FatalStrikes: Israel’s Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon

[leftchick]

HRW: Israel Guilty of War Crimes

Human Rights Watch, after extensive investigation, has concluded that the Israeli military is guilty of war crimes. HRW says:


Israeli forces have systematically failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians in their military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said in report released today. The pattern of attacks in more than 20 cases investigated by Human Rights Watch researchers in Lebanon indicates that the failures cannot be dismissed as mere accidents and cannot be blamed on wrongful Hezbollah practices. In some cases, these attacks constitute war crimes.

The 50-page report, “Fatal Strikes: Israel’s Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon,” analyzes almost two dozen cases of Israeli air and artillery attacks on civilian homes and vehicles. Of the 153 dead civilians named in the report, 63 are children. More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli fire since fighting began on July 12, most of them civilians.

“The pattern of attacks shows the Israeli military’s disturbing disregard for the lives of Lebanese civilians,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Our research shows that Israel’s claim that Hezbollah fighters are hiding among civilians does not explain, let alone justify, Israel’s indiscriminate warfare.”

<snip>

In one case, an Israeli air strike on July 13 destroyed the home of a cleric known to have sympathy for Hezbollah but who was not known to have taken any active part in the hostilities. Even if the IDF considered him a legitimate target (and Human Rights Watch has no evidence that he was), the strike killed him, his wife, their 10 children and the family’s Sri Lankan maid.


http://www.juancole.com/



An injured Lebanese boy Ali Ghoreib is attended to by a French paramedic before being flown on a French helicopter at Beirut port, August 3, 2006. Ali, 8, was hit during an Israeli air raid on Tyre, south Lebanon, last week. He will be flown to France for surgery. REUTERS/Jack Dabaghian (LEBANON)

[leftchick]

1. more horror

<snip>

On July 16, an Israeli aircraft fired on a civilian home in the village of Aitaroun, killing 11 members of the al-Akhrass family, among them seven Canadian-Lebanese dual nationals who were vacationing in the village when the war began. Human Rights Watch independently interviewed three villagers who vigorously denied that the family had any connection to Hezbollah. Among the victims were children aged one, three, five and seven.

The Israeli government has blamed Hezbollah for the high civilian casualty toll in Lebanon, insisting that Hezbollah fighters have hidden themselves and their weapons among the civilian population. However, in none of the cases of civilian deaths documented in the report is there evidence to suggest that Hezbollah was operating in or around the area during or prior to the attack. '

[madrchsod]

2. see that picture?

the boy is smiling. that means this boy isn`t really hurt and it`s just more propaganda from the lebanese government and the europeans. there`s no pictures of the brave Israeli citizens who have been holed up underground because of the ceaseless rocket fire from the hizbollah terrorists is there? ........but what about this

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/details_pop.aspx?iid=71505753&cdi=0
details_pop

and why is getty using this picture to show how the Israeli`s are weathering the storm?

why is the rabid right wing backing the israeli`s when every last one of them have been bigoted against the jews?

[Junkdrawer]

3. K&R