Text/Dongfeng
"If it's not a war crime, what is a war crime?"
In a ruling eight years ago, when four Palestinian children were killed by Israeli airstrikes while playing on a Beach in Gaza, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld an earlier decision by Israeli authorities that the killing was merely a "mistake." In response, the child's relatives condemned Israel's Supreme Court's decision to refuse to reopen the death, calling it inhumane. On the same day, photos of the father screaming in anger and trying to rip off his own clothes were widely disseminated.
"Israel sinned and then completely denied it"
Mohammed, 12, Zakaria, 10, Ismail, 10, and Ahmed, 11, were killed while playing soccer on the beach during Israel's war against Gaza in 2014. Mohammed, 60, the father of one of the children killed, told the outside world that he was not surprised by the verdict, "Under Israeli occupation, this is a normal phenomenon in life; Israel has committed a crime and then completely denied it." The whole world is talking about children and their rights, where are the rights of our Palestinian children? ”
He added, "The killing of our children is a stain on the forehead of the Israelites. Israel has all the modern capabilities and advanced weapons, and it's hard for them to be sure that's a child? The hardest moment of my life was watching my children and my nephews together in the morgue, all blown to pieces."
He also said the court's decision was absurd given the evidence of the incident captured by the reports and video footage, "If it's not a war crime, what's a war crime?"
Between July 8 and August 26, 2014, israeli attacks on Gaza killed 2,251 people, most of them civilians, including 299 women and 551 children. On the Israeli side, 66 soldiers and 6 civilians were killed. During this period, on 16 July, Israel attacked the Gaza harbour area where Bakr children played. The first attack killed one of them, and the second killed three others.
The incident sparked widespread outrage, with foreign journalists at a nearby hotel witnessing the incident. The Israeli military acknowledged the attack, calling the deaths "tragic results" and launching an internal investigation into the killings. In mid-2015, Israel concluded an investigation claiming the area was being used by militants from Hamas, a Palestinian group that administers the Gaza Strip.
Subsequently, three human rights groups appealed to Israel's Supreme Court for a criminal investigation into the incident. In a joint statement, the groups slammed the court's refusal to appeal as "yet another sign that Israel is incapable and unwilling to prosecute Israeli soldiers for war crimes and crimes against humanity."
The United States and Britain were silent, and once again double-standard
Ahed Bakr, the father of the murdered 10-year-old zakaria, said the international community has double standards over Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's attacks on Palestinians, "Russian attacks are classified as 'war crimes' and no one has taken action on the crimes committed against our children over the past 60 years." ”
Ahad Bakr continued, "We oppose killings and wars around the world, but humanity is indivisible. We don't want to see what happened to us and the killing of our children happen again anywhere in the world. Ahad Bakr also called for international investigators to be allowed into the Gaza Strip to document Israeli crimes against children and civilians.
Ahad Bakr complained, "Those involved in the killing of our children must be prosecuted." Israel has all the military technology and the ability to pinpoint the bombing sites, so don't they know that our children are playing? Our families will not remain silent until all the killers are tried fairly. ”