Well, you asked, so here you go..
"the prohibition of collective punishments is stated in the Hague Regulations and the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions. The prohibition is recognized in Additional Protocols I and II as a fundamental guarantee for all civilians and persons hors de combat."
From the 4th Geneva Convention:
“Article 33 - Individual responsibility, collective penalties, pillage, reprisals
No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
Pillage is prohibited.”
Wanton destruction-destroying non-combatants' property to a degree not warranted by military necessity.
Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, and War Crimes
"According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Geneva Conventions define war crimes to include "willful killing; torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments; willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health; extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly; willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial; ”
Collective Punishment-Wilfully killing civilians who had no part in the planning of Oct 7.
Wanton Destruction-Taking out more civilian property than military necessity requires.
Pillage-An Occupier taking land away from an Occupied power. Basically, all of the Jewish settlements constitute pillage, a war crime.
Collective punishments are War Crimes under the 4th Geneva Convention. Ordering 2 million people to leave their homes is a collective punishment. Launching airstrikes at ambulances and hospitals is a collective punishment. And continuing airstrikes without trying to avoid civilian casualties is a continuing collective punishment. Here is the text from the 4th Geneva Convention:
"No protected person [i.e., a civilian] may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org › article...
Geneva Convention (IV) on Civilians, 1949 - Article 33 - IHL Treaties"
The equipment the IDF is using, 155mm artillery rounds, among others in the Gaza war, is overkill. They're great for decimating buildings, but that in itself is problematic. It's true that the IDF asks people who live in those buildings to evacuate, informing them a strike is coming. But some civilians are too old or sick to get out, and are getting killed.
A 155mm round (diameter of 6") has a blast radius of between 160-500 feet. Mortars or smaller diameter rounds are more appropriate for taking out Hamas missile launch sites, but Israel isn't using them, I suspect due to "casual indifference."
Tunnels are another issue. Israel is presently using airstrikes which destroy civilian buildings to get at the tunnels below, and vice versa. That method shows a callous disregard for Palestinian civilians and infrastructure. The IDF can do sideways targeting without destroying the building, but that's harder to do. And there are other methods to kill militants in tunnels that don't kill as many civilians in the process.
So what is Israel supposed to do, big picture? Basically, go kill the really bad guys door to door, house to house, and tunnel to tunnel. We did it in Iraq and Afghanistan, so it can be done. But right now Israel is showing contempt for the lives of innocent Palestinians with unrestricted airstrikes that are killing hundreds of civilian Palestinians a day, with a high percentage being children. Over 40,000 Palestinian civilians have died so far, and over 70,000 have been injured.
As a policy matter, Israel's conduct is self-defeating. For every terrorist they kill, they will create 3 more due to the manner in which they are conducting the war. We should pull funds and support unless and until Israel abides by the international laws of war.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not the same as civilians who live in Gaza and the West Bank.
I stipulate that Hamas has committed unspeakable war crimes, but one war crime does not excuse another.
Some say: "Just out of curiosity... would you work alongside a group of folks that have sworn to eradicate you from the Earth?"
This is a false dichotomy. Bibi will take Hamas over the PA/Fatah-who like Ghandi, favor non-violent resistance-any day of the week, because Hamas/Islamic Jihad serve his goals of never having a Palestinian state, inflaming Iran into war with the U.S., and allowing him to justify the apartheid regime that currently exists in Israel/Palestine.
Bibi can say: "You want Israel to have a side-by-side state with these animals? You've got to be kidding me."
Bibi and his far right regime will never consent to a Palestinian state run by the PA, even if the PA agrees to throw down the gauntlet with Hamas and require them to lay down their weapons or face arrest, which is exactly what should happen.
What Bibi is hoping for, I think, is to eventually expel all Palestinians from Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. That's a violation of international law and constitutes a war crime of pillage and ethnic cleansing. That's why he has wantonly destroyed civilian property and civilian infrastructure. He wants to make Palestinians so miserable that they leave "voluntarily", as he puts it. If that's not his plan, then what is?
Israel claims that Hamas is launching attacks from Gaza hospitals, which is contradicted by the hospital staff, the UN, the World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders, and the International Red Cross. If Israel has proof, it needs to present it at the UN in an open hearing for all to see. Bombing hospitals with airstrikes and large artillery rounds is a flat out war crime, being committed with our tax dollars and U.S.-provided weapons. That needs to end.
The left-me included-is calling for a cease fire, while the right says keep fighting until you wipe out Hamas. Trying to wipe out Hamas is like the Romans trying to wipe out Christianity. For every "martyr" you kill, 3 more spring up. The young boys suffering right now and losing family members and eyes and limbs in Gaza won't soon forget this. When they reach fighting age, a good percentage will make it their life's goal to avenge this travesty, and I can't say I would blame them.
So what should Israel do? First, set some attainable goals like arresting or killing the senior Hamas members who planned the attack. This stuff about wiping Hamas off the map is pie in the sky, "tilting at windmills" stuff. They're just going to strengthen Hamas in the long term on the current trajectory, and create more terrorists. And when attainable military goals are reached, they need to withdraw from Gaza.
Second, they need to switch to smaller guns and go door to door and house to house, looking for the really bad guys. Using F-16 munitions on an area the size of Philly with a population of 2 million, half of which is under 18, is a war crime waiting to happen.
Third, the Israeli populace needs, imo, to fire Bibi. Has he brought Israel peace? No, actually he's an obstacle to peace. I can't see any scenario where Bibi would offer anything to the Palestinians that would end the conflict, unless his liberal war co-governors can straight up convince him that his approach won't work, which I find unlikely.
Fourth, the new settlements and settler violence against the Palestinians in the West Bank need to end.
Fifth, the Israeli government needs to negotiate with the PA on an immediate 2-state resolution in a land for peace deal that includes the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, with connecting geographical corridors, in exchange for a deal that Hamas and Islamic Jihad lay down their weapons or face arrest by joint IDF/PA operations, and cede some land to Israel for the older settlements in exchange for an equal part of land used to connect the Palestinian territories.
If Israel can't even offer that much to Palestine, then I side with the left and ask for a permanent cease fire. The current situation serves no one's interests, not even Israel's, and should not be supported by U.S. tax dollars and U.S. weapons. That would make all of us complicit in the commission of war crimes.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. What Hamas did was unspeakably awful and the planners and senior leaders of the October 7 attacks should be held fully accountable with their lives. But what is happening today in Gaza isn't the answer either. Vengeance isn't a political strategy that ends in peace and tranquility.
Amnesty International has issued a report on treatment of administrative detainees-those detained without charges-of Palestinians in the West Bank, of all places. It is an extremely disturbing read, and sounds much more like what we'd all expect from Hamas, not a U.S. ally that we are providing weapons and funds to. It is high time that we attach conditions to our support of Israel, as Senator Bernie Sanders, a Jew, has proposed.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...trary-arrests/
Netanyahu's war is going badly. None of his stated objectives is anywhere near to being achieved, while the Palestinian death toll has surpassed 40,000, with 85% of the population displaced, and over 100 Israeli hostages are still held in Gaza.
I hope Israel holds snap elections and Netanyahu's far right government gets voted out. It's high time for Israel to negotiate in good faith with the PA on a permanent two state solution that will end the second class treatment of Palestinians.
The Iran-supported Houthis in Yemen are shooting at commercial ships in the Red Sea, citing the war on Gaza as their reason. We lost 2 Navy Seals from Seal Team 3 based out of San Diego who were doing a night boarding on a dhow (boat) carrying arms from Iran to the Houthis. One Seal slipped from the boarding ladder in heavy seas, and a second jumped in to save him. Both men died, and their bodies have not been recovered. The dhow was fully loaded with heavy arms, which were seized by the other team members.
There are a number of hotspots which could erupt into full blown war between the U.S. and Iran or Iran-allied militias. The way that Israel's Gaza war is being conducted is not in the U.S.'s interest, and it is time for the Biden admin to state that publicly, or, at a minimum, privately to Israel. The Houthis won't back down until the war ends, is my prediction. They've taken U.S. missile hits from our guided missile destroyers without changing their conduct one iota.
Another war in the Mideast is the last thing America needs. China would probably take Taiwan while we were distracted with another pointless Mideast war. It's time to call a spade a spade.
Furthermore, I also hold Biden responsible for those 3 American soldiers in Jordan who died. I contend that they died because Biden has clearly displayed bias in favor of Israel and against Palestinian civilians. Israel has a legitimate and righteous beef with those terrorists responsible for planning October 7, but what does it do? Instead of taking out the bad guys by capturing or killing the terrorists responsible for planning October 7, the IDF turned 1.87 million people into homeless refugees on the brink of starvation, and killed over 40,000 civilians, mostly women and children, using F-16s that we provided, a clear collective punishment and, therefore, a clear war crime, carried out with American weapons and American taxpayer dollars. We paid for Israeli war crimes. And what does Biden do? He looks the other way, and sneaks more weapons to Israel, even without the consent of Congress.
So when Hezbollah or any number of Iranian-supported militias look at the U.S. and Israel, they, correctly, see them as one and the same, and equally deserving of reprisals. I don't support Hezbollah's or the other militias' actions for one single second, but, looking at the situation from their perspective, I can certainly see where they are coming from with regard to the U.S.'s complicity in seriously wrongful acts against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
I know what Biden privately thinks of Netanyahu; he thinks he's a fascist scumbag who would love nothing better than to commit genocide against all Palestinians, killing them or kicking them out entirely from East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, and claiming all of those lands for Israel, in violation of international law, and the indictable war crime of pillage. But what does Biden do? He hemms and he haws and issues sweet platitudes about the need to "protect Gaza's civilians", while doing absolutely nothing to rein in Bibi, his far right government, and the IDF.
It's beyond high time for the Biden admin to end this madness, and declare publicly that the genocide must end, as the ICJ has already ruled, the same court that prosecuted and executed high level Nazis at the end of WWII for war crimes and crimes against humanity. That's why the Arab community in America has christened Biden "Genocide Joe", and the far left and Arabs may just decide to stay home on November 7. He has Gaza's civilians' blood on his hands, just as he has those 3 American soldiers' blood on his hands. It is time for Biden to publicly call Bibi out for his war crimes, and end the funding and the supply of weapons to Israel right now, and demand an immediate and permanent cease fire.
There is a proper and an improper way to fight a war; Israel's war on Gaza has been entirely improper, and needs to end now, even though none of the originally stated war aims, which, as I stated on day one, were silly to begin with, have been achieved. America has the blood of innocent Gazan civilians on it's hands, and is complicit in the commission of war crimes. This travesty must end now, and Israel should have to pay to rebuild Gaza from their own funds, not with U.S. taxpayer dollars. It's the very least they should be required to do; in point of fact, they should also compensate, from their own taxpayer dollars, Palestinian families for unnecessary civilian deaths, just as America did in Iraq and Afghanistan when an errant U.S. airstrike based on faulty intel, for example, killed an entire wedding party of innocent civilians.
This war should have been fought as a series of special ops and drone strikes against the terrorists using the vaunted IDF's and Mossad's intelligence apparatus, not a World War II style decimation of an entire civilian population and almost complete and needless destruction of its civilian infrastructure.
