Amnesty International Criticizes Israel; Israel's Military Blasts Report

Amnesty International’s annual report condemns Israel for its treatment of Palestinian Authority Arabs while only briefly noting atrocities attributed to the Hamas terrorist organization. Both the IDF and a watchdog on fair media research called the report findings biased and unethical.

Amnesty International issued Thursday its annual report, condemning Israel and PA Arabs for disproportional violence during Operation Cast Lead. The human rights watchdog blames Israel for killing over 1,400 PA Arabs in Gaza and wounding 5,000 others. The report blames the IDF for repeatedly breaching the laws of war by “by carrying out direct attacks on civilians and civilian buildings and attacks targeting Palestinian militants that caused a disproportionate toll among civilians.” The report also criticizes Israel for demolishing PA homes without permits and for erecting security barriers and army checkpoints.

The IDF called Amnesty International’s annual report one-sided and questions how Amnesty neglected to mention “the unbearable suffering of Israeli citizens from constant rocket attacks during the last eight years. It seems that it has fallen as a victim of manipulation of the Hamas terror organization.” The IDF furthermore criticized the report for being unbalanced and blasted Amnesty’s failure to mention the suffering endured by Israeli civilians and Israel’s security needs. “The report presents a distorted interpretation of the rules of fighting that don’t fit the rules enacted by democratic countries fighting against terror,” the IDF added.

Past due time to cut off the Hamas and other Palestinian from USA tax payers funds

Amnesty International accuses Israel of violating rules of war

http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10327927.html

Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel, killing three Israeli civilians, injuring scores and driving thousands from their homes. “Such unlawful attacks constitute war crimes and are unacceptable as well,” added Rovera.

A spokesperson for Hamas agreed on the section of the report that blames Israel and called for the International community to put an end for the misery being created from the barbaric attack against Palestinian women and children in Gaza. He, however said that Hamas and other Palestinian groups were left with no option but to defend itself with premature arms and to hit back on Israeli settlements.

“For its part, Hamas has continued to justify the rocket attacks launched daily by its fighters and by other Palestinian armed groups into towns and villages in southern Israel during the 22-day conflict. Though less lethal, these attacks, using unguided rockets which cannot be directed at specific targets, violated international humanitarian law and cannot be justified under any circumstance,” added Rovera.

In addition to locally made Qassam rockets, Palestinian militants often fired longer-range Grad-type rockets smuggled into Gaza via the tunnels on the Egyptian border, which reached deeper into Israel and placed many more Israeli civilians at risk.

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