Human Rights Watch- War Crimes?

From Informed Comment:

Human Rights Watch has issued a report- which I think is decidedly flawed- (summary here, report here) expressing their belief that Israel is guilty of war crimes. They say, in part:

Israeli forces have systematically failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians in their military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said in report released today. The pattern of attacks in more than 20 cases investigated by Human Rights Watch researchers in Lebanon indicates that the failures cannot be dismissed as mere accidents and cannot be blamed on wrongful Hezbollah practices. In some cases, these attacks constitute war crimes.

The 50-page report, Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon, analyzes almost two dozen cases of Israeli air and artillery attacks on civilian homes and vehicles. Of the 153 dead civilians named in the report, 63 are children. More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli fire since fighting began on July 12, most of them civilians.

"The pattern of attacks shows the Israeli military's disturbing disregard for the lives of Lebanese civilians," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "Our research shows that Israel's claim that Hezbollah fighters are hiding among civilians does not explain, let alone justify, Israel's indiscriminate warfare."

Readers of this blog know that I have been critical of Israel for over-reaching in its attacks in Lebanon (here, here, and here, for example) targeting in Beruit and elsewhere when Hezbollah is primarily in the south of Lebanon, and not only killing civilians but also unnecessarily destroying infrastructure on which those civilians depend. Israel has violated just war traditions and created an even greater humanitarian crisis in Lebanon than any war would be expected to do.

That said, why does HRW single out Israel? Hezbollah has been launching rockets- at an average of approximately 100 per day- into civilian areas in Israel? Hezbollah started the present conflict with the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, did they not? Are Israeli citizens less protected by international laws and agreements than Lebanese citizens? Furthermore, Hezbollah continues to launch rockets into Israel from civilian areas in Lebanon, thus putting civilians directly into the line of Israeli fire. Are we simply to disregard this unconscionable activity? HRW certainly discounts it.

The key difference between Hezbollah and Israel is that Israel has much greater fire-power, both in terms of quantity and quality of weapons. Therefore, they have done greater damage. That does, in my view, does place a greater moral responsibility on Israel to exercise restraint. They have failed to exercise that restraint.

The difference does not excuse Hezbollah from condemnation, however. The actions of Hezbollah- not to mention their rhetoric- clearly show that if they could kill large numbers of Israeli citizens with their rockets, they would. And the fact that they are more than willing to have Lebanese civilians caught in the middle as pawns in the deadly game they started also deserves the attention of anyone interested in human rights.

We need to create an atmosphere for peace. Turning a blind eye to one wrong while condemning another will not create this atmosphere. Both sides have done wrong. But, both sides need to be brought to a table- physical or metaphorical- for discussion that will lead to peace. Then, perhaps, both sides need to be brought to the bar, so to speak, for judgment regarding their actions. HRW has show it is not capable of being the impartial judge the situation calls for.

There is a reason that Lady Justice is blind. Only through objective judgment can we move the Middle East back from the brink.

GP