Israeli military criminal institution: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Alberto Garcia Watson, a political commentator in Beirut, to discuss a UN bid to put Israeli military on blacklist for its crimes against Palestinians and children, in particular.

What follows is a rough transcription.

 Press TV: First of all, whenever the United Nations is seeking to put the Israeli military on its blacklist, we know that there is a special relationship between the United States and Israel; the first question would be that how would the United States react to this?

Watson: Well, we know so far what the relationship between the United States administration and Israel is at this point. The visit of Netanyahu in the past weeks to Washington and his declaration of war to Obama and to Senate prove that the ties between the United States and Israel are at the most delicate moment. However, the United States will not allow this to take place. Let’s not forget that this is just a recommendation by a representative of (the office of) Children and Armed Conflict from the United Nations and even inside the United Nations Ban Ki-moon most probably will put his pressure on it so Israel does not feel too much under pressure. Let’s not forget that Israel was created unilaterally a few months after the United Nations was created. The United Nations has given the okay and the free path for Israel’s impunity in all this decades and in the past conflicts, their past operations, let us say in their past carnages. The impunity, even backed by United Nations, has been very very clear. Ban Ki-moon would not accept this, the United States does not accept this, let us not forget just a recommendation by a representative of children. However, the Israeli army has proven to be a criminal institution and it targets children in every single military operation. We are talking about 556 children that were murdered and over 3,000 that were injured. Thousands of children in Gaza suffering from depression and from traumatized symptoms due to this situation and on top of it, Israel makes sure that even the blockade and the siege on Gaza keeps standing. So I am not very optimistic that this is going to get through. However, this is pointing at the United Nations, like the European Union with Mogherini, even the Vatican that just recently recognized the State of Palestine is pointing at marginalizing Israel.

Press TV: Of course, it also calls into question the issue of accountability for the deaths of these 500 children and of course the more than 3,000 children who were injured in this war. What other avenues does Palestine have to bring Israel to be held accountable?

Watson: I think that after all these massacres that have happened, targeting children, elderly and the sick, and has proven that Israel just plays its military operations with absolute and total international impunity. We see now that Netanyahu has created a [regime] of the most extremist members of the parliament that are calling for the annex of the West Bank, East (al-Quds) Jerusalem and Gaza. I think that the extreme views now from the Israeli [regime] and the lack of the international pressure over this [regime] is going to make very little to support any implementation of sanctions against Israel. And as long as the United States keeps a veto on the United Nations Security Council, time and again, it will just give the possibility to Israel to keep on going taking land, keep on with the military operations. We just saw yesterday that Israel again bombed Gaza; there is no condemnation… we don’t see any condemnation from any institution apart from humanitarian organizations, but that is not enough. We need the United States get more involved and we definitely need that the United Nations [to get] really involved and declare and put first the army on the black list, because it has proven to be a criminal institution that targets especially children and the elderly and the women, and my God, what more proof does the world need that this criminal entity cannot just keep on killing. There has to be sanctions… there has to be punishment from the whole world and the United Nations itself.  

Press TV: And if the UN fails to hold Israel accountable in any way, how much would this take away the trust of nations which would believe in an international body that would fight for their justice?

Watson: The United Nations has lost all credibility for the past decades. But in the recent years with the last massacre occurring in the Gaza Strip, it has proven that the United Nations has no credibility whatsoever. Ban Ki-moon seems not to be able or under pressure or personally to really fulfill any pressure or any punishments or any sanctions against Israel. It does against other countries where not much of evidence might be on place but the sanctions are put there but we don’t see it on Israel. It is untouchable. We don’t see that the united nations has the capacity and we see that the United States has so much power. Being a country that has the biggest debt with the United Nations, it is still as the one threatening with cutting the funding with the United Nations in case the UN takes any measure against Israel. 

MTM/MKA

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