UN Human Rights Council Condemns Israel for 'Grave Violations' of Human Rights

Posted by Faiz Shakir, Think Progress at 9:41 AM on January 12, 2009.

"Accountability must be ensured for violations of international law."

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The United Nations Human Rights Council condemned Israel today for "grave violations" of human rights of the people of Gaza. The adopted resolution drafted by Arab, Asian, and African countries also called for the urgent dispatch of an international mission to investigate Israeli behavior in the Gaza Strip, and called on Israel to cooperate with it by immediately ending its attacks and withdrawing its military forces from Gaza:

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay stressed to told the Council on Friday that international human rights law must apply in all circumstances and at all times, and strongly urged the parties to the conflict "to fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law to collect, care for and evacuate the wounded and to protect and respect health workers, hospitals, and medical units and ambulances.
"Accountability must be ensured for violations of international law," she said.

The resolution also called for an end to "launching of the crude rockets against Israeli civilians that resulted in the loss of 4 civilian lives" but noted that Israeli attacks had brought some 900 Palestinian deaths and injured around 4,000. Canada cast the only negative vote for the non-binding resolution, which received the support of 33 of the Council's 47 members, while 13 countries abstained.

Update: Yglesias writes that the proposed cease-fire seems to be taking "exactly the shape of a deal that the peace camp has been saying the United States ought to push for since before the fighting started."

Update: Spencer Ackerman highlights the view of Haaretz's editors: "This war needs to move immediately to the diplomatic track and agreements that will end the fantasies and delusions of both sides."

Tagged as: war, israel, palestine, middle east, attacks, human rights, un, gaza

Faiz Shakir is the Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Editor of ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report.

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Uri Avnery writes about the moral insanity of Israel

[Report this comment]
Posted by: MeyravLevine on Jan 12, 2009 10:22 AM
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]

Avnery writes:

"Nearly seventy years ago, in the course of World War II, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called "the Red Army" held the millions of the town's inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centers. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands.

Some time before that, a similar crime was committed in England. The Churchill gang hid among the population of London, misusing the millions of citizens as a human shield. The Germans were compelled to send their Luftwaffe and reluctantly reduce the city to ruins. They called it the Blitz.

This is the description that would now appear in the history books – if the Germans had won the war.

Absurd? No more than the daily descriptions in our media, which are being repeated ad nauseam: the Hamas terrorists use the inhabitants of Gaza as "hostages" and exploit the women and children as "human shields", they leave us no alternative but to carry out massive bombardments, in which, to our deep sorrow, thousands of women, children and unarmed men are killed and injured.

IN THIS WAR, as in any modern war, propaganda plays a major role. The disparity between the forces, between the Israeli army - with its airplanes, gunships, drones, warships, artillery and tanks - and the few thousand lightly armed Hamas fighters, is one to a thousand, perhaps one to a million. In the political arena the gap between them is even wider. But in the propaganda war, the gap is almost infinite.

Almost all the Western media initially repeated the official Israeli propaganda line. They almost entirely ignored the Palestinian side of the story, not to mention the daily demonstrations of the Israeli peace camp. The rationale of the Israeli government ("The state must defend its citizens against the Qassam rockets") has been accepted as the whole truth. The view from the other side, that the Qassams are a retaliation for the siege that starves the one and a half million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, was not mentioned at all.

You can read the rest of the article on Counterpunch.

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» RE: Uri Avnery writes about the moral insanity of Israel Posted by: Mrs. Jefferson

» RE: Uri Avnery writes about the moral insanity of Israel Posted by: bettina9292

On the left...

[Report this comment]
Posted by: nap on Jan 12, 2009 11:41 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]

muslim countries, civil society and some riffraff from alternet. On the right.. the west. As always, sneering misanthropes like me are left out in the cold. It's not fair.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Israel bans Arab political parties

[Report this comment]
Posted by: sonofloud on Jan 12, 2009 3:41 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]

The results of Israel’s upcoming election are anyone’s guess, but you can be sure that the winner won’t be an Arab. According to Haaretz, “The Central Elections Committee on Monday banned Arab political parties from running in next month's parliamentary elections, drawing accusations of racism by an Arab lawmaker who said he would challenge the decision in the country's Supreme Court.

http://www.thedailybeast.com
/cheat-sheet/item/israel-bans-arab-parties/chilling/

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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» RE: Uri Avnery writes about the moral insanity of Israel Posted by: Mrs. Jefferson

» RE: Uri Avnery writes about the moral insanity of Israel Posted by: bettina9292

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Comments	Turn comments off sitewide	Give us feedback »
Comments closed. The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.		View:
Uri Avnery writes about the moral insanity of Israel [Report this comment] Posted by: MeyravLevine on Jan 12, 2009 10:22 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Avnery writes: "Nearly seventy years ago, in the course of World War II, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called "the Red Army" held the millions of the town's inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centers. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands. Some time before that, a similar crime was committed in England. The Churchill gang hid among the population of London, misusing the millions of citizens as a human shield. The Germans were compelled to send their Luftwaffe and reluctantly reduce the city to ruins. They called it the Blitz. This is the description that would now appear in the history books – if the Germans had won the war. Absurd? No more than the daily descriptions in our media, which are being repeated ad nauseam: the Hamas terrorists use the inhabitants of Gaza as "hostages" and exploit the women and children as "human shields", they leave us no alternative but to carry out massive bombardments, in which, to our deep sorrow, thousands of women, children and unarmed men are killed and injured. IN THIS WAR, as in any modern war, propaganda plays a major role. The disparity between the forces, between the Israeli army - with its airplanes, gunships, drones, warships, artillery and tanks - and the few thousand lightly armed Hamas fighters, is one to a thousand, perhaps one to a million. In the political arena the gap between them is even wider. But in the propaganda war, the gap is almost infinite. Almost all the Western media initially repeated the official Israeli propaganda line. They almost entirely ignored the Palestinian side of the story, not to mention the daily demonstrations of the Israeli peace camp. The rationale of the Israeli government ("The state must defend its citizens against the Qassam rockets") has been accepted as the whole truth. The view from the other side, that the Qassams are a retaliation for the siege that starves the one and a half million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, was not mentioned at all. You can read the rest of the article on Counterpunch. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » RE: Uri Avnery writes about the moral insanity of Israel Posted by: Mrs. Jefferson » RE: Uri Avnery writes about the moral insanity of Israel Posted by: bettina9292 On the left... [Report this comment] Posted by: nap on Jan 12, 2009 11:41 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] muslim countries, civil society and some riffraff from alternet. On the right.. the west. As always, sneering misanthropes like me are left out in the cold. It's not fair. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Israel bans Arab political parties [Report this comment] Posted by: sonofloud on Jan 12, 2009 3:41 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] The results of Israel’s upcoming election are anyone’s guess, but you can be sure that the winner won’t be an Arab. According to Haaretz, “The Central Elections Committee on Monday banned Arab political parties from running in next month's parliamentary elections, drawing accusations of racism by an Arab lawmaker who said he would challenge the decision in the country's Supreme Court. http://www.thedailybeast.com /cheat-sheet/item/israel-bans-arab-parties/chilling/ [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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» RE: Uri Avnery writes about the moral insanity of Israel Posted by: Mrs. Jefferson

» RE: Uri Avnery writes about the moral insanity of Israel Posted by: bettina9292