent, and Anushka Asthana
guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 September 2009 22.41 BST

The Vatican has lashed out at criticism over its handling of its paedophilia crisis by saying the Catholic church was "busy cleaning its own house" and that the problems with clerical sex abuse in other churches were as big, if not bigger.

In a defiant and provocative statement, issued following a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva, the Holy See said the majority of Catholic clergy who committed such acts were not paedophiles but homosexuals attracted to sex with adolescent males.

The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN, defended its record by claiming that "available research" showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse.

He also quoted statistics from the Christian Scientist Monitor newspaper to show that most US churches being hit by child sex abuse allegations were Protestant and that sexual abuse within Jewish communities was common.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/28/sex-abuse-religion-vatican

[LeftishBrit]

12. It's not 'they all do it'; it's a question of hypocrisy

Turkey punishes its own citizens if they acknowledge the Armenian genocide. It has on several occasions successfully pressured the United States, the EU countries, and importantly in this connection Israel, to tone down or avoid mentions of this episode. (The other countries in question are, of course, also to blame for giving in to the pressure.) For one government to tell another essentially, "Thanks for keeping quiet about our crimes, but we're going to insist that you're made accountable for yours!" is more than a little hypocritical. It's not just that 'Turkey does it too'; it's that Turkey pressurizes Israel to collude in enabling Turkey to avoid accountability, while demanding accountability from Israel.

Actually I think that both countries should be made more accountable for their actions (as should others) but I'm cynical about the likelihood of it happening.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. Maybe Israel should stop supporting the Turks in their genocide denial n/t

[azurnoir]

13. They might now n/t

[LeftishBrit]

11. I agree that there needs to be more accountability

But there is a little irony in this from a government that demands that everyone, including Israel, deny their *own* past war crimes.