Hamas War Crimes on Israel & Gaza

There are too many in the world who believe that peace and security can be made between Israel and Gaza if we make more demands on Israel for concessions and appeasement.  Unfortunately, the facts say otherwise.  These past few months we have witnessed Hamas committing multiple war crimes against both Israel and the people of Gaza.  The Fire Kite attacks committed by Hamas against Israel serve no military value.  They are not launching attacks against any designated military site, they are simply seeking to do as much economic and environmental damage as the can to the Israeli civilian infrastructure.  So far, the fire kites have caused millions of dollars in damage to Israeli farms, and destroyed over 8,000 acres of land.  Experts state that it could take years for Israel to recover from these attacks.  

These attacks on the Israeli is an act of Ecocide, a deliberate attack on the natural environment of a region made for the sole purpose to make the region unlivable to the native inhabitants.  This is a very clear war crime, and it’s very similar the deliberate destruction that Saddam Hussein wrought onto the marshland environment in south-eastern Iraq in the 1990’s in order to deliberately displace the 500,000 people living in the region as retribution to their opposition to his repressive rule.  Hamas is launching their fire kite attacks on Israeli farming communities for the exact same reason that Saddam launched his murderous campaign, to deliberately destroy the means of livelihood for an entire population of people to the point that they’re forcibly displaced. 

The actions of Hamas are not only a crime against Israel, but a crime against the people of Gaza.  In the Gaza strip, the unemployment rate is an astounding 65%, yet the only jobs Hamas has offered the people is to make fire kites and other weapons of destruction.  Even worse, Hamas deliberately used their own women and children as human shields while carrying out these attacks  This action, according the Article 8 Section 2 (b-xxiii) of the Rome Statute, are a crime against humanity.  Unfortunately, it is not surprising that Hamas would do such despicable things to their own people.  The goal of Hamas has always been to destroy Israel, and this has not changed.  The opening paragraph of the Hamas Charter clearly states "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam obliterates it, just as it obliterated others before it."  In case this is not clearly enough, Hamas openly states in Article 13 of their Chart that the only solution to the for the Palestinian Conflict with Israel is Jihad.  The goal of Hamas is to wipe Israel off the map, and they are willing to put their own women and children on the firing line if that's what it takes.  This mentality is verified by IDF Major Elliot Chodoff, who recently spoke at the Christians United for Israel Summit on July 23, 2018, and stated that Hamas is prepared to fight to the last drop of Palestinian blood in order to destroy Israel.

These crimes against humanity that are committed by Hamas not only against Israel, but their own people in Gaza, cannot be ignored any longer.  If we do this, we are not only turning a blind eye to the humanitarian violations against Israel, but we are permitting Hamas to prolong the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza.  It is the moral responsibility of both the United States and the United Nations to uphold the provisions set forth by the Rome Statute and not only issue official sanctions against the terror organization Hamas, but to take steps to ensure that those ordering these actions are tried in an international court for their crimes against humanity.  This is the only way to bring about an end to the human rights violations committed by Hamas once and for all. 

Sources:

Eglash, Ruth.  “Gazan’s Challenge Israel’s High-Tech Defenses with Flaming Kites.”  The Washington Post.  June 18^th, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/gazans-challenge-israels-high-tech-defenses-with-flaming-kites/2018/06/17/4c27eb16-6b2b-11e8-a335-c4503d041eaf_story.html?utm_term=.5fb8a64c845e.

Gross, Judah Ari.  “Islamic Jihad Vows Revenge After 3 Terror Group Members Said Killed by IDF.”  The Times of Israel.  May 27, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.timesofisrael.com/islamic-jihad-vows-revenge-after-two-terror-group-members-killed-by-idf/.

“Hamas Covenant.”  August 18, 1988.  Accessed from http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp.

Khoury, Jack.  “50 Dead in Gaza Protests were Hamas Activists, Says Senior Hamas Official.”  Haaretz.  May 16, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/50-of-dead-in-gaza-protest-were-hamas-activists-says-hamas-official-1.6094899.

“Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”  United Nations.  July 01, 2002.  Accessed from https://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/ADD16852-AEE9-4757-ABE7-9CDC7CF02886/ 283503/RomeStatutEng1.pdf.

Schwartz, Yardena.  “Israel Farmers Scorched by Latest Attacks, Coping with Ecological Disaster.”  USA    Today.  July 19^th, 2018.   Accessed from  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/ 2018/07/19/israeli-farmers-ecological-disaster/794330002/.

Stahl, Julie & Christ Mitchell.  “Terror by Fire: Palestinians Launching Hundreds of ‘Fire Kites’ to Torch    Israel.”  CBN News.  June 06, 2018.  Accessed from http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2018/june/terror-by-fire-palestinians-launching-hundreds-of-fire-kites-to-torch-israel.

Stanton, Gregory H. et al.  “Malthusian Pressures, Genocide, and Ecocide.”  International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health.  July 2007.  Accessed from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5928558.

Wilson, Joe.  “The Inhumanity of Hamas’ Human Shields.”  The Washington Times.  May 31, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/may/31/the-inhumanity-of-hamas-human-shields/.