By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – On October 20, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government would try to change international law regarding war crimes.
Netanyahu’s statement came amid his government’s toughening stance on the Goldstone Report endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council the week before. The report accused Israel and Hamas, the ruling Palestinian party in the Gaza Strip, of war crimes during heavy fighting between the two sides in Gaza last winter. During the 22-day conflict, approximately 1,400 Palestinians and thirteen Israelis were killed.
Netanyahu characterized the Goldstone Report as an attempt to “delegalize” the state of Israel, spreading false allegations against the country.
“I want to make it clear to everyone,” said Netanyahu at the October 20 meeting. “No one can undermine our ability and right to defend our children, our citizens and our communities.”
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak supported the Prime Minister’s statements, adding that a change in international war crimes laws was “in the interest of anyone fighting terrorism.”
Public opinion in Israel, however, has been more mixed. Newspaper editorials appeared in newspapers such as Ha’aretz, criticizing the government’s approach to the military action in Gaza as well as its aftermath, calling it “one-dimensional” and short-sighted.
International reaction has also been dubious. William Schabas, Chair of the International Institute for Criminal Investigation, told the Jerusalem Post that Netanyahu’s goals of changing the international laws of war was unrealistic, and that such an initiative was “almost an admission” that Israel had committed war crimes during the Gaza fighting.
“It’s one thing to claim that [the rules of war] should change,” said Schabas. “But that doesn’t give you an excuse to violate them until they’ve changed.”
Schabas added that one cannot change the rules by characterizing one’s enemies as cruel and vicious, and if a country breaks international law, the country behaves like the terrorists the country is trying to defeat.
During the October 20 cabinet meeting, Netanyahu also instructed the Israeli Justice Ministry to establish a unit to address legal challenges against Israeli officials and military officers in international courts. Charges have been brought by pro-Palestinian groups against such individuals in courts in Britain and other European countries during recent weeks.
For more information, please see:
Jerusalem Post – Schabas: Israeli Plan to Change Laws of War is Unrealistic – 22 October 2009
Al Jazeera – Israel Push to Change Laws of War – 21 October 2009
ChinaView – Israel Strives to Change Int’l Law of War Following Goldstone Report – 21 October 2009
New York Times – Israel: Panel to Fight UN Report – 20 October 2009
Ha’aretz – Why Israel Failed in the Gaza War – 18 October 2009
