“I cannot but wonder how long the shadow of the Holocaust prevents us from seeing that this is a kind of rogue state” said academy professor Martti Koskenniemi.
In last weeks Suomen Kuvalehti, which has a very long record of anti-Israel bias, is at it again, with the latest salvo being fired from the professor of international law, Martti (I loathe Zionism but love third world causes and their nationalist movements) Koskenniemi. The KS article started off with a number of heavy handed and equally slanted claims against Israel, that it’s acting like a rogue state in its operation in Gaza, as if no other state(s) having conducted military operations of their own, that have produced civilian casualties.
Suomen Kuvalehti: The war in Gaza: Is Israel acting as a Rogue State?
SK: As the civilian casualties in Gaza is growing, the world has been increasingly keen to keep the Israeli military action as illegal. […]
In the three weeks of fighting, according to estimates, more than 1000 Palestinians have died. Of that number 400 are civilians. Thousands are also wounded. The dead on the Israeli side was at the beginning of the week, according to sources 13, three of them civilians.
In the view of international law expert and college professor Martti Koskenniemi, although Israel’s actions are against all morality, religion and humanity, it is unlikely that international law will follow through with anything.
The UN Security Council could order an investigation of possible war crimes, and even set up a separate court to investigate them, as is done in Yugoslavia, in Rwanda and in Cambodia. “But for Israel, the United States would prevent any decision in the UN Security Council,” Koskenniemi said.”
This is the same international law professor that tried to downplay the immenseness of the 9/11 outrage, that murdered thousands of Americans on September 11, 2001. On a live televised program (YLE), he sought to divert the viewers attention from the Americans just slaughtered, to places around the world where people die every day.
Fair enough, but he could have saved it for another time, not on a show focusing on the (then) recent massacre of Americans by Islamofascists. And if prodded further, you can be assured that he is one of those academic loons who blames the US for its support for Israel, and was “just receiving a little “blow back” from pissing off the Arab world.
The international law professor points his finger at Israel, but refuses to admit at the same time that the UN has sanctioned operations in Afghanistan which has resulted in civilian deaths, as well as in the Gulf War when allied forces expelled Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait. There is also the hundreds of civilians killed by NATO’s air campaign in Kosovo 1999, in which fleeing refugees were hit, residential neighborhoods, hospitals, old folks homes, market places, buses, trains and bridges, and a foreign embassy…..but yet not even a hint of notice about that by Koskenniemi.
The truth be told, for him to do so, would remove the rug completely from underneath his argumentation, that predictably centers around “just how evil he thinks the Jewish state is”. The man is an absolute embarrassment as an “expert voice” on how Israel conducts itself during a time of war, or maintaining the security of its people. KGS
So this guy is an expert in International Law and a College Professor.
Leaving aside for the moment the question of whether indeed he is an expert in International Law (and his comments raise serious doubts in that respect), he would seem to typify those academics who assume their comments must be accepted by everyone because they are the experts.
That’s not good enough of course.
One should never be intimidated by people who present themselves as experts on anything.
Experts are often no more expert in their field (or outside their field) than the core beliefs they hold and justify by cherry picking to confirm their initial bias.
I have learned to take the views and opinions of experts (especially academics in the soft social sciences) with a grain of salt unless thay can back their conclusions by hard data that we can all agree upon.
What is wrong about the principle of proportionality? It is used in normal justice. It’s used when we judge our kids.
The fact that it compares absolute numbers which can’t be denied, is that a problem? He’s from Finland.
It’s strange how someone far from the conflict that uses factual evidence in a heated up conflict can be insulted so hard. Being ‘neutral and objective and outspoken’ in wartime has through history been tested: it’s a very very dangerous proposition.
I guess for some, the scary thing about using unchangable numbers, is that it would shut up room for fanatic judgement and bring us closer to justice.
Absolute numbers game does not belong to the principle of proportionality, it’s judged by the overall threat any aggression poses for the future.
Hamas’ weapons, by default, constitute a war crime, they serve no military purpose whatsoever, which means they’re only meant for the civilian population, which is a war crime.
Israel and any other state for that matter, are entitled by international law to take ALL NECESSARY ACTION to ensure the that the threat posed, is neutralized.
It doesn’t mean trading one missile for one rocket, but for going after the entire threat, lock, stock and barrel.
Hamas at one time had rockets with the range of 5 klms, then 10, 20 and now 40-50 (grads). They have been successful in purchasing (at the expence of poor Palestinians), smuggling and firing longer range weapons. It’s then foresseable that they can hit larger cities like Tel Avlv and Israel’s nuclear plant at Dimona.
Israel take that potential threat into consideration, and it totally justified in reacting the way it has, because the total threat is judged in its entirety, not singular rocket attacks, which up till now, thousands have been fired into Israel.
“Experts” like Martti Koskenniemi who know better, but lie to the Finnish public deserve every bit of the harsh criticism I deliver, becuase he has embarked on a campaign of disinformation due to his ideology as a Leftist first, and views the whatever laws and military actions through those lenses.
International law does not judge conflicts like a day care marm rendering a vedict to two small boys found hitting the other on aplay ground, but hthat’s exactly how Koskenniemi is reacting towards Israel, which makes him into a fool on the international level.
If the principle of proportionality has to judged by THREAT, then not one but both threats should be looked at.
Again to the point: Why so many times more Palestinians are killed
,and why it can not be mentioned.
Again, what you say is important, becuase I believe that its based on how you preceive international law would run, as in civilian disputes etc.
Hamas’ rocketry by default, falls outside of what international law deems a lawful weapon, so they are automatically reduced to being in the wrong, and if not for humanitarian racist tendancies in the West, they would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Their Qassams have no military use whatsoever, and are designed with the civilian population in mind, and that a war crime. Period.
The reason so many are killed, in comparison to the Israeli number, is that they use their people as shields. I just ran a video of a al-Arabiya reporter getting a call while the cameras were rolling, in which she was told that a rocket was launched from their building. She laughed, real funny.
But it shows what Hamas and the rest are willing to do.
If Israel had not built its security fence, there would be an even higher death toll amongst Israelis, I hope that their low number is no too much of a bother for you, but if Arab intent could be measured, then every last Jew would be murdered or run off the land that comprises the state of Israel. When push comes to shove, Fattah is moderate but only in the sense of the ways and means to murder Jews and and destroy Israel.
Sure you can mention the number of Palestiniians killed, but place the blame where it belongs, squarely on the shoulders of the genocidal, manipulative religious supremacists, in whose realm by hte way, only straight, fundamentalist Muslims fare well.
The converstaion can continue over here: https://tundratabloid.blogspot.com/2009/01/just-war-theory-and-proportionality.html
You are all very dangerous people.