Even before these measures are to be put in place, on Tuesday, Israel allowed in 5,355 tons of goods into Gaza. No border crossings were closed. In addition to the list below of goods which entered Gaza on June 15th, dozens of international organization staff members crossed into and out of Israel through the Erez crossing.

June 15th Imports

Kerem Shalom Crossing

Karmi Conveyor

Fuel Supply – Kerem Shalom Crossing

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A year after Iran’s controversial election and subsequent crackdown of dissent, the UN issued a statement this week condemning Iran’s campaign of brutality and violence against human rights activists and peaceful protesters.

Said the United States’ representative to the HRC, Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahue, “Today’s joint statement on the human rights situation in Iran is a significant accomplishment for the Human Rights Council. Fifty-six states from every region of the world came together in this joint statement of solidarity with the Iranian people, bringing much-needed focus and world attention to the human rights conditions in Iran.”

The United States joined 55 other countries in supporting the statement, which can be read in its entirety here. Among the signatories were all 27 members of the European Union.

In a message to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the statement says, “Mr. President, it is in that spirit that the States that have joined in making this Statement wish to express their concern at the lack of progress in the protection of human rights in Iran, particularly since the events surrounding the elections in Iran last June– including the violent suppression of dissent, detention and executions without due process of law, severe discrimination against women and minorities including people of the Bah’ai faith, and restrictions on freedom of expression and religion. We cannot let this Human Rights Council session go by without marking the one year anniversary of these events this month.”

Today’s statement is a clear message from the free world. Together with the Security Council resolution passed last week concerning sanctions against Iran, it reflects the international community’s impatience with the nature of the regime in Iran.

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Israel is not above the law and not all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism. Israel’s blockade of Gaza, together with Egypt, it should be recalled (though Egypt is never condemned in this regard), is probably not the wisest policy ever implemented by Israel. After the international outcry over the flotilla to Gaza that was poorly handled by the Israelis, and with tragic consequences, it is high time this policy was reviewed.

The issue, however, is not this or some other specific Israeli policy, but Israel-bashing, or the prejudicial way in which Israel is usually treated by the international community and the world media. Prejudice is recognised by its three constituent practices: it singles out the subject; it then applies a double standard; and, of course, the subject is always guilty. Israel is indeed singled out for special treatment and the double standard is also reflected in a specific vocabulary that is applied only to Israel.

The United Nations Human Rights Council condemned Israel’s behavior in the flotilla incident and called for the formation of an international commission of inquiry. Surely the order should have been the reverse, an inquiry first and condemnation later, if and when justified by the investigation. The resolution was so obviously biased that the US and other democratic nations either voted against it or abstained. Since 2006 this council has adopted 40 condemnations of countries, of which 33 have focused on Israel. This is perverse. Israel is a country locked in conflict with some of its neighbours. It is not the epitome of evil on earth.

There was much international outrage because of the flotilla incident. Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary General, condemned the violence and said that it was “vital that there is a full investigation” and Israel, he said, “must urgently provide a full explanation”. Oddly enough no similar international outrage and demand for explanations was recently evident in reference to other even more tragic events: not when Iran again hanged political dissidents, bringing the total to nearly 300 since early 2009; nor when the North Koreans sunk a South Korean ship killing 46 seamen; nor when attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore killed at least 93 worshipers. International outrage is awfully selective.

The recall of South Africa’s ambassador to Israel is typical of this double standard. As more information becomes available on the flotilla it is pretty obvious to any fair minded person that the Turks, and certainly the men on the ship who attacked the Israeli commandos, bear no small measure of responsibility for the tragic outcome. But South Africa could not wait to be bothered by all the facts and has already made its judgement. South Africa took no similar action after the genocide in Darfur, the repeated killing of tens of protesters and the hangings of dissidents in Iran, the horrendous human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and many other instances infinitely worse than the flotilla incident.

As a rule and long before the recent events, just about every Israeli act of self defence has been criminalised. When Israel targeted operatives responsible for the dispatch of suicide bombers or for the rocketing of Israeli civilians, it was frequently condemned for what was described as extra-judicial killing, assassination or murder, as if this kind of warfare was a judicial proceeding and Israel was operating against innocents. The US currently carries out identical operations against its enemies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but these are charitably described by the media as drone operations.

After the suicide bombings in Israel at the beginning of this decade Israel built a security barrier which its detractors like to call the “apartheid wall”. That, of course, is to suggest that the barrier was constructed for racist reasons. The barrier/fence/wall was erected after hundreds of Israelis had been slaughtered in the restaurants and the buses by suicide bombers. Since its construction Israelis are safe, at least from the ravages of the bombers. Referring to the barrier as if it were a racist exercise ignores Israeli losses as if Israeli lives were no more than human dust.

Placing the barrier in a context of racial discrimination removes it entirely from its real context of conflict, completely dehumanising the Israelis in the process. Many states, some of which are great democracies, have fences and walls along their borders. None are condemned for apartheid. Walls separate the communities in Northern Ireland, but there they are called “peace walls”. Some say the apartheid charge is levelled against Israel because the barrier protrudes in certain areas into the West Bank. That is true, and is a real problem, but what does that have to do with apartheid?

After eight years of rocketry on its civilian population Israel went to war against Hamas in Gaza. In such a densely populated battle zone, when enemy operatives are embedded among civilians, as the US and its Nato allies in Iraq and Afghanistan know only too well, the unfortunate loss of civilian lives is unavoidable. Israel, like the US and its allies, surely made mistakes and errors of judgement in the heat of battle. But only the Israelis face international commissions of inquiry and charges of war crimes, even though the civilian losses in both Iraq and Afghanistan have continued over a longer period of time and are far higher than in Gaza.

As aforesaid, Israel is not above the law, but the law should not apply only to Israel. The law should apply to Israel just as it applies to all other countries. Instead of demonisation, criminalisation and dehumanisation Israel should be judged just like everybody else. The jurisprudence of democracies upholds the principles of equality before the law and innocence until proven guilty. Israel should enjoy these rights too rather than constantly having to face selective prosecution.

Professor Asher Susser is a Senior Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University and is presently a Visiting Professor at Brandeis University in the United States

First printed in South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, which you can find by clicking here.

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The policy of transferring merchandise into the Gaza Strip is implemented in accordance with existing Israeli policy, as determined by the Cabinet’s decision of September 19, 2007, following Hamas’s hostile seizure of the Gaza Strip.

The ongoing transfer of goods into Gaza is aimed at providing for the basic needs of the residents of the territories while preventing strengthening Hamas, either militarily or governmentally. Hamas engages in hostile activity against the State of Israel and its citizens and holds an IDF soldier captive without reason or justification.

According to the policy, humanitarian products, are delivered on a daily bases to the Strip. Food products are delivered almost without restriction – with the exception of luxury goods, which the average Gazan cannot afford, but which are purchased by the wealthy and corrupt leaders of Hamas. Additionally, hygiene products, medical equipment, medicine and essential infrastructure products (for water, sewage, electricity and communication systems) are transferred into the Gaza Strip. Raw materials, however, are not permitted since they can be used for military purposes, although exceptions have been made for humanitarian needs.

The entry of “dual -use” equipment (equipment which, while intended for use by civilian systems, can be exploited by terrorists) has been prevented, with the exception of special humanitarian cases.

Requests to transfer goods are received by the Palestinian Civilian Economic Council in Gaza and by the international community. The process of determining the daily entry of goods is made with the Palestinian civilian economic council, and priority is given to the delivery of medical supplies and medication, essential infrastructure equipment and basic products and donations from the international community. The type and range of the remaining goods for any given day are decided by the Palestinian Civilian Economic Council in Gaza.

A forum, headed by a senior officer from the Coordination of Government Activity in the Territories and representatives from international organizations meets weekly to review and expedite unique requests. The variety of food products permitted has expanded recently and changes from time to time, with consideration to the changing needs of the Palestinian population. With the help of various international organizations, a large quantity of products for the welfare of children and adolescents (including educational materials, toys and children’s clothing) has entered the Strip.

The result of the current policies is that theirs a wide inventory and scale of food products, medical equipment and medications. Any allegations to the contrary are baseless; these facts are well-documented in UN agencies’ official reports.

Also, recently, Israel has supported sewage projects in the strip, as a humanitarian gesture for the people of Gaza, in cooperation with the UN and the international community, and in coordination with the Palestinian Authority.

The COGAT system employs hundreds of soldiers and civilians with unique and extensive knowledge of the Gaza Strip, and their main duty is to follow and assess the humanitarian situation in the Strip and respond to any problems. Gaza DCO (District Coordinators Office) personnel work continuously to accomplish their mission, despite the many security threats against DCO facilities and crossings. They face serious threats including rocket fire and terrorist attacks, like the one on June 8th 2009 when terrorists attacked next to the Nahal Oz fuel terminal.

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“Dear Judge Goldstone,

My name is Dr. David Zangen.  I am a consultant in Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem.  Over 50% of my patient population is Palestinian from Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.  I speak Arabic and initiated the first training program for Palestinian physicians in the field of Pediatric Endocrinology.  The trained physicians were fully respected and were included as first authors on our studies that we published in the world’s leading professional journals.

But, at the same time, I happened to be the Chief Medical Officer of my brigade during Operation Defensive Shield, in Jenin, 2002.  I was responsible for the medical treatment of our soldiers, but also for enabling the hospital in Jenin to provide full medical services to the civilian population, and I was personally involved in numerous medical treatments that Palestinians (including fighters) received from Israeli physicians.

During and after the operation the director of Jenin Hospital was a source for what has been falsely called the “massacre in Jenin in which 5,000 people were slaughtered.”  This same person, Dr. Abu Rali, has also claimed that one part of the Jenin hospital was destroyed by Israeli tank missiles: “12 tank rockets were shot at the hospital.”

You should know, honorable Judge, that these statements have been proven and documented as outright lies, not only by Israeli sources, but also by the Human Rights Watch and UN organizations, which counted only 52 dead on the Palestinian side and 23 on the Israeli side.  These organizations, and photographs of Jenin Hospital following the operation, showed no evidence of any destruction at the hospital buildings.

This Dr. Abu Rali, a hospital director and physician, lies and incites in the service of the Shahids.  It is hard to believe that a director of a hospital can give such an obviously false testimony.  I cannot understand it.  And you cannot understand it.  But, unfortunately, this is what has happened.  Even people who would normally be considered reliable sources become advocates of blatant lies.  Tragically, moral misbehavior of doctors in the Palestinian Authority is not new.  The pediatrician, George Habash, sent his terrorists to kill children in Israeli schools, as did Hamas’ leader and pediatrician, Dr. Abd al-Aziz Rantisi, as well as pediatrician, Dr. Mahmud Zaher, who continues to encourage the launching of rockets from Gaza against innocent Israeli schools.

Please Judge Goldstone, you should really be careful when such blatant liars serve as the basis for your report.  I am sure that you mean well, but being an eyewitness, both to the events in Jenin and to the subsequent media, and initially false, UN reporting, I do understand what happened to you, how a person of such stature and integrity could become associated with such a faulty report.

Look, Judge Goldstone, at your report on the Al Fakhura incident on January 5-6th 2009 (paragraphs 651-688).  You do report how Israel was accused for directly bombing the UNRWA school.  It took two weeks for this accusation to be withdrawn.  But you, honored Judge, went back to get your testimony only from the same people who spread the blood libel of the school bombing.  Moreover, when analyzing the scene you claim that you could not verify the numbers of 24 dead and 40 wounded, but these numbers are not considered exaggerated.  Finally, in the ‘Factual Findings’ section, you already determine that 24 people were killed and 40 injured!

Did you, by any chance, try to validate any of these invented and inciting details?  Did you look at the Al Jazeera or BBC reports from the same very day of the event?  Did you try to validate your ‘Factual Findings’ conclusions by at least getting emergency room charts on the people admitted to their trauma department on this very day?  Did you go over the ID’s of the “dead” and the place or cemetery where they were supposedly buried?

No, you didn’t!

As a judge I am sure that you did not mean to hurt Israel.  I try to believe that you came to Gaza without prejudice.  But a judge is expected to look, at least, for some evidence and verification (media, emergency room registration, burial places, etc.) of the testimonies and not accept impossible “facts”.  You have allowed yourself to be misled by fabrications made either by terrorists or doctors such as Dr. Abu Rali from Jenin.

I, and my colleagues in Israel, are proud of the medical service that is given equally to every human being regardless of origin; we are also proud to belong to a nation that is identified as having higher moral standards than others.

I call on you, Judge Goldstone.  Take this Al Fakhura incident, look at the media coverage from the very same day.  See the events in their context.  Try to live one day with the responsibility for the existence of this small nation of six million Jews threatened constantly by 300 million Muslims.  I call on you to try and not draw conclusions from such lies and misleading witnesses, even if they come from so-called professionals.  In the modern world, propaganda and lies are definitely a part of the war.  And as a judge, you should not serve as a tool for augmenting hatred and conflicts.

We desire peace.  We love peace.  And we try our utmost to fight for our right to exist while maintaining the highest possible moral standards, even at the cost of our lives.

This letter was written by Dr. David Zangen and appeared in Ma’ariv in Hebrew on 27.10.09, front page. English courtesy of Dr. David Zangen.

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On October 16, 2009 Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, spoke before the UN Human Rights Council regarding Israel’s actions during Operation Cast Lead.

A full transcript of his speech:

Thank you, Mr. President.

I am the former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan. I served with NATO and the United Nations; commanded troops in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Macedonia; and participated in the Gulf War. I spent considerable time in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, and worked on international terrorism for the UK Governments Joint Intelligence Committee.

Mr. President, based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this: During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.

Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population.

Hamas, like Hizballah, are expert at driving the media agenda. Both will always have people ready to give interviews condemning Israeli forces for war crimes. They are adept at staging and distorting incidents.

The IDF faces a challenge that we British do not have to face to the same extent. It is the automatic, Pavlovian presumption by many in the international media, and international human rights groups, that the IDF are in the wrong, that they are abusing human rights.

The truth is that the IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping over 2 million leaflets, and making over 100,000 phone calls. Many missions that could have taken out Hamas military capability were aborted to prevent civilian casualties. During the conflict, the IDF allowed huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza. To deliver aid virtually into your enemy’s hands is, to the military tactician, normally quite unthinkable. But the IDF took on those risks.

Despite all of this, of course innocent civilians were killed. War is chaos and full of mistakes. There have been mistakes by the British, American and other forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq, many of which can be put down to human error. But mistakes are not war crimes.

More than anything, the civilian casualties were a consequence of Hamas way of fighting. Hamas deliberately tried to sacrifice their own civilians.

Mr. President, Israel had no choice apart from defending its people, to stop Hamas from attacking them with rockets.

And I say this again: the IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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Israel’s Reaction to the Decision of the UN Human Rights Council

Despite the significant improvement in today’s vote (25 in favor, 6 against and 11 abstentions) when compared with the original vote (12 Jan 09) establishing the Goldstone Mission (33 in favor, 1 against and 13 abstentions), Israel rejects the one-sided resolution adopted today in Geneva by the UN Human Rights Council, and calls upon all responsible states to reject it as well.

Israel expresses its gratitude to those states which supported its position, and to those which, through their vote, expressed their opposition to this un-just Resolution which ignores the murderous attacks perpetrated by the Hamas and other terrorist organizations against Israeli civilians. The Resolution also ignores the unprecedented precautions taken by Israeli forces in order to avoid harming civilians, as well as the cynical  exploitation of civilians as human shields by the terrorist groups.

The adoption of this resolution by the UNHRC impairs both the effort to protect human rights in accordance with international law, and the effort to promote peace in the Middle East. This resolution provides encouragement for terrorist organizations worldwide and undermines global peace.

Israel will continue to exercise its right to self-defense, and take action to protect the lives of its citizens.

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