Posted on 01/22/2009 10:02:53 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
There is evidence that Israel committed war crimes during its 22-day campaign in the Gaza Strip and there should be an independent inquiry, U.N. investigator Richard Falk said on Thursday.
The mental anguish of the civilians who suffered the assault is so great that the entire population of Gaza could be seen as casualties, said Falk, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Falk, speaking by phone from his home in California, said compelling evidence that Israel's actions in Gaza violated international humanitarian law required an independent investigation into whether they amounted to war crimes.
"I believe that there is the prima facie case for reaching that conclusion," he told a Geneva news conference.
Falk said Israel had made no effort to allow civilians to escape the fighting.
"To lock people into a war zone is something that evokes the worst kind of international memories of the Warsaw Ghetto, and sieges that occur unintentionally during a period of wartime," Falk, who is Jewish, said, referring to the starvation and murder of Warsaw's Jews by Nazi Germany in World War Two.
"There could have been temporary provision at least made for children, disabled, sick civilians to leave, even if where they left to was southern Israel," the U.S. professor said.
Falk said the entire Gaza population, which had been trapped in a war zone with no possibility to leave as refugees, may have been mentally scarred for life. If so, the definition of casualty could be extended to the entire civilian population.
Falk, who was denied entry to Israel two weeks before the assault started on Dec. 27, dismissed Israel's argument that the assault was for self-defence in the light of rocket attacks aimed at Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip.
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.reuters.com ...
Um, “Barf Alert” tag?
Critics are calling for the resignation of a U.N. official who publicly supports investigating theories that the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were an "inside job."
Richard Falk, the special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, investigates alleged Israeli violations of human rights law for the U.N.'s Human Rights Council.
But the former Princeton professor would also like to investigate whether "some sort of controlled explosion from within" destroyed the Twin Towers, he told FOXNews.com.
"I do think there are questions that haven't been answered, questions about the way the buildings collapsed and the failure to heed a variety of signals that there was danger coming," Falk said.
"I think [his beliefs are] fruitcake city, but among many delegations to the U.N. it's probably the conventional wisdom," said John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. known for his straight talk on U.N. hypocrisy.
But Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch, a non-governmental organization that monitors the U.N., wants Falk removed from his job...
Oh I don’t.
“Falk said Israel had made no effort to allow civilians to escape the fighting.”
That is a blatant lie.
A little cooler headed now.
FIRST: Has ANY nation, at ANY time, ANYWHERE, let enemy "refugees" shelter within its borders, while actively fighting that enemy?
SECOND: Didn't Egypt use FORCE OF ARMS to keep them from sheltering in Egypt?
THIRD: Israel DID have Gazan wounded transported to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
FOURTH: It was a SMALL PART of Gaza that was actively attacked, and it was heavily leafletted for days before the attacks; and specific buildings targeted were WARNED BY PHONE whenever possible, as well.
FINALLY: The damned, worse than useless, UN is FULL of Pali "militants" and their active sympathizers, and act in complicity with them, either actively or by turning a blind eye.
I'm not one to play the race card, but the antisemitism at the UN is really something to behold. No mention of the "war crimes" committed daily by the ELECTED political party of the so-called Palestinian people.
Plus, Hamas hit an Israeli school. Just because the kids weren’t there, doesn’t make it any better and I don’t recall Hamas warning Israel to get the kids out.
Thanks Fred; I needed that.
...know your enemy...
Is there anyone who takes the UN seriously any longer?
What a farce....move it to Dubai where it belongs.
I could have written this the week before it happened. Surprise, surprise!
Wow, not one word about any possible Hamas war crimes.
Whodathunkit!
Hans Blix
How would anyone from the U.N. know? They are never around when fighting is going on.
Falk is a hardcored communist. He betrayed us on Vietnam and has never stopped doing it to America. His record of support for various communist fronts would fill books.
He is to “human rights” as Goebbels was to journalism.
The Israelis could be washing the mooselimb’s feet and giving them back rubs, and the UN would see war crimes.
UN out of the US; US out of the UN.
The Israelis could be washing the mooselimb’s feet and giving them back rubs, and the UN would see war crimes.
UN out of the US; US out of the UN.
What a dumb Falk.
On this basis the entire nation of Israel has been the object war crimes since the beginning of its existence, with every assault, terrorist bombing, rocket attack included. So where is the study of Hamas, etc. war crimes and against Israel, or other Palestinians?
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