This is the man, Danny Zamir, who was instrumental in IDF soliders coming forward to share their horrific stories over Gaza. And then he writes this offensive drivel in the Jerusalem Post: The guiding principle that directs IDF combat soldiers, both in their planning and conduct in combat, encompasses a balance between two needs: to…
Showing all posts tagged Hamas
Human rights justice for all
A necessary request from Israel’s leading human rights group, B’Tselem: B’Tselem welcomes the appointment of the jurist Richard Goldstone to head the fact-finding mission, called for by the UN Human Rights Council, to investigate the recent fighting in Gaza. Particularly welcome is the delegation’s mandate, which covers violations of international humanitarian law by both sides,…
Northern Ireland could be like Palestine
What’s the word for denying reality time after time after time? Upon the arrival of Sinn Fein President and Northern Irish Republican leader Gerry Adams into the Middle East, Israeli officials will give him the cold shoulder – “We expect all dignitaries who come here to make it clear that they will not dignify Hamas…
Time is running out for Israel to adapt
My latest column for New Matilda is about the realities facing the incoming Israeli government: The ground is slowly shifting in international attitudes towards Israeli policies. But the longer Israel delays changing direction, the fewer options it will have, writes Antony Loewenstein As the new Israeli Government under Benyamin Netanyahu begins its tenure, a small…
A perfectly healthy country
War crimes? What war crimes? Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit on Monday instructed the Military Police Investigation unit to close the investigation into soldiers’ accounts of alleged misconduct and serious violations of the army’s rules of engagement during Operation Cast Lead. In a press release issued Monday the army said that the preliminary…
Don’t think Obama doesn’t approve pounding Gaza
The latest Seymour Hersh article in the New Yorker focuses on the possible warming relationship between Syria and the West. But this paragraph stands out: The Obama transition team also helped persuade Israel to end the bombing of Gaza and to withdraw its ground troops before the Inauguration. According to the former senior intelligence official,…
Wishful thinking and hard facts
The New York Times editorialised yesterday that it hoped and prayed Israel’s new government was serious about peace. It surely knows the truth; namely that every single Israeli government for decades has continued to expand the illegal colonies in the occupied territories: If Mr. Netanyahu is serious about being a partner for peace, he will…
Getting hot through liberation
More rabid anti-Semites dare to criticise Israel’s “moral” war in Gaza: Israel‘s military fired white phosphorus over crowded areas of Gaza repeatedly and indiscriminately in its three-week war, killing and injuring civilians and committing war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. In a 71-page report, the rights group said the repeated use of air-burst white…
When human rights for all is deemed impossible
The Zionist establishment is fearful of the ever-growing campaign against Israeli human rights abuses: …The facts on the Middle East ground have put Israel’s advocates in a nearly untenable position. As Yossi Klein Halevi has often pointed out, both the settlement enterprise and the Oslo effort failed to achieve their fantastic goals. Now Hamas has…
From one stumble to another
Yossi Alpher, former adviser to Ehud Barak, recalls a conversation with outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert: I recall asking Olmert at a closed meeting about a year ago what his strategy was for dealing with Hamas in Gaza. His answer: well, now and again we close the crossings, we retaliate for rockets fired at us,…