An incident of this magnitude perpetrated by a foreign state or organisation to any developed country would surely result in international backlash and call for conviction.
So why is it that Israel hasn't been convicted of war crimes?
The simple answer is that it has never been open to independent investigations such as one by the International Criminal Court, ICC, that was formed to investigate and prosecute the gravest violations of humanitarian laws, including crimes against humanity and war crimes. While the Israeli prime minister labels any inquiry from an independent body into the situation in occupied Gaza and Jerusalem as "undiluted anti-semitism", there is precedence as to why Israel has been accused of these violations. The incident involving the deaths of the four boys wasn't an isolated incident. Amnesty International accused Israel of war crimes in the 50-day aerial bombardment by Israel in Gaza in 2014 and, I quote, "directly and deliberately targetting civilians or civilian objects," including the deaths of 1462 civilians, 551 of whom were children. International and domestic human rights organisations have even flagged Israel for "dispropontionate" attacks. Danny Dannon, former Israeli Ambassador to the UN, wrote, "for every missile that falls in our southern town, we retaliate by deleting a neighbourhood in Gaza," a clear violation of the 4th geneva convention.
Military force isn't necessary to break international humanitarian laws. Israel has been accused of "apartheid" by Human Rights Watch, claiming that "Israeli authorities methodically privilege Jewish Israelis and discriminate against Palestinians." Ever since the inception of the Occupied West Bank, Israel has transported Jewish Israeli's to expand their settlements. Numerous United Nations resolutions, including 446, 452, 465, 471, 476, have unanimously affirmed Israel's occupation as Illegal. Yet Israel continues to evict Palestinians Illegally and replaces them with Jewish Israeli's, a move perfectly summed up by the actions of Jacob, a Jewish "settler" and I mean settler with the same connotations as the imperial British "settlements". who invaded a Palestinian woman's home and claimed it as his. When questioned about his illegal capture of the land, the man replied with "If I don't steal it somebody else will", perfectly embodying Israel's policies.
While most would agree that these apparent violations of international law must constitute reprimanding Israel, Israel and its sympathisers argue otherwise.
Benjamin Nathanayu and his government denied cooperation with the International Criminal Court as Israel believes Palestine has no right to join the ICC as it isn't a state. This, however, is a complete fallacy; Palestine is recognised as a non-member sovereign state by the United Nations, granting it every right to enter the ICC in its quest to bring justice to innocent Palestinians. Israel employs sophistries claiming that they reserve the right to "protect Israeli citizens" regardless of whether it might constitute a war crime because Hamas, a Palestinian militia group, has also reciprocated similar actions. A foolish argument plucked out of every kindergarten excuse of “I did it becausee he/she did it as well".
Throughout the past couple of decades, the world has turned a blind eye towards the brutality in Occupied Gaza and Jerusalem, allowing Israel to violate universally accepted humanitarian laws regarding unlawful deportation of Palestinians or willful killings of civilians. A thorough investigation into the situation in Israel is necessary to protect the sanctity of Human rights and set the precedence that no country is above the law. I stand before you today, breathing in the same oxygen as you, when Ishmail, Motasem, Haman, Mohammad and countless other Palestinians cant. This is a product of our inability to take action and study Israel before their actions resulted in mass genocide.
On a coastline in Gaza, blood still stains the morbid ground, and we could have prevented it. Thank you
