Israeli War Crimes

I didn’t talk much about it at the time, but the Goldstone report issued a damning indictment of Israel’s behavior during the most recent Gaza war. As noted at the time by Catholic priests on the ground, Israel’s actions amounted to war crimes. Its policy of blockade amount to collective punishment and “a systematic policy of progressive isolation and deprivation”. During the war itself, “the Israeli military operation was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall and continuing policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population, and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population”. There was also a deliberate policy of denying Palestinians  “means of subsistence, employment, housing and water”.

Basically, the Israeli response was highly disproportionate, and targeted non-combatants – two blatant violations of just war teaching. The report notes that the Israelis regularly used white phosphorus (including to “directly and intentionally” attack hospitals), launched indiscriminate mortar attacks into densely populated areas, directly shot civilians (including some with white flags), bombed houses full of occupants, and fired a missile into a mosque during evening prayers. In sum, “the direct targeting and arbitrary killing of Palestinian civilians is a violation of the right to life”.  The Israelis also destroyed industrial infrastructure, food production, water installations, sewage treatment plants, and housing.

And what was the reaction in the United States? Disappointing, to say the least. The usual line that somehow moral norms do not apply to Israel as it fights the “terrorists” who threaten its right to exist. Personal attacks on Goldstone. Accusations of anti-Israel bias (in other words, call for moral relativism).

I’ll give the last word to Desmond Travers, Irish military official, and member of Goldstone’s panel:

“We were disturbed by the lethality and toxicity of weapons used in Gaza, some of which have been in Western arsenals since the Cold War, such as white phosphorous, which incinerated 14 people, including several children in one attack; flechettes, small darts that are designed to tumble upon entering human flesh in order to cause maximum damage, strictly in breach of the Geneva Convention; and highly carcinogenic tungsten shrapnel and dime munitions, which contain tungsten in powder form. There is also a whole cocktail of other problematic munitions suspected to have been used.

There are a number of other post-conflict issues in Gaza that need to be addressed. The land is dying. There are toxic deposits from all the munitions that have been dropped. There are serious issues with water—its depletion and its contamination. There is a high instance of nitrates in the soil that is especially dangerous to children. If these issues are not addressed, Gaza may not even be habitable by World Health Organization norms.”