Israel’s Illegal Use of White Phosphorus During ‘Operation Cast Lead’

And How the U.S. Media Tries to Cover Up Israeli War Crimes

Isabel Kershner wrote last week in the New York Times that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) plans to discontinue the use of white phosphorus munitions, adding that

Israeli and international human rights organizations accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions improperly during Israel’s three-week military offensive against Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza in the winter of 2008-9. Such munitions are not prohibited under international law, but they are not supposed to be used in civilian areas, because white phosphorus is highly flammable and, like napalm, it can burn flesh. Israel maintained that its use of shells containing phosphorus did not violate international law.[1] (so didn't deny it used them)

Human rights organizations “accused” Israel, Kershner wrote, as though this was merely an unproven accusation and not a well-documented, indisputable fact. The “accusation” is that Israel used white phosphorus “improperly”, Kershner’s euphemism for “illegally”. The munitions are “not prohibited under international law, but they are not supposed to be used in civilian areas”, meaning that the use of white phosphorus in civilian areas is prohibited under international law. Finally, Israel maintains it “did not violate international law.”

The question one might find oneself asking after reading this is: Did Israel use the munitions in civilian areas, or not? We know the answer. So, then, why cannot Kershner bother herself to tell her readers that there is no question that Israel did in fact use the munitions in civilian areas? Why does she decline to point out to her readers that, by doing so, it is an incontrovertible fact that Israel violated international law with its use of white phosphorus?

Kershner also didn’t mention that Israel initially denied its use of white phosphorus, which would be an behavior had its use of the munitions been legal. The London Times reported on January 5, 2009 that despite Israel’s denials, “the tell-tale shells could be seen spreading tentacles of thick white smoke to cover the troops’ advance.”[2] On January 8, The Times reported again that photographic proof of Israel’s use of white phosphorus munitions had emerged, “despite official denials” by the IDF. The Times had identified munitions bearing the designation M825A1, made in the USA. Confronted with the evidence, an IDF spokeswoman lied, “This is what we call a quiet shell—it is empty, it has no explosives and no white phosphorus. There is nothing inside it”.[3]

By January 10, Human Rights Watch called upon Israel to “stop using white phosphorus in military operations in densely populated areas of Gaza”, including Gaza City. “White phosphorous can burn down houses and cause horrific burns when it touches the skin,” said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at HRW.[4] Noting that when white phosphorus munitions burst in the air, they spread “116 burning wafers over an area between 125 and 250 meters in diameter”, HRW added that “the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life.” The IDF continued to deny that it was using white phosphorus, HRW also pointed out, despite the fact that the distinctive air-bursting munitions had been photographed being used over populated areas of Gaza.[5]

“I can tell you with certainty that white phosphorus is absolutely not being used”, an IDF spokesperson had initially lied. Several days later, and two days after the HRW report, after photographs of the weapon being used in Gaza had appeared widely in the media, the official Israeli position became: “Any munitions that Israel is using are in accordance with international law. Israel does not specify the types of munitions or the types of operations it is conducting.”

CNNKershner perhaps took her cue from earlier reporting. CNN at the time likewise characterized Israel’s use of white phosphorus as merely an accusation with the headline “Group accuses Israel of firing white phosphorus into Gaza”.[6] The characterization came despite the fact that the article was accompanied online with an image of the weapon in use, clear photographic proof that the HRW “accusation” was true and that Israeli officials were lying.

In a similar fashion, the caption of a photograph on a BBC report unmistakably showing white phosphorus munitions bursting over populated areas read “Human Rights Watch says pictures like this point to white phosphorus use, but Israel denies this”. The BBC article disingenuously added, “There is no way independently to explain the contradiction between the Israeli military’s denial” and the reports that Israel had been using the weapon.[7] Unimaginatively, the BBC failed to realize the simplest and most obvious explanation: that Israeli officials were lying—a fact proven beyond any reasonable doubt by the very photograph the BBC included with the article.



The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem observed that under international law, “such [incendiary] weapons may only be used against military objects. When the military object is located within a civilian area, the use of phosphorus is absolutely prohibited.” While Israel had not signed the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, the specific prohibition was nevertheless “based on two customary principles of international law, which are binding on Israel. The first is the prohibition on using weapons that cannot distinguish between combatants and civilians, and the second is the prohibition on using weapons which by their nature cause unnecessary suffering.”[8]

An ICRC official also confirmed to the Associated Press that Israel was in fact using white phosphorous munitions. His comments made headlines in the U.S. because he had also said, “But it’s not very unusual to use phosphorus to create smoke or illuminate a target. We have no evidence to suggest it’s being used in any other way.” The widely published AP article was misleadingly titled “ICRC: Israel’s use of white phosphorus not illegal”, despite the fact that the official quoted, Peter Herby, hadn’t actually said that. Rather, he had indicated that additional information was required before a judgment could be made as to whether Israel’s use of the weapon was legal or not. The AP report noted in the third to last paragraph that Herby had also “said evidence is still limited because of the difficulties of gaining access to Gaza”, but the distinction was no doubt lost upon many readers, even among those who actually read past the false headline.[9]

Apparently, Herby had not seen any of the numerous photographs that had already appeared in the media or spoken with the credible witnesses of the weapons being used over heavily populated residential areas, and thus illegally. In another example, the Christian Science Monitor repeated Herby’s comments to the AP under the headline, “Red Cross: No evidence Israel is using white phosphorus illegally”, despite its own admission that “Monitor staff writer Robert Marquand reported yesterday that human rights groups have witnessed white phosphorus munitions exploding over populated area [sic] of Gaza” (emphasis added).[10] The headline was made even more egregious given the fact that in a separate article published the same day, Marquand reported (emphasis added):

Marc Garlasco has been on the northern border of Gaza for the past five days watching what he says are white phosphorus munitions exploding over a crowded refugee camp. Mr. Garlasco, a senior military analyst for New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), says that the way Israel is using the incendiary device is illegal…. “The IDF acts only in accordance with what is permitted by international law and does not use white phosphorus,” IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi told Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday in response to a query. But Garlasco says that phosphorus is clearly being used in the Jabaliya refugee camp, one of the most crowded areas in Gaza. “I can see them; we are very certain, whatever the Israeli Defense Forces may say, that white phosphorus is being used….”

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/05/03/israels-illegal-use-of-white-phosphorus-during-operation-cast-lead/


It denied using illegal weapons last year, however the proof is with the ICC

And if people cannot see why Sassy is antisemitic when she keeps lying is beyond belief:

The lie that Israel uses “banned weapons”

September 21, 2014 by Thomas Wictor
What I like best about the Internet is that you can use it to discover the truth. I can now say that virtually every accusation made against Israel is a lie. Most of these lies can be debunked in less than a minute, which demonstrates the caliber of the people who repeat such falsehoods. This post is about the lie that Israel uses “banned weapons” in its periodic wars with Islamic terrorists.
The current fiction making the rounds is this.
Israel has used three internationally banned weapons in its recent attacks on the Gaza Strip, a military expert said.
Safwat Al-Zayat, a retired Brigadier General in the Egyptian Army and an expert in military affairs, told the Anadolu news agency that “Israel’s use of such internationally banned weapons is a continuation of the approach it adopted in Operation Cast Lead in 2008/2009.”
Al-Zayat added that Israel used Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME), which had already been used in Operation Cast Lead. DIME weapons spread inert metal atoms that penetrate the human body and are difficult to get out of human tissue.
He added that DIME munitions are used in the form of bombs that are propelled by droned[sic]…
The second internationally banned weapon used by Israel in its current war is armour piercing bombs. According to Al-Zayat, they cause big explosions and result in a large number of civilian deaths…
Al-Zayat said the third internationally prohibited weapon used by Israel in Gaza is white phosphorous, which mixes with oxygen to form a transparent wax and causes fires and thick, white smoke.
We’ll take these charges one a a time, beginning with the last.

White phosphorus

Israel never once used weaponized white phosphorus in urban combat. The world decided in 2009 to accept the transparent lie that the M825A1 smoke shell is an incendiary weapon, but that just means that much of the world is corrupt, insane, and poisoned with Jew-hate. Israel didn’t even use the M825A1 smoke shell over Gaza in Operation Protective Edge. This is what the explosion of the shell looks like. It’s called the “Medusa.”

If you can find me a photo of a Medusa over an urban setting in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge, I’ll pay you $1000.
Also, white phosphorus is not internationally banned.
While the use of the material is not specifically banned, it is covered by Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons, which prohibits use of the substance as an incendiary weapon against civilian populations and in air attacks against military forces in civilian areas.
The Israelis don’t use weaponized white phosphorus against civilians, and firing M825A1 smoke shells does not constitute a white-phosphorus air attack. Nevertheless, the IDF no longer uses the M825A1 shell over populated areas. So retired Brigadier General Safwat Al-Zayat is lying on two counts.

Do you also notice how she posts old articles in her desperation for people to hate Israel.
That is what I constitute as the lowest kind of scum possible.

They lied to you about white phosphorus

August 18, 2014 by Thomas Wictor
Israel, I owe you an apology. I should’ve looked into the white phosphorus lie back in 2009. In my defense I didn’t appreciate the scope of the very real global conspiracy to make Israel into a pariah state. The conspirators include the United Nations, the European Union, the press, and every single “human rights” organization on earth. Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem are the worst offenders. When you’re finished reading this, you’ll hold these morally bankrupt organizations in the same contempt I do.
Before I present my irrefutable evidence of the lies you were told, I’ll explain why “human rights” organizations conspire against you, Israel. You’re the only people they can attack without fear of being called racists. A brilliant thinker named Tammy Bruce is a huge supporter of Israel. At the beginning of Operation Cast Lead, she began weeping on the air as she described photos of Israeli troops praying before going into battle.

Like me, she’s a non-religious, non-Jewish friend of Israel.
Ms. Bruce was once a high-ranking official in the National Organization for Women (NOW). She says that they told her that if perfect equality between the genders was ever achieved, NOW would go out of business. Therefore it was in the best interests of NOW that the Battle of the Sexes go on forever.
This is why “human rights” organizations attack Israel. Without Israel, none of these groups would exist. But from this day forward, you can ignore everything they say. They lied to you, and they continue lying to you. When people behave a certain way, you no longer have to consider their feelings. If they cross certain lines, they’re giving you permission to write them off.
I’ve gotten to know many Israelis, and I can’t think of people LESS DESERVING OF HATE and LESS DESERVING OF CRITICISM. That’s why I do this. I want to help you fight back against the lies and injustice.

The truth about white phosphorus

We’ve all seen the photos.

That smoke cloud is called “the Medusa.” It’s created by the M825A1 155mm artillery shell. This American projectile is sold to Israel and fired from the M109 Howitzer, a self-propelled artillery piece.

This is the M825A1 shell.

It’s a smoke shell. Inside the casing are 116 wedges made of felt. These wedges are impregnated with white phosphorus.  The fusible lifting plug is set to eject the metal canister containing the felt wedges. A bursting charge runs the length of the canister; it ignites and scatters the wedges. The smoke screen lasts for five to ten minutes.
Human rights organizations have said that the use of white phosphorus weapons against civilians is a war crime. True.
Here’s where the lie comes in.
They say that knowing full well that the M825A1 is not a weapon. The first explosion in the video below is NOT from an Israeli M825A1. It’s impossible to say what caused it; my guess is an aerial munition. Now watch how quickly the felt wedges of the M825A1 burn out.

They last only a few seconds. My Japanese is pretty rusty, but what they’re saying in this next video is that Israel is using incendiary bombs on Gaza. It’s a lie. NOTE AGAIN HOW FAST THE FELT WEDGES BURN OUT.

Most of them are extinguished by the time they hit the ground. And why did the Human Rights Watch idiot say that you can’t use weapons on the public in the rear? I guess we now know what’s always on his mind.

Palestinian “burn victims” are either faking it, or they were burned in accidents, or they were doused in gasoline and set alight by Hamas. ALL “human rights” organizations carry out investigations that rely solely on Palestinian sources or activists sympathetic to Hamas. Therefore you can disregard everything you were ever told about white phosphorus. Use your own eyes. The felt wedges of the M825A1 smoke shell go out almost immediately. When falling from the sky, they can’t create fires or cause severe burns.
“Human rights” organizations, the press, and Palestinians are conflating—mixing together—a smoke shell and a munition.
The American 155mm M110A1 artillery shell is a white phosphorus MUNITION. It’s full to the brim with solid white phosphorus. THIS is what will burn you.

Do you see the difference between “the Medusa” of the M825A1 shell and the huge gout of white smoke from the M110A1? The smoke shell will not burn you. That’s why the Israelis used it. But the press and “human rights” organizations screamed lies at the tops of their lungs, which forced the Israelis to stop using this shell, even though they had no reason whatsoever to do so.
“There is no question that the use of the shell caused Israel’s image unbelievable damage, since a number of NGOs claimed that its use was a war crime,” one defense official said this week.
Israel has argued that use of the shell was in line with international law and that since it was not a traditional white phosphorus incendiary weapon it could be used in populated areas.
You saw for yourself: The felt wedges of white phosphorus smoke shells are often harmless ashes even before they hit the ground.
But-but-but what about this?

These images are everywhere.


Seems pretty damning, doesn’t it?
Not to me. Remember “the Medusa”? Look at the size of it compared to the apartment buildings below.

Now look at the explosion over the UN school.

It’s about one-tenth the size of the Medusa. And have you ever seen felt bounce? Those chunks kept burning for a very long time. I wonder why?

Well, guess what? Here’s a sharply pointed nose fuse, proving that an Israeli M825A1 did not cause the stunted Medusa.

The flaming pieces are solid white phosphorus from an entirely different projectile.
Question: Does it strike you as odd that someone was standing on the corrugated roof, ready to take a photo?
Answer: It wasn’t odd at all, because what you’re seeing is a preplanned false-flag operation. That’s a Hamas smoke mortar shell, deliberately fired at the school as something for the Jew-hating world press to seize on so they could say, “SEE? ISRAELIS ARE MONSTERS! THEY BURN CHILDREN ALIVE!” And it gave the “human rights” organizations more of their [url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raison d%27%C3%AAtre]raison d’être.[/url]
Middle Eastern terrorists have tons of Chinese, Russian, and Iranian white-phosphorus mortar rounds. They use them constantly. Ever heard a “human rights” organization complain about it? Their condemnation is quite…selective, isn’t it?
One of the biggest collection of lies in modern history is the United Nations’ Goldstone Report, which blubbering moron Richard Goldstone partially repudiated after he finally accepted what all thinking people know: Palestinians are inveterate liars. The Goldstone Report showcases lies about white phosphorus.
At around 4.30 p.m., a white phosphorous shell came through the ceiling into the room where they were sheltering. According to family members who survived, there was intense fire and white smoke in the room, the walls of which were glowing red.
The walls glowed red? Did they live in a steel house? These are childish lies that nobody actually believes. I recommend you avoid that Web page because it shows a photo of Palestinian “paramedics” triumphantly holding aloft the head and torso of a burnt-black infant. The child was obviously not killed by Israeli white phosphorus, because the M825A1 smoke shell can’t penetrate roofs and burn people to death. Knowing Hamas, they murdered the baby themselves.
 
Israelis shouldn’t feel bad that their leaders stopped using equipment based on a lie. In 2004 US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was criticized for using a mechanical signing device—an autopen—on letters of condolence to the families of fallen American troops. As a result he began to personally sign all letters.
Do you think Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford personally signed the 58,156 letters of condolence sent out during the Vietnam War? Of course not. But the argument is made that Rumsfeld should’ve signed the letters personally because there were far fewer deaths.
Okay, how about seventeen letters? After seventeen U.S. Navy SEALs were killed in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011, President Obama signed the seventeen letters of condolence with an autopen.
And all seventeen letters were identical.

Some people benefit from double standards, and other suffer. Israelis always suffer.
But now that you know the truth about white phosphorus, at least that’s one lie you never have to listen to again.
Not from anybody.