With Blinders On

On the day when anti-Syrian minister Pierre Gemayel is assassinated by the usual suspects (pro-Syrian forces, Hizbullah, or Syrian assassins), the UN issues a report attacking Israel's use of cluster munitions and overall use of force in its conflict with Hizbullah fought in South Lebanon.

The report issued today by the United Nations investigators did not examine issues surrounding the 4,000 rockets that Hezbollah fired into Israel during the fighting, which lasted from July 12 to Aug. 14. A report by Amnesty International in September reckoned that those rocket attacks had killed 43 Israeli civilians, including 7 children, as well as 12 soldiers. Israeli officials have charged that some of the rockets fired by Hezbollah carried cluster munitions.

The United Nations investigators did consider Hezbollah’s actions within Lebanon, and said that there was “some evidence” that the Shiite militia used towns and villages as “shields.” But it said that this happened when most of the civilian population had left the area, and that there was no evidence of the use of “human shields.”

They also said they found no justification for what they said were 30 attacks by Israeli forces against positions of the United Nations peacekeeping force, including one strike that killed four U.N. soldiers.

The report quoted figures from the Lebanese government saying that the conflict killed 1,191 people, wounded 4,409 and drove more than 900,000 — about a quarter of the country’s population from their homes. It said that the attacks on the country’s infrastructure, including attacks on agriculture and tourism, would years to rebuild, even with international help.

The report doesn't address Hizbullah's use of cluster munitions. The report claims that Israel's assertions that Hizbullah's use of human shields to protect its assets from Israeli attack at the expense of killing civilians or UN observers was exaggerated. The report is so one-sided that it does nothing more than restate and reframe the position taken by Hizbullah or the jihadis who have been fighting a war against Israel since it was created in 1947.

Once again, the UN sides with the terrorist organization that launched a war from within the sovereign territory of Lebanon. The ultimate responsibility for the death and devastation belongs with Hizbullah. But for their initial attack killing Israeli soldiers and taking Goldwasser and Regev (who are still being held by Hizbullah), Israel would not have engaged in the use of force against Lebanon.

It's also curious that the Times report makes no mention of the million Israelis who were displaced by the fighting, or the heavy economic toll imposed on the Israeli economy as a result of the fighting both in Lebanon and against Palestinian terrorists who continue launching rockets of their own against Israel to this day.

Meanwhile, Meryl Yourish lets one UN flack have it with both barrels. This particular hack was touring Sderot which is the scene of daily kassam rocket attacks. Turns out he was present when a couple of rockets landed in town, seriously injuring one Israeli. And this hack has the temerity to state the following:

Arbour, a former Canadian Supreme Court justice and chief prosecutor for UN war crimes tribunals, said Israel “has a responsibility to defend its citizens, but has to do so only by legal means.”

“It has to do so in line with international law, including international humanitarian law, but it has a primary responsibility to protect people who are under its authorities.”

I would posit that there is absolutely no country on the planet that would tolerate daily rocket attacks from a foreign entity without taking serious military action into their hands. No country would tolerate an invasion that includes the death of its soldiers, and the capture of its soldiers who are then transported into a foreign country. No country would respond by calling up owners of homes next to weapons bunkers so that everyone and their grandmother knows not only that an attack is coming but where, when, and how to get the locals to head over as human shields. It would not include limited force against the terrorists and leave the leaders alone.

But as Meryl loves to point out, the world operates on Israeli double standard time, so what any other country would do in similar circumstances is moot. Israel has a right to defend itself, but it cannot take action in furtherance of its defense.

UPDATE:
I wrote the aforementioned post relying upon the New York Times. A curious thing happens when you refer to stories in other media outlets and compare them to the Times.

For example, the BBC wrote the following:

As well as highlighting the issue of cluster bombs, Amnesty found that Hezbollah hid Katyusha rockets among civilians and often fired them into Israel from the cover of civilian villages.

But researchers found no evidence that Hezbollah actually used civilians as human shields during the fighting.

There's nothing in the Times article mentioning that Amnesty found Hizbullah storing their rockets in and among civilian populations. Curious. Very curious. Now, the BBC story is bizarre in its own right as it is downright schizophrenic in trying to claim that the UN researchers found no evidence Hizbullah used human shields, but there are numerous and repeated reports that they did just that.

The Times omitted information that might show that the UN report was biased, as opposed to the BBC article which simply ignored its own reporting. Both are despicable.

Technorati: terrorism, nasrallah, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Regev, Goldwasser, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah, lebanon, syria.