I had not seen his second comment.

Sounds like he is unhappy that he was quoted.
He does not deny the quote. He merely points out
that it does not constitute a "public comment".
Probably he is accurately quoted but was not
authorized to make a "public" statement. He most
certainly DOES NOT accuse Israel of misusing WP
as a weapon.

At any rate, Israel certainly is not admitting
any illegal use of WP nor is there any evidence
that they have used it as a weapon on people.

On the other hand there IS a WP warhead shot at
Israel with the only purpose of using it as
an incendiary weapon - by Hamas and this warhead
was fortunately captured by Israel only because it
failed to detonate.

Why do so many westerners praise terrorists, who specifically and intentionally target civilians, as heroes, then turn around and call Israeli's, who expend great effort to minimize civilian casualties, evil monsters?

problem with that statement is hamas is an elected govt that committed an act of war

isreal is defending itself from an aggressive foreign power not a terrorist group anymore thus making there territory open to reprisal

Hamas was elected, but they arent recognized as the Palestinian government by the US, Europe, or Israel. Nope, instead Fatah was put in power or they would forever more be sanctioned. Proof, the West Bank gets aide. Gaza is a prison camp.

You cant have it both ways. Either they are the elected Gov or they arent.



isreal is defending itself from an aggressive foreign power

Power???
ROFLMAO
Sorry but I have to laugh at this description of a people with no Air Force, No Artillery, No Armour, and an Infantry grossly out numbered, out trained, and out gunned.

LOL you're killing me here.
LMAO, Stop please.......

show one post i made that said hamas was not the elected govt

i do think you made a post saying they were the elected gov

like you said you cant have it both ways

and you mention population in the 1800s and then this discussion comes up




what was the population ratio in early 1800s of the great plains

how many indians were confined to the reservation for how long and killed when they left the reservation

it is not i that wants it both ways`

The problem with allegedly elected terrorist governments is that one of the reasons they get elected is that if you are identified as not voting for them then you and your family are subject to being tortured or killed.

So, yeah. There are good reasons nobody recognizes them.

see for example:

Hamas gangs kill Fatah members in Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWPL5V5G528

There is a problem with both statements.


Statement 1:
A: The article says BOTH PARTIES WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO GET INTO COURT.

B: There is some question about Israel actually taking the care it says was taken regarding civilians.


Statement 2:

Hamas is an elected government that is not recognized but by its own population. To recognize the government of Palestine as Hamas would then make Israel guilty under International Law of committing an act of war..the blockade.
Which means that Hamas is then protecting / defending it's people from an aggression with its rocket attacks.

Not recognizing Hamas but recognizing Fatah gives some, slim perhaps, legitimacy to the blockade as keeping supplies from a 'rebel government'. Again though the problem becomes that Gaza, seen by many in world as 'occupied territory' because of the controls of Israel, is then being collectively punished for the actions of Hamas.

If indeed Israel is found a: to have carried out an act of war; b: shown disregard towards the civilian population; c: used collective punishment then it is guilty of war crimes.

Being that Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in world if it is shown that Hamas, as the recognized governing body, 'INTENTIONALLY used civilians as shields, INTENTIONALLY fired from positions near civilian and aid areas then they are also guilty of war crimes. Already the fact of having fired rockets into civilian areas makes them guilty of committing war crimes.

But the question remains. Who, if anyone, will be charged? If Israel is found to have committed war crimes then who will actually have the political cajones to go after them? The very failure to recognize Hamas as the elected government creates the problem of going after them. The International Laws are made to after the governments and government representatives (military or civilian) of those charged. But the government of Hamas isn't recognized. Will they then go after Fatah? Doubtful. Since Hamas is viewed as a terrorist organization and not the government then they are already guilty of acts of terrorism and you can't get them for war crimes since terrorism isn't a war crime but falls under a whole new set of laws specifically made to fight terrorism.

Hamas rules by violent intimidation of any political
opponents therefore it has no legitimacy.

The UN has repeatedly shown blatant one-sided anti-Israel
bias and the new president of the General Assembly is so
tainted that he has been asked NOT to attend the annual Holocaust memorial commemoration. Ugh.

General Assembly President Unfit To Participate In U.N. Holocaust Ceremony

New York, NY, January 23, 2009 … Pointing to his public embrace of the Iranian president and his statements comparing Israel to the Nazi regime, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today said the President of the United Nations General Assembly was "unfit to participate" in ceremonies commemorating the tragedy of the Holocaust.

ADL called on Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann to officially withdraw from the UN's January 27 observance of the "International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust," where he is slated to make statements alongside survivors, witnesses, historians, ambassadors and other dignitaries, and members of the Jewish community.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor, issued the following statement:

The U.N.'s annual commemoration of the Holocaust is a solemn and sacred event devoted to the memory of the millions of victims slaughtered at the hands of the Nazis, to the survivors of those atrocities, and to the families of those who were lost. It recognizes the uniqueness of the Holocaust and the U.N.'s special responsibility to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten.

Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann's presence would be an insult to the memory of the millions of victims slaughtered at the hands of the Nazis and a slap in the face to the survivors of those atrocities, to the families of those lost, and to the Jewish people. Since taking office as president of the General Assembly four months ago, Mr. d'Escoto Brockmann has embraced the world's leading Holocaust denier and anti-Semite, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, under the guise of criticizing Israel. He has used a version of the classic anti-Semitic charge of deicide, and has insinuated similarities between the regime of the Nazi extermination apparatus, and Israel.

Mr. d'Escoto Brockmann's behavior is a perversion of the ideals of the U.N. Charter, which the General Assembly president is mandated to uphold. In the short time he has been in office, his incendiary anti-Semitic remarks have brought the U.N. to a humiliating new low. We are saddened that his presence will detract from our observance of this important global recognition of the tragedy and meaning of the Holocaust.

The UN has tried since 1948 to resolve the Palestinian / Israeli disputes. All resolutions to that end blocked (vetoed) or simply ignored by Israel, UN delegate assassinated etc.


The State of Israel has been compared to NAZI Germany even by Israelis!

Professor Ilian Pappe has stated that Israel has acted regarding Palestine as Germany did with the Jews of Germany in the PRE-EXECUTION time of the Holocaust. With the removal of land, property, rights, etc.

That the Holocaust happened is a terrible thing. That it should ever be repeated one can only pray to their respective gods...NEVER AGAIN.

But that the people who suffered from it should behave as in the stages leading up to it is equally terrible.


"The historical details he provides are chilling, and worthy of serious discussion to understand exactly what happened in 1947-48 (because the Jewish Zionist attacks against Arabs started well before the May 1948 end of the British mandate; the first Jewish militia attacks to terrorize the Palestinians into fleeing were in December 1947, against the Palestinian villages of Deir Ayyub and Beit Affa in the central plain).

The main mission to drive out as many Palestinians as possible was formally approved by Jewish Zionist leaders on March 10, 1948. When it ended six months later, he says, some 800,000 Palestinians had been uprooted, 531 villages destroyed, and eleven urban neighborhoods in cities emptied of their inhabitants. Pappe concludes that the plan and its systematic implementation “was a clear-cut case of an ethnic cleansing operation, regarded under international law today as a crime against humanity.”


http://www.agenceglobal.com/article.asp?id=1329


Seems similar to the lists drawn up by the authorities in Germany and the beginning stages of the Holocaust.





Take note that in following video Prof. Pappe refers to Palestinians as 'Indiginous People' of Palestine.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4706543509678082810


http://www.labournet.net/world/0209/pappe1.html



However what does this have to do with either side being charged with war crimes?

Chief IDF rabbi taught Torah to jailed Jewish extremists


The chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces has in the past year been visiting prisoners associated with extreme right-wing groups, some of whom are serving jail sentences for planning or helping to carry out terrorist attacks against Arabs, Haaretz has learned.

Brig. Gen. Rabbi Avichai Ronski, who assumed his position in 2006, has met with the prisoners to teach them about Judaism. The IDF Spokesman's Office responded to a query about the visits by saying that the encounters were a private initiative of Ronski.

"The initiative did not involve a formal IDF visit and was not instigated by the IDF," the spokesperson said.

The Israel Prisons Service, when queried, responded: "We have received requests by the chief IDF rabbi to meet with prisoners, which we vetted and approved, in part."

The source added: "The chief rabbi conducted several visits in which he met with Jewish prisoners serving sentences for security-related offenses."

Ronski's request to visit a member of the so-called "Bat Ayin underground" - referring to an extremist group originating in a settlement in Gush Etzion in the West Bank - was denied because the prisoner in question was in solitary confinement.

The prisons service allows Jewish extremist inmates - who, in Ayalon Prison, are incarcerated in a separate wing and not with the general population - to meet regularly with rabbis.

The service helps to facilitate and supervise these visits.

Ronski began visiting prisoners in the Ayalon security wing for such prisoners even before his appointment to the post, and continued to visit them thereafter.

The Bat Ayin group was exposed in April 2002, when police arrested two of its members, Shlomo Dvir and Yarden Morag, as they were laying a large explosive device near a Palestinian school for girls in A-Tur in East Jerusalem.

Morag, Dvir and a third accomplice by the name of Ofer Gamliel - also from Bat Ayin - were convicted of attempting to perpetrate a terrorist attack. Morag and Gamliel were sentenced to 15 years in prison each; Dvir received 12 years.

Rabbinate foots the bill

Last week, Haaretz revealed that the Chief Military Rabbinate has recently expanded its educational activities in army combat units, and in doing so has entered areas previously served only by the Education Corps.

Apparently, many commanders accept offers of such programs since the rabbinate pays for them, while the units must foot the bill for events run by the Education Corps.

The Chief Military Rabbinate's behavior "harms the delicate fabric of relations between the nonreligious and religious in the IDF," a senior officer told Haaretz. "In a number of cases it is religious brainwashing and, indirectly, also political [brainwashing]."

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi ordered an investigation of the matter this week and requested that the "borders" between the rabbinate and Education Corps. be redrawn.

The Military Rabbinate has been conducting such programs for years, but has greatly stepped up its activities during the past year. Most of the controversial programs are organized by the Jewish Awareness Department of the rabbinate.

The programs - run in close coordination with the Elad right-wing, nonprofit organization, dedicated to expanding Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem - have expanded greatly under Ronski's command.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1031585.html


Looks like the Palestinians aren't alone in committing acts of terrorism.

Also seems that there is a desire to further expand the borders of Israel.

Yet the Palestinians are the ones to blame for everything.



Further in another article.


IDF rabbinate publication during Gaza war: We will show no mercy on the cruel

An overview of some of the army rabbinate's publications made available during the fighting reflects the tone of nationalist propaganda that steps blatantly into politics, sounds racist and can be interpreted as a call to challenge international law when it comes to dealing with enemy civilians.

"In addition to the official publications, extreme right-wing groups managed to bring pamphlets with racist messages into IDF bases. One such flyer is attributed to "the pupils of Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg" - the former rabbi at Joseph's Tomb and author of the article "Baruch the Man," which praises Baruch Goldstein, who massacred unarmed Palestinians in Hebron. It calls on "soldiers of Israel to spare your lives and the lives of your friends and not to show concern for a population that surrounds us and harms us. We call on you ... to function according to the law 'kill the one who comes to kill you.' As for the population, it is not innocent ... We call on you to ignore any strange doctrines and orders that confuse the logical way of fighting the enemy."


There is more to article. These two paragraphs extracted.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058758.html



Not bad. The representatives of God to the Israelis telling them that it's alright to kill civilians despite International Laws and Conventions which state otherwise. In effect telling IDF troops that it's alright to commit war crimes and that nothing can happen to them.

The UN has NOT made any real effort to assist in a just solution to the problems in the Middle East. That they
would have a president of the General Assembly who would
publicly embrace the openly antisemitic leader of Iran
Ahmadinejad and repeat antisemitic rhetoric the likes of
which appeared previously in Nazi propaganda is dramatic
evidence of the complete perversion of the UN particularly
with regard to Jews and Israel.

It is relevant because these same openly antisemitic
officials are among those most ardently calling for the
investigation of war crimes by Israel after ignoring
the crimes against humanity directed towards Israelis by
well known recognized terrorist organizations like Hamas,
Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, and the Iranians and
Syrians who sponsor, harbor and support them.

False hypocritical accusations of war crimes made by terrorist sponsoring states and antisemitic UN representatives against the Israelis should be exposed for
the sickening perversion that they represent.

All efforts to do anything by the UN were effectively vetoed on Security Council!

The UN sent a someone to assist in finding a solution and he was assassinated by Israelis!




Miri Eisin / Is only the Israeli narrative 'the truth' and all the others wrong?
By Miri Eisin

Israel has a national obsession with everything concerning hasbara (a Hebrew word for "explanation" and referring to information, spin, propaganda or a strategic public relations policy). Every time a warlike event takes place, the Israeli broadcasting networks turn to hasbara experts with the recurring question - what must we do to improve Israel's international image? They really mean "how can we prove to everyone that we're right, they're wrong and everybody hates us and they're anti-Semites?"


The writer was formerly the prime minister's foreign media adviser.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1059104.html


They turn to experts to tell them what to do??? To spin things so that it seems everyone who has a different view is anti-Semite? Real free press there.





UK must act to stop violations in Gaza
The UK has a duty to stop violations of international law in the conflict between Israel and Hamas



As international lawyers, we remind the UK government that it has a duty under international law to exert its influence to stop violations of international humanitarian law in the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. A fundamental principle of international humanitarian law is that the parties to a conflict must distinguish between civilians and those who participate directly in hostilities. Attacks deliberately aimed at the civilian population and civilian objects, by any means, are prohibited, as are attacks that do not discriminate between civilians and combatants, or which are likely to cause harm to civilians that is excessive when compared to the military advantage sought by the attack.

Similarly, the use of civilians as "human shields" is also forbidden. Further, the parties to the conflict must take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to the civilian population, and to allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of medical and humanitarian relief to civilians in need.

Under international law, the UK government is obliged to use its best efforts within the law to stop the ongoing violations of these fundamental rules of international humanitarian law. In particular, we call upon it to condemn publicly attacks by the parties to the conflict that target civilians directly, or fail to discriminate between civilians and combatants, or which are expected to cause disproportionate injury to the civilian population. The UK government should also strongly encourage the parties to ensure that civilians in Gaza receive the essential medical and humanitarian relief to which they are entitled under international law.

Dr Louise Arimatsu LSE, Dr Lorand Bartels University of Cambridge, Arnulf Becker Lorca KCL, Dr Jason Beckett University of Leicester, Prof Christine Bell University of Ulster, Dr Chaloka Beyani LSE, Dr Silvia Borelli UCL, Prof Bill Bowring Birkbeck, Iain Byrne human rights lawyer, Prof Matthew Craven Soas, Prof Robert Cryer University of Birmingham, Tim Daniel solicitor, Dr Catriona Drew Soas, Prof John Dugard Pretoria, Prof Max du Plessis University of KwaZulu-Natal, Carla Ferstman Redress Trust, Prof Malgosia Fitzmaurice Queen Mary, London, Guy Goodwin-Gill University of Oxford, Gina Heathcote Soas, Prof Susan Marks KCL, Stephanie Khoury international lawyer, Dr Nico Krisch LSE, Prof Robert McCorquodale University of Nottingham, Lorna McGregor Redress Trust, Sorcha MacLeod Sheffield University, Scott Newton Soas, Prof Mary Ellen O'Connell Notre Dame University, Dr Lutz Oette Soas, Dr Roger O'Keefe University of Cambridge, Simon Olleson 13 Old Square Chambers, Dr Federico Ortino KCL, Emma Playfair Human rights lawyer, Dr Marco Roscini University of Westminster, Prof Peter Rowe Lancaster University, Prof Malcolm Shaw QC University of Leicester, Prof Gerry Simpson LSE, Dr Guglielmo Verdirame University of Cambridge, Prof Nigel White University of Sheffield, Dr Ralph Wilde UCL, Elizabeth Wilmshurst Chatham House


All these legal experts are anti-Semitic as well.


UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Venezuela, Bolivia, Red Cross, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch all Anti-Semite?? Get a breath of reality!!!

The idea that the whole world is aligned against Israel is a freaking myth kept alive by the leaders of Israel to keep the backing of the people. The Us VS Them Syndrome. Nothing works better than to have people think that everyone is against them and they can only rely on themselves. It is unfortunately that attitude however which has brought them to where they are.




Self-defence is no defence
As more testimony emerges from the ruins of Gaza, evidence is stacking up that Israel has a war crimes case to answer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/21/gaza-humanrights



Israel wanted a humanitarian crisis
Targeting civilians was a deliberate part of this bid to humiliate Hamas and the Palestinians, and pulverise Gaza into chaos

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/20/gaza-israelandthepalestinians

The hypocrisy of the UN is that it repeatedly slams Israel
with questionable disproportionate allegations while ignoring or
glossing over the most brutal and obscene glaring crimes
against humanity such as bus and cafe bombings and
indiscriminate Hezbollah or Hamas rocket attacks. Eventually,
Israel is forced to defend herself and does so taking
every effort to protect human life.

There is no defending Brockmann.

'Why did he embrace Ahmadinejad?'



Israel's UN envoy upset at General Assembly president's speech, Ahmadinejad hug

Dana Zimmerman
Published: 09.25.08, 23:01 / Israel News

NEW YORK – Israel's new United Nations Ambassador, Professor Gabriella Shalev, is fuming. In a talk with Ynet, Shalev blasted UN General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, who hugged Iranian President Ahmadinejad following his anti-Semitic speech. Brockmann himself delivered an anti-American speech and also harshly criticized Israel.


"To my deep regret, in my first session representing Israel I was forced to hear d'Escoto and I found it hard to believe what I was hearing," she said. "In his speech, d'Escoto declared war on the United States and World Bank, and also dedicated a whole paragraph to Israel, saying that the UN's great failure is the fact that a Palestinian State was not established in 1947, as part of the partition plan."


"The man is known for his dislike for Israel, to put it mildly, and those who heard the speech could think that Israel is the most important country in the world, as if there are no other problems or hotbeds of terrorism in the world," Shalev said.


Israel's ambassador is also upset at d'Escoto's warm embrace of President Ahmadinejad.


"I heard that the Iranian president's address was followed by loud applause, and that d'Escoto warmly embraced him," she said.

more about Ahmadinejad's speech which prompted the warm
embrace:

Ahmadinejad's Speech To The U.N. Puts His Anti-Semitism On Full Display

New York, NY, September 23, 2008 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said today's speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the United Nations General Assembly "put his anti-Semitism on full display" and shows the true threat that the Iranian regime poses to the West.

In his speech, which concluded with a smattering of applause from U.N. delegates, Ahmadinejad accused "a small but deceitful number of people called Zionists" for dominating financial and political centers in Europe and the U.S. in "a deceitful, complex and furtive manner."

Mr. Ahmadinejad also used the platform afforded him at the U.N. to accuse Jews of playing an "underhanded" role in the crisis in Georgia, and to reiterate his call for the demise of the "Zionist regime" and the establishment of a Palestinian state in all of Israel.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has once again shown to the world the true threat the Iranian regime poses to Israel, the United States and the West.

It is clear that Ahmadinejad is deeply infected with anti-Semitism. His statements accusing Jews of dominating and controlling finance and government in the United States and Europe, and of working as a cabal to foment conflict around the world, echo the most infamous passages of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." These ideas are classic anti-Semitism by any measure, and President Ahmadinejad has put it on full display for the entire world to see.

While presenting the Islamic Republic of Iran as a beacon of moderation and justice and exhorting nations to aspire to higher values of justice and love, the Iranian regime rejects these very values in word and in deed. Iran's appalling record on human rights, its unrelenting pursuit of nuclear weapons, and its repeated calls for the downfall of the United States negate those values and promotes a culture of hate, not of love. With its oft-repeated calls for "death" to America and Israel, the Iranian regime promotes a culture of hatred for the West and a worldview that is hostile to all freedom-loving nations.

Nuclear weapons in the hands of this increasingly irrational and extremist regime would pose an unambiguous threat to the world. It is clear from Mr. Ahmadinejad's remarks that the Iranian regime has no intention to cooperate on any level with nuclear weapons inspectors, and will continue to do anything to promote its zealous pursuit of nuclear weapons and support for extremist ideology and groups.

....Then, Brockmann gives him a nice warm (((hug))).

Read it S l o w e r....

interesting

very interesting



not