May 2018 Gaza Massacre: Israel / USA Should Go Silent



Further inflaming the tensions that follow the May 2018 Gaza Massacre there is  arrogance with crash-and-burn foolhardiness from the accused offenders.

The universal right to remain silent while under investigation would be a wise option for parties that declared they will not cooperate with the United Nations. Efforts to provoke a further breach of the peace may be seen by the world as inculpatory.

Last Friday, an overwhelming majority of UN member states of the Human Rights Council ordered an investigation into thousands of gunshot woundings of Palestine/Israel civilians and over 100 deaths including many women and 15 children.

by Sharon Santiago  Feminine Perspective Staff

There is no safety for millions of women and children in territories under Israeli control. Photo array: Reuters, AFP, Feminine-Perspective

Israel, backed by the USA has begun summoning ambassadors and delegates to begin reprimands for how each country voted on May 18 at the 28th Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council.

The organization that calls itself the Human Rights Council again proved it is a hypocritical and biased body whose purpose is to harm Israel and back terror, but mostly it proved it is irrelevant,” says the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

What some authoritarians miss is that with their attacks on international institutions with demands of impunity for obvious crimes, they are insulting the global population of 7.6 billion people for whom, in most cases, there will only be the United Nations standing up for their rights.

The State of Israel will continue to defend its citizens and soldiers,” says Netanyahu. But the long time Israeli politician has been down this road before and played this card too often. He is responsible for the citizens he has been shooting by his command to his soldiers for over 45 days.

The impunity for crimes against humanity has run out for the current government of Israel and for Washington D.C. which  is a passive-aggressive party to this crime.

Thinking it is supporting its ham-handed “Donald Trump Embassy transfer ceremony”, the United States is in a de facto sense supporting a massacre with nearly 4,000 casualties. That is not a good position to have taken. Those countries like Canada and a few others that were bullied into supporting the May 2018 Gaza Massacre thinking that like as before, nobody is watching, made a big mistake. At some point human rights must stand above politicians’ politicking.

Growing arrogance of politicians who behave like snobbish kleptocrats; act abusively toward large classes of people; and inflict violence on vulnerable constituents, needs a deterrence.

In this May 2018 Gaza Massacre the authors of bad orders given to duty-bound Israeli officers in the field to pass to their men must be held accountable.


Instructing soldiers to use live ammunition and shoot civilians in their legs is criminal behaviour in any context.


The results of the UN Investigation will come in good time. In the meantime the wise counsel of twenty nine nations that created this following resolution, should be respected.

Until a mechanism for protecting human rights becomes fully functional, looking at the people of Gaza, the rest of us 7.6 billion people on earth can only say,

“there, but for the grace of God, go I”. 

 

Human Rights Council resolution S-28/1 adopted on 18 May 2018

Title as drafted: “Violations of international law in the context of large-scale civilian protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”

A/HRC/S-28/L.1 Draft Resolution SS-28/1 Download > G1813613

…following the preamble:

1. Condemns the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians, including in the context of peaceful protests, particularly in the Gaza Strip, in violation of international humanitarian law, international human rights law and relevant United Nations resolutions, and expresses its grief at the extensive loss of life, including of children, women, health workers and journalists, and at the high number of injuries;

2. Calls for an immediate cessation of all attacks, incitement and violence against civilians throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem;

3. Demands that Israel, the occupying Power, immediately and fully end its illegal closure of the occupied Gaza Strip, which amounts to collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population, including through the immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of the crossings to the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons, especially those in need of urgent medical attention, to and from the Gaza Strip, in compliance with its obligations under international humanitarian law;

4. Decides to urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council, to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, in the context of the military assaults on the large-scale civilian protests that began on 30 March 2018, whether before, during or after, to establish the facts and circumstances, with assistance from relevant experts and special procedure mandate holders, of the alleged violations and abuses, including those that may amount to war crimes, to identify those responsible, to make recommendations, in particular on accountability measures, all with a view to avoiding and ending impunity and ensuring legal accountability, including individual criminal and command responsibility, for such violations, and on protecting civilians against any further assaults, and to present an oral update to the Council at its thirty-ninth session and a final, written report at its fortieth session;

5. Calls upon Israel, the occupying Power, and all relevant parties to cooperate fully with the commission of inquiry and facilitate its access, requests the cooperation, as appropriate, of other relevant United Nations bodies with the commission of inquiry to carry out its mission, and requests the assistance of the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in this regard, including in the provision of all administrative, technical and logistical assistance required to enable the commission of inquiry and special procedure mandate holders to fulfil their mandates promptly and efficiently;

6. Decides to remain seized of the matter.


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