The Time for Symbolic Condemnation of Israel Is Over

Rasa - Human rights advocates like Amnesty International are doing the right thing to urge the international civil society to act concretely and stop the delivery of arms and military equipment to Israel.

News ID: 437461

Date: 02 May 2018 - 22:11

RNA - The human rights advocates are demanding an immediate worldwide arms embargo in response to Israel's "unlawful use of force.” Politicians, international law experts and others have also joined forces, fiercely condemning Israel’s use of live ammunition on unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza. Likewise, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein,  has called for independent investigations into Israel's use of force, emphasizing that "the loss of life is deplorable, and the staggering number of injuries caused by live ammunition only confirms the sense that excessive force has been used against demonstrators - not once, not twice, but repeatedly."

In other words, the time for symbolic statements of condemnation is now over:

1- Despite all this international condemnation, the Israeli army has not reversed its illegal orders to shoot unarmed protesters. The international community must act concretely and stop the delivery of arms and military equipment to Israel. A failure to do so will continue to fuel serious human rights abuses against thousands of men, women, and children suffering the consequences of life under Israel's cruel blockade of Gaza:

2- The Israeli army is not just killing Palestinian protesters. It is also killing international journalists. The idea is to ensure that the Palestinian story is not told to the world and to tell Palestinians themselves that no one is safe – that being a journalist in Gaza only means death. Two Palestinian journalists - Ahmad Abu Hussein and Yasser Mourtaja – were shot to death by Israeli snipers while covering the Great March of Return demonstrations, a series of weekly, massive Palestinian demonstrations demanding the right to return to their lands. The organization Reporters Sans Frontieres asserts that the Israeli Occupying Forces’ targeting of journalists was deliberate and systemic - in direct violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2222.

3- The Israeli army is also killing women and children. The use of excessive force against any demonstrator is reprehensible, and children enjoy additional protection under International Law. It is difficult to see how children, even those throwing stones, can present a threat of imminent death or serious injury to heavily protected security force personnel. According to rights groups, reporters, and the UN, a dozen of Palestinian children are among the more than 40 people who have been killed by the Israeli forces since the protests started on 30 March.

4- Israel is also carrying out a murderous assault against protesting Palestinians, with its armed forces killing and maiming peaceful demonstrators who pose no imminent threat to them. The Israeli military has also injured more than 5,500 Palestinians - with deliberately inflicted life-changing injuries. Israel is doing so because it has access to international arms and funds. This is yet another reason why governments worldwide must impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel.

5- The US by far is Israel’s main supplier of military equipment and technology, with a commitment to provide $38 billion in military aid over the next 10 years. But other countries, including EU member states such as France, Germany, the UK and Italy, have also licensed large volumes of military equipment for Israel. These governments are all in the know that Israeli forces are deliberately killing and injuring Palestinian protesters, yet they continue to support Tel Aviv. This clearly makes them complicit in Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza. The same International law says that these governments should be held to account because their arms supplies to Israel amount to complicity in willful killing too, a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime.

It is indeed time for the world community to ensure that Western governments no longer send weapons to Israel; there is effective and independent investigations resulting in criminal prosecutions of those responsible; the International Criminal Court opens a formal investigation into these killings and serious injuries as possible war crimes; and that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Source: Fars News Agancy

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