By Dogan Akman
Nowadays, in Canada, all one reads in a number of publications and hears on the CBC and other public broadcasts is blaming Israel for the sins of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), by relying on fake statistics of the number of Gazans supposedly killed or injured by the Israeli armed forces; quoting Gazans without investigating their statements; referring to the fake news about famine and starvation in Gaza supposedly caused by Israel rather than by Hamas, and to top it all, accusing Israel of committing genocide.
As a matter of fact, the Globe and Mail does not even call Hamas “terrorists” but “militants”. This nonsense is compounded by its failure to do much, if any, independent research by consulting highly reputable and reliable domestic and international publications in order to report news and publish opinion pieces that are properly contextualized and based on accurate facts.
Not a word about Hamas using civilians as human shields, stealing their humanitarian aid and extorting inflated prices for the food and goods that reach the public markets. All the western governments are genuinely concerned with the well-being of Gazans, then. What about the well-being of hostages held by Hamas?
Since October ’23, Hamas has acted as savages in their treatment of the hostages; raping the women, gratuitously inflicting pain, starving them, killing them, hastening their deaths through lack of medical, and for that matter, any kind of care.
And at the United Nations, all the cease-fire resolutions essentially reward Hamas for their grossly inhumane treatment of the hostages and thereby encourage it to demand more in exchange for less. Not one country is demanding Hamas release forthwith all the hostages without rewarding it.
Finally, on April 25 the leaders of some 18 countries including Canada, which is less than 10% of the U.N. membership issued a joint statement calling for the immediate release of all hostages who have now been held for over 200 days, as a solution to the current plight(s) of Gazans to lead to the credible end of the hostilities. The statement concludes:” We reiterate our call on Hamas to release the hostages, and let us end this crisis so that collectively we can focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region.”
Peace and stability by allowing Hamas to remain in control of Gaza?
Peace and stability where for over 75 years the Palestinian Arabs rejected every single one of the many peace offers it received from Israel, devised and financed “pay for slay terrorism” in Judea and Samaria and west of the Jordan River while Hamas triggers periodic wars against Israel in accordance with its Charter that states its primary goal is destroying Israel?
Once again, the statement amounts to nothing more than rewarding Hamas by letting it get away with the crimes against the hostages to the detriment of the security of the State of Israel and its citizens.
First solution - The International Convention against the Taking of Hostages
Act on the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 17, 1979, which came into force on June,3,1983 .The 178 countries that adopted the convention included South Africa, Algeria, Iran, Lebanon, Qatar and naturally Israel.
The U.N
In the context of the current Gaza War, the United Nations, an anti-Israel and antisemitic organisation has deliberately forgotten its moral and legal obligations to enforce the Convention to enact the first solution.
The alternative to the first solution-The black rules of Customary International Humanitarian Law
In the event the Convention may not be applicable by reason that Gaza is not a Nation-State, the proposed action can be carried out under the black rules of Customary International Humanitarian law that have been formed by State practice through military manuals; national legislation; national case-law, United Nations documents that comprise resolutions adopted by the Security Council; the General Assembly and various bodies of the U.N. such as the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) International Conferences, International and Mixed Judicial and Quasi-Judicial Bodies; the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and finally various other sources, See: International Humanitarian Law Databases.
The alternative second solution: The ICC
The second solution, also long overdue, is for the International Criminal Court to issue and promptly serve warrants for the arrest of the leaders of PIJ and Hamas both in and out of Gaza, and the political and military leaders of Iran who have been financing the terrorism both by these organisations in Gaza and by Hezbollah in Lebanon, and take them into custody.
Do that without messing around with the ridiculous idea of issuing such warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and some of the high ranking Israeli civilian and military officials, if ever, certainly not before the war is finished by removing Hamas and PIJ from Gaza, when allegations of wrong- doing against them can be calmly, impartially thoroughly investigated along with the allegations against both Hamas and PIJ leaders
The alternative bizarre third “make belief” solution
So the leaders of the 18 countries, including Canada, having abandoned their moral obligations under both the Convention and the Customary International Humanitarian Law came up with a phony solution.
On April 25 these countries issued a public joint statement of Leaders to Hamas calling for “the immediate release of all the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for over 200 days.”
The signatories emphasised that “the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged cease-fire in Gaza….that would lead to the credible end of hostilities…We reiterate our call on Hamas to release the hostages, and let us end this crisis so that collectively we can focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region.”
On the strength of incontrovertible historical evidence that accumulated since the signing of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, nothing would or could bring a credible end of hostilities by any stretch of the imagination.
Again based on the same evidence since 1947, the signatories of the statement have collectively failed, and will continue to fail, in their efforts to bring peace and stability to the region.
With this statement, these leaders accomplished two mindless bizarre tasks, namely;
First, insuring the survival of two terrorist organisations in Gaza committed to the destruction of the State of Israel and ignoring the financing of terrorism of the Palestinian Authority;
Second, condemning Israel for the foreseeable future to bear and deal with the very heavy burdens of
a) The human tragedy caused by the death, the serious injuries and disabilities of its brave soldiers and civilians, and of their grieving families, and
b) The heavy economic losses incurred to finance the defence and security of the country and of its inhabitants while waging defensive wars on multiple fronts, and fighting domestic terrorism.
I dare to think and hope that Canadians do not want to be known as citizens of a country that promotes terrorism, and hostage taking and their savage treatment.
In this connection, I look back with great nostalgia to the days when Lester B. Pearson earned the Nobel Peace Prize for formulating a novel method of keeping the peace between warring parties and contributing more than Canada’s fair share to the undertaking.
Justin Trudeau cannot freehimself from his obsession to play identity politics in Canada in order to act in conformity with existing international solutions to the problem, let alone to produce a creative effective international humanitarian solution.
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