Urgent Contact Your MEP This Morning About Goldstone Report

We have been advised that there is a Palestinian Solidarity Campaign lobby urging their supporters to contact their MEP’s asking them to support the Goldstone Report, which will be discussed on Wednesday 10th March 2010 in the European Parliament.

We are asking YOU TODAY to help to counteract the PSC lobby by emailing some or all of the following facts to enable your local MEP to have a more balanced view than just bombardment from the Palestinian supporters.

POINTS TO MENTION ARE:

During the 8 years preceding its decision to launch the Gaza Operation, Israel sent dozens of letters to the Secretary General of the United Nations and the President of the Security Council, describing the Qassam rocket shelling of Israeli cities and the suicide attacks on Israeli civilians. These letters also referenced Israel’s inherent right to defend itself and its citizens from such armed attacks, stating that Israel would not indefinitely tolerate a situation where Israeli citizens became de facto hostages of a terrorist organisation.

Neither Israel’s diplomatic overtures, nor its pleas to the international community, nor sanctions imposed by numerous countries, were able to stop the rocket attacks.

IDF carried out efforts to minimise as many civilian casualties as possible , however with Hamas using civilians as human shields the IDF struggled to prevent civilian deaths.

The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the use of civilians to shield certain areas from attack and provides that the presence of civilians does not shield an otherwise permissible military target from attack. In other words, the use of
‘human shields’ is prohibited.

Hamas violated this core principle of customary international law . Its operatives admitted, for example that they frequently launched rockets from schools precisely because they knew that Israeli jets would not fire on the schools.

During the Gaza operation. The IDF took all precautions required by law or suggested by the practice of other countries.

The IDF not only implemented a range of precautions relating to targeting and munitions, but also used an extensive system of graduated warnings to civilians, including both general advance warnings through media broadcasts and widespread leafleting, regional warnings to alert civilians to leave specific areas before IDF operations commenced and specific warnings to civilians in or near military targets, through telephone calls and warning shots with light weapons.

Unlike Hamas and other terrorist organisations that Israel faces, Israel is firmly committed to respecting its obligations under international law, including under the Law of Armed Conflict. The IDF routinely undergoes extensive mandatory training regiments designed to familiarise its soldiers with the laws of war and actively involved military lawyers advise commanders during both planning and operations, to ensure that they are aware of their obligations.

You may wish to quote some of the principles of the Hamas Charter:

 “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it” (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.”

“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavours.”

Despite the difficult combat conditions against Hamas terrorism in Gaza, Israel took care to respect international norms and will continue to do so in the future while maintaining its foremost commitment to protecting the security and well-being of it is own citizens.

Please URGENTLY email your MEPs - if possible early this morning. Use www.writetothem.com to email all your MEPs directly.

Thank you for your co-operation.