"Israelis, too, were angry. After withdrawing from Gaza, they did not get peace but eight years of incessant rocket and mortar fire into Southern Israel. On the single day I spent in the Southern Israeli city of Sderot, three rockets landed. I wondered at the time how long Israel would put up with the situation, and I wondered, too, how long the world would do nothing. In the end, the world did nothing, so Israel did something. Doing nothing is the UN's version of passive aggressive behavior. It's not a war crime. It just produces them."
Waarom vraagt geen enkele journalist in Nederland zich dergelijke zaken af?
RP
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Israel's War Crimes?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/09/israels_war_crimes.html
Israel's War Crimes?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/09/israels_war_crimes.html
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not much of a public speaker, at least not in English, but what he had to say at the United Nations on Thursday was both sad and provocative. It was sad that any Israeli leader -- anyone, for that matter -- would find it necessary to bring to the rostrum proof that the Holocaust had happened and to rebuke those UN delegations that stayed in their seats for Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has asserted it had not.
But it was something else that Netanyahu said that I found provocative: the suggestion that under UN rules, both Roosevelt and Churchill would have been brought "to the dock as war criminals."
"What a perversion of truth," Netanyahu went on. "What a perversion of justice."
Is it? The possibility, I grant you, is jarring, but the fact remains that both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were complicit in the wholesale bombing of German cities in which no effort was made to spare civilian lives and, indeed, hundreds of thousands of them were killed. The two most famous examples are the fire bombings of first Hamburg and then Dresden with huge civilian losses.
But Netanyahu did not mention the most obvious example of a retroactive war crime, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There, too, civilians were the main target. He did not mention, either, the fire bombings of Tokyo, which resulted in a greater loss of life than Hiroshima.
Netanyahu's point is worth considering. In Gaza, Israel, as opposed to the United States and Britain in World War II, went out of its way to minimize civilian fatalities. That does not mean, as the UN Human Rights Council has alleged, that Israel (as well as Hamas) did not commit war crimes in Gaza, only that had it followed Harry Truman's logic in authorizing the atomic bombing of Japan, it would have relied almost exclusively on air power to pound Gaza into submission. That would have ended the rocket attacks into southern Israel and would not have cost Israel the life of a single soldier. As it was, Israel reported 10 soldiers killed (4 by friendly fire) and 336 wounded.
Clearly, standards of what constitutes a war crime have changed -- and a good thing, too. But what has not changed is anger and provocation. In World War II, Germany and Japan's bombing of population centers and their record of atrocities fueled a desire for payback. (The Russians excelled at this.) Truman had scant sympathy for Japanese civilians, but his first priority was to end the war and save American lives. He was, after all, the commander in chief. Still, you can imagine what various human rights groups would today say about the "disproportionate" use of force.
Israelis, too, were angry. After withdrawing from Gaza, they did not get peace but eight years of incessant rocket and mortar fire into Southern Israel. On the single day I spent in the Southern Israeli city of Sderot, three rockets landed. I wondered at the time how long Israel would put up with the situation, and I wondered, too, how long the world would do nothing. In the end, the world did nothing, so Israel did something. Doing nothing is the UN's version of passive aggressive behavior. It's not a war crime. It just produces them.
"What a perversion of truth," Netanyahu went on. "What a perversion of justice."
Is it? The possibility, I grant you, is jarring, but the fact remains that both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were complicit in the wholesale bombing of German cities in which no effort was made to spare civilian lives and, indeed, hundreds of thousands of them were killed. The two most famous examples are the fire bombings of first Hamburg and then Dresden with huge civilian losses.
But Netanyahu did not mention the most obvious example of a retroactive war crime, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There, too, civilians were the main target. He did not mention, either, the fire bombings of Tokyo, which resulted in a greater loss of life than Hiroshima.
Netanyahu's point is worth considering. In Gaza, Israel, as opposed to the United States and Britain in World War II, went out of its way to minimize civilian fatalities. That does not mean, as the UN Human Rights Council has alleged, that Israel (as well as Hamas) did not commit war crimes in Gaza, only that had it followed Harry Truman's logic in authorizing the atomic bombing of Japan, it would have relied almost exclusively on air power to pound Gaza into submission. That would have ended the rocket attacks into southern Israel and would not have cost Israel the life of a single soldier. As it was, Israel reported 10 soldiers killed (4 by friendly fire) and 336 wounded.
Clearly, standards of what constitutes a war crime have changed -- and a good thing, too. But what has not changed is anger and provocation. In World War II, Germany and Japan's bombing of population centers and their record of atrocities fueled a desire for payback. (The Russians excelled at this.) Truman had scant sympathy for Japanese civilians, but his first priority was to end the war and save American lives. He was, after all, the commander in chief. Still, you can imagine what various human rights groups would today say about the "disproportionate" use of force.
Israelis, too, were angry. After withdrawing from Gaza, they did not get peace but eight years of incessant rocket and mortar fire into Southern Israel. On the single day I spent in the Southern Israeli city of Sderot, three rockets landed. I wondered at the time how long Israel would put up with the situation, and I wondered, too, how long the world would do nothing. In the end, the world did nothing, so Israel did something. Doing nothing is the UN's version of passive aggressive behavior. It's not a war crime. It just produces them.
By Richard Cohen | September 25, 2009; 10:41 AM ET
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