In the afterglow of World War II, the allied powers assisted with the formation of the Jewish state of Israel. Much of Israel’s very inception was hinged upon the application of international law, namely the legal concept of “universal jurisdiction”. Nazi war criminals ultimately received their day in court and the punishments that were meted out accordingly.
The heinousness of the genocidal atrocities which occurred during the reign of Hitler’s Third Reich in Germany prompted the international community to convene successive tribunals, though Israel had not yet been formed as a sovereign entity when the proceedings were initially called to order.
Conceptually, the precedent-setting legal notions already existed centuries beforehand, when piracy piqued the concerned interests of the world’s collective business community. “Universal Jurisdiction” was well-adopted by the British, and later American, court systems, prosecuting pirates captured in international waters; from the 1700’s to present.
When their Attorney General aimed for Adolf Eichmann, Israel opted to kidnap the war criminal, refusing to rely on Argentina’s judicial system for purposes of legal extradition. Israel never hesitated in violating Argentine sovereignty in doing so, despite recriminations from the UN Security Council for attempts to “cause international friction” and “endanger international peace and security”. Israel made it clear from its onset: its government would codify Zionism as a self-justifying stance that would look to international laws (though skirting them when necessary) to exact national vengeance for “crimes against Jewish people”.
Israel now stands as the undisputed champion of unilateral foreign policy, having stolen ‘the crown’ from its American counterpart. When the western world rallied behind Israel’s formation, it was the Holocaust’s victimization of an entire people based solely on who they were and where they lived that concretely secured Israeli self-defense by way of judicial activism at its most virulent.
Following the ruthless massacre of Operation Cast Lead, the building of an illegal Separation Wall slashing across the West Bank, on-going settlement construction as well as the overall conditions for Palestinians perpetually confined in war-torn Gaza, Israel now finds itself in the cross-hairs of international scrutiny for crimes-against-humanity. Despite the world’s disapproval of IDF atrocities of late, Israel soldiers onward, continuing to fund militarized endeavors with American tax dollars (despite the U.S. debt crisis and global fiscal calamity).
The discussion of Universal Jurisdiction comes back into play with several landmark court decisions in the UK, resulting in arrest warrants for several Israeli government officials.
On November 1st, Israeli Defense Minister Dan Meridor was forced to cancel a trip to England, fearing arrest. Next, former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni opted out of a London visit for the same reason; a fresh warrant with her name on it for her oversight of the murderously successful Operation Cast Lead.
Along with Livni and Meridor, warrants have been issued for the former Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former Defense chief-of-staff Moshe Ya’Alon and former air force chief Dan Halutz; all signed by British judges in accordance with international legal doctrine.
The grounds for English justice derives from the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, enacted in 1987; itself a follow-up to the Geneva Convention of 1957. Within the provisions of the treaty’s framework, all signatories are to uphold the rule of law pertaining to war crimes; any court of any nation signing onto the treaty is empowered to implement indictments accordingly (even if the acts in question take place over foreign soil).
When the Goldstone Report was conducted by an international team of outside investigators, Israel was quick to denounce its findings as baseless. What the report indicated was both sides of Operation Cast Lead had indeed committed “war crimes”; both Hamas and the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). Israel refused to acknowledge the implications of the Jewish state’s own malfeasance, while pointing to the alleged activities of Hamas fighters as justification for tactical brutality unleashed during the invasion of Gaza just prior to Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
Though virtually ignored by American media outlets, a report by Israeli human rights group Breaking the Silence revealed countless examples of patently unlawful and immoral force being implemented during the three-week raid which left 1,400 Palestinians dead; in sharp contrast, six Israeli soldiers were killed by Hamas militants.
Dozens of individual testimonials by Israeli soldiers portrayed a series of obvious and undeniable “war criminality”; illegal orders were handed out by multiple levels of commanding authority. Confirming the Goldstone Report’s allegations of white phosphorus usage (in stark violation of multiple international treaties governing civilized warfare), the Israeli veterans also described rampant destruction of civilian homes, standing orders to shoot-everyone-on-sight (civilian or combatant), as well as the use of Palestinians for human shields upon entering buildings purportedly held by Hamas fighters.
Meanwhile, it was the accusation of “human shielding” that Hamas was being accused of for battling in close proximity with the civilian population of Gaza. Of course, urban warfare in self-defense of an illegal invasion within Gaza City’s boundaries qualifies every fighter as being too close to Palestinian non-combatants. This definition was upheld by the Goldstone Report in condemning Hamas’ guerilla tactics during the raid.
As for IDF condemnation, Israel continues to pretend these reports never took place. The U.S. continues to allow this to happen with tacit agreement each and every time a budget proposal passes the Senate which annually allocates military aid to Israel. Only pressure from the financier could persuade Israel to adhere to the very legal tenets that governed its creation after World War II. Without such disincentives from Washington, Israel can only be expected to continue its rogue behavior as an American client-state with an unshakable problem with humanity’s collective authority.
As the world watches this slow-motion, state-sponsored extermination of the Palestinian people, courts in western societies finally begin attempts to rein in Israel’s heavy-handed role in Middle Eastern affairs. Given AIPAC's unholy alliance with both sides of the American partisan divide, the U.S. has yet to fulfill its own binding obligations to hold Israeli officials accountable for unacceptable atrocities.
Comments
Superb piece of work, your writing that is.
Why is there a list of
200 Israeli war criminals
all over the internet?
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