Is Ehud Barak a war criminal?
It is shameful that the British government can't find the moral fortitude to condemn a massacre.
I am not too clued up on international law but here are some questions for experts in international law and war crimes:
a) what is the position in international law on a government firing missiles into civilian areas if the action has not been sanctioned by the United Nations?
b) what is the position in international law on a government that fires missiles into civilian areas and this results in the deaths of civilians including women and children?
c) what is the position in international law on the defence minister, in this case Ehud Barak, who has spent months preparing this attack and then argues for its commission?
It would be useful to get on record all the buildings destroyed in yesterday's attack and the names and occupations of all those killed.
These are some questions that come to mind and I hope that there is justice available within international law for the innocents who were murdered yesterday.
There has been an ongoing debate within the Muslim community about the permissibility of suicide bombing within Israel. Scholars like Shaykh Qaradawi amongst others have stated that it is permissible and people like myself and others have questioned this ruling because there does not seem to be any clear shariah justification for the exception that has been made for actions carried out within Israel. And this is why I have asked questions of the British Board of Deputies in my previous post. It is time for the Board of Deputies to provide answers to the questions around moral and religious justification for assassinations and massacres according to Hebrew law. I cannot imagine how yesterday's actions could be permitted. One analyst has suggested that for every 1 Israeli death from the rockets there have been 150 Palestinian deaths in the last three years. I am against comparing deaths in this manner but this figure does give the lie to the Israeli spin on this being some kind of revenge for rocket attacks. It is about the peace process, the forthcoming Israeli elections and the new American administration. And this is why it is all the more shameful for Israel because it carried out this massacre. We look to senior Rabbis in this country to offer some moral leadership.
I am not too clued up on international law but here are some questions for experts in international law and war crimes:
a) what is the position in international law on a government firing missiles into civilian areas if the action has not been sanctioned by the United Nations?
b) what is the position in international law on a government that fires missiles into civilian areas and this results in the deaths of civilians including women and children?
c) what is the position in international law on the defence minister, in this case Ehud Barak, who has spent months preparing this attack and then argues for its commission?
It would be useful to get on record all the buildings destroyed in yesterday's attack and the names and occupations of all those killed.
These are some questions that come to mind and I hope that there is justice available within international law for the innocents who were murdered yesterday.
There has been an ongoing debate within the Muslim community about the permissibility of suicide bombing within Israel. Scholars like Shaykh Qaradawi amongst others have stated that it is permissible and people like myself and others have questioned this ruling because there does not seem to be any clear shariah justification for the exception that has been made for actions carried out within Israel. And this is why I have asked questions of the British Board of Deputies in my previous post. It is time for the Board of Deputies to provide answers to the questions around moral and religious justification for assassinations and massacres according to Hebrew law. I cannot imagine how yesterday's actions could be permitted. One analyst has suggested that for every 1 Israeli death from the rockets there have been 150 Palestinian deaths in the last three years. I am against comparing deaths in this manner but this figure does give the lie to the Israeli spin on this being some kind of revenge for rocket attacks. It is about the peace process, the forthcoming Israeli elections and the new American administration. And this is why it is all the more shameful for Israel because it carried out this massacre. We look to senior Rabbis in this country to offer some moral leadership.
posted by Atif Imtiaz at Sunday, December 28, 2008
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