Who uses human shields?
There is ample evidence that Israel does, but no evidence that Palestine protects weapons or military offenses with human shields.
It's obviously hard to prove a negative, but let's see what others have said about if Palestinians use human shields:
- Amnesty International has no qualms criticizing Hamas or Palestinian armed groups, but they find no evidence to support the human shield claim. Amnesty International on human shields.
- Reporters who go there don't see any evidence. Jeremy Bowen on Gaza
- The Nation debunks a number of claims about Israel/Palestine:
- The Israeli government has a huge incentive provide evidence of Palestinians using human shields. They potentially have billions they could spend to produce such evidence. But they have none. The pro-Israel crowd on the Internet is left with images of rockets being set up well outside of buildings (and no hostages to be found), and out of context clips of people talking about non-violent, voluntary resistance.
- Remember, if they are there volutarily and they aren't protecting weapons or military actions, they aren't human shields; they are engaging in non-violent resistance. Refusing to leave a location is a celebrated form on non-violent resistance which has been used by American civil rights activists and more recently by Occupy Wall Street. Wikipedia describes these tactics as sit-ins and occupation. And Israel does destroy the homes of Palestinians, often with no pretense of stopping aggression, as noted by the Wikipedia.
Now, let's demonstrate that real claims of human shield use are easy to prove. As we will see, there is absolutely undeniable evidence of Israel using Palestinians as human shields.
- CBS reports that the UN has concluded that Israel uses Palestinian children as human shields: CBS article and the UN report
- Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem reports that Israel is using human shields. B'Tselem report , more from B'Tselem.
- Human Rights Watch decries the inadequate punishment for Israeli soldiers who were found to use a child as a human shield. Human Rights Watch's statement and the BBC reports
- Israeli soldiers who are part of the group Breaking the Silence testify to the use of human shields through the "neighbor procedure" according to the BBC
- Washington Blog reports that the Israeli High Court admits to human shield use.
- The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces, or the military of Israel) has appealed the court's ban.
- Indeed, the IDF has continued to use human shields.
The ruling coalition of the Israeli government is a radical, right-wing, hawkish one. Barring a dramatic sea change in Israeli politics, we cannot count on the Israeli government to show military restraint or stop the human rights abuses of the military
Israel's Minister of justice weighs in:
- More about Ayelet Shaked
- She opposes the two state solution, leaving one to wonder what sort of solution she favors.
- More reporting on Shaked
- She seeks to limit the power of high court, which has ruled against the military on matters of human shields.
She's hardly alone.
- Gilad Sharon, son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, has called for total war against all the people of Gaza, civilian and soldier alike.
- Israel’s deputy interior minister has caused a scandal by accusing Arab Israeli members in the Knesset of supporting terrorism and saying he would act to revoke them of citizenship. His claim that the aid flotillas are an act of terrorism is very strange as they were an act of non-violent resistance. However, right wing Israelis typically accuse all Arabs of being terrorists, regardless of what they do.
- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu famously warned right wing Israelis that Arabs are voting in droves
- Like Shaked, Netanyahu says no to the two state solution. Again, we have to wonder, what solution is he aiming for?
- Unforutantely, some Israeli voters do apparently approve of this kind of talk. As they like to chant "Tomorrow there’s no school in Gaza, they don’t have any children left". Also reported by War in Context. and International Business Times. Here is the video on Youtube. Be sure to turn on the English subtitles to see them say, "I hate all Arabs." and "Gaza is a cemetary."
Resources
Breaking the Silence: Israeli soldiers speak out about the crimes of the Israeli military and the horrible things they were ordered to do. They are a very brave group who are subjected to both threats and actual violence from right wing Israelis.
B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
Jewish Voice for Peace: American Jews who say to the U.S. and Israeli governments: "Not in our names!" Their website has lots of information and lots of ways to get involved, whether you are Jewish or not..
Democracy Now! section on Israel & Palestine. Independent News funded completely by viewers and listeners.
Code Pink section on Justice for Palestine. Fantastic organization that always has ways for you to get involved.
