U.N. Warns Israel of Human Rights Violations

The United Nations’ top human rights official warns that Israel’s action could lead to war crimes violations.

“The scale of killings in the region, and their predictability, could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position of command and control,” said Louise Arbour, the high commissioner for human rights. Ms. Arbour is a former justice of Canada’s Supreme Court who, as chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, indicted the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.

“International humanitarian law is clear on the supreme obligations to protect civilians during hostilities,’’ she said. That same obligation exists, she added, in international criminal law, which defines war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“Indiscriminate shelling of cities constitutes a foreseeable and unacceptable targeting of civilians,” she said in a statement released by her Geneva office. “Similarly, the bombardment of sites with alleged innocent civilians is unjustifiable.”

Well at least the U.N. recognizes that Hezbollah should be held to the same standards as Israel. However, the U.N. fails to recognize that Hezbollah, not Israel, indiscriminately fires rockets into Civilian populations. The U.N. also fails to realize that a Hezbollah fighter IS a civilian. He is not a member of a state military. So when one is killed it is easy for them to claim that he was a civilian and not a fighter. Lastly, the U.N. fails to realize that Hezbollah operates in civilian populated areas, using civilians as human shields. Civilian casualties, while an unfortunate side effect of war, are greatly increased when Hezbollah purposefully hides behind civilians.

Moreover, it is ironic that Israel goes out of its way to avoid civilian casualties, yet still gets criticized for human rights violations. Israel even drops leaflets warning the civilian population to take shelter or vacate an area before bombing. Israel does this, knowing full well that such action warns their opponents of an upcoming strike and gives them advanced notice to hide, or to set up counter-offensives. Yet Israel does this anyway. One day the U.N. (and the World) will realize that they are holding Israel to an impossible standard, one which no other country could, or even attempt to, attain.