A view of the 2014 Hamas-Israel conflict you won’t hear from the BBC

Since covering the story of the resignation of William Schabas from the position of chair of the jaundiced UN HRC inquiry into the 2014 conflict between Hamas and Israel (see here and here), the BBC has dropped that story.

A house in Be'er Sheva after a missile hit on 13/7/14. Photo credit: IDF
A house in Be’er Sheva after a missile hit on 11 July 2014. Photo credit: IDF

One does not need a crystal ball in order to predict that the inquiry’s findings will be reported extensively when they are finally published. It remains to be seen whether or not the BBC will then finally get round to clarifying to its audiences that the mandate of the commission of inquiry set up by the UN HRC was biased and politically motivated by definition, with its start date defined as one day after the kidnapping and murders of three Israeli teenagers by a Hamas-funded terror cell and its geographic stipulations excluding “violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law” in Israel – such as missile fire at civilian targets.

“Decides to urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council, to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, in the context of the military operations conducted since 13 June 2014, whether before, during or after, to establish the facts and circumstances of such violations and of the crimes perpetrated and to identify those responsible, to make recommendations, in particular on accountability measures, all with a view to avoiding and ending impunity and ensuring that those responsible are held accountable, and on ways and means to protect civilians against any further assaults, and to report to the Council at its twenty-eighth session.” [emphasis added]

The deadline for submissions to the commission of inquiry was extended after Schabas’ resignation and one of the people to have submitted evidence is Colonel Richard Kemp CBE – formerly the commander of British forces in Afghanistan. Colonel Kemp’s professional view of the issue makes for fascinating reading, especially for anyone who got their news of the 2014 conflict exclusively from BBC reporters lacking military experience and expertise – such as Jeremy ‘I see no human shields’ Bowen.

A school in Rishon LeZion after a missile hit on 15 July 2014. Photo credit: IDF
A school in Rishon LeZion after a missile hit on 15 July 2014. Photo credit: IDF

“Much of the Hamas military infrastructure was located amongst the civilian population in Gaza. In these circumstances, neutralizing the threat from Hamas made civilian casualties unavoidable. Under the Laws of Armed Conflict this fact does not render such operations illegal assuming they were necessary. However the IDF had a duty to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilians and to ensure that operations were conducted in accordance with the principle of proportionality as well as necessity.

It is worth emphasizing that proportionality is not, as often believed by critics of Israel, a relationship between the numbers of casualties on either side in a conflict, but a calculation that considers whether the incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated in an attack. […]

Turning now to Hamas’s conduct in the 2014 conflict. During my time in Israel during this conflict I witnessed what I believe to be a series of war crimes and planned war crimes by Hamas and other Gaza groups, both by missile attack against civilians and by construction of attack tunnels from which to kill and abduct civilians. I am also aware of, but did not witness, Hamas and other groups’ use of their own civilian population as human shields. […]

I know of the deliberate policy of using human shields, including women and children, which is also a war crime, by both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. I am aware of this as a result of my previous British government work involving secret intelligence on these groups, from public statements made by the Hamas leadership on a number of occasions since the 2008-09 Gaza conflict, from media reports including film footage showing such action and statements by individuals forced to remain in declared target areas, from publication of training manuals found in Gaza by the IDF and from debriefing of IDF personnel and journalists. From the same sources I am also aware of Hamas’s use of buildings and vehicles protected under the Laws of Armed Conflict including schools, hospitals, UN buildings, mosques and ambulances. Use of such facilities for military purposes constitutes a war crime.”

Read Colonel Kemp’s entire submission here.  

 

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