Justice according to israel
01/03/08 14:04 Filed in: Politics
Meet Avi Mendelblit.
This fine Jewish men is the IDF (Israeli defense forces) attorney general.
the sharp eyed reader will notice the decoration of war from the II lebanon war on his left chest.
a few weeks ago, this men declared that the use of cluster munitions against the south of lebanon is in accordance to the international laws, and no further investigation will take place.
this is opposed to the opinion of all other organizations which looked into the subject, from amnesty and HRW, including several european states.
for those of you who are interested, this is Protocol 1 Additional to the Geneva Conventions, which describes most of the Intl. law of engagement. see for yourself if the actions taken by Israel are in accordance with the Intl. law. (in case you ask yourself what happens to those who disobey, well, if you are friends with Uncle Sam, then nothing. if not, you are a war criminal and are sometimes hanged).
on a side note, i wish to add that this whole 'laws of war' idea is a joke, as it only serves war criminal (as any war is a crime) as a seal of approval for their horrid acts, and grounds for attorneys for quibbling.
for those new to the subject, i will briefly describe the issue.
1. what is cluster munition?
- cluster munitions are types of bombs, which are constructed from (a cluster of) many small bombs, sized from about a 'D' cell battery up to a large orange. the small bombs are packed into a large canister, or a shell, which can be delivered to the target from an aeroplain, a rocket or a canon, and upon reaching above the target the canister will open, dispersing the tiny bombs (AKA 'bomblets') over a wide area in a random pattern.
2. what dangers do they reflect?
- aside from the obvious explosive danger, there are few, cluster specific dangers. the number of bomblets in a canister range from tens to hundreds, thus a barrage or a cluster attack will consist of ten or hundreds of thousands of tiny bomblets, that is much more (numericly and cover-wise) then a standard explosive barrage. some weapon systems are even capable of delivering millions of bomblets in a matter of minutes.
these thousands of bomblets are not targeted at a specific target, rather at an area, which can size from a football field to a town. at and around this area, the bomblets disperse randomly, killing and destroying indiscriminately.
since the bomblets are typically very small, wind carries them to considerable distances, and they can even enter thru open windows into homes, get caught in fences and trees or lodge themselves into small cracks in derbies commonly found in war zones.
the worst of all, these bomblets dont always explode. infect, more then 30% dont explode on impact, and are left on the ground and in trees for people to step on them, accidently pick them up, or sometimes, fall on the breakfast table.
3. does the international law bans the use of cluster munitions?
- well, not per say, but it is forbidden to use in-discriminatory weapons in situations where civilians are endangered by the action. as established in the previous lines, these are random weapons of in-discriminatory nature.
in the II lebanon war, israel used about 4,000,000 cluster bomblets against the south of lebanon, leaving over 1 million duds on the ground. several dozens of Lebanese were injured and killed by them so far, and several intl. aid workers killed as well as they worked to clear the bombs.
many more will suffer the same fate in years to come, as the duds lay in the mud and between the rocks, in groves and fields and rooftops. many kids do not know the danger these small metal objects conceal, and are usually the first ones to lose limbs and die from picking them up mistaking them for toys etc.
yet, gen. mendelbilt deems this acceptable under intl. law.
i am not surprised, since this is what idf always does.
a few week after he declared this OK, he also Oked an incident in which an artillery crew aiming at alleged 'terrorists' in gaza had hid a nearby house, killing 20 and wounding another 40. he deems this an extremely rare malfunction of the artillery system, and that no further investigation is needed. what had happened to the alleged 'terrorists' remains unknown, strange as those 'terrorist' were the justification for the shooting for the first place.
these are just examples of the heinous behavior on part of the Israelis, certainly ones that boil my blood.
in the following weeks i will add more on the subject of israeli war crimes, Lebanon's cluster crisis and the gaza situation. stay tuned...
This fine Jewish men is the IDF (Israeli defense forces) attorney general.
the sharp eyed reader will notice the decoration of war from the II lebanon war on his left chest.
a few weeks ago, this men declared that the use of cluster munitions against the south of lebanon is in accordance to the international laws, and no further investigation will take place.
this is opposed to the opinion of all other organizations which looked into the subject, from amnesty and HRW, including several european states.
for those of you who are interested, this is Protocol 1 Additional to the Geneva Conventions, which describes most of the Intl. law of engagement. see for yourself if the actions taken by Israel are in accordance with the Intl. law. (in case you ask yourself what happens to those who disobey, well, if you are friends with Uncle Sam, then nothing. if not, you are a war criminal and are sometimes hanged).
on a side note, i wish to add that this whole 'laws of war' idea is a joke, as it only serves war criminal (as any war is a crime) as a seal of approval for their horrid acts, and grounds for attorneys for quibbling.
for those new to the subject, i will briefly describe the issue.
1. what is cluster munition?
- cluster munitions are types of bombs, which are constructed from (a cluster of) many small bombs, sized from about a 'D' cell battery up to a large orange. the small bombs are packed into a large canister, or a shell, which can be delivered to the target from an aeroplain, a rocket or a canon, and upon reaching above the target the canister will open, dispersing the tiny bombs (AKA 'bomblets') over a wide area in a random pattern.
2. what dangers do they reflect?
- aside from the obvious explosive danger, there are few, cluster specific dangers. the number of bomblets in a canister range from tens to hundreds, thus a barrage or a cluster attack will consist of ten or hundreds of thousands of tiny bomblets, that is much more (numericly and cover-wise) then a standard explosive barrage. some weapon systems are even capable of delivering millions of bomblets in a matter of minutes.
these thousands of bomblets are not targeted at a specific target, rather at an area, which can size from a football field to a town. at and around this area, the bomblets disperse randomly, killing and destroying indiscriminately.
since the bomblets are typically very small, wind carries them to considerable distances, and they can even enter thru open windows into homes, get caught in fences and trees or lodge themselves into small cracks in derbies commonly found in war zones.
the worst of all, these bomblets dont always explode. infect, more then 30% dont explode on impact, and are left on the ground and in trees for people to step on them, accidently pick them up, or sometimes, fall on the breakfast table.
3. does the international law bans the use of cluster munitions?
- well, not per say, but it is forbidden to use in-discriminatory weapons in situations where civilians are endangered by the action. as established in the previous lines, these are random weapons of in-discriminatory nature.
in the II lebanon war, israel used about 4,000,000 cluster bomblets against the south of lebanon, leaving over 1 million duds on the ground. several dozens of Lebanese were injured and killed by them so far, and several intl. aid workers killed as well as they worked to clear the bombs.
many more will suffer the same fate in years to come, as the duds lay in the mud and between the rocks, in groves and fields and rooftops. many kids do not know the danger these small metal objects conceal, and are usually the first ones to lose limbs and die from picking them up mistaking them for toys etc.
yet, gen. mendelbilt deems this acceptable under intl. law.
i am not surprised, since this is what idf always does.
a few week after he declared this OK, he also Oked an incident in which an artillery crew aiming at alleged 'terrorists' in gaza had hid a nearby house, killing 20 and wounding another 40. he deems this an extremely rare malfunction of the artillery system, and that no further investigation is needed. what had happened to the alleged 'terrorists' remains unknown, strange as those 'terrorist' were the justification for the shooting for the first place.
these are just examples of the heinous behavior on part of the Israelis, certainly ones that boil my blood.
in the following weeks i will add more on the subject of israeli war crimes, Lebanon's cluster crisis and the gaza situation. stay tuned...