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 ...
Lucky that the guy appears so nutty that he sort of disqualifies himself. He would have been more effective as a Hamas dupe if he had put up a more reasonable facade.
I’d bet the farm the u.n. won’t find fault with hamas using populated areas to launch their rockets from.
It’s all them damned Jews fault.
The UN is worse than a zero, its an absolute dead weight loss. The UN creates more evil than there would be, if there were no UN.
So “mental scarring” is a war crime now? That’s what I got from this.
Rightly so. We should bring the UN to the International War Tribunal Court for war crimes battering all of us, no only days but years in succession. The mental state of distress I’m in because of them. Think only about the global warming scaremongering.
Yes unbelievable.
How about the civilians of Israel of have suffered for decades with this MENTAL ANGUISH.
Down with the UN. If the Messiah starts to let the UN dictate rules to America, we are finished. Remember they already have suggested an international banking regulation agency.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
There's my "warm fuzzy" for today.
The only thing that would make me happier than seeing Israel withdraw from the UN would be seeing Israel and the USA withdraw from the UN.
This dirtbag wrote this from his California home, it’s little wonder that he takes the palis side.
But no mental anguish caused in Israeli border towns from the thousands of rocket attacks over the past few years, though.
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.
Of course he did.
Zing, right on both counts! I really miss John Bolton.
Thanks for catching that. It should have read, "Snuff said."
The UN needs to be loudly and radiantly exposed as one of the most evil institutions on the planet. The new Secretary of the IRS Treasury Exempt From Taxes Demon, doesn’t he have IMF on his resume? The International Monetary Fund has been realigning the economic development of countries around the world since 1944. Perhaps our economy is not tanking fast enough to suit the UN and Hussein had to bring in a pro.
LOL! Yea, that too ... ;-)
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