Finally, some truth.
Amnesty International, which always seems to have Israel in its crosshairs, charged Hamas of carrying out “extrajudicial killings” of at least 23 Palestinians who were accused of collaborating with Israel during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge. The report also charges Hamas with the torture of dozens of other Palestinians, including those from political rival Fatah.
The report was released on Wednesday, just a day after a terrorist rocket from Gaza hit the Israel town Gan Yavne, just outside of Ashdod. Israel responded accordingly with predawn airstrikes attacking both Hamas and Islamic Jihad training grounds. This is the first exchange of fire since last summer’s 50-day war.
The Amnesty International report focused on what happened within Gaza. It said that many of those killed or tortured were charged with collaboration with Israel. The killing of three Gaza commanders resulted in Hamas publically executing suspected collaborators.
“In the chaos of the conflict, the de facto Hamas administration granted its security forces free rein to carry out horrific abuses, including against people in its custody,” Philip Luther, the director of the Middle East and North Africa Program of Amnesty International, said in a statement. “These spine-chilling actions, some of which amount to war crimes, were designed to exact revenge and spread fear across the Gaza Strip.”
Amnesty International also reported that Palestinian civilians’ lives were placed in jeopardy with the positioning of rocket launchers and mortars from within schools and hospitals in Gaza. Did they really need a report to discover this? Israel, the only nation we know who leaflets civilian areas warning of coming attacks, has been accusing Hamas for years of turning civilian centers into launching pads and eventually IAF targets.
With advanced weapon systems coming from Iran, what was once considered a terrorist threat that had a range of reaching only nearby Sderot and Ashkelon, can now threaten millions of Israelis. The firing of those rockets has never been to our knowledge the subject of Amnesty International special reports or war crimes allegations.
While we’re certainly supportive of Amnesty International’s recent report, there is one other area that needs to be covered. When Operation Protective Edge casualties have been reported, we read that 2,200 Palestinians, including 500 children, were killed. We also mourn the loss of 70 Israelis, overwhelmingly IDF soldiers, not civilians. When is Amnesty International going to condemn Hamas as it exposes its very children who were inside those schools and hospitals containing military targets?
“The torture and summary killing of people in captivity, including suspected `informers’ or ‘collaborators’ – are when committed in the context of armed conflict, serious violations of international human law, constituting war crimes,” read the Amnesty International report.
So Hamas, we learned from Amnesty International, terrorizes not just Israelis, but fellow Palestinians.
It bears repeating:
Finally, some truth.
