Israel Matzav

Why it doesn't matter that Amnesty condemns Hezbullah

My friend Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has described Amnesty International's condemnation of Hezbullah for war crimes against Israelis in last month's war as a Flying Pigs Moment. Sorry, but I must diasgree:

1. Amnesty's condemnation of Hezbullah is just a warm-up for implementing the report they have already issued against Israel.

2. Amnesty has already called for a UN inquiry into possible war crimes by both sides in the war. You can bet which side the UN will focus on. Just look at the UN's 'human rights' record.

3. Hezbullah has already rejected the charges, saying "yes, we targeted civilians but we had no choice, and it was only in response to Israeli attacks."

4. Let's assume the worst case scenario on each side: the UN investigates, condemns both sides, and decides to implement sanctions. How will it sanction Hezbullah? Since Hezbullah portrays itself as a political party and not as a government (even though Hezbullah's response was given by a Hezbullah member of the Lebanese parliament!), against whom will sanctions be implemented? Surely not against the entire Lebanese people (although it would likely be justified to do so). On the other hand, were the UN to sanction Israel, you can bet that sanctions would be implemented against the entire country. Thank God George Bush is President and John Bolton is the UN ambassador, so that any sanctions against Israel are likely to will be vetoed in the Security Council.

5. Sometimes violations are so blatant that it is impossible to ignore them completely. That was the case with Hezbullah. They actually said that they were targetting civilians. That prevented Amnesty from ignoring it. But doing anything about Hezbullah's violations is a different story. Hell will freeze over first.

While the pigs may fly briefly tonight, in the end, they will come crashing down to "same old, same old." Sorry Charles!

Update 8:02 PM

Commenter Laurence adds:

6. Amnesty doesn't just ignore the use of civilians as human shields and cover for Hezbollah bunkers, which is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions. They openly state that they will not even consider such charges.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:27 PM