Comment on Hamas condemns US air strikes on Yemen, labels them as war crime
Opinionhaver@feddit.uk 2 months agoTargeting Israeli civilian population with unguided rockets for decades.
Comment on Hamas condemns US air strikes on Yemen, labels them as war crime
Opinionhaver@feddit.uk 2 months agoTargeting Israeli civilian population with unguided rockets for decades.
stink@lemmygrad.ml 2 months ago
UN charter says you’re allowed to do that to settlers actually
Opinionhaver@feddit.uk 2 months ago
You’re misrepresenting international law pretty severely here. The UN Charter does support the right of peoples to self-determination, and yes, that principle has been reaffirmed in various General Assembly resolutions, especially in the context of decolonization and occupation. But nowhere in the Charter - or in any binding international legal document - does it say it’s lawful to target civilians, including settlers, with indiscriminate weapons.
That claim usually stems from a misreading of UN General Assembly resolutions which acknowledged the right of occupied peoples to resist. But even those non-binding resolutions do not override the Geneva Conventions, which are binding and universally recognized. The Geneva Conventions make it crystal clear: civilians are protected from attack at all times, regardless of their location, nationality, or political status.
Launching unguided rockets into civilian areas is a textbook example of an indiscriminate attack, and it’s a war crime under international humanitarian law. The right to resist occupation doesn’t mean you get to ignore the rules of war.
stink@lemmygrad.ml 2 months ago
Settlers are not civilians.
Opinionhaver@feddit.uk 2 months ago
You’re moving the goalposts. I was clearly talking about civilians inside Israel’s 1948 borders - people Hamas has indiscriminately targeted for years, including with rockets and the October 7th massacre. Shifting the focus to “settlers” is a red herring.
Even then, the claim that settlers aren’t civilians is legally false. Under international law, civilians are anyone not directly participating in hostilities. That includes settlers, however one feels about the legality of the settlements. Civilian protections don’t vanish based on where someone lives.
Targeting civilians - whether in Tel Aviv or an outpost - is a war crime. The right to resist doesn’t override the laws of war. Trying to justify indiscriminate violence by redefining who counts as a civilian isn’t just wrong - it’s morally bankrupt.