AP Exclusive: Israeli house strikes killed mostly civilians

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

AP Exclusive: Israeli strikes on homes in Gaza war took a high civilian toll, AP count shows

The Associated Press examined 247 airstrikes, interviewing witnesses, visiting attack sites and compiling a detailed casualty count.

The review found that 508 of the dead — just over 60 percent — were children, women and older men, all presumed to be civilians. Hamas says it did not use women as fighters in the war, and an Israel-based research group, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, which tracks militants among the war dead, said it has no evidence women participated in combat.

In addition:

— Children younger than 16 made up one-third of the total: 280 killed, including 19 babies and 108 preschoolers between the ages of 1 and 5.

— In 83 strikes, three or more members of one family died.

— Among those killed were 96 confirmed or suspected militants — just over 11 percent of the total — though the actual number could be higher since armed groups have not released detailed casualty lists.

— The remaining 240 dead were males between the ages of 16 and 59 whose names did not appear in AP searches of militant websites or on street posters honoring fighters.

"Our position is very clear. Israel did not commit war crimes," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon.

http://www.newser.com/article/fcc442c485af4dd9b2a5e17ba596c1a5/ap-exclusive-israeli-strikes-on-homes-in-gaza-war-took-a-high-civilian-toll-ap-count-shows.html

Of course not.

Edited February 23, 2015 by I AM NOT THAT GUY

[decocker 7,198]

israel would never. ever. and in no way shape or form would america ever fund such a thing.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

That situation never improves

[LibCampFireClub 635]

War is hell

[Sousuke 1,214]

Of course not.

Did you see where some US Citizens won a huge lawsuit against Palestine?

[Merrytooth 5,748]

Did you see where some US Citizens won a huge lawsuit against Palestine?

This one?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/nyregion/damages-awarded-in-terror-case-against-palestinian-groups.html?_r=0

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Did you see where some US Citizens won a huge lawsuit against Palestine?

See it above. Interesting.

Edited February 23, 2015 by I AM NOT THAT GUY

[Sousuke 1,214]

This one?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/nyregion/damages-awarded-in-terror-case-against-palestinian-groups.html?_r=0

Yeah thats the one. Will there be reciprocal lawsuits against Israel is something I have been wondering.

[LibCampFireClub 635]

Did you see where some US Citizens won a huge lawsuit against Palestine?

Yes. Big story today.

Historic US terror verdict charges Palestinian Authority with over $655m. in damages

"The defendants have already been boasting that they will appeal the decision and we will never collect on the judgment – but we will go to the end of the earth to collect it.”

Ending a saga dating back to the end of the Second Intifada in 2004, a US jury on Monday handed down a historic verdict against the Palestinian Authority for involvement in six terror attacks from that time period, charging them with $655.5 million in damages.

Lead trial counsel Kent Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter said that "The Palestinian Authority and the PLO have been found liable by an American jury for six heinous terrorist attacks that killed and injured hundreds of civilians.”

He continued, “The PA and PLO policies of financial inducements and rewards for terrorism that are at the center of this case unfortunately continue today, more than a decade later.”

Yalowitz concluded, “I am truly privileged to have had the opportunity to represent these amazing families and join them in their quest for justice against those who have devastated their lives forever."

Shurat Hadin Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said “This historic verdict against the defendants will not bring back these families' loved ones nor heal the physical and psychological wounds inflicted upon them but it truly is an important measure of justice and closure for them after their long years of tragic suffering and pain.”

She added, “We started out more than a decade ago with the intent of making the defendants pay for their terrorist crimes against innocent civilians and letting them know that there will eventually be a price to be paid for sending suicide bombers onto our buses and into our cafes.”

"The defendants have already been boasting that they will appeal the decision and we will never collect on the judgment – but we will go to the end of the earth to collect it,” she said.

The wrongful death civil damages trial could have massive diplomatic and financial implications for the PA, as it teeters, according to some dangerously, near collapse and as it tries to rally international support for its push for the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israeli soldiers and officials for alleged war crimes related to the summer Gaza war.

Closing statements in the case were delivered on Thursday before the US federal New York court and jury.

PA lawyer Mark Rochon rose first, and after presenting a sometimes understated trial persona, stood tall with some dramatic flair to defend his client from a possibly multibillion-dollar judgment and vast negative diplomatic implications.

Rochon, in a soft voice at times sounding weak and quivering, said, “I fear,” that this jury will find his client liable “because of who they are, not what they did or did not do."

The plaintiffs' central points are that a large volume of PA employees, including numerous policemen and commanders, have been arrested and convicted by Israel as having organized, planned and perpetrated suicide bombings and shootings against Americans in Israel, including the six attacks from 2001-2004 in the case during the Second Intifada. In those attacks, 33 were killed.

“So much sadness. So much sadness and death,” Rochon began. “All those souls extinguished.”

But “we’re not here to decide the Second Intifada,” to issue a judgment on that sadness, death, or the occupation, Rochon said, explaining that if the jury just focused on the six incidents at issue in the case, “the PA and the PLO are not liable.”

“Sometimes people who do terrible things work for the government.” But these are “things they did for their own reasons.”

A verdict against the defendants “would only damage the government and the PLO who do not deserve that.”

After his opening emotional appeal, Rochon slowly grew in indignation, doing his best to disconnect the dots that the plaintiffs had drawn together in their case.

Rochon attacked the credibility of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses: "The only people you can bring in are IDF intelligence officials who served during that time?" Rochon encouraged the jury to decide for themselves whether such witnesses were "Objective? Uninterested? Or biased?"

"Who you gonna believe?" he said, adding “the IDF or a report from the USA that explicitly states: There is no conclusive evidence that the senior leadership of the PA or PLO were involved in planning or approving specific acts of violence."

Rochon was referring to a US State Department report known as PLOCCA from the Second Intafada period which covered to what extent the PA was complying with obligations to Israel and the US under various agreements.

Many statements in the periodic reports defended the PA from accusations of involvement in terror, but others did not, and those that did were sometimes hotly debated at the time.

The plaintiffs "want you to infer that from the absence of evidence. And that's not how it works," Rochon said.

Noting the specific case of Abdel Karim Aweis, Rochon showed a document where Aweis said he was hiding information from a PA intelligence officer, something that showed the PA wasn't collaborating with his attack. "This is crazy town, ladies and gentlemen."

As his remarks drew to a close, Rochon's voice grew small and pleading once again. Leaving reporters cupping their hands to their ears to hear what he was saying. "What they did was despicable, selfish," Rochon said. "But it was not the PA."

But Rochon's spirited defense was not enough against the legal and emotional onslaught brought by plaintiffs.

Yalowitz rose to respond and burst forth with righteous indignation, declaring that the PA “didn’t have to pay terrorists if it didn’t want to.”

"This case is about 10 American families who were going about their daily lives," Yalowitz said, as he went on to describe how those families were victims of terror attacks and as family members each stood up in turn in the gallery.

He referred to the Anti-Terrorism Act which was the basis of the civil damages case as created to hit “those who send terrorists where it hurts most - the wallet."

Regarding the burden of proving the PA’s liability which the plaintiffs needed to carry to win, he said, "if the scale tips even a little bit," Yalowitz explained. "I will have carried my burden."

Yalowitz also addressed the PA claim that it and the PLO were separate entities who could not be held liable for each other’s actions.

"If you're a beat cop walking the streets" Yalowitz said, "You fairly represent the NYPD."

"If an NYPD cop" commits a murder in New Jersey and you say "'Good job. And we're going to keep you on payroll while you're in jail' that says something."

"You don't have to be senior to represent the entity."

Yalowitz continued, "If you have a policy that says: If you commit a terrorist act, you keep your job," get a promotion, and get paid while you're in jail, "that says something about who you are and what you believe in."

Regarding whether the PA’s alleged support for the six terror attacks met the legal definition of “material support,” Yalowitz said "the biggest support you can give is money and personnel and these guys gave both."

Shurat Hadin Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said, "As both sides have rested and the case is handed over to the jury, the terror victim families are optimistic that the defendants will be found guilty of the violent attacks that they perpetrated during the Second Intifada and which have devastated their lives.”

Darshan-Leitner added, “While the plaintiffs presented numerous expert witnesses and a myriad of documentary evidence, the PLO and Palestinian Authority barely made an effort to rebut the allegations against them.”

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Terror-391923

[OriZ 3,157]

Yeah thats the one. Will there be reciprocal lawsuits against Israel is something I have been wondering.

About at the same time as lawsuits against the US for its share of collateral damage in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, etc.

[Sousuke 1,214]

About at the same time as lawsuits against the US for its share of collateral damage in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, etc.

Maybe. Its reliant on US citizens being killed or hurt.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Maybe. Its reliant on US citizens being killed or hurt.

By declared terrorists. Israel was on that list, until they were discovered trying to sell nukes to South Africa. Then, they were taken off the list.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons

[unsmiley 111]

Did you see where some US Citizens won a huge lawsuit against Palestine?

There is no such thing as "Palestine." The suit was against the Palestinian Authority.

[Sousuke 1,214]

There is no such thing as "Palestine." The suit was against the Palestinian Authority.

and the PLO

[unsmiley 111]

and the PLO

Correct.