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The IDF’s Response To Beit Hanoun Incident…….

IDF Spokesman: Initial reaction to Palestinian claims of civilian casualties in Beit Hanoun

In an effort to disrupt and prevent the firing of rockets at Israelipopulation centers, the IDF this morning (Nov 8) carried out preventativeartillery fire at the launching sites of the Kassam rockets. The fire wasdirected at the area from which Kassam rockets were fired yesterday atAshkelon, in order to disrupt attempts to resume fire.
Following reports of Palestinian civilian casualties, IDF Chief of StaffLt.-Gen. Dan Halutz ordered a halt to artillery fire in the Gaza Strippending investigation.

Preliminary findings indicate that the site in question is far removed fromthe area towards which the artillery fire was directed. Representatives ofthe IDF Southern Command and the Chief Artillery Officer are in the fieldinvestigating the incident.

The IDF activity targets terrorist organizations and infrastructure only,and not Palestinian civilian targets, while the terror organizationsdeliberately target Israeli civilians.The IDF expresses regret at any harm to uninvolved civilians, but stressesthat the responsibility for this rests with the terror organizations, whichuse the Palestinian civilian population as a “human shield”, carrying outterror attacks and firing Kassam rockets at Israeli population centers,under cover of the Palestinian population.

Again, the above information is preliminary, and the incident is beinginvestigated.Jerusalem, 8 November, 2006

The EU response:

“The European Union executive on Wednesday called the IDF attack “a profoundly shocking event.”
……
“The killing this morning of so many civilians in Gaza, including many children, is a profoundly shocking event. Israel has a right to defend itself, but not at the price of the lives of the innocent,” EU external relations chief Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.
………
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said France “condemns the indiscriminate artillery fire inside inhabited areas which occurred in violation of international humanitarian law and notably the Geneva Conventions.”
……..
France and Britain also criticised the continuing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants into Israel.
…….
Italy’s foreign minister branded the Gaza killings a “massacre” and called for an urgent international initiative to stop the violence.

The EU response (Haaretz quotes) are interesting. The implication is that because no weapon is 100% “smart” — hitting only combatants — and human error is unavoidable even when handling lethal force, that no nation, or at least Israel, has a right to defend itself. How error can be characterized as “indiscriminant” I don’t understand. Al Avai
Also: The libel of uranium being used by the IDF in southern Lebanon has been proven false. The rush to condemn Israel has always been a common trait of the international media, while giving little attention to the facts that later disprove the false allegations, time and time again. KGS

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