By using his oldest trick again, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the International Commission of Inquiry on the occupation’s war crimes in Gaza by using the narrative of the victim to justify and explain the most recent bout of Israeli aggression and hostility. During the final moments of his meeting in Tel Aviv with the Andrew Cuomo, the governor of the state of New York, Netanyahu criticised the Human Rights Council’s decision to form a committee to look into the crimes against humanity that have been committed in the Gaza Strip. In response to the HRC’s decision, Netanyahu said, “The Council’s [decision] grants legitimacy to terrorist organisations such as Hamas and ISIS rather than doing what is right by examining Hamas’ attacks on Israeli citizens and its exploitation of Palestinians as human shields…”
Netanyahu also claimed that “the Council’s decision has been pre-written and that they have declared that Hamas is not in fact a terrorist organisation and it is for this very reason that the Council is not investigating the movement’s actions at this time. They must refer to the beginning of [the conflict] in Damascus, Baghdad and Tripoli in order to see what they are up against,” adding that, “they must go to these cities to see what Hamas, ISIS and the Syrian Army are doing and what crimes they are committing. They will not find any war crimes here [in Israel].”
Netanyahu’s speech came after Israeli radio revealed that state comptroller, Joseph Shapira, decided to examine various aspects of Israel’s aggression on Gaza. Shapira will examine several aspects including the decision-making process in the government and the Israeli army’s behaviour in certain scenarios such as tunnel destruction. All of this will be done in an attempt to alleviate the severe consequences of the commission’s inquiry and the decisions that will result from it, as was confirmed by legal analyst Moshe Hanegbi.
Israel’s Channel Two focused most of its attention of late on the repercussions of the Israeli aggression waged against Gaza and the heinous crimes that were committed against the Palestinian people and their rights. Much of the media’s attention has also been focused on the impact of the local and international committees that have been formed to investigate war crimes in the Gaza Strip and the possibility of such atrocities reoccurring again in the future. Israeli fears have increased after the UN announced that it would launch its own inquiry committee to examine war crimes against Gaza, which is very much like the Goldstone Report, issued by Judge Richard Goldstone examining the war crimes that took place in Gaza in 2008/2009.
Israeli political sources did not care to hide their grave concerns over the investigation’s expected results as the UN committee’s members are still being selected. Politicians in Israel expect the implications of this investigation will greatly resemble those of the 2009 Goldstone Report, which resulted from Israel’s offensive operation against Gaza known as Operation Cast Lead. Af Bill, a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and an expert in international law, clarified that the results of this investigation, once published, will humiliate Israel in front of the world. Moreover, Bill emphasised that the international community will demand military and political leaders be put on trial as a consequence of the brutal Israeli attacks on Gaza.
“We will experience major repercussions and will see many demands for criminal investigations against Israeli leaders, especially decision-makers in Israel,” Bill added.
The second issue currently pre-occupying many Israelis is the question of economic sanctions on Israel whereby Bill added: “It is possible that Israeli leaders will be tried after the committee releases the results of its investigation to the international public. It is very likely that Israeli leaders will be accused of war crimes and/or crimes against humanity in international courts.” These fears have been amplified amid reports published by the Wall Street Journal, which revealed that the US has suspended its shipments of Hellfire missiles to Israel in light of the UN-led investigation, a decision that undoubtedly adds new tensions to US-Israeli relations as Israel depends on these missiles in aerial strikes.
It has been reported that Israel has gone to the Pentagon and asked that they provide them with these missiles directly. The US Ministry of Defence allegedly ratified the request without the knowledge of the American administration or the Department of State. The US administration has expressed its concern over Israel’s use of artillery shells in lieu of guided missiles in densely populated areas. The Wall Street Journal considered this back and forth between the two governments as a sign of “a new era of tension in US-Israel relations”. The Obama administration’s decision to halt all military supply shipments to Israel comes in light of the UN committee’s inquiry into Israel’s offensive on Gaza and has, by consequence, greatly strained tensions between the Obama administration and Netanyahu’s government.
The Wall Street Journal also mentioned that “US leaders believe that Israel’s actions throughout the military operation in Gaza, especially the actions of Netanyahu and the Minister of Defence, were very reckless” and that Israeli leaders cannot be trusted. What this means is that many believe that Netanyahu was pulling strings and using his leverage in the White House and the American Congress to manipulate the US government, John Kerry and the US ambassador in Israel.
Even the US Postal Service (USPS) has taken a number of undeclared punitive actions against Israel as the Hebrew Reuters‘ page reported that the USPS allegedly refuses to send packages and letters to Israel because of the nature of the current security situation post-Gaza offensive. According to the websites, the USPS has received many complaints all across America for refusing to send letters and parcels to Israel. This is just one example of the serious implications that Israel will face in light of the formation of an international committee. It will not benefit Israel to form an internal investigative committee due to the international backlash and the international community and western world’s sense of anger towards what happened in Gaza. It appears as though the western world is no longer willing to believe Israel’s propaganda and media.
Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, 19 August 2014
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.