UNHRC: Israel consistently violated laws of war

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National Post editorial board: More proof of Israel’s restraint

National Post Editorial Board | 13/03/12 | Last Updated: 13/03/11 6:21 PM ET

Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images Israeli soldiers prepare weapons in a deployment area on Nov. 19, 2012 on Israel's border with the Gaza.

On Nov. 14, 2012, the Israeli Defense Forces began Operation Pillar of Defense, aimed at Hamas’ Gaza-based network of rocket batteries and terrorist hideouts. Soon after the conflict began, tragedy befell one Palestinian family. Their home was destroyed by a powerful explosion. Three civilians, including an 11-month-old boy, were killed.

The father of the child was a photojournalist working for the BBC in Gaza. Photos of his anguished reaction to the tragic loss of his son were seen around the world, and quickly became a rallying point for those opposed to the Israeli operation. Media reports laid the boy’s death at Israel’s feet. Journalists slammed the death of the child of one of their own. Israel again faced criticisms that its attacks, no matter the provocation, could not be justified.

But, thanks to a new report from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), we now know better.

The 17-page report, released last week, provides a detailed breakdown of the seven-day conflict between Israel and Hamas. It documents the military actions, and casualties, of both sides. And it concludes that the missile that killed the young child was, in fact, a Hamas rocket. It apparently malfunctioned and crashed into Gaza on its way to Israel, after being launched by Hamas from a position near the family home — itself a violation of international law. (The report also concludes that another child killed in the fighting, whose body was shown in public being kissed by the visiting Egyptian prime minister and senior Hamas officials, was also killed by errant Hamas fire.)

The reassignment of the responsibility for these terrible incidents is just some of the bad news for Israel’s critics to be found in the report. It is true that the UNHRC did cite several incidents where Israel’s conduct may not have been fully in line with international law, including several in which civilian areas were hit either accidentally or without prior warning, and several others where media or medical facilities were struck by Israeli munitions. (There are indications that at least some of these incidents were accidents, including one where a hospital roof was struck by illumination flares that failed to ignite in midair as designed, causing minor damage). We trust Israel will review these incidents, and draw the appropriate lessons from them.

But the relative handful of potential violations pales next to the enormous scale of the military operation. Israel conducted 1,500 air strikes on targets within Gaza, as well as seven naval attacks and several hundred strikes with artillery, but the UNHRC found that only 101 civilians deaths could be attributed to Israeli military action. Considering the densely populated nature of Gaza, such accuracy represents a level of precision essentially unknown in any prior war in history.

Every civilian death is a tragedy, of course, and every effort should be made to avoid such incidents in the future. Yet the report makes clear that many of these civilians were killed, not because Israel was aiming at them, but because they had the terrible luck of being in the vicinity of legitimate targets that Israel was striking in response to continued Hamas aggression. The UNHRC’s experts are naive if they believe that any country, in any war, can find a way to prevent any civilian casualties when fighting erupts in urban areas.

And Israel rarely struck without warning. During the week-long conflict, Israel dropped 200,000 leaflets, made 20,000 telephone calls and sent 12,000 text messages, warning civilians in Gaza of imminent military actions and urging them to seek safety. (Apparently blind to the irony, the UNHRC concluded that such warnings may make Israel guilty of intentionally displacing civilians, only several pages after criticizing Israel for not always providing sufficient warning of planned combat operations in populated areas.)

The report does not spare Hamas from criticism. While chastising Israel for the incidents where it struck without warning or apparent military targets, it notes that, “Many, if not the vast majority of the Palestinian attacks on Israel constituted indiscriminate attacks.” Hamas is also criticized for targeting civilians, firing from populated areas and summarily executing alleged Israeli spies.

Israel is not perfect, and some its policies can serve to give even its closest allies pause. But the UNHRC report can, and should, be read as further proof that Israel makes every reasonable effort to wage war against a determined, indiscriminate enemy with precision and restraint.

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