James Veverka: War crimes can be found on both sides of Gaza Strip

To The Daily Sun,

Israel is the good guy, Steve Earle thinks? Why does Russ Wiles think people attack Israel after being attacked? Recently, the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory concluded that Israeli authorities and Hamas are both responsible for war crimes. The commission found that "Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Israel’s total siege of the Gaza Strip has weaponized the provision of life-sustaining necessities, including cutting off supplies of water, food, electricity, fuel, and other essential supplies, including humanitarian assistance." The commission found that "Israeli forces committed sexual and gender-based violence with the intent to humiliate and further subordinate the Palestinian community." According to commission member Chris Sidoti, “The Israeli army is one of the most criminal armies in the world." Commission head Navi Pillay explained the Hamas attack did not appear in a vacuum but followed decades of violence and retribution against Palestinians.

In May, the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor submitted arrest warrants to that court, declaring, "There are reasonable arguments that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are criminally responsible for starvation, murder, intentional attacks against civilians, extermination, and persecution, among other crimes." In March, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory concluded in her report, "Anatomy of a Genocide," that there are “reasonable grounds to believe the threshold indicating Israel's commission of genocide is met."

On June 19, the humanitarian group Save the Children estimated around 21,000 children are missing in the Gaza Strip, unaccompanied, in the rubble or mass graves dug by the IDF. In May, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that 14,500 children and 9,500 women had been killed. Good guys, eh?

James Veverka

Laconia