Thursday, August 06, 2009

HRW CONDEMNS HAMAS ROCKET ATTACKS

This left-wing organization has actually come out against the Hamas. Considering that they earlier apologized for another terrorist in Nigeria, this is surprising. However, even in this case, it's important to pay careful attention:
The international watchdog organization Human Rights Watch came out with an unusually scathing attack against Hamas on Thursday, accusing the Islamic group of violating international law and committing war crimes for its indiscriminate rocket fire into Israeli territory.

"None of these rockets can be reliably aimed," the report stated. "Such weapons are inherently indiscriminate when directed towards densely populated areas.

"The absence of Israeli military forces in the areas struck by the rockets, as well as statements from the leaders of Hamas and other armed groups, indicate that many of these attacks are deliberately intended to strike Israeli civilians and civilian structures," the report continued. "Individuals who willfully authorize or carry out deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians are committing war crimes."
Okay, what's reliability or accuracy got to do with this? And a challenging question: does it only count as a war crime when civilians are the target? I think there are some serious questions to be raised here if HRW is still trying to shroud the fact that Hamas is and has always been a terrorist organization. And indeed, further in the article:
"To justify the attacks as appropriate reprisals for Israeli military operations and the ongoing blockade against Gaza, and as a lawful response to the Israeli occupation of Gaza…the "laws of war" do not support these asserted justifications," the report stated.

While previous reports published by the organization have condemned Israeli abuses and "war crimes" against the Palestinians, the group emphasized in the most recent publication that such behavior cannot warrant reciprocal Palestinian action.
Now granted, they're right that these rocket attacks against civilians are not justified. However, that is exactly why these blockades were erected, and military operations were conducted. And they seem to have succeeded in obscuring and confusing all that. The JPost article also notes how they've resorted to the blood libel cliches, and that's something for which they should be condemned, not just for spreading lies against Israel, but also for obscuring violent crimes committed by Muslims.

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