Israeli war crimes well documented

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem documents on its Web site multiple instances of human rights abuses, violations of international law and war crimes committed by Israeli Defense Forces in their three-week siege of Gaza.

The crimes include the shooting of unarmed civilians, children bombed while standing in the street, and a widely reported story of Gaza residents shot while waving white flags and abiding by IDF orders. While the world shies away from the pictures of war, Palestinians have turned to Google with albums full of casualties.

Listen also this PRI radio report with testimony from Human Rights Watch that documents white phosphurous used by IDF troops to kill civilians in homes and schools.

Meanwhile, the tunnels from Gaza into Egypt are working again as evidenced by the NBC story embedded below.

There should be no doubt that US support in the form of weapons should end immediately. Israel has committed far too many war crimes to cast them aside as isolated incidents. They have abused our support just like the Bush Administration abused the support of the rest of the world after 9/11. It's one thing for President Obama to close Guantanamo and bring an end to the Iraq war, but quite another to prevent US weapons companies from doing business with Israel. This is clearly, without question, the right thing to do.

Now is the time to make your voice heard and email Obama today through the new Whitehouse.gov.

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Bush departs as Israel polishes off Gaza; no coincidence

President Bush gave his final (thank God) press conference the other day in which he demonstrated himself to be the same stupid moron, who can't control his body language or demeanor, that he showed himself to be more than eight years ago when he introduced himself to the American people.

It's no coincidence that Israel will conclude its pummeling of Gaza, having killed more than 1,100 (roughly 500 of whom were women and children) as the Obama administration prepares to take office. How many war crimes and violations of international law must Israel commit before some kind of International court takes action? I suppose after they prosecute Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld and Gonzalez for torture. The NY Times offers this thorough piece on the legal issues of war.

Israel yesterday, for the second time during the three week offensive, shelled a UN headquarters. The first, near the beginning of operations killed 40 Palestinians who sought refuge at the UN compound. The attack on the UN compound the other day destroyed hundreds of pounds of emergency aid supplies. The United Nations accused Israel of using white phosphurous,i an illegal substance under International law for anything other than illuminating a battlefield. Although Israel leaders claimed that Hamas fighters were firing from the compound, according to this New York Times report, an Israeli commander admitted privately that Hamas fighters were 100 yards or so from the compound. This comes also after an incident where Israeli troops shelled a house with more than 30 people in it and refused to allow relief workers, NPR reported.