United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has notified Israel’s Defence Attache in the United States, Major General Hidai Zilberman, of his decision to add Israel to the blacklist of countries and organisations harming children in conflict zones.
A report by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that despite extensive efforts by Israel to persuade Guterres to avoid this move, Tel Aviv will be listed in the report distributed to UN Security Council members next week, with a discussion scheduled for 26 June.
The report is based on data from UN organisations and field sources. Being blacklisted could significantly damage Israel’s reputation, as the report will be cited across various UN bodies, including the General Assembly, Security Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
The blacklist also includes Afghanistan, Congo, Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and groups such as Al-Qaeda, Daesh, Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram. The upcoming report will refer to Israeli security forces without explicitly naming Israel or its military.
What kind of logic is that?
It’s a war, and this time Hamas started it. Should they expect no consequences for killing a thousand Israeli civilians?
Killing innocent civilians should never be a valid response to the killing of innocent civilians.
Israel absolutely had a right to respond, they don’t have the right to kill thousands of non-combatants and displace 1.7 million people.
https://www.unfpa.org/occupied-palestinian-territory
Unfortunately, this sort of over-response is how Israel reacts to the Palestinians.
“Oh, we caught you throwing rocks? Yeah, we’re going to bulldoze your house.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_demolition_of_Palestinian_property
So how many are they allowed to kill? Zero? The same number? Double? Where’s the line?
Overresponse can be a great way to end wars. See historical examples such as the USA nuking Japan, the german blitzkreig, and even Ghengis khan completely wiping cities off maps.
Even on a smaller scale, like if you want someone to stop punching you in the hallway at school, beating the shit out of them frequently works to end the behaviour.
Innocent civilians? Yeah, should be zero or as near zero as you can get.
But when you have an aid convoy, intentionally targeted car by car, when they KNEW they were non-combatants? Beyond the pale.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/14/gaza-israelis-attacking-known-aid-worker-locations
That’s beyond “well, we have a right to defend ourselves.”