The Israeli massacre of Lebanese civilians, mainly children, in the village of Qana is a colossal war crime for which the United States government bears full responsibility.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called the Qana bombing a “heinous crime” committed by “Israeli war criminals.” Speaking in English, so as to make clear his message was addressed to the Bush administration, Siniora scotched a planned visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying he would not hold talks with her until a ceasefire had been called.

For millions of people around the world, the atrocity captured the essence of the US-backed war on Lebanon, epitomizing its brutality and inhumanity. While the broad mass of humanity reacted with horror at the tragic loss of innocent life, and outrage toward the governments of the United States and Israel, the official response from Washington was utterly banal and callous.

There were the standard expressions of “regret” and “sadness,” as though such empty phrases legitimized the policy that produced this latest crime and the countless others that preceded it.

President Bush reiterated the American mantra of a “sustainable peace” in the Middle East—a euphemism for giving Israel more time to destroy all resistance within Lebanon to American and Israeli domination. With the bodies of 37 Lebanese children, killed by US-supplied missiles and fired by Washington’s war ally, yet to be buried, Bush spoke of his “hope for peace for boys and girls everywhere... especially in the Middle East.”

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a Jerusalem press conference that she was “deeply saddened” by the “terrible loss of life” and reiterated US “concern” over Israeli attacks on civilian targets.

She then said, “We are pushing for an urgent end to the current hostilities, but the views of the parties on how to achieve this are different.” The first part of that sentence was an obvious lie, and the second omitted the fact that the chief international actor whose “different views” are blocking a ceasefire is the United States.

Other US spokesmen offered cold-blooded apologies for Israel’s action. Undersecretary of State Nicolas Burns declared that Hezbollah “located its military forces among civilians” and repeated the canard that Hezbollah had provoked Israel’s massive assault by carrying out a border raid and capturing two Israeli soldiers on July 12.

As always after such atrocities, Israeli officials blamed their victims. Prime Minister Olmert declared, “The village and its surrounding areas were a source for launching hundreds of rockets.”

Dan Gillerman, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, charged that Hezbollah was responsible for the killings in Qana because it “used women and children as human shields.” He suggested that the Lebanese government and the Lebanese people were harboring Hezbollah and therefore reaping what they had sowed.

The “human shield” claim is the standard justification given by every imperialist military when it attacks civilian targets. In this case, it is an all-purpose excuse for continuing to bomb Lebanon’s Shiite population, which overwhelmingly supports Hezbollah—a mass political party with delegates in the Lebanese parliament and ministers in the current government.

Various Israeli spokesmen repeated the official line that Israel had dropped leaflets warning residents to evacuate towns and villages in south Lebanon—as if that relieved Israel of responsibility for dropping bombs and firing precision missiles on their homes! In any event, as is well known, Israel has destroyed roads and bridges to make flight nearly impossible, and bombed civilian convoys that were attempting to flee to the north.

If anything, the official responses from the United States and Israel to the massacre placed in sharper relief the chasm that separates them from the vast bulk of humanity.

The tide of international revulsion was so great that Washington felt obliged to pressure Israel to accept a 48-hour suspension of its air war in southern Lebanon. Nervous lest the opposition to the US-Israeli war spin out of control, the Bush administration decided it needed to make a gesture so as to buy time and review its joint war strategy with Israel.

US State Department official Adam Ereli announced Sunday night that Israel had agreed to the suspension, ostensibly to allow for an investigation into the Qana attack. Ereli added, however, that Israel had the right to “take action against targets preparing attacks against it,” a qualification that gives Israel ample license to continue its attacks on Lebanese civilian populations.

News reports cited Israeli authorities who insisted that the suspension was limited to attacks from the air on southern Lebanon only, was not a ceasefire, and did not apply to artillery attacks or assaults by Israeli ground forces.

Far from being an aberration or accident, the Qana massacre was a deliberate act of mass murder. It underscored that the target of the war is not only Hezbollah, but the entire Lebanese people. Its aim, worked out well in advance by the Bush administration and the Israeli government, is to destroy the infrastructure of the country and reduce most of its territory south of Beirut to rubble.

With Washington’s full and open support, Israel is determined to inflict sufficient death and destruction to drive the entire civilian population out of south Lebanon and make the region uninhabitable for years to come.

This is the fascistic strategy behind the rhetoric of President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert about establishing Israeli “security” and Lebanese “sovereignty.” It is why Rice, speaking in Jerusalem even as the bodies were being dragged from the smoking ruins in Qana, continued to reject the Lebanese government’s desperate calls for a ceasefire.

Washington and Jerusalem wish to continue the bloodbath, and escalate it, until the carnage has reached a sufficient level to reduce the entire country to the status of a US-Israeli protectorate. For the American ruling elite—including both parties of US imperialism—this criminal enterprise is only a means to an end: the removal of the Syrian and Iranian regimes, by means of diplomatic and economic blackmail, subversion, and war.

The ultimate aim is to transform the Middle East and Central Asia, with their vast deposits of oil and natural gas, into a virtual colony of US imperialism, with Israel serving as Washington’s junior partner and military attack dog.

The Israeli strike on helpless civilians—most of whom had made their way to Qana to seek refuge from the indiscriminate bombing of Tyre and other nearby towns—was not only brutal, it was utterly cowardly. It came one day after Israel withdrew its forces from the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil, where vastly outgunned Hezbollah fighters shocked the Israeli Defense Forces with their fierce and courageous resistance, forcing the Israeli military to retreat. The Israeli response was to escalate its killing of unarmed civilians.

That the destruction of homes in Qana was part of a deliberate strategy is clear both from Israel’s words and deeds. Only last Tuesday Israel destroyed a UN monitoring post in south Lebanon in order to force the withdrawal of UN observers from the area. And late last week, a member of Israel’s security cabinet was quoted as saying, “We should raze the villages in south Lebanon if needed. The Israeli army is a long way from having won, and we have to change the rules of the game...”

The British Observer newspaper carried a story on Sunday outlining the evidence of systematic violations by Israel of international laws of war. The newspaper suggested that the purpose of this policy was to depopulate the south of Lebanon.

The Observer wrote: “As Lebanese medical staff reported than an Israeli air strike had killed a woman and her six children in a house in the southern village of Nmeiriya, western diplomats in Beirut admitted they were ‘baffled’ by Israel’s targeting policy. Ambulances, refugee columns and civilian homes, infrastructure and UN posts have all been hit—and evidence has begun to emerge that civilians may have suffered phosphorus burns.

“Footage has also emerged of the increasingly widespread use of cluster munitions in areas with civilian inhabitants. Concern has been further heightened by the delivery to Israel by the US of at least 100 GBU-28 ‘bunker-buster’ bombs containing depleted uranium warheads for use against targets in Lebanon....

“Regarding reports that Israel was intentionally trying to depopulate a large swathe of territory in the south, Mair [Lucy Mair, a field researcher from the American-based Human Rights Watch] said: ‘It’s hard for us to speak about this. But given there is such a massive displacement, it’s difficult to imagine a situation where the population can come back.’”

The massacre of civilians is nothing new for the Israeli ruling elite. Ten years ago, during the last major Israeli incursion into Lebanon, Israeli artillery destroyed a United Nations base in the very same village as this weekend’s atrocity—Qana. More than 100 civilians who had taken refuge in the base were killed.

Such methods have been the stock in trade of the Zionist state from its foundation. Violence and terror against civilians have been repeatedly used to drive Arabs from their villages, farms and homes in order to increase the territory held by Israel. Following the November, 1947 United Nations General Assembly vote to partition Palestine, the Israeli political leadership and its military carried out a number of massacres of Palestinian villages in order to expel the inhabitants and expand Israeli territory beyond the borders laid down by the UN.

Within a short period, some 700,000 Palestinians had been turned into stateless refugees, and Israeli policy has ever since been grounded on a determination to prevent their return, while further extending Israel’s borders.

Far from seeking to rein in its chief ally in the Middle East, the American ruling elite under the Bush administration has concluded that its aggressive appetites in the region can be used to further Washington’s own imperialist designs for global domination. The main author of crimes such as Sunday’s massacre in Qana is US imperialism.

All of those involved in this barbaric act are war criminals who must be brought to justice. That is the task of the international working class.

-World Socialist Web Site

CONDOLEEZZA THE BUSH OIL WITCH: "Sorry to Oil the Qana Massacure, the Crocodile Tears on CNN, FOX, CBS, ABC, and NBC, and the Phoney Cease Fire Talks in the Middle East but Oil comes First. Fill her Up ?????????"

calls the men who are trying to defend them "cowards"

That's the Zionist mentality for you, hopelessly skewed.

We want to hear Schtarker say that when the topic of dead Israeli babies comes up.

More zionist hypocrisy--Schtarker Yid will quote the UN (Jan E.) as a source to support his racist-zionist opinion, but doesn't want you to think aobut this:

A list of UN Resolutions against "Israel"

* 1955-1992:

* * Resolution 106: " . . . 'condemns' Israel for Gaza raid".

* * Resolution 111: " . . . 'condemns' Israel for raid on Syria that killed fifty-six people".

* * Resolution 127: " . . . 'recommends' Israel suspends it's 'no-man's zone' in Jerusalem".

* * Resolution 162: " . . . 'urges' Israel to comply with UN decisions".

* * Resolution 171: " . . . determines flagrant violations' by Israel in its attack on Syria".

* * Resolution 228: " . . . 'censures' Israel for its attack on Samu in the West Bank, then under Jordanian control".

* * Resolution 237: " . . . 'urges' Israel to allow return of new 1967 Palestinian refugees".

* * Resolution 248: " . . . 'condemns' Israel for its massive attack on Karameh in Jordan".

* * Resolution 250: " . . . 'calls' on Israel to refrain from holding military parade in Jerusalem".

* * Resolution 251: " . . . 'deeply deplores' Israeli military parade in Jerusalem in defiance of Resolution 250".

* * Resolution 252: " . . . 'declares invalid' Israel's acts to unify Jerusalem as Jewish capital".

* * Resolution 256: " . . . 'condemns' Israeli raids on Jordan as 'flagrant violation".

* * Resolution 259: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's refusal to accept UN mission to probe occupation".

* * Resolution 262: " . . . 'condemns' Israel for attack on Beirut airport".

* * Resolution 265: " . . . 'condemns' Israel for air attacks for Salt in Jordan".

* * Resolution 267: " . . . 'censures' Israel for administrative acts to change the status of Jerusalem".

* *Resolution 270: " . . . 'condemns' Israel for air attacks on villages in southern Lebanon".

* * Resolution 271: " . . . 'condemns' Israel's failure to obey UN resolutions on Jerusalem".

* * Resolution 279: " . . . 'demands' withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon".

* * Resolution 280: " . . . 'condemns' Israeli's attacks against Lebanon".

* * Resolution 285: " . . . 'demands' immediate Israeli withdrawal form Lebanon".

* * Resolution 298: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's changing of the status of Jerusalem".

* * Resolution 313: " . . . 'demands' that Israel stop attacks against Lebanon".

* * Resolution 316: " . . . 'condemns' Israel for repeated attacks on Lebanon".

* * Resolution 317: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's refusal to release Arabs abducted in Lebanon".

* * Resolution 332: " . . . 'condemns' Israel's repeated attacks against Lebanon".

* * Resolution 337: " . . . 'condemns' Israel for violating Lebanon's sovereignty".

* * Resolution 347: " . . . 'condemns' Israeli attacks on Lebanon".

* * Resolution 425: " . . . 'calls' on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon".

* * Resolution 427: " . . . 'calls' on Israel to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon.

* * Resolution 444: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's lack of cooperation with UN peacekeeping forces".

* * Resolution 446: " . . . 'determines' that Israeli settlements are a 'serious

* obstruction' to peace and calls on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention".

* * Resolution 450: " . . . 'calls' on Israel to stop attacking Lebanon".

* * 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 476: " . . . 'reiterates' that Israel's claim to Jerusalem are 'null and void'".

* * Resolution 478: " . . . 'censures (Israel) in the strongest terms' for its

* claim to Jerusalem in its 'Basic Law'".

* * Resolution 484: " . . . 'declares it imperative' that Israel re-admit two deported

* Palestinian mayors".

* * Resolution 487: " . . . 'strongly condemns' Israel for its attack on Iraq's

* nuclear facility".

* * Resolution 497: " . . . 'decides' that Israel's annexation of Syria's Golan

* Heights is 'null and void' and demands that Israel rescinds its decision forthwith".

* * Resolution 498: " . . . 'calls' on Israel to withdraw from Lebanon".

* * Resolution 501: " . . . 'calls' on Israel to stop attacks against Lebanon and withdraw its troops".

* * Resolution 509: " . . . 'demands' that Israel withdraw its forces forthwith and unconditionally from Lebanon".

* * Resolution 515: " . . . 'demands' that Israel lift its siege of Beirut and

* allow food supplies to be brought in".

* * Resolution 517: " . . . 'censures' Israel for failing to obey UN resolutions

* and demands that Israel withdraw its forces from Lebanon".

* * Resolution 518: " . . . 'demands' that Israel cooperate fully with UN forces in Lebanon".

* * Resolution 520: " . . . 'condemns' Israel's attack into West Beirut".

* * Resolution 573: " . . . 'condemns' Israel 'vigorously' for bombing Tunisia

* in attack on PLO headquarters.

* * Resolution 587: " . . . 'takes note' of previous calls on Israel to withdraw

* its forces from Lebanon and urges all parties to withdraw".

* * Resolution 592: " . . . 'strongly deplores' the killing of Palestinian students

* at Bir Zeit University by Israeli troops".

* * 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: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's continuing deportation of Palestinians.

* * Resolution 672: " . . . 'condemns' Israel for violence against Palestinians

* at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.

* * Resolution 673: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's refusal to cooperate with the United

* Nations.

* * Resolution 681: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's resumption of the deportation of

* Palestinians.

* * Resolution 694: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's deportation of Palestinians and

* calls on it to ensure their safe and immediate return.

* * Resolution 726: " . . . 'strongly condemns' Israel's deportation of Palestinians.

* * Resolution 799: ". . . 'strongly condemns' Israel's deportation of 413 Palestinians

* and calls for their immediate return.

Shalhevet Pass, age 10 months, was killed by sniper fire at the entrance to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood in Hebron.

Shalhevet, seated in her stroller, was going with her parents to visit her grandparents in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood in Hebron. A Palestinian sniper opened fire from the Abu Sneneh neighborhood on the hill opposite. Shalhevet was fatally wounded by a shot to the head. Her father, Yitzhak, was moderately wounded in both legs.

He, as usual, neglected to address his hypocrisy re: UN.

... who served as trigger-jerkers during Sabra & Shatila are TRYING to barbecue Hizbollah with this absolutely moronic screed, and IMRA (yet another zionist PR organ! http://www.imra.org.il/ ) has cherry-picked this piece of shit, and Yid has cherry-picked it in turn, and all this is supposed to prove something?

aayyeeah-uh-duh, wuddever yoo say Yiddo (yah, drooooooool) you duh yiddo, you are!

1) it sounds like absolute nonsense posed as "science"

2) look where it came from:

http://www.newsoftheday.com/

YET ANOTHER Israel-boostering PR bullhorn!!! Fucking christ, how many of these are there?

Just waving around "baby slabber" (ooh! aah!) "stab-o-matic" (all hail him!) etc. doesn't get all of us falling down on our bellies groveling in mindless thrall the way you like, any more than "Kahane! Boogah-boogah!!" gets all of us running around like apes jacked up on crystal meth. Most of us have more mental presence than that

Sorry.

The Warsaw Ghetto fighters hid among civilians.

(snip)

These were totally admirable people. They were brave, clever and resourceful fighters, fighting for a just cause. They were, in short, the Hamas and Hizbullah of their people and their day.

(snip)

The Warsaw Ghetto fighters hid among civilians.

Duh. The warsaw ghetto fighters WERE civilians.

When the Partisan forces were able to, they fled to the forests

Either the JFO was an army, just like Hizbullah, or they were "unlawful combatants," just like those poor guys locked up in Guantanamo. Either way, they were heroes.

By the way, partisans didn't just hide among civilians, they *killed* civilians.

See:

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/171796_comment.php#172253

The Warsaw Ghetto was used by the Nazis as a place to concentrate their Jewish victims before being shipped off for slaughter. The Warsaw Ghetto fighters were essentially civilian inmates of a city turned into a concentration camp. An educated person would never compare what really happened there to the Palestinian situation of today for a few hundred reasons.

It taught us that Jews can never again be an unarmed defenselss population nor tolerate Nazis.

I'm thinking about adding firearms to my list of essential household supplies (in addition to goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, vegan free trade Israeli chocolate and clorox bleach). We should talk about recommendations. Soon.

Hurricane Katrina got me thinking along these lines, and a few not so veiled threats really cemented my resolve.

Nessie- what do you recommend for urban warfare? Self defense, of course. I've pretty much resolved that I can't outfight or outrun the folks who threaten me, and I refuse to be a victim.

So how many does that make who stayed home?

Just as some people can't tell one Arab from another, some people can't tell one Jew from another. If I was a Jew, I'd start wearing a cross around my neck these days, and sew a Palestinian flag to my jacket, just to avoid being mistaken for a supporter of Israel.

Once again they demonstrate what fundamentally dishonest people they are:



http://www.sfimc.net/news/2002/12/1555696_comment.php#1692248

(snip)

Sometimes they take something that an anti-Zionist has written, subtly alter its meaning by changing a few words, and post it under the name of the original author.

(snip)

Israel massacres civilians and has the nerve to talk about going after terrorists!

Of course zionism itself was/is a terrorist operation.

Maybe one day I can be a tough cyber warrior like SJ. (not)

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAAHAHAHAHHA!

You are a pathetic innefectual loser scumbag who trolls incessantly for your beloved terror state of Israel, to no avail. You will continue to be deleted, mocked, laughed at and will persuade no one (except of course in your delusional fantasy world)

LMFAO!

You are dismissed, maggot.