UN report condemns Israel as violator of children's rights over Gaza conflict

Secretary-General to decide whether Israel will be included on final list of violators of children's rights due to the large number of children killed in the war in Gaza last summer.

REUTERS - UN agencies in Israel and the Palestinian territories reported an alarming number of child victims in last year's war in the Gaza Strip but were split on whether Israel should be put on a list of violators of children's rights, a UN document said.

The 22-page confidential country report, obtained by Reuters on Friday, was prepared by United Nations agencies on the ground for submission to the UN special envoy for children and armed conflict as she readied a draft of the annual list.

The special envoy, Leila Zerrougui of Algeria, included Israel's army and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the draft she sent to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has final say on the list, UN sources have said.

Diplomats say the final version of the list, which names grave violators of children's rights in armed conflicts, could reach UN member states as early as the beginning of next week.

More than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in the conflict, while 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed. The country report said some 540 children were reportedly killed, 371 of them 12 years old or younger.

Whether to include the Jewish state is a politically charged issue for Israel and the United States. Some U.S. lawmakers have spoken out on the issue and Republican presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz wrote to Ban about it this week.

UN diplomatic sources told Reuters that Israel has lobbied hard against its inclusion and that Ban was leaning against including Israel. Diplomats said U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power had urged Ban not to list Israel.

The draft report has strong language on alleged violations of children's rights in the Gaza war.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.659877

Lets not forget the children it takes from their homes in the middle of the night, locks in solitary confinement and sexually abuse, children as young as 9 - 10.

I am happy that they do this as long as they do the same for any nation where children have been killed during a conflict. There has to be balanced for all nations and if they are just singling out Israel that is wrong on all levels. There is no denying the IDF has made poor decisions in the selection of targets of which I freely condemn, but again lets take a reality check here.

The IDF do try to minimize civilian casualties through numerous methods of warning.
Hamas does not try in any shape or form to warn or minimize civilian casualties in Israel.

Hamas deliberately fire indiscriminate rockets at Israel, where their charter calls for the destruction of Israel.
Israel retaliates to attacks and because they infest money in defense they suffer fewer casualties.

Hamas builds no bomb shelters for its civilians. Instead with aid money they build tunnels to smuggle weapons and attack Israel.
Israel however does build bomb shelters and has a missile defense system which is not full proof but does minimize rockets getting through to hit Israel. All of which helps minimize casualties.

Hamas places weaponry, terrorists and fires rockets from civilian areas, thus ensuring maximum civilian casualties themselves via human shields. They protect their armaments with humans. Hamas views and needs Palestinians to die the more the better to play onto the media as victims, when they ensure many civilians will become casualties. They also publicly call on the people of Gaza to become human shields, by not heeding to Israeli warnings of an impending attack. They play off  manipulating the Quran calling for Martyrdom of the Palestinian people.

Now its important to investigate such conflicts and take to task any wrong doings from the start, but much blame for the high level of civilian casualties falls squarely on the shoulders of Hamas. They are using civilians as cannon fodder, to entice sympathy, showing they care little for the people of Gaza and will use as many as it takes in its goal of wanting to destroy Israel.

So lets have some balance for all nations subjected to such investigations and reports where there has been civilian casualties during a conflict.
Lets have some real honesty here how Hamas is the greater cause of the levels of civilian casualties.
Blame and condemnation must also fall on the IDF.


Catch you all later.