Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: End the blood libels

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249275681195&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Candidly speaking: End the blood libels against Israel & the IDF
Aug. 3, 2009
Isi Leibler , THE JERUSALEM POST
The current global campaign accusing the IDF of "crimes against
humanity" and "genocide" exceeds all the obscene libels that have ever
been launched against the Jewish state.
One of Israel's proudest achievements is the IDF code of conduct,
which instills awareness that Israelis are obliged to act as role
models of decency.
It is all the more impressive that such an ethical military code was
implemented in Israel, the only country in the world which from its
inception has been obliged to defend itself continuously from overt
and terrorist onslaughts by neighbors who regard the elimination of
Jewish sovereignty in the region as their primary objective.
In fact, in an age when millions of innocent civilians are being
butchered during ethnic upheavals in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and
Eastern Europe, one can only attribute dark motives to the shameful
demonization of the Jewish state.
Equally indecent is the adoption of Israel as the bête noir of most
"liberal" human rights organizations, which invest disproportionate
efforts in defaming the region's only democracy. Some of this can be
attributed to the financial support they receive from foreign
governments and organizations intent on undermining the Jewish state.
The hypocrisy of these groups was exemplified when one of the
principal NGOs - Human Rights Watch - recently raised funds in Saudi
Arabia (a country hardly renowned for concern with human rights) to
defeat "pro-Israel pressure groups."
THE GLOBAL campaign against Israel is spearheaded by a United Nations
subsidiary inappropriately titled the Human Rights Council. This body,
headed by countries like Iran and Libya, makes a mockery of justice
and human rights and concentrates primarily on bashing Israel. Hell
bent on defaming the IDF, it formed a fact-finding mission led by
Justice Richard Goldstone to review alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza
during Operation Cast Lead. The terms of reference did not mention
Hamas, which publicly lauds the killing of Jewish civilians and had
launched over 12,000 missiles against the Jewish state. The
composition of the committee guarantees that the findings will be in
sync with the bias of the parent body. Israel was thus absolutely
justified in refusing to cooperate.
What Israel did to minimize civilian casualties during the Gaza
operation was described by Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of
British forces in Afghanistan, as unparalleled in the history of
warfare. The 160-page report issued by the Foreign Ministry noted that
the same IDF accused of war crimes dropped 2.5 million leaflets and
telephoned 165,000 civilians providing them four hours' notice to
evacuate areas in advance of airborne attacks. Missions were cancelled
at the last moment after discovering that civilians had been placed as
human shields next to ammunition dumps or rocket launchers. Efforts to
minimize civilian casualties in Gaza were infinitely more wide ranging
than those applied by American and European forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
When one compares Israeli behavior to that of countries like Russia in
Chechnya, the barbaric mass murders in Darfur (recently "justified" by
the Islamic Conference), the genocide in the Congo and the brutal
killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka, the concerted hatred directed against
Israel by Western countries becomes mind boggling. It is as though we
had reverted to the Dark Ages, when Jews were blamed for all the woes
of mankind, from blood libels to poisoning the wells and spreading
plague. This is borne out by the bizarre findings of European opinion
polls which view Israel more negatively than such rogue states as
North Korea, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Iran.
What makes this situation even more surrealistic is the behavior of a
small but highly-vocal group of Israelis who endorse the despicable
libels orchestrated by those seeking to defame their country's acts of
self-defense. The occasionally abused expression "self-hating Jews"
best describes those academics, journalists and NGOs who collaborate
with fanatic anti-Israel groups abroad. They have now stooped to even
more unconscionable depths by trying to defame the noble youths who
are willing to sacrifice their lives to defend their people and
homeland.
They replicate the same disgusting behavior displayed a few months ago
when Haaretz highlighted allegations accusing the IDF of Cossack-like
killing sprees - allegations utterly without foundation, subsequently
proven to have been based entirely on gossip. But by the time the
fraud was exposed the damage was done, and Israel had been besmirched
in papers throughout the world.
WITH MONEY from European governments and other foreign donors, the
defamers have formed a new group called Breaking the Silence and once
again quote unnamed soldiers who babble on anonymously about "war
crimes." They justify the anonymity by making the outrageous claim
that whistle-blowers risk being punished, despite common knowledge
that if the IDF ever behaved in such a manner the independent Israeli
media would have a field day lambasting it. They have the gall to
demand an independent investigation of the IDF - something that no
country in the world has ever undertaken.
Needless to say, in any war, even with the greatest efforts to
maintain moral standards, occasional individual breaches and
malpractices are inevitable. The litmus test of a democracy is whether
such cases are covered up or prosecuted. IDF Judge Advocate-General
Brig-Gen. Avihai Mandelblit has systematically investigated every
accusation, and if misconduct was discovered, the offender was
punished. To date there has not been a single case of behavior that
could be defined as a deliberate intention to kill civilians.
Stealing a credit card or looting an Arab home is despicable and must
be severely punished, but neither compares to wanton killing or
qualifies as a crime against humanity. Should further examples of
individual malpractice be exposed, the parties involved will
undoubtedly also be prosecuted.
War involves life-and-death situations; mistakes are made and
innocents inevitably die. But in maintaining our moral standards, we
are also obliged to ensure that we do not go to the other extreme and
endanger the lives of our soldiers by preventing them from defending
themselves.
NOT SO long ago, it would have been inconceivable for any sane Israeli
to accuse our sons of war crimes. The public outcry would have been
deafening and those defaming our soldiers would have been pariahs.
There are laws in a democracy which protect an individual from
defamation and punish those who besmirch the innocent. Israel is at
war and the battle for minds is a key component. To besmirch a nation
by falsely portraying its soldiers as wanton murderers is an act of
infamy that would be treasonable in most countries. Allowing
degenerate nihilists the right to promote outright lies not only
undermines national morale, it also compromises our security.
Legislation should be introduced enabling the prosecution of those
knowingly disseminating slanders and defaming the nation enabling the
prosecution of those knowingly disseminating slanders and defaming the
nation whilst endeavoring not to curtail freedom of expression and
also to oblige groups obtaining funds from foreign governments to
register as foreign agents.
The struggle to retain our reputation as a decent and moral people is
a major component in our battle for peace. If we fail to clean up our
domestic cesspool, we open the door for our enemies and the anti-
Semites who seek to destroy us.

 
Quoto. In parte c'e anche stato di peggio.
Comunque è quella roba lì.
-- 
Tb

 Candidly speaking: End the blood libels against Israel & the IDF
magari smettere di versare il sangue aiuterebbe, ma l'IDF è santo per
postulato, e quindi...

 defeat "pro-Israel pressure groups."
OPS!
HRW report: Hamas rocket fire on Israel a war crime
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3758081,00.html