I'm not going to make excuses, nor have I ever done so. All I have ever said is that the nature and content of claims made my certain organisations and/or individual people deserve to be treated with a healthy scepticism until properly verified by full investigation - something that can and must happen once the conflict is over. It is impossible to conduct such an investigation in an active war zone, irrespective of my opinions on the specific people currently appointed to lead such an investigation. Nothing I have just said is especially radical or far-fetched; indeed the standards I'm seeking are no different from those that would be demanded in any court of law following due process. There is no question that many, many innocent people have been killed during this conflict. There is also no question that some may have been deliberately targeted. Despite the raft of articles you have posted, the percentage of deliberate killings is miniscule stacked up against non-deliberate (collateral) deaths. Does this mean I don't condemn deliberate killings? Of course not, but when you're looking at a fraction of a fraction of a percentage, the evidence says very clearly that this isn't happening as some widespread ubiquitous 'policy' the IDF is conducting. They aren't blowing up every single ambulance, shooting every single doctor or sniping every single child, so it then becomes necessary to investigate further: Were they were targeted in error, in a case of misidentification, or in cold blood as a tool of intimidation? There is obviously a world of difference between those three categories and again, as much as you and others might not like, those are the sorts of questions the ICC will be asking once the dust has settled, because they are perfectly fair and reasonable questions to ask when investigating a complex and fast-moving war. The only angle by which they become unreasonable questions is if one believes that Israel was unjustified in going into Gaza in response to Oct 7th in the first place, which you clearly do. Elsewhere, it is so easy to take sensationalist headlines and build a narrative that lacks all context. It is absolutely no surprise that (headline screams) :"MORE UN WORKERS KILLED IN GAZA THAN IN ANY OTHER CONFLICT IN HISTORY", of course they have - Gaza is home to 10x more UN staff per capita than any other region in the entire world, and it's a tiny region! You can read that headline and come to the conclusion that Israel "must" be deliberately targeting UN staff, or you can read it, think about the context, and come to the conclusion that there are vastly more UN staff in the region in the first place who could sadly be the victims of an ongoing war. It's like someone bombing Stamford Bridge and then newspapers screaming that "NEVER BEFORE HAVE SO MANY CHELSEA FANS BEEN KILLED IN ONE PLACE AT ONE TIME".
It's all very well saying' we can't be sure' and 'let's assess it all when the dust has settled', but the reports from the ground right now, from actual medical professionals is that they are being targeted, and the ever increasing evidence being gathered from organisations like Medicine San Frontier, Doctors without borders and the UN backs that up. As the UN said, there is a systematic targeting of Gaza's healthcare system. 'Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities' The evidence is already there. We don't need to wait for an ICC report in 5 years time. War crimes are being committed now.
Fortunately that isn't how the criminal justice system works. As in any arbitration, both sides are entitled to proper representation, an impartial and independent process of evidence-gathering and analysis deemed acceptable to both sides, and after careful consideration - a verdict. Sadly in the modern world we are far too quick to jump to the last step. And please stop repeating the UN quote like it is gospel, I literally won't budge an inch on it until they acknowledge the very real and urgent error of judgement in appointing Navi Pillay out of all people they could have selected to chair the commission that is producing these quotes. Israel's response has been compelling: They are targeting hospitals and medical centres because Hamas operates out of them and constructs intricate tunnel systems beneath them. It is easy for Pillay to totally ignore that counter-claim, but a court of law acting properly and with due process will dispatch a fact-finding team to investigate a relatively easily proven or disproven item of evidence: are there or are there not tunnels underneath Gaza's hospitals?
Reactive criminal justice is one thing. But when the evidence is stacking up in real time, then it needs to be addressed now. Not when another 1000 medical staff have been killed. When war crimes are being committed, they need to be stopped. Otherwise it's like saying the Police shouldn't bother to stop crime, but leave it to the courts to prosecute criminals after the act and not bother to attempt to stop the crime as it's happening. It's not just about tunnels under hospitals either, did you read though the dozens of incidents that MSF highlighted where medical staff had been deliberately targeted ? You say 'oh they aren't targeting every ambulance' or 'shooting every doctor' like it somehow negates the incidents where the IDF are. When it comes to the UN, I'm sorry but your position is highly selective and not very credible. You say you have huge respect for the UN refugee agency, but when it comes to UN Humans rights council, UNWRA or any part of the UN that is calling out Israel's atrocities, you have complete disdain for it. You advocate leaving all of these reports of Israeli atrocities and war crimes to the ICC, an organisation who Israel themselves have labelled as “lawless,” “disgraceful,” and any possible warrants as “an outrageous assault” and “an abomination” in reaction the to court issuing an arrest warrant on Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes against humanity.
That claim needs to be investigated and verified and if proven false, Israel should be made to fund the rebuilding of Al-Sahel hospital.
My position is selective because it is based on logic and a thorough knowledge of this area of politics, as opposed to the blind faith shown by many who if any organisation with the letters 'UN' in the prefix asked them to jump, would slavishly respond "how high?". I am hardly alone in my condemnation of two specific bodies of the UN. Both the USA and the EU routinely criticise them. You just say "how high?". Human Rights Watch, one of the most important NGOs in world politics and indeed a frequent critic of Israel (Kenneth Roth took it a bit far imo but that's a discussion for another time) has slammed the UNHRC over and over again (https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/12/un-noncompetitive-rights-council-election-aids-abusers) for doing absolutely nothing to protect Human Rights for the simple reason that the majority of its voting members are invariably countries who themselves have abysmal human rights records. You just say "how high?" UNWRA has been bodied by the Palestinian Authority itself for refusing to hand over control or power to it, instead acting with an arrogance and stubbornness that can probably be expected from an organisation that should never have been created in the first place and yet 70+ years later still exists. Heck, even Al Jazeera regularly calls out UNWRA for their utter BS. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/7/29/ethics-report-accuses-unrwa-leadership-of-abuse-of-power). You just say "how high?". I'm not saying anything more about this matter because to change my opinion is to ignore evidence and experience I have lived and breathed for decades and to then take my IQ, reduce it to single digits and then flush logic down the toilet too.
Human Rights Watch are more critical of Israel than you are, yet they have no problem routinely panning the UNHRC. Is Al Jazeera sympathetic to Israel? That must be why they often criticise UNWRA. I've explained my position in detail and with great patience. As I said above, let's leave this one here as we are simply going round in circles.
You've explained, but your bias has made this position horribly skewed. To the point where I have had to post dozens of incidents of war crimes, reported from various organisations on the ground, as each time you would try to brush the reports off as not being credible. You say 'let's leave it to the ICC to assess' but Israel themselves don't even recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, calling it 'lawless' 'an assault' 'an abomination' and 'disgraceful'. When Israel are levying these accusations against the International criminal courts, it tells you one thing, they are acting with impunity. Personally, whilst it's clear you have some insight into the region, imo you also have a massive blind spot as to what is actually happening there. But like you say, we are going round in circles and neither of our opinions is going to make a jot of difference to the people being slaughtered there. So let's leave it there.
No. Although it might be influenced by the fact that I have a conference next week with a number of people, among whom is actress and activist Noa Tishby. This is her:
This is a deeply significant, almost unprecedented moment. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj4vw1l8xvdo
Nearly 70% of Gaza war dead are women and children, UN says The agency said the high number was largely due to Israel's use of weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas, although some deaths may have been the result of errant projectiles by Palestinian armed groups. The report said it found "unprecedented" levels of international law violations, raising concerns about "war crimes and other possible atrocity crimes". Israel has in the past said it targets Hamas and takes steps to mitigate risk to civilians by using precise munitions. The BBC contacted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment in response to Friday's report. The UN agency said it verified the details of 8,119 people killed in Gaza from November 2023 to April 2024. Its analysis found around 44% of verified victims were children and 26% women. The ages most represented among the dead were five to nine-year-olds. About 80% of victims were killed in residential buildings or similar housing, the agency added. The report said the data indicates "an apparent indifference to the death of civilians and the impact of the means and methods of warfare". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn5wel11pgdo
