Israel will grant legal protection for soldiers who fought in the three-week war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday amid accusations of war crimes.
“The commanders and soldiers sent to Gaza need to know that they are completely safe from different tribunals and Israel will help and protect them,” he said.
Olmert confirmed he had appointed Justice Minister Daniel Friedman to chair an inter-ministerial committee “to coordinate Israel’s efforts to offer legal defense for anyone who took part in the operation.
PHOTO: EPA
“He will formulate questions and answers relating to the army’s operations, which self-righteous people ... might use to sue officers and soldiers,” the prime minister said.
Israel’s military censor has already banned the publication of the identity of the unit leaders who fought against militants of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on the Gaza Strip for fear they may face war crimes charges.
Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Malki said the Israeli government’s move was unlikely to halt war crimes probes.
“The decision is not going to prevent governments and human rights organizations around the world to really seek clear legal cases against all Israeli leaders who are responsible for the death and destruction of the Palestinian people,” he told journalists.
“More efforts will be seen in the future” to bring cases to justice, he said, adding “there is no immunity against legal actions.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last Tuesday demanded that those responsible for bombing UN buildings in the Palestinian territory should be made accountable and accused Israel of using excessive force.
UN schools and the main aid headquarters where tonnes of food was stocked were bombed.
Eight Israeli human rights groups have called on the Israeli government to investigate the scale of the casualties, describing the number of dead women and children as “terrifying.”
Israel insists troops did their best to limit civilian casualties in a heavily populated area and blamed Hamas for hiding behind civilians to fire rockets at southern Israel.
Gaza medics put the Palestinian death toll at 1,330 with at least another 5,450 people wounded. About 65 percent of the dead were civilians, including 437 children.
Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians died during Operation Cast Lead, which ended last Sunday with a ceasefire.
Amnesty International, meanwhile, has said it was “undeniable” that Israel had used white phosphorus in crowded civilian areas, contrary to international law, charging that this amounted to a war crime.
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
An American man identified as the son of a deputy director of the CIA was killed in eastern Ukraine last year while fighting under contract for the Russian military, an investigation by independent Russian media said. Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, died on April 4 last year in “Eastern Europe,” an obituary published by his family said. He was the son of Juliane Gallina, who was appointed the deputy director for digital innovation at the CIA in February last year. The story of how the son of a top-ranking US spy died fighting for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of
RSS