Amnesty International Report "Operation Cast Lead" - 22 days of death and destruction

coldstream

on dbl secret probation
Oct 19, 2005
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AI is objective and doesn't take sides

Bull. I used to respect Amnesty International until in placed the right to abortion, without restriction, criminal penalty, or economic impediment.. under the aegis of 'reproductive' or 'women's' rights.. as a central plank in its mission.

Now i know they support the same radically relativistic, individualistic, 'humanistic' (read that: 'post religious') ethos that is plunging the West into despair and dissolution. I don't trust anything they say, now.

As for Israel and Palestine, i have simply given up on casting blame on either side. This has gone on for millenia, one provisional occupation after another, using any brutal means to sustain its rule, in a land that sheds all permanent claims.

Israel should take note that none has ever lasted, and its claim to divine providence and destiny is not new either. Its time will come, the worm will turn.
 
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einmensch

Electoral Member
Mar 1, 2008
937
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You start with BS......no surprize there....read and learn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Line_(Lebanon)

Israel recognizes the UN mandated border of Lebanon and occupies NO PART of that nation. Full stop.

The Sheba Farms, a small tract of land in the north of Israel, is Lebanese territory, according to an expert UN cartographer, Israel Radio reported Wednesday, quoting an unnamed official in Jerusalem.

colby- ripe old cheese
 

earth_as_one

Time Out
Jan 5, 2006
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Bull. I used to respect Amnesty International until in placed the right to abortion, without restriction, criminal penalty, or economic impediment.. under the aegis of 'reproductive' or 'women's' rights.. as a central plank in its mission.

Now i know they support the same radically relativistic, individualistic, 'humanistic' (read that: 'post religious') ethos that is plunging the West into despair and dissolution. I don't trust anything they say, now...

AI regarding abortion:
Support women who seek a safe, early medical termination of pregnancy in cases of rape, incest or when a woman's life or health is at grave risk. Urge governments to make medical care available to women who suffer complications from unsafe abortions; Oppose imprisonment and other criminal penalties for abortion against women and their providers.
As a result you don't trust them? I can't follow that reasoning. Are you saying that their position regarding abortion indicates that they are untruthful and deceptive? Or just because you disagree with them on a single issue, you consider everything they report to be lies and misinformation. That defies common sense. Why can't you consider what they report to be objective despite your disgreement with them regarding abortion?

...As for Israel and Palestine, i have simply given up on casting blame on either side. This has gone on for millenia, one provisional occupation after another, using any brutal means to sustain its rule, in a land that sheds all permanent claims.

Israel should take note that none has ever lasted, and its claim to divine providence and destiny is not new either. Its time will come, the worm will turn
It may seem like a millenia, but this area was a peaceful part of the Ottoman rule for 400 years. That changed after WW I when the British took control. As Zionist Jews immigrated to this area, they displaced the local people. Sometimes legally through land purchases, sometimes illegally by violence. Jewish refugees fleeing the horrors of Nazi Europe accelerated the process. By the end of WW II, Palestinians were surrounded by hostile armed immigrants. The sporadic violence became an ethnic cleansing war in 1947-48 and the area has been in constant state of war ever since.

Now its the Palestinians who suffer horrifically. Most live in refugee camps outside Palestine or concentration camps inside Israel and the occupied territories. Gaza now resembles the Warsaw Ghetto:

Two British MPs compare Gaza Strip to Warsaw ghetto

By The Associated Press

LONDON - Two lawmakers who recently returned from Israel compared Palestinian living conditions in the Gaza Strip to those of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Advertisement

Legislator Oona King of the governing Labor Party said Thursday that the Gaza conditions are "the same in nature but not extent" as the notorious walled ghetto in Poland's capital, where Jews were corralled and oppressed by Adolf Hitler's Nazis...

Two British MPs compare Gaza Strip to Warsaw ghetto - Haaretz - Israel News

Gaza or Warsaw? UCSB professor says both are the same

University of California at Santa-Barbara professor probed for comparing Israeli policy to the Holocaust in controversial email

Ryan Simmons

A Jewish sociology professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) is being investigated for academic misconduct after he sent an e-mail message to 80 students comparing Israel’s offensive in Gaza to the Holocaust...

Gaza or Warsaw? UCSB professor says both are the same - Collegenews.

The email was based on this adbusters article:

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES
https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/83/gaza.html?page=4

The situation and images from both Gaza 2009 and Warsaw 1940 are disturbingly similar.

Even officials from the Vatican are calling Gaza a concentration camp.

Vatican cardinal calls Gaza "big concentration camp"

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict's point man for justice and peace issues on Wednesday issued the Vatican's toughest criticism of Israel since the latest Mideast crisis began, calling Gaza a "big concentration camp."
Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, made his comments in an interview in the Italian online newspaper Il Sussidiario.net.

"Defenceless populations are always the ones who pay. Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp," Martino, whose informal title is Vatican "justice minister," was quoted as saying...



Concentration Camp:
  1. A camp where civilians, enemy aliens, political prisoners, and sometimes prisoners of war are detained and confined, typically under harsh conditions.
  2. A place or situation characterized by extremely harsh conditions.
Pretty much sums up Gaza...

International Committee of the Red Cross
June 2009
Gaza: 1.5 million people trapped in despair
 
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Colpy

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 5, 2005
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The Sheba Farms, a small tract of land in the north of Israel, is Lebanese territory, according to an expert UN cartographer, Israel Radio reported Wednesday, quoting an unnamed official in Jerusalem.

colby- ripe old cheese

Ahhh yes, the denier speaks with the voice of Hezbollah.

Are we suprized???

First of all, the Shebaa Farms is a very small area, hardly worth thousands of deaths.

Secondly, the UN has affirmed and verified Israel's FULL withdrawal from Lebanon.

Thirdly, and most importantly.....the Shebaa Farms were NEVER part of Lebanon, they were part of SYRIA!!!!!

Try and get you facts straight....

And I know you are disappointed, but the Jews have learned their lesson, and are never again going to peaceably line up for their own murder. Deal with it.
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
32,493
210
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In the bush near Sudbury
The Sheba Farms, a small tract of land in the north of Israel, is Lebanese territory, according to an expert UN cartographer, Israel Radio reported Wednesday, quoting an unnamed official in Jerusalem.

colby- ripe old cheese

...according to an expert UN cartographer (does this cartie have a name?)

...quoting an unnamed official

You give that credibility?

According to a friend, the Volkswagen came with a 426 street hemi.....
 

#juan

Hall of Fame Member
Aug 30, 2005
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...according to an expert UN cartographer (does this cartie have a name?)

...quoting an unnamed official

You give that credibility?

According to a friend, the Volkswagen came with a 426 street hemi.....

I remember it well. The venerable Volkswagen 426. It was a little heavy in the rear and as I recall it had serious oversteer problems. Under maximum acceleration the front wheels would lift off the ground giving you major control problems...:lol::roll:
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
32,493
210
63
In the bush near Sudbury
I remember it well. The venerable Volkswagen 426. It was a little heavy in the rear and as I recall it had serious oversteer problems. Under maximum acceleration the front wheels would lift off the ground giving you major control problems...:lol::roll:

...but, by gar, if you could launch her equal on both sides couldn't she squash a Cobra.....
 

#juan

Hall of Fame Member
Aug 30, 2005
18,326
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...but, by gar, if you could launch her equal on both sides couldn't she squash a Cobra.....

She sure could. That car did well in races but I think it was a matter of other drivers just getting the hell out of the way..;-)
 

#juan

Hall of Fame Member
Aug 30, 2005
18,326
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I'll stop here we are kind of hijacking a perfectly good topic.
 

coldstream

on dbl secret probation
Oct 19, 2005
5,160
27
48
Chillliwack, BC
AI regarding abortion:

As a result you don't trust them? I can't follow that reasoning. Are you saying that their position regarding abortion indicates that they are untruthful and deceptive? Or just because you disagree with them on a single issue, you consider everything they report to be lies and misinformation. That defies common sense. Why can't you consider what they report to be objective despite your disgreement with them regarding abortion?

This specific issue is one that goes to the core of moral principle. I won't support them because by defining abortion, the killing of the most vulnerable of our society, under a contrived rationale of 'reproductive rights', they have lost all integrity and consistency in their humane advocacy.


It may seem like a millenia, but this area was a peaceful part of the Ottoman rule for 400 years. That changed after WW I when the British took control. As Zionist Jews immigrated to this area, they displaced the local people. Sometimes legally through land purchases, sometimes illegally by violence. Jewish refugees fleeing the horrors of Nazi Europe accelerated the process. By the end of WW II, Palestinians were surrounded by hostile armed immigrants. The sporadic violence became an ethnic cleansing war in 1947-48 and the area has been in constant state of war ever since.

Now its the Palestinians who suffer horrifically. Most live in refugee camps outside Palestine or concentration camps inside Israel and the occupied territories. Gaza now resembles the Warsaw Ghetto:


No it is Millenia. Greater Israel's claims go back the Conquests of King David, with it brutal genocide against other claimants to the lands on either side of the Jordon. The Ottoman Turks had their own reputation for brutality in retaining control of their empire, which finally collapsed from internal corruption and Western (specifically Anglo American) aspirations and designs for the the oil resources of the Middle East. The incorporation of the State of Israel in 1948, is the latest, and will not be the last, in the claimants to the Holy Land as their's and their's alone.
 

earth_as_one

Time Out
Jan 5, 2006
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I'll stop here we are kind of hijacking a perfectly good topic.
I'm sure that was an accident.

People say "Never Again!" regarding the holocaust and other genocidal events. But what's going on in Israel and the occupied territories isn't that diffferent from these other events. By ignoring the suffering of millions of Palestinians, we aren't that different from Germans during the 1930's who knew what was happening to their Jewish neighbors and did nothing. Its not that different from ignoring what happened in Rwanda during the 1990's. It barely made the news at the time and for the most part people ignored it. It wasn't until after the tragedy ran its course and having an opinion didn't make a difference, that people became outraged. Its just like ignoring what's going on in Darfur.

When these horrific events happen, we consistently ignore them at the time. Its only years later, when it becomes trendy to be outraged, long after it ceases to be relevant that people say "Never Again!"

In the case of Rwanda and Darfur, Canadians for the most part are at least sympathetic to the suffering and opposed to those who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.

But this conflict is different. Canada's PM has expressed our unshakable support for Israel. I think its important to know what we are supporting.

Just 9 months ago:
Israeli forces were responsible for 1,387-1,417 deaths, most of whom were civilians.

Israeli forces deliberately attacked Palestinian civilians, civilian infrastructure and buildings in violation of international law.

Among Israel's deliberate targets were UN shelters filled with women and children, hospitals, ambulances and police stations. In all but one case, these attacks did not pursue any justifiable military target.

Israeli forces used chemical weapons, heavy artillery and flechettes recklessly in densely populated areas in violation of international law.

Israeli forces deliberately attacked unarmed civilians carrying white flags, directed civilians to take shelter in buildings which were subsequently bombed and many other examples of direct targeting and arbitrary killing of unarmed civilians. Israeli forces deliberately destroyed industrial infrastructure, food production, sewage and water treatment facilities. They also wantonly bulldozed farms and buildings for livestock not justified by any military objective or necessity. They also systematically leveled many residential areas completely absent of any military objective or any link to combat activity.

Detained Palestinian civilians were subjected to humiliation, physical and mental abuse. Detained civilans including women and children were held in degrading conditions and deprived of food, water or access to sanitary facilities and exposed to the elements without shelter for extended periods of time. Israeli forces interrogated civilians under threat of death or injury to extract information about Palestinian combatants.

Israeli soldiers used Palestinian civilians as human shields. Detained civilians were positioned in front of Israeli tank and artillery positions as they fired on Palestinian combatants. Israeli soldiers forced Palestinian civilians to walk in front of them as they actively engaged Palestinian combatants.

Read the details of the UN's report here:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/015/2009/en/8f299083-9a74-4853-860f-0563725e633a/mde150152009en.pdf

The above report more or less confirms everything reported by Amnesty International earlier this year:

Amnesty International
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/a...a74-4853-860f-0563725e633a/mde150152009en.pdf

And it hasn't stopped. Millions of Palestinians continue to suffer Canadian supported oppression and injustice. With the full support of our government, Israel denies food, clean water, medicine and building materials to 1.4 million people. As a result these people suffer disease and malnutrition as reported recently by the Red Cross:

http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/palestine-report-260609

Until Harper became PM, Canada's leaders tried to maintain at least an appearance of neutrality. But now our country supports whatever Israel does. When they commit horrendous war crimes, our news and leaders don't say a word. When Canadians learn about these horrendous war crimes, we react much the same way as Germans did during the 1930's. We pretend it isn't happening, put it out of our minds by talking about the trivial.

Each day, fewer and fewer people are buying what Israel is selling. Eventually Israel's cruelty will be seen clearly. Probably long after it ceases to make a difference. People will claim to be shocked and outraged.

But anyone who reads this post won't be able to claim ignorance....
 

ironsides

Executive Branch Member
Feb 13, 2009
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Could it be that people just don't see the situation your way, most of us see Israel as a tiny nation in the middle of millions of people trying to rub her off the map. Israel is just defending herself, no differently than those trying to kill her. Israel's retaliation is no more or no less than her enemies, just more accurate. Amnesty International has never been on the side of Israel from the beginning.
 

ironsides

Executive Branch Member
Feb 13, 2009
8,583
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Amnesty International's Report regarding Israel's "Cast Lead" operation in Gaza from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009. At the time of the operation, our airwaves were filled with misinformation regarding this conflict. AI is objective and doesn't take sides. They don't hold back and like a referee they call it as they see it. If you really what to know what happened, rather than just what the news reported, read this report.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/a...a74-4853-860f-0563725e633a/mde150152009en.pdf


Israel: UN war crimes probe gives legitimacy to Hamas terror.

"A UN investigation led by former South African judge Richard Goldstone accused Israel of "war crimes and possible crimes against humanity" in its 33-day Gaza Strip campaign against Hamas which ended late January."

DEBKAfile - Israel: UN war crimes probe gives legitimacy to Hamas terror


The investigators had Israel accused and convicted before they left. Why do people forget that Palestinians fired missiles into Israel for eight years before Israel struck Gaza.

From another reliable source like A.I.
 

earth_as_one

Time Out
Jan 5, 2006
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...The investigators had Israel accused and convicted before they left....

You believe Israel has been unfairly accused of war crimes. OK, lets look at individual events from these reports.

Here is one example of Israel using civilians as human shields:
...1111. At around 10 p.m., all of the men were handcuffed behind their backs with plastic restraints and blindfolded. The men, 11 women and at least seven children below the age of 14 were taken on foot to al-Kaklouk located south of the American School, one to two kilometres away. Many of the men remained in their underwear, exposed to the harsh winter weather.552 Al-Kaklouk is very close to Israeli military artillery and tank positions, and while the detainees were held here at least one tank was engaged in frequent firing.

1112. AD/01 told the Mission that, on arrival at al-Kaklouk, everyone was asked to clamber down into trenches, which had been dug to create a pit surrounded by a wall of sand, about three metres high. There were three such pits, each of which was surrounded by barbed wire. They were estimated to cover about 7,000 square metres (“six or seven donums”) each. AD/01 described how they were assembled in long single files, rather than massed together, and held in these pits, in the open air and exposed to cold temperatures for three days (till 8 January). Each pit accommodated approximately 20 people. They were forced to sit in stress positions, on their knees and leaning forward keeping their heads down. They were monitored by soldiers and were not allowed to communicate with each other. They had no access to food or water on the first day of their internment, and were given a sip of water and an olive each to eat on the second and third days of their detention (6 and 7 January). They had limited access to toilet facilities. The men had to wait for two to three hours after asking before they were allowed to leave the pits to relieve themselves and sometimes were able to remove their blindfolds for the purpose. A few ofthem were told to relieve themselves inside the pit, behind a small mount of sand. They stated that it was culturally too difficult for the women to seek permission to relieve themselves and they did not ask.

1113. AD/01 states that some tanks were inside the pit with at least one tank positioned at the eastern end.553 While the people were held there, the tank facing inland each day sporadically fired on the houses along the road opposite the site....

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf
Please defend Israel's use of starving children restrained in stress positions next to a tank while it engages the enemy. The UN report classifies this action as a war crime. Do you believe that is an unfair assessment? If so please defend this practice. Should all nations be allowed to treat children this way or just Israel?

An example of Israel using chemical weapons against children:
...Matar’s mother, Nabila Abu Halima, told Amnesty International: “After Sabah’s house was shelled I ran over there. She was on fire and was holding her baby girl Shahed, who was completely burned. Her husband and some of the children were dead and others were burning. Ambulances could not come because the area was surrounded by the Israeli army. We put some of the injured in a wagon tied to the tractor to take them to hospital. My nephew Muhammad (Sabah’s son) picked up his wife, Ghada, who was burning all over her body, and I took her little girl, Farah, who was also on fire...
The UN judged that Israel's use of White Phosphorus against civilians was a war crime. How do you feel about burning children alive with chemical weapons? Is that a war crime?

...on 4 January, Israeli soldiers ordered over 100 Palestinians into a single house in the al Zaytoun area of Gaza City, allegedly warning them to stay indoors. Approximately 24 hours later, Israeli forces reportedly shelled the house repeatedly, killing 23. Some of those who survived the attack walked 2 kilometres to a busy road in Gaza City, where they were able to find transportation in civilian vehicles to hospital...

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/a...a74-4853-860f-0563725e633a/mde150152009en.pdf
I think crowding 100 men, women and children into a small building and then exterminating them is a war crime. Would you please defend Israel's actions in this case.

We can also go through all the well documented cases where Israeli soldiers gunned down unarmed women and children fleeing for their lives as they carried white flags.

If you can't defend these actions then please admit the above are examples of war crimes.

If you like we can go through every case. There are several hundred more documented incidents just like the above which are the basis of UN and Amnesty International assertions that Israel committed war crimes nine months ago.

I'll even help you. You can read testimonies of Israeli soldiers from this operation here:
http://www.shovrimshtika.org/oferet/testimonies_category_e.asp

The impression I got from their testimonies is that they came to Gaza ready for a fight and encountered little to no resistance. After a few days of boredom and watching Israeli planes blow stuff up from a distance they became bored and starting randomly blowing stuff up and killing people to pass the time.

For example:

...There were armored vehicles roaming around the area, beneath the homes for twenty four hours a day, and simply waiting for children to climb onto them and try to take them over and then we were to shoot them. We had observation stations in homes in the Casba and the armored vehicles were on the street below us. They were moving all the time.

We were told specifically that we were just waiting for somebody to try to get on one of the armored vehicles. Our instructions were to shoot to kill. We soon understood that we weren't going to find any armed men in this story because armed men don't come out when there are so many armored vehicles around. They were looking for children...

http://www.shovrimshtika.org/press_item_e.asp?id=39

...over time the soldiers tend to get bored, they become numb to the situation around them. "Eight hours on eight hours off, you start to get bored so you begin to make things a game" he says. "You start to aim your rifle at kids and see them through the scope of your rifle and take a picture. Then you aim at your friends and take a picture. The rifle is no longer a killing machine, the rifle becomes a part of your game, the way to pass on time."...

http://www.shovrimshtika.org/press_item_e.asp?id=17
 
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