Violations Affecting Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
War is like a football or basketball game.  There are actually rules and regulations today on what's allowed.

Where did Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committee and other resistance groups shoot from in Gaza?  They shot from their own densely populated areas into the civilian population centers in Israel.

Did they make any statements about what their aim was in doing this?  Yes, they stated clearly that harming Israeli civilians was their aim.

What they did was in direct violation to international law in the laws of War.  It's only taken the Human Rights Watch (HRW) about 12 years to make such a statement.  It was particularly noted during the recent "Pillar of Defense" attack of November 14-21, 2012,  in which the Palestinians are now taking so much credit and bragging rights for succeeding.

According to the laws of war summary, the Palestinians had placed their own population in grave risk by doing so which is an act that is condemned.

"Under International Humanitarian Law or the laws of war, civilians and civilian structures may not be subject to deliberate attacks or attacks that do not discriminate between civilians and military targets. Anyone who commits serious laws-of-war violations intentionally or recklessly is responsible for war crimes." (HRW)

Israel has been calling out for help about this ever since 2001 or earlier, but nothing has ever been said as condemnations of. the terrorists actions against Israel.   Now it's coming out that there is a prohibition of reprisal attacks against civilians regardless of attacks from the other side.  That's what's been happening between Gaza and Israel.  Israel has gone in to hit with precision the rocket launchers and their soldiers/terrorists manning them and then Gaza shoots rockets, missiles and mortars into a civilian population.

Israel was also in the wrong by attacking media facilities resulting in journalists being in harm's way according to HRW.  This was called a violation as they didn't say specifically that they were military targets and command centers for the terrorists; thus were not legitimate military targets.  They were in fact military facilities placed in these places that Israel knew of.  They  just didn't announce is early enough, though they did warn journalists and others to leave areas where military action was happening.  However, according to HRW, this was not a proven fact and that even though the TV and radio were cheering on the Palestinians, it was not a legitimate reason to attack them.

HRW is a Human Rights Watch and  is a nonprofit, non-governmental human rights organization started in 1978.   They will go to the UN to campaign for their decisions.  Their 280 staff members are country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics of diverse backgrounds and nationalities.  Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly.

Professor Gerald Steinberg, who received his doctorate at Cornell University in 1981, now at Bar Ilan University in Israel,   is an expert on international relations, law, and is a prolific writer.  One paper he wrote on February 26 of this year is about the Human Rights Watch's lost credibility.  He feels they have a consistent credibility gap between their universal moral objectives and the reality of its Middle East political agenda--including obsessive focus on Israel and their cooperation with dictatorships.  He's disappointed in that they haven't yet condemned the use of genocidal threats by the Iranian regime.

Perhaps Professor Steinberg's paper accelerated this HRW report to come out now.  I'm not sure.  If Steinberg watches and reports about HRW and HRW watches and reports on the ills of the world, it's all more than the UN is capable of doing.

 Resource:http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/12/24/gaza-palestinian-rockets-unlawfully-targeted-israeli-civilians
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/12/20/israelgaza-unlawful-israeli-attacks-palestinian-media
 http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=297107&rz=n_24dec12
http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~steing/index.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_M._Steinberg
Added 1/2/2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FWrQ7RXvWc&sns=em Testimony of how Israel put themselves in harm's way in order to protect civilians, (The Israeli army has backed the rights of civilians in a combat zone)
Update: 1/28/13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_war#Red_Cross.2C_Red_Crescent_and_the_white_flag

Differences Between Hamas and Israel's Democratic Government in Regards to Life

Nadene Goldfoot


Since the beginning of 2010, rockets have been flying into Israel from Gaza fired by Hamas terrorists. There has not been a month that goes by without rockets landing in civilian neighborhoods. That said," more than 11,000 patients with escorts have left the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Israel." This was in 2009. Usually Ashkelon's hospital receives them. By taking in the enemy, Israel is taking great risks, but being a humanitarian society, they have continued to do so.


"Israelis ask that Palestinians change cars at the border because cars had been rigged to explode. A woman on crutches was changing cars. She fell down. Three Israeli soldiers ran to help her get up. She blew herself up, killing the four of them. The Hamas government is preaching genocide of Israel, yet Israel is treating Gaza's sick."


180,000 Palestinians have been treated in 2010 in Israeli hospitals. Judea and Samaria also have their casualies and come to Israel for treatment. "To Israel, the answer to these questions is clear. According to its Division Medical Officer “The treatment of the Palestinian population is first and foremost a moral and professional obligation for every one of us. Do we treat them? There is no question about it. "

What does Hamas do? It has become their practice to target hospitals where Palestinians are being treated. Ashkelon's hospital has had to create a hospital underground in order to continue its work. Ashkelon's Barzilai Medical Center is Israel's front line hospital on the Gaza border. They have medical care for the surrounding 502 square miles with a 500 bed hospital and a level 2 trauma center. They target civilian towns such as nearby Sderot and schools and hospitals as well as anyplace within reach. Their reaches have been lengthening. 1600 Kassam missiles attacks happen each year since 2006. They have treated 1400 patients with acute and post traumatic stress disorders and diseases since then. Each year they admit 100,000 emergencies. They have 150% constant occupancy each year. Even their cafeteria has regularly been converted into hospital bed space. This is not unusual for Israel. In 1981 I was admitted into the army hospital in Haifa and had to be kept in the hallway immediately after surgery. There was no room for me then. The next day, I was brought to a ward with many women.

Robert Bernstein, founder of Human Rights Watch in 1978, commented "that it struck him as bizarre that in an asymmetric war of attrition, which we're still learning about how to fight, a nation cares for the sick of a neighbor that is preaching genocide to its people, and the only human rights comment has been that they are not doing it well enough. " Robert has spoken out criticizing the group he had founded.

Resource: http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=196646.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6883034.ece
http://haifadiarist.blogspot.com/2010/11/180000-palestinians-treated-in-israeli.html
http://www.mererhetoric.com/2009/01/03/israeli-hospitals-treating-wounded-palestinians-plus-hamas-unleashes-another-round-of-missiles-at-israeli-schools-and-hospitals/

Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon

Human Rights Watch Leader Joins Critics of Own Group Over Israel

Nadene Goldfoot

Robert L. Bernstein is the founder of Human Rights Watch and has been the chairman for the past 20 years. He finally stepped down from this responsibility in 1998 when it was active in 70 countries. Now he finds himself in the awkward position of having to publicly criticize it because of it's unfair attacks on Israel.

Israel is a country of 7.4 million. There are about 80 human rights organizations within it. They have a free press, a democratic government, a judiciary that often rules against the government so that they do have self criticism, a politically active academia, many many political parties and more jounalists per capita than any other country in the world. The journalists come there mainly to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Arab and Iranian regimes rule over 350 million people. They are still brutal, closed and autocratic, permitting little or no dissent. The plight of their citizens are being ignored by any human watch group as they are too busy trying to attack Israel. Hamas and Hezbollah are attacking Israel and are using their own people as human shields. They are supported by Iran who has declared its intention to destroy and murder Jews everywhere. Everyone knows that these terrorist groups chose to choose their war arena amongst dense populated areas on purpose. They don't care that this war deprives Palestinians of a peaceful life because it suits their purpose to gain sympathy and condemnation against Israel. Here we have Israel, the victim of aggression, being the ones that are criticized unfairly.

Members of Human Rights Watch are not out on the field to see which laws of war have been violated. They are relying on witnesses with unverifiable stories who testify for political advantage or because they fear retaliation from their own rulers. Col. Richard Kemp, an expert on warfare has said that the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. He is not being listened to by the Human Rights group.

People should understand that there is a difference between wrongs committed in self-defense and those perpetrated intentionally. This Goldstone report does not enforce the difference. As Kemp stated, Israel did their utmost to preserve life. It was to their advantage to not bring down attacks from the world on their course of action. Regardless, they are dammed nevertheless. Perhaps only army personnel in the world will see this fact. Knowing that their peer group understands is not changing the United Nations' verbal attack.

Reference: Robert L. Bernstein, former president and chief executive of Random House, former chairman of Human Right Watch from 1978 to 1998.

Lies From Palestinan Media Sympathizers: White Phosphorus Usage

Nadene Goldfoot

The Palestinian Hamas representatives are so good at relating false facts that are so contrary to reality of their purpose or history. Today a Palestinian professor from Bethlehem University was on KBOO, a Portland radio station, and was debating in some fashion a representative of our Portland Community who is supportive of Israel, Bob Horenstein. I heard such a distortion of history that it was appalling to me from this professor. I might add that Bob was not given any time for rebuttal of facts. Under these conditions, he did a terrific job.

In the same fashion, the Palestinians are bantering about another false claim. They are saying that Israel is using phosphorus in it's fight against Gaza terrorists. In truth, Hamas themselves have been using white phosphorus as a weapon against Israeli civilians during this conflict. On Tuesday, a mortar shell fired from Gaza into Israel contained white phosphorus.

A regional council's security chief said, "the potential danger of using such a rocket is enormous. It is far more dangerous than other Qassam rockets and mortal shells. This is an escalation in the type of explosives the Palestinians use on civilians. We challenge Human Rights Watch to condemn this attack in the same way it has falsely condemned Israel.

I won't wait for the international media such as organizations like Human Rights Watch who is always condemning Israel. Then media such as The Guardian, Times of London, Christian Science Monitor and CNN just repeat HRW's claims without really checking into the claims because they are into their "humanitarian focus" and condemn or even report this development against Israel. They seem to be in cahoots with the Palestinians and report biased information all the time.

Surprisingly, the International Red Cross is corroborating Israel's claims, and has stated that it had no evidence to suggest that white phosphorus is being used improperly or illegally by Israel. Israel does use it to create smoke or illuminate a target. It's not being used in any other way. This is a legitimate use under international law. It is not being used to burn down buildings or consciously put civilians at risk. The spokesman for the Red Cross was Peter Herby and he was telling the Associated Press. Thankfully, one person has the guts to be honest about what Israel is doing.

Reference: Honest Reporting UK Media "War Crimes" Phosphorus Charges Rebuked action@honestreporting.co.uk www.honestreporting.com