Hamas Firing Rockets Is Unforgivable … But Israel Has Done MUCH Worse
We condemn Hamas for firing rockets into Israel. We believe that targeting civilians is unconscionable and illegal under international law.
But by any objectives measure, Israel has broken the law much more than Hamas. Haaretz noted in 2002:
Israel holds the record for ignoring United Nations Security Council resolutions, according to a study by San Francisco University political science professor Steven Zunes.
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[Zunes] systematically went through all the states given instructions by the security council to find out how common a phenomenon it was. His results were somewhat surprising: “Some of the countries are considered and are known to be friendly to the U.S.,” he told Ha’aretz yesterday. “In the vast majority of cases I examined, the governments violating UN Security Council resolutions are countries that receive significant military, diplomatic and financial aid from the U.S.”
Israel leads the list. Since 1968, Israel has violated 32 resolutions that included condemnation or criticism of the governments’ policies and actions. Turkey is in second place, with 24 violations since 1974, and Morocco is third with 17 resolutions it ignored.
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Zunes specifically avoided counting resolutions that are vague or unclear so that governments could claim different interpretations to the meaning of the resolutions. Thus, the famous UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 are not included in his study. He also did not count resolutions that only included condemnations. Instead, he focused on those that included specific calls for changes in the subject governments’ policies.
The resolutions Israel violated were either about its annexation of East Jerusalem or settlements in the territories. Israel also ignored UN Security Council resolutions that called for Israel to cease using harsh measures against the Palestinian population and to cease expelling Palestinians.
Pulitzer prize winning journalist Chris Hedges points out that Israel has broken nearly a hundred UN Security Council resolutions regarding Gaza alone:
The continued presence of Israeli occupation forces defies nearly a hundred U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for them to withdraw. The Israeli blockade of Gaza, established in June 2007, is a brutal form of collective punishment that violates Article 33 of the Fourth 1949 Geneva Convention, which set up rules for the “Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.”
Here is a brief sampling of UN Security Council resolutions against Israel:
- Resolution 106: The Palestine Question (29 Mar 1955) ‘condemns’ Israel for Gaza raid
- Resolution 111: The Palestine Question (January 19, 1956) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for raid on Syria that killed fifty-six people”
- Resolution 127: The Palestine Question (January 22, 1958) ” … ‘recommends’ Israel suspends its ‘no-man’s zone’ in Jerusalem”.
- Resolution 162: The Palestine Question (April 11, 1961) ” … ‘urges’ Israel to comply with UN decisions”
- Resolution 171: The Palestine Question (April 9, 1962) ” … determines flagrant violations’ by Israel in its attack on Syria”
- Resolution 228: The Palestine Question (November 25, 1966) ” … ‘censures’ Israel for its attack onSamu in the West Bank, then under Jordanian control”
- Resolution 237: Six Day War June 14, 1967) ” … ‘urges’ Israel to allow return of new 1967 Palestinian refugees”. and called on Israel to ensure the safety and welfare of inhabitants of areas where fighting had taken place
- Resolution 256: (August 16) ” … ‘condemns’ Israeli raids on Jordan as ‘flagrant violation”
- Resolution 258: (September 18) … expressed ‘concern’ with the welfare of the inhabitants of theIsraeli-occupied territories, and requested a special representative to be sent to report on the implementation of Resolution 237, and that Israel cooperate
- Resolution 259: (September 27) ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to accept UN mission to probe occupation”
- Resolution 270: (August 26) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for air attacks on villages in southern Lebanon”
- Resolution 279: (May 12, 1970) “Demands the immediate withdrawal of all Israeli armed forces from Lebanese territory”
- Resolution 280: (May 19) ” … ‘condemns’ Israeli’s attacks against Lebanon”
- Resolution 285: (September 5) ” … ‘demands’ immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon”
- Resolution 298: (September 25, 1971) ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s changing of the status of Jerusalem”
- Resolution 316: (June 26) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for repeated attacks on Lebanon”
- Resolution 317: (July 21) ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to release Arabs abducted in Lebanon”
- Resolution 332: (April 21) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel’s repeated attacks against Lebanon”
- Resolution 337: (August 15) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for violating Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the forcible diversion and seizure of a Lebanese airliner from Lebanon’s air space”
- Resolution 444: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s lack of cooperation with UN peacekeeping forces”
- Resolution 452: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories”
- Resolution 465: ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s settlements and asks all member states not to assist Israel’s settlements program”
- Resolution 467: ” … ‘strongly deplores’ Israel’s military intervention in Lebanon”
- Resolution 468: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to rescind illegal expulsions of two Palestinian mayors and a judge and to facilitate their return”
- Resolution 469: ” … ‘strongly deplores’ Israel’s failure to observe the council’s order not to deport Palestinians”
- Resolution 471: ” … ‘expresses deep concern’ at Israel’s failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention”
- Resolution 478 (20 August 1980): ‘censures (Israel) in the strongest terms’ for its claim to Jerusalemin its ‘Basic Law’
- Resolution 487: ” … ‘strongly condemns’ Israel for its attack on Iraq’s nuclear facility”
- Resolution 497 (17 December 1981), decides that Israel’s annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights is ‘null and void’ and demands that Israel rescinds its decision forthwith
- Resolution 501: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to stop attacks against Lebanon and withdraw its troops”.Resolution 515: ” … ‘demands’ that Israel lift its siege of Beirut and allow food supplies to be brought in”
- Resolution 516, demanded an immediate cessation of military activities in Lebanon, noting violations of the cease-fire in Beirut
- Resolution 517: ” … ‘censures’ Israel for failing to obey UN resolutions and demands that Israel withdraw its forces from Lebanon”.
- Resolution 573: ” … ‘condemns’ Israel ‘vigorously’ for bombing Tunisia in attack on PLO headquarters
- Resolution 605: ” … ‘strongly deplores’ Israel’s policies and practices denying the human rights of Palestinians
- Resolution 607: ” … ‘calls’ on Israel not to deport Palestinians and strongly requests it to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention
- Resolution 608: ” … ‘deeply regrets’ that Israel has defied the United Nations and deported Palestinian civilians”
- Resolution 636: ” … ‘deeply regrets’ Israeli deportation of Palestinian civilians
- Resolution 641 (30 Aug 1989): ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s continuing deportation of Palestinians
- Resolution 673 (24 Oct 1990): ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to cooperate with the United Nations
- Resolution 681 (20 Dec 1990): ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s resumption of the deportation of Palestinians
- Resolution 694 (24 May 1991): ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s deportation of Palestinians and calls on it to ensure their safe and immediate return
- Resolution 726 (06 Jan 1992): ” … ‘strongly condemns’ Israel’s deportation of Palestinians
- Resolution 799 (18 Dec 1992): “. . . ‘strongly condemns’ Israel’s deportation of 413 Palestinians and calls for their immediate return
- Resolution 1435 (24 Sep 2002) demanded an end to Israeli measures in and around Ramallah, and an Israeli withdrawal to positions held before September 2000
The war crimes are ongoing.
Note: We have not been able to find a single UN resolution against Palestine.
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