Some would argue that this is Israel’s way. So will it, and its leaders, have to face a war crimes tribunal?
Here are three specific reasons why the “war crimes” charge cannot be taken lightly:
• Collective punishment: The entire 1.5 million people who live in the crowded Gaza Strip are being punished for the actions of a few militants.
• Targeting civilians: The airstrikes were aimed at civilian areas in one of the most crowded stretches of land in the world, certainly the most densely populated area of the Middle East.
• Disproportionate military response: The airstrikes have not only destroyed every police and security office of Gaza’s elected government, but have killed and injured hundreds of civilians; at least one strike reportedly hit groups of students attempting to find transportation home from the university.
Gideon Levy writes in Haaretz:
“Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni will stand at the forefront of the guilty. Two of them are candidates for prime minister, the third is a candidate for criminal indictment. It is inconceivable that they not be held to account for the bloodshed.”
Even Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal had an op-ed piece titled: Israel Is Committing War Crimes.
The Bush administration is to blame as well. Their non-engagement policy – to leave the Arabs and Israelis to work out issues on their own – has been a failure of leadership at the highest level. And Gaza is paying for it in blood.