On the one hand, we have the Angry Arab [thanks JSF] to keep us honest: as he observes, "Of course, all reports on Israeli war crimes now have to condemn the victims. It is called a balance. If Judge Goldstone were to write a report about Nazi war crimes, he would have considered the Warsaw ghetto uprising a war crime too." It's a fair point--see this absurd headline. But then see what Israeli internal dissident par excellence Michael Warchawski writes:
The report, and before it the advisory opinion of the International Criminal Court on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, remind the world that the lessons resulting from the Nazi era are not forgotten, and that the world is not a jungle in which the strong automatically rules, but a civilized community which strives to act in accordance with international laws protecting the most fundamental rights of human beings. And for those who contend, justifiably, that these international norms are violated every single day by a majority of the world’s countries, we must reply that it is better that there be norms and laws protecting the weakened, even if they are not generally respected, than living in a society without law that permits the strong to do as it wishes.
The responses of Israeli leaders were expected: “biased report,” “one-sided approach,” and we even heard that Goldstone is anti-Semitic…or a Jew full of self-hatred. At the head of this campaign stood, and how could it be otherwise, Ehud Barak, who declared “not only does this report give a prize to terrorism, but also encourages it.” Barak added that the Ministry of Defense will provide legal counseling to officers against whom legal proceedings are liable to be initiated.
In accordance with the regulations of international law, the recommendations of the report are now supposed to be discussed in the Human Rights Council and then the Security Council, which should transfer the recommendations to the International Court in the Hague or a special international court so that those suspected of committing war crimes can be tried and if found guilty, to sit behind bars for many years. However, this same international law provided privileges to the big powers, called the veto. Israeli diplomacy will focus in the coming days on convincing some of these powers so they will veto and pull Israel out of the mud. And first and foremost it will pressure the White House.
...
The establishment of an “Israeli War Criminals Watch” can be one of the contributions of civil society to following up the UN report, in addition to the collection of relevant material and testimonies about Israeli military actions in Gaza, in addition to monitoring the movements of these same suspects of war crimes.
Finkelstein agrees. That sound of rock rending? That's American Jewish liberal support for Israel breaking apart, on the humanist/tribalist fault-line.
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I admit, I think it’s a bit ironic for angry arab to declare Hamas had legitimate targets when he has mentioned time and time again that he actually hates hamas. His contradictions are the main reason I don’t read him that often. That and Hamas declares almost every Israeli a legitmate target too. This does not disqualify Israel from war crime charges, mind you. I think this report could be a breakthrough,personally.
If there is international law and that international law regulates when wars are just or unjust and what acts within a war are illegal or legal then one can comment on the legality of a given side’s actions whether or not you dislike their internal politics. He didn’t anyway say that Hamas had legitimate targets. He suggested that mentioning Hamas in this context is deplorable. I agree.