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| October 12, 2006 Letter to Liberal Leadership Candidate Bob Rae re: HRW and Amnesty International Reports of Israeli War Crimes
Mr. Rae, According to the following excerpt from an article in today's National Post, you are criticizing fellow Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff for his calling Israel's 2006 massacre of civilians in Qana, Lebanon a war crime: "Bob Rae, who finished second to Mr. Ignatieff in recent Liberal delegate elections, said he was surprised that Mr. Ignatieff called the incident in Qana a war crime. "I think it's a very unwise comment, because these words have a very prejudicial effect, and it's important for anybody not to rush to judgment on these matters. It's obviously an extremely emotional and difficult issue in the world," Mr. Rae said in an interview. "To me, it's a terrible tragedy when civilians get killed in a war. But the suggestion of a war crime is something that involves the deliberate and intentional killing of civilians," he added. He said Hezbollah, which fired rockets on Israeli towns, clearly aimed at civilians. "But with respect to the government of Israel, I've never heard a serious suggestion that there was any deliberate targeting of civilians." (National Post article) I wish to bring to your attention the fact that the two most highly respected human rights organizations in the world, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have published extensive reports accusing Israel of committing war crimes in Lebanon. The Human Rights Watch report titled "Fatal Strikes Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon" states the following in its summary: "By consistently failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, Israel has violated one of the most fundamental tenets of the laws of war: the duty to carry out attacks on only military targets. The pattern of attacks during the Israeli offensive in Lebanon suggests that the failures cannot be explained or dismissed as mere accidents; the extent of the pattern and the seriousness of the consequences indicate the commission of war crimes." (HRW REPORT) The Amnesty International report titled "Israel/Lebanon: Evidence indicates deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure" states the following: "Amnesty International today published findings that point to an Israeli policy of deliberate destruction of Lebanese civilian infrastructure, which included war crimes, during the recent conflict." (AMNESTY INT. REPORT) It is fair to say that anyone who respects human rights would consider these reports to be a "serious suggestion" that there was " deliberate targeting of civilians"" by Israel. Why don't you? Ron Saba Editor, Montreal Planet Magazine |