International Black Comedy Hour

July 23, 2014 - I heard a British-accented female voice announce on the radio this morning that Israeli actions in Gaza “may constitute a war crime.”

Actually, I thought I was mistaken because I had not yet had my morning coffee. But then I heard the same sound bite again an hour later in the next newscast.

It was our very good friend, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Madame Navi Pillay, saying that Israel “may have” committed war crimes in Gaza and determining that an investigation into every single questionable incident would have to be carried out.

Here’s the text of her statement, in full:

“As we speak, the indiscriminate firing of Hamas and other armed groups of more than 2,900 rockets as well as mortars from Gaza continues to endanger the lives of civilians in Israel. I have repeatedly condemned such indiscriminate attacks in the past.  I do so again today. 

“I further emphasize that it is unacceptable to locate military assets in densely populated areas or to launch attacks from such areas. 

“However, international law is clear. The actions of one party do not absolve the other party of the need to respect its obligations under international law.  

"My staff are continuing to document several other cases in which family residences were destroyed with the reported loss of civilian life and in which preliminary indications suggest not even a single member of an armed group was present. 

“Then just two days ago on 21 July, shells hit the Al Aqsa Hospital in Dir Al Bala reportedly killing at least three people and wounding dozens of others including doctors. 

“These are just a few instances where there seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated in a manner that could amount to war crimes. 

"Every one of these incidents must be properly and independently investigated.”  (bold and italics mine)

First of all, I get it. She's on a witch hunt.  She even says so. That's not new. She also omits the fact that her staff is "documenting" the evidence from one side only, and the staff doing the "documenting" is biased, representing a massive conflict of interest. She also fails to mention that the hospital in question was evacuated and the area was designated as a closed military zone. Shocking.

No mention of the terrorist attacks on Israeli communities in sovereign Israeli territory. No mention of the incessant shelling of Israeli villages, towns and cities, homes damaged, entire families traumatized for life.

No mention of the dozens of incidents of destruction of ‘family residences destroyed’ in Israel, all without ‘even a single member of an armed group present’ because everyone in the family was hiding in a bomb shelter as the rockets were raining down.

No mention of the cross-border invasion by Hamas terrorists into Israeli territory.

No mention of the unprovoked kidnapping and murders of the three Israeli teenagers by Hamas terrorists that ignited this entire nightmare in the first place.

No mention of the thousands of flyers dropped by the IDF days in advance warning Gaza residents to leave the areas they plan to attack, the phone calls to their homes and the SMS text messages, all in Arabic, all of which also warns the enemy as well – all in order to prevent civilian deaths.

No mention of the fact that UNRWA – the United Nations’ own Relief and Works Agency, has so far been caught twice during routine inspections with two of its own schools in Gaza being used as storage facilities for terrorist missiles, most recently Tuesday 22 July.  In both cases, UNRWA chose to hand over the lethal ordnance to the Hamas terrorist organization that began this conflict and which repeatedly refuses to end it with a cease fire agreement.  

No. 

But that is no surprise, because Ms. Pillay leads a U.N. agency that from the outset aims primarily to condemn Israel above any other member nation in the world body.

I wondered how long it would take before she would come to hunt down Israel.  I doubt she’ll convince Judge Goldstone to do her dirty work this time, however, and I wonder whether her agency is even relevant at this point.

In any case, the U.N. will require Israel’s cooperation in any so-called “investigation” of military events in Gaza; and the current government is not one led by eternally guilt-ridden, self-hating Jews. Not this time.

And given that even liberal Tzipi Livni has called the UN Human Rights Council an “anti-Israel” body – I doubt Madame Pillay has much hope of doing damage this time.