Israel must be held accountable for war crimes in last summer’s attack on Gaza

(WASHINGTON DC 07/07/2015) – It is with heavy hearts that the American Muslims for Palestine remembers the innocent victims of last summer’s brutal attack by Israseli military forces on Gaza that killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, including 547 children.

During the military offensive, the worst since the 1967 Six Day War, Israel launched 6,000 airstrikes on the tiny strip, which is not much larger than the Chicago metropolitan area. The operation destroyed 18,000 homes, dozens of schools, hospitals and medical facilities. Entire families were wiped out in an instant when bombs fell on their homes. Neighborhoods like Shujaiyeh were wiped from the map. Israeli forces also destroyed the only remaining power plant, also impacting water treatment facilities that still have not been repaired after being destroyed in Operation Cast Lead in 2008-’09.

“That this type of assault can happen with impunity in the 21st century is not acceptable. Israel must be held to the same human rights standards as the rest of the world,” said Dr. Osama Abuirshaid, AMP national policy director.

Already, the Palestinians of Gaza were living in abject conditions because of the total blockade implemented by Israel in 2007. With nearly no potable water, sewage leaking into farmland and the Mediterranean Sea, lack of medical supplies and facilities and inconsistent electricity for just a few hours a day, the United Nations warned the area would become uninhabitable by 2020 – before last summer’s assault. Now the situation is more dire and urgent. When the bombs were falling last summer, the Palestinians in Gaza had nowhere to run. Nearly every child is suffering from trauma and a vast majority is in need of psychosocial treatment, according to the United Nations and other NGOs. Gaza’s unemployment at 43 percent generally and 60 percent among youth is the highest in the world, according to a recent World Bank report.

Time and again, Israel has shown it is not capable of policing itself. In June, an internal Israeli investigation absolved its military of the deaths of the four Bakr boys, who were summarily targeted and executed while playing soccer on Gaza Beach, according to a number of international journalists who witnessed the incident. Now, a United Nations Human Rights Commission report released on June 22, 2015, has repeatedly found instances where the Israeli military ignored international laws of proportionality, distinction, and the principles of indiscriminate attacks. The report further found the military used Palestinians as human shields and directly targeted civilians and civilian infrastructures.

AMP asserts that in addition to violating international law, the Israeli military also may have violated the US Arms Export Control Act by using American weaponry and aircraft or munitions purchased with US taxpayer money on a civilian population.

It is time to hold Israel accountable. We call upon President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to demand open and independent investigation into this travesty. We call upon the White House and State Department to demand Israel end the siege on Gaza and we demand an immediate end to US Foreign Military Assistance to Israel.