[News] Candy for Israeli soldiers, cancer for Gaza’s civilians

Anti-Imperialist News news at freedomarchives.org
Tue Jul 29 10:32:40 EDT 2014


  Candy for Israeli soldiers, cancer for Gaza’s civilians

Submitted by Adri Nieuwhof on Tue, 07/29/2014 - 13:46
*http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/candy-israeli-soldiers-cancer-gazas-civilians*

In an especially grotesque piece of propaganda, an Israeli weapons 
manufacturer has boasted 
<http://www.iai.co.il/2013/32981-46067-en/MediaRoom_News.aspx> of 
distributing candy to soldiers attacking Gaza 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza>.

Israel Aerospace Industries 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/israel-aerospace-industries>, the 
company in question, is a leading supplier of drones to the Israeli 
military.

Such drones are, of course, not bringing candy to Palestinians. They are 
being used to drop weapons which cause horrific injuries.

A new briefing 
<http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/topics/gaza/835-briefing-note-ii-the-illegality-of-israels-use-of-dime-weapons> 
from Al-Haq <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/al-haq>, a Palestinian 
human rights group, details how Hellfire rockets connected to drones are 
firing DIME <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/dime> (dense inert metal 
explosives) into residential areas of Gaza. Mads Gilbert 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/mads-gilbert>, a Norwegian doctor 
working in Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/al-shifa-hospital>, has spoken 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israel-firing-experimental-weapons-gazas-civilians-say-doctors> 
of how injuries he has seen in recent weeks appear to have been caused 
by DIME.


    Bodies cut in half

A DIME bomb usually contains a mixture of explosive material, cobalt, 
nickel, iron and tungsten alloy. The bomb leaves almost no metallic 
fragments in the human body. The injuries of victims who have been hit 
by DIME bombs are therefore distinguishable from injuries from 
traditional, metal-coated weapons. Physicians in the Gaza Strip have 
observed how entire bodies have been cut in half, bones shattered, and 
skin, muscle and bones turned into charcoal due to the heavy burns 
caused by these bombs. Furthermore, DIME bombs have dangerous biological 
effects on the victims and cause tissue to be torn from flesh. 
Amputations caused by the bombs are extremely difficult to treat and 
frequently result in death. Work on treating such injuries has been made 
all the more difficult by how Israel has attacked more than twenty 
health facilities.

Palestinians who survive the DIME injuries are at high risk of 
contracting cancer <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/cancer>. Exposure 
to a mixture of tungsten and cobalt are linked 
<http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/clusters/fallon/tungstenfaq.htm> to early signs 
of lung cancer, according to the US Center for Disease Control and 
Prevention.


    Criminal

Al-Haq argues that Israel’s use of DIME bombs against the people of Gaza 
violates international humanitarian law.

A key tenet of international law, the principle of proportionality 
<http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_cha_chapter4_rule14>, 
prohibits the causing of death and injuries to civilians. More than 80 
percent of all Palestinians killed so far have been civilians 
<http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10491:statistics-victims-of-the-israeli-offensive-on-gaza-since-08-july-2014&catid=145:in-focus>, 
according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/pchr>. Children comprise one-fifth 
of the victims.

In addition, the 1980 convention on chemical weapons prohibits the use 
of weapons which “cause superfluous injury or excessive suffering.” 
Israel has signed <http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/t/ccwc> that 
convention.

The convention also prohibits the use of any weapon which aims to injure 
by placing fragments in the human body that escape detection. Al-Haq 
argues that Israel is using Palestinian civilians in Gaza to test DIME 
bombs. By doing so, Israel violates the principle of humanity 
<http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule92> in 
international law, which requires that all persons be treated humanely 
in all circumstances.

Conducting experiments on civilians is also recognized 
<http://www.icc-cpi.int/nr/rdonlyres/ea9aeff7-5752-4f84-be94-0a655eb30e16/0/rome_statute_english.pdf> 
as a war crime by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/international-criminal-court>.

This leads to an inescapable conclusion: Israel must be prosecuted for 
its cruel and criminal behavior in Gaza.

-- 
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