How to throw the book at "Israel"

Iran takes up the cudgels against ‘Israel', offering judicial advice on how to prosecute Tel Aviv for committing war crimes against Gazans.

In a Tuesday address to the international conference of Islamic prosecutors in Tehran, Iranian Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi detailed evidence that proved the illegitimacy of ‘Israel's' three-week war on Gaza.

Shahroudi said that Israel's offensive on Gaza -- which was initiated under the pretext of "self defense" -- was an illegitimate act to begin with, mainly because the UN Charter does not give ‘Israel' the legal foundation for claiming self-defense.

Shahroudi added that ‘Israel' defied its obligations as an occupying force. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power is required to protect the occupied population and provide it with food, medicine and emergency necessities.

"The attacks came at a time when 1.5 million Gazans were already suffering from a tight blockade for more than two years," said Shahroudi. "During the offensive, the ‘Israeli' cabinet declared the whole region a closed military zone and Gazans had no place to run."

In addition to ‘Israel's' shocking violations of international law, Shahroudi said there was more than enough evidence that ‘Israel' has in fact committed war crimes against the Palestinians.

A war crime is defined as "a deliberate act that aims at harming civilians and causing great suffering, harming them physically, destroying their property in a way that cannot be justified".

'Israeli ‘war crimes, according to Shahroudi, involved the use of deadly white phosphorus shells in densely populated civilian areas, the employment of Palestinian children as human shields and the targeting of medics and hospitals.

The al-Attar teenage brothers left the world in a state of shock, after detailing the way they were taken from home at gunpoint, made to kneel in front of ‘Israeli' tanks to deter Hamas fighters from firing, and sent by ‘Israeli' soldiers into Palestinian houses to clear them.

"They would make us go first so if any fighters shot at them the bullets would hit us, not them," 14-year-old Al'a al-Attar told The Guardian.

The World Health Organization, meanwhile, reported that more than half of Gaza's 27 hospitals and 44 clinics were damaged by ‘Israeli' bombs. More than sixteen medics and ambulance drivers were killed when they tried to tend to the wounded.

In the face of such overwhelming evidence, Shahroudi urged world countries to throw the book at the ‘Israeli' leadership for its brazen acts of genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

As a first step, the International community is obligated, both morally and legally, to end ‘Israel's' immunity and impunity from international scrutiny, he said.

To that end, Shahroudi said, the Iranian Judiciary proposes the implementation of the following measures:

1 - Establishing a secretariat to follow up and coordinate exchange of information on war crimes, genocide and other forms of organized crimes and holding periodic conferences in the Islamic and other interested countries to discuss the agreed subjects.

2 - Sending documents and evidences collected and presented in the Conference to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate ‘Israeli' war crimes and genocide in Gaza and requesting the ICC prosecutor to investigate the cases and prosecute the criminals based on the complaints filed by the Palestinian government.

3 - Given the measures taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran in the prosecution of war criminals based on Articles 146 and 147 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions adopted in 1949 on the need to prosecute the war criminals and the requests made to Interpol for the arrest of 25 ‘Israeli' military and political leaders, the conference calls on all participating countries to support request by all means.

4 - Establishing the International Islamic Criminal Court to combat cultural impunity to realize the administration of international justice with respect to the crimes committed in the Muslim territories and against the Muslim population with the aim of prosecuting the perpetrators of war crimes, genocide and other international crimes.

5 - Under present circumstances and given the failures of the UN Security Council to meet its responsibilities, I propose that based on Article 22 of the UN Charter participating authorities follow up the subject for establishment of the international tribunal for ‘Israeli' crimes and raising it within the UN General Assembly in order to be discussed and decided upon accordingly.

Tel Aviv has not ratified the 1998 Rome Statute; therefore, ‘Israeli' leaders cannot be brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

However, signatories to the Geneva Convention such as Iran can prosecute those involved in the assault on Gaza as culpable for war crimes.

'Israel's' military foray into Gaza led to the death of nearly 1,400 Palestinians -- most of them non-combatants.