Incoming white phosphorus attack on residential areas of southern Israel

(Hamas Was Using Phosphorus Bombs)

(thisongoingwar.blogspot.com)AFP reports that two more mortar shells were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip this morning (Sunday). They landed in the Eshkol region, causing neither damage nor injuries which was not, of course, the intention of the terrorists who did the firing. The Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees militant group claimed responsibility.
Following police forensic tests it became clear this afternoon, according to Ynet, that both shells contained phosphorus, not for the first time. The phosphorus in mortar shells, when exposed to air, burns through anything with which it comes in contact. The phosphorus ignites on contact with oxygen and continues to burn as long as the ignition substance inside remains in contact with oxygen. Phosphorus shells are mostly used to hit exposed infantry, create smoke screens, and obstruct visibility for forces on the ground. Phosphorus causes extensive burns and damage to internal organs. Such shells are illegal under international law when fired at civilians.

This Ongoing War: A Blog: 24-Mar-11: Rockets fired into Israel yet again

Ynet is reporting this morning (9:00am Israel time) that a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in an open area south of Ashkelon. There are no reports of injury or damage, but this outcome is not what the terrorists want. Today's Qassam comes after five mortar shells (possibly more) were fired into southern Israel yesterday from the northern Gaza Strip. Ynet says army sappers who examined the shells said some of them contained phosphorus, prohibited under the Geneva Convention for use as a weapon. Haaretz says yesterday's barrage included a Qassam. Fortunately again, no injuries or damages were reported in Wednesday's attacks - a tactical failure for the hatred-driven jihadists who are entirely focused on civilian targets.

via thisongoingwar.blogspot.com

Posted via email from noahdavidsimon's posterous

IDF Strikes Gaza After Phosphorous Bombs Launched Into Israel

Hamas Was Using
Phosphorus Bombs

Palestinian militant group claims responsibility for mortar fire in retaliation for Israel's killing of two militants in Gaza on Wednesday.

Haaretz
The Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson confirmed Friday that IDF attacked three targets in the Gaza Strip, following a barrage of mortar bombs and rockets fired at the western Negev.
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a long-range Grad rocket and seven mortar shells at western Negev on Friday, following a night-long barrage of Qassam rockets fired from the coastal enclave.
Police investigation showed that one of the mortar bombs fired at Hof Ashkelon council contained phosphorus.
"The IDF holds the Hamas solely responsible for the situation in the Gaza Strip," the IDF announcement said.
Palestinian witnesses and Hamas officials said that Israeli fighter jets raided two targets in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported Friday.
Palestinian sources say five Palestinians were wounded in the attacks, one of which sent plumes of smoke shooting into the air in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, according to witnesses.
The Popular Resistance Committees, a Palestinian militant group, claimed responsibility for mortar fire, saying it was in retaliation for Israel's killing of two militant leaders of an al-Qaeda linked group in Gaza on Wednesday.
Earlier on Friday Gaza militants fired a long-range Grad rocket into the western Negev.
The rocket exploded north of the Israeli town of Ofakim, with security forces struggling to pinpoint the exact location due to heavy morning fog.
The launch joined at least two earlier Qassam-rocket firings into western Negev, with no injuries or damages being reported; a third Qassam launch was reported a few hours following the firing of the Grad-type Katyusha.

via israelnetwork.ca

Posted via email from noahdavidsimon's posterous

Hamas Was Using Phosphorus Bombs

The Goldstone Commission was concerned about how phosphorus bombs were used during Operation Cast Lead--but that was only because Israel was using them, even though they were used for the smoke and not for the damage it can cause.
Hamas was also using phosphorus bombs during that very same time. On January 14, 2009, Haaretz reported: For the first time, Gaza militants fire phosphorus shell at Israel:

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday fired their first phosphorus shell into Israel, which exploded in an open area in the Eshkol area in the western Negev.


No injuries or damage were reported.
The phosphorus shell came as Gaza militants fired at least 16 rockets at southern Israel throughout the day Wednesday, causing no casualties.
White phosphorus is not considered a chemical weapon. Militaries are permitted under laws of warfare to use it in artillery shells, bombs and rockets to create smoke screens to hide troop movements as well as bright bursts in the air to illuminate battlefields at night.
However, the substance can cause serious burns if it touches the skin and can spark fires on the ground.
Human Rights Watch on Sunday accused Israel of firing artillery shells packed with white phosphorus over populated areas of Gaza during recent fighting, including a crowded refugee camp, putting civilians at risk.
Israel maintains that it uses munitions in complete accordance with international law.

Now it looks that Hamas, which has not got around to responding to the Goldstone Report, is at it again. Elder of Ziyon points out this report from YnetNews:

At least two of the nine mortar shells fired Wednesday into Eshkol Regional Council were phosphorus bombs, police confirmed after initially declining the corroborate a claim made by the area's security officer.
Police sappers examined and identified the two phosphorus bombs. ...Police said that this is not the first time phosphorus bombs have been fired from Gaza.

via daledamos.blogspot.com

...so it wasn't just Israel, the United States, Russia and everyone else

noahdavidsimon's posterous

and in Norway where the country was so outraged that Israel followed the same procedure as any other nation?

It appears Aftenposten is unable to relate events as they happen in Israel, at least judging by what they chose to print.

Whilst it did print a story about a Hamas operative who was shot and killed when refusing to cease approaching soldiers during a raid in the West Bank , it totally ignores the barrage of rockets, including Katyushas (the ones, which according to Norwegian journalists who enjoy the cheap beer and booze in Israel, provoke nothing but a minor itch, as by a mosquito bite), shells containing phosphorous that has fallen over villages and towns in Israel proper during the Jewish New Year festival. More than 50.000 innocent civilians have had to stay close to shelters, rather than enjoying peaceful New Year celebrations with family and friends.
For the uninitiated, Hamas operatives take great pride in killing and maiming anyone, Jew or Arab, as long as this can derail the ongoing peace talks between Israel and the PA, a minor fact omitted in any Aftenposten piece on Israel you would care to read.
It goes without saying that Aftenposten and the rest of the media pack in Norway thinks it wholly irrelevant to mention the fact that Hamas has as a stated goal to eradicate Israel and murder as many Jews as possible in the process.
To the moral supremacists in Norway none of this is of importance, and if they have to lie and distort in order to have their version of the “truth” prevail, so be it.
On reflection, maybe these left wing loonies have confused Karl Marx with Groucho Marx? On seeing how selective their moral concerns are, it is tempting to reach this conclusion, as it seems they all live by the wise words of Groucho: The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.

via israelwhat.com

Hamas claims the White Phosphorus Used Were Taken From Israel

The 'Palestinians' have admitted that they shot rockets laden with white phosphorus into Israel on Wednesday. The 'Palestinians' claim that they got the chemical from Israeli rockets that did not explode during Operation Cast Lead.

An activists in one of the Palestinian organizations admitted in a conversation with Ynet that a number of the mortar shells fired on Wednesday into the Eshkol Regional Council indeed contained phosphorus. According to him, the phosphorus was extracted from Israeli rockets and missiles fired at the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead that did not detonate.
However, according to him, the Palestinian organizations do not intend to make extensive use of phosphorus bombs. "We don't have the phosphorus the Israelis are speaking of," he said.

But Israel used white phosphorus as a smokescreen, which is completely legal. The 'Palestinians,' on the other hand, attempted to use it as a chemical weapon. But hey, what's another chemical weapon between friends?

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

of course their source for Phosphorous is probably not only stolen from Israel. What is Iran and Syria's take on Phosphorous? I'm betting their army has that available for distribution to their allies

scapegoating 2 IDF officers for white phosphorus munitions

schlemiel, schmuck, sitting duck, soft touch, stooge, sucker, trusting soul, victim, whipping boy, boob, can-carrier, chopping block, chump, dupe, easy mark, easy touch, fool, goat, lamb to the slaughter, mark, patsy, pigeon, prize sap, sacrifice, sap, scapegoat

Sometimes an exaggeration changes not just the degree, but the nature of something. Consider the accusation that Israel fired white phosphorus munitions directly at civilians which *is* a war crime: Israel did use white phosphorus but for smoke and illumination not to kill civilians. There undoubtedly were some people injured by the residue which fell from air bursts of such shells. But the number and severity of these incidents were multiplied beyond measure in Palestinian reports.

White Phosphorous is used by the Russian army, the Chinese Army and the American Army to light up a war zone so that you have less civilan casualties.

Two senior IDF officers are being offered up as scapegoats to satisfy the World's lust for Jewish blood in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead.

Gaza Division Commander Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Col. Ilan Malka, were the subject of disciplinary action by GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant after headquarters staff found that the men exceeded their authority in approving the use of phosphorus shells that endangered human life, the Israeli government report said.

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com
An Israel Defense Forces brigadier general and another officer with the rank of colonel endangered human life during last year's military campaign in the Gaza Strip by firing white phosphorous munitions in the direction of a compound run by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the Israeli government says.
via haaretz.com

much that is alleged is true, but deny a correlative that indict in guilt. In the case of organ bandits there was a problem, but it wasn't the Israeli government that was involved in it. It is an international problem. The white phospherus accusation is much the same.

The finding aknowledges, at least in part, allegations by international organizations. It was contained in a report that the government provided to the United Nations over the weekend in response to last September's Goldstone Commission report.

via haaretz.com

keep in mind this is haaretz.com I am quoting above. The finding does not aknowledge anything of the kind. It merely says two individuals might of gone heavy with their munitions. poor journalism.
Gaza Division Commander Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Col. Ilan Malka, were the subject of disciplinary action by GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant after headquarters staff found that the men exceeded their authority in approving the use of phosphorus shells that endangered human life, the Israeli government report said.
the more they repeat lies the more they think people will believe them: The http://xrl.us/Goldstone-Report was initiated by Organisation of The Islamic Conference and the media failed to explain the accusations were coming from hostile countries that had never recognized Israel's existence. the white phospherus accusation is much like the organ bandit accusation that Ms. Amapour of CNN accused Israel of doing in Haiti getting the idea from the Swedish press:
http://twitter.com/AmanpourCNN/status/8293240218
"Haiti's Prime Minister just told me he has reports confirming child & organ trafficking happening here in Haiti now."

The incident in question occurred on January 15 of last year, two days before the end of Operation Cast Lead, in the southern Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, at a time when the Givati brigade and other Israeli forces were in the area.
In the course of engagement with a Hamas squad, which according to IDF intelligence possessed advanced anti-tank missiles, it was decided to use phosphorus smoke munitions to create cover that would make it harder for the Hamas fighters to see the IDF soldiers.
According to Israeli intelligence, the Hamas forces were stationed in a commanding location from which they could easily see the soldiers and the UNRWA compound that was located between the Israeli forces and the Hamas position.
The munitions disperse hundreds of pieces of felt impregnated with phosphorus and at least some of the pieces fell into the UNRWA compound, causing injury to an UNRWA employee there as well as to two Palestinian civilians who took cover at the location.
Many human rights organizations said that the IDF had illegally used the phosphorus munitions, which are shot from 155 mm. cannon, and that the material caused many burn injuries among the Palestinian population. The IDF responded that the munitions were permitted under international conventions and that similar shells are in use by other Western armies. The army also contended that the munitions were used in locations remote from heavily -populated areas.
If Israel’s intention was to kill civilians, why was the combatant to civilian casualty ratio one to less than two? Certainly if one of the world’s most advanced military intended to kill civilians it could have made that ratio one to five or even one to ten. There are 1.5 million people in Gaza and around 10,000 Hamas militants, so the ratio of militants to civilians is 1:150. If Israel hit civilians intentionally, how on earth did it reduce such a ratio to 1:3 or 2:3 ?
With the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi ordered the convening of five special investigative committees each headed by an officer with the rank of colonel to examine some of the serious allegations leveled against the army. One of the committees examined the use of phosphorus shells.
After three months, at the end of April of last year, then deputy chief of staff Maj. Gen. Dan Harel presented the committees' findings and with respect to phosphorus munitions said that they had found no instances in which shells were fired in violation of orders and in any event, they were fired in open areas.
Nonetheless, the report that the Israeli government gave to the United Nations last Friday explicitly states that the two senior officers were disciplined after one of the investigating committees noted among its findings that they approved the firing of phosphorus shells at Tel al-Hawa "exceeding their authority in a manner that jeopardized the lives of others."
The report to the UN also says that Ashkenazi recently ordered the convening of a sixth committee to examine additional allegations made against the IDF as well as an incident which one of the previous panels had been unable to thoroughly probe.
The investigative teams have been looking into only the most serious and prominent of the allegations made as a result of Cast Lead. This is in addition to military police probes that were carried out, or are still in progress, into about 150 alleged incidents of improper conduct on the part of soldiers involving civilians and Palestinian property during the Gaza campaign.
Some of the incidents were raised in operational IDF debriefings held after Cast Lead, but most came to light following complaints by human rights organizations, individual Palestinian civilians and press reports. Twelve incidents were raised for the first time in the Goldstone Commission report, which was commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council.
In the course of the IDF investigations, about 500 soldiers were questioned and nearly 100 Palestinian civilians were interviewed at the Erez checkpoint on the Israel-Gaza border. As a result of the IDF's investigations, 36 criminal investigation files have been opened so far, but criminal legal proceedings have so far been opened in only one case, in which two Givati brigade soldiers were convicted of stealing a Palestinian civilian's credit card.
via haaretz.com
(IDF Civilain casualties were a low ratio compared to other contemporary conflicts: A United Nations report estimates that worldwide 75% of war casualties are civilians. Some have suggested that the combatant-civilian casualty ratio for America’s recent drone attacks in Pakistan is as high as 1 to 10. Others have suggested that during NATO’s 1999 Kosovo operation, there were four civilian casualties for every combatant casualty. In late December of 2009, an American air strike killed ten civilians in Afghanistan. Although there are valid arguments about the prudence of these operations, no reasonable person argues that these numbers prove an intention to kill Pakistani, Yugoslav, or Afghani civilians. If the ratio alone proves anything it is that there was a policy of reducing civilian deaths, not targeting civilians.)
Dershowitz: Goldstone is a traitor to the Jews
Prominent political commentator and pro-Israel campaigner Professor Alan Dershowitz slammed jurist Richard Goldstone, the architect of a UN report which accuses Israel of Gaza war crimes, calling him a traitor to the Jewish people, Army Radio reported yesterday. Dershowitz and Goldstone were colleagues and close friends for many years before the UN Gaza probe, but once Goldstone published his report the ties between the two were severed. (Haaretz Staff)

via haaretz.com

The International Red Cross has taken a more cautious position than Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch. The IRC web site published a statement on Jan. 17, 2009:

"There is no evidence that Israel intentionally used white phosphorus as an anti-personnel incendiary weapon, but Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch claim that Israel was reckless and showed wanton disregard for innocent life by using it in densely populated regions where civilians could be harmed by it. Israel claims that it used white phosphorus strictly according to accepted practices and took measures to minimize civilians casualties. It further asserts that military necessity required its use in densely populated areas, because this is where Hamas fighters congregated and threatened Israeli troops." ..."The still unanswered question is how many Palestinian casualties were caused by white phosphorus and how severe were most of these casualties. The heavy reliance by Amnesty International (and Human Rights Watch as well) on anecdotal incidents does not answer that question. A few anecdotal incidents cannot establish whether these casualties were unfortunate rare incidents or representative of a pattern of indiscriminate use."
other examples of abuse in the http://xrl.us/Goldstone Report is the assumption to begin with that killing innocent civilians itself is a war crime or an attempt to document an initiation point in hostilities that makes no reference to the eight years of rocket fire or hostages that Gaza has taken part in. Sadly there is so many flaws in the accusation that it becomes a full time job to learn of it. On the internet and in the media people were making allegations before any research had been done.