Israel’s response to OHCHR press briefing

(Communicated by the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations in Geneva)

14 July 2014

I have read the OHCHR press briefing from Friday, 11 July 2014, and I reject it outright.

I read it with a magnifying glass, looking for any combination of the words "Hamas" and "condemn". I have failed to find it. In the efforts to safeguard the human rights of Israelis, the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights and her Office have failed dismally.

The clarity of her message to Israel is in sharp contrast to the opaqueness of her message to Hamas. She has put to shame George Orwell’s doublespeak. She refused, over and over, to acknowledge the fact that Hamas is committing a double war crime: targeting Israeli civilians while hiding behind Palestinian civilians. Israel, on the other hand, is taking measures to avoid harming innocent civilians and to minimize casualties. Hamas exploits Israel’s policy by instructing its population to act as human shields for its arsenal of deadly missiles and for its leaders and terrorists.

I react with total disbelief to the High Commissioner of Human Rights’ call made to "leaders on all sides" to "abandon their poisonous rhetoric". Israel acted with utmost restraint when rockets started to rain on its cities and villages following the abduction and killing of Eyal, Gil-ad and Naftali, on June 12. Furthermore, Israeli leaders have condemned the murder of Muhammad Abu Khder and the suspects to the murder have already been arrested and await trial.

And Hamas? Where is Hamas’ condemnation of the perpetrators? Am I deaf? I cannot hear strong voices of empathy and condolences to the families of the youths, or condemnation of the deed itself. I believe I have perfect hearing, yet I hear nothing. I only hear Hamas celebrating the landing of missiles on the homes of Israeli civilians.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is misguided. The High Commissioner has lost her bearings. Focusing her criticism on Israel is wrong, biased, unjustifiable and, ultimately, unhelpful. If she actually wanted to be helpful in this situation, she would have condemned Hamas in the strongest manner.

So, once again, let me make the realities on the ground crystal clear:

Hamas – an internationally recognized terrorist organization – deliberately embeds its military operations deep in residential areas, and exploits its own civilian population as human shields. These actions are war crimes. Many of Hamas' commanders use their own homes for military purposes – including weapons storage, command and control centers and military communications. In videos uploaded to the IDF's YouTube channel, secondary explosions can be seen following IDF attacks on some of these houses – clearly indicating their military use. Under international law, when the exploitation of residential houses makes an effective contribution to Hamas' military actions, these buildings clearly become legitimate military targets. 

When attacking these lawful targets, the IDF makes every effort to ensure such attacks are proportionate and to minimize any unavoidable civilian harm. The IDF has no desire to harm civilians, and is acting solely to weaken Hamas terrorist infrastructure and safeguard our civilians.  

The IDF conducts its operations in full accordance with international law. IDF commanders are trained in international law and legal advisors are embedded at the highest level of the chain of command. The IDF employs a range of tools – including distributing flyers, personalized phone calls and text messages – to warn people in the vicinity of an impending attack. 

Instead of raising doubts regarding Israel's commitment to the rule of law, the High Commissioner and her Office should be questioning why Hamas deliberately embeds its military operations in residential homes and civilian areas. A terrorist organization that uses its civilian population as human shields, and deliberately fires at the Israeli civilian population, is conducting war crimes – and should be denounced for doing so.

I believe the High Commissioner’s concerns for the implementation of Israel’s ‘Operation Protective Edge’ have been fully answered. Her responsibility now is to condemn Hamas and to call on President Abbas to dissolve the Fatah-Hamas “unity government” pact, as well as to support Israel’s right to defend itself.

This is the only way to achieve peace in our region.

Houses Hit in Gaza Used For Military Purposes

Throughout the initial stages of Operation "Protective Edge" – initiated in order to restore security to Israel's civilian population under constant rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip – the IDF struck a number of houses throughout the Gaza Strip belonging to Hamas operatives used for military purposes.

Hamas conducts its military activities deep within residential areas in the Gaza Strip. By doing so, Hamas exploits the IDF's desire and efforts to avoid harm to the Palestinian civilian population. In many cases, Hamas uses its commanders' own homes, where their families and other civilians may be residing, for military purposes. These houses may be used for activities such as weapons storage, command and control centers and communications. The cynical use of such homes can be seen in the following video, where a secondary explosion can be identified as the result of the detonation of weapons stored under the building: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5KJ3WMxArk&app=desktop

When such houses are used for military purposes, they may become legitimate military targets under international law. The IDF only aims its attacks against legitimate military targets as defined under the relevant rules of international law. In order to accurately determine military targets, the IDF employs advanced methods, including multiple levels of intelligence, the provision of legal advice and extensive prior training provided to operational commanders.

Even where a house is considered a lawful military target, the IDF takes great efforts to minimize any potential harm to the surrounding civilian population. It does so by using tools that may be available at the time, such as real time visual coverage in order to assess the civilian presence at the time of the attack, by carefully choosing weaponry and ammunition which will help to minimize any harm caused and by providing advance warnings in certain instances. Many of the IDF's efforts in this regard go over and above its legal obligations and the accepted practice of other militaries conducting hostilities in urban areas. Unfortunately, many of the IDF's attempts to provide advance warning are exploited by Hamas, who uses civilians as human shields in order to deter attacks.

Further, where a commander determines that an attack is expected to cause collateral damage which would be excessive in relation to the military advantage anticipated, the attack will not be carried out.

Nevertheless, regrettably, the IDF cannot guarantee that no civilian harm at all will be caused during its operations. When terrorist organizations such as Hamas deliberately use civilian homes for terrorist purposes, it is unavoidable that some civilians will be harmed when the IDF acts against these targets. Unfortunately, Hamas exploits such instances to claim that the IDF deliberately seeks to harm the civilian population in the Gaza Strip – but fails to acknowledge that it has intentionally put these citizens in grave danger by masking their terrorist activities behind a civilian veil.

The IDF is continuing to conduct its operations in full accordance with international law – including by only attacking legitimate military targets, and will continue its efforts to minimize the harm to the civilian population. In contrast, Hamas deliberately and constantly fires indiscriminately towards Israel's civilian population, and celebrates when Israel's civilians are harmed. These actions constitute the most heinous war crimes. The IDF will continue to defend its citizens from such terrorist activity.

"Protective Edge" Videos

Example of "roof Knocking" technique to minimize civilian casualties. Also, in this video you can see civilians surging onto the home that had just be warned to act as human shields.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTArVIHDelg&feature=share&list=PLObnKQho8o8PNUxfldeGNOsDFdazchJH8&index=9

 

Hamas Spokesman admits and calls for more human shields:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXZEzbT0H1s&feature=share&list=PLObnKQho8o8PNUxfldeGNOsDFdazchJH8&index=11

Example of an IDF aircraft pinpoint strike on a weapons cache embedded in within a civilian area. A large secondary blast reveals there was a lot of weaponry hidden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ayyXgRVWHk&feature=share&list=PLObnKQho8o8PNUxfldeGNOsDFdazchJH8&index=12

Article about Hamas' use of Human shields

http://www.idfblog.com/blog/2014/07/08/hamas-uses-human-shields/

IDF Strikes Houses in Gaza Used for Military Purposes

IDF Strikes Houses in Gaza Used for Military Purposes . It exceeds its international legal commitments  in order to minimize civilian casualties

Israel's Response to Hamas Rocket Attacks

Talking points for use in the present crisis:

·       Israel has every right to defend itself and has the duty to protect its civilian population under attack according to international law

·       Hamas bears responsibility for the escalation. 

·       Hamas and the terrorist organizations deliberately target Israeli civilians  and cynically use Palestinian civilians as human shield, which is clearly against international law.

·       There is clear evidence that Hamas is calling on Palestinian civilians to serve as human shields for its terrorist infrastructure.  

·       Hamas is similar to other extremist Islamist organizations such as ISIS and al-Qaeda. 

·       Israel showed great restraint during the past three weeks of continuous rocket fire from Gaza and made every attempt to avoid escalation, only to be met by further barrages. 

·       Israel is making every effort to avoid causing harm to genuine civilians, phoning them, texting them before an attack.

·       Israel cannot tolerate a situation in which millions of its citizens are forced to live under a barrage of missiles.  

·       The main objective of the operation is to restore stability and quiet to the residents of Israel.

·       Israel’s actions are measured and directed at the missile launchers and the terror infrastructure. 

·       Israel left the Gaza Strip completely in August 2005 and does not have any territorial claims there.  

·       There is no blockade of the Gaza Strip: goods enter and exit the Gaza Strip freely as long as Hamas rocket fire doesn’t prevent it.

 

 

 

 

Operation Protective Edge - Background

(With thanks to the Israel Project)

In addition to demanding all sorts of concessions from Israel - prisoner releases, lifting restrictions on Gaza, etc - Hamas has also in the last 48 hours demanded a bunch of non-starters from Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. Just in the last 48 hours, they've demanded, as part of a ceasefire:

(1) That Palestinian Authority transfers money to pay for Hamas government employees, which wasn't happening when the Fatah/Hamas unity govt was stable, and definitely won't happen now.  http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.603649

(2) That Egypt ease movement through the Egyptian-Gaza border, which is a non-starter because the Egyptians fear that jihadists will use the transit in and out of the Sinai Peninsula. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4539644,00.html

(3) That Israel fully lift security-based import/export restrictions on the Gaza Strip, which is a non-starter as long as Iran continues trying to deliver advanced missiles to Hamas.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4539644,00.html

(4) That Israel release a bunch of prisoners arrested after the murder of the three Israeli teens, which the Israelis won't do because they're seeking to deter future kidnappings/murders.  http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=710735

Just to be clear and explicit about how insane this is: Hamas has declared they'll keep firing on Israeli civilians until Cairo and Ramallah make a bunch of concessions to them, which Israel has no power over.

Even if those demands weren't non-starters - and they are - how could Netanyahu going to convince Sisi to let jihadists into the Sinai, or convince Abbas to release precious PA funds to his rivals in Hamas?

Sderot Under Fire Again

Yet again the reality of life for the residents of Sderot and other communities in the South  of Israel