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Israeli
prime minister
The Jews love to accuse other foreign leaders they dislike of "war crimes." Thus, they have succeeded in having former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim blacklisted and banned from the United States; they will not allow trade restrictions to be removed from Yugoslavia until it has handed over Slobodan Milosevic to the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague; and they are, of course, still seeking the heads of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi. But now it turns out that the head of the Jewish state is a rather sordid war criminal himself, with the blood of hundreds—if not thousands—dripping from his pudgy kosher hands. Don't expect him to be arrested, however. For the Western nations worship the Jews and hold this wondrous "Chosen People" in reverence and transcendental awe. By the same token, don't expect the U.S. government to press for the extradition and prosecution of this genocidal thug. It is much too busy having Jewish attorneys of its OSI hunt down aging anti-Communist veterans of the Second World War as "Nazi war criminals." You get the picture. But read . . .
War
Crimes Case Filed in Belgium Against Sharon By KATIE NGUYEN BRUSSELS (Reuters)—Survivors of the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian refugees during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon filed a case in Brussels Monday accusing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of crimes against humanity. The 52-page complaint, also accusing Sharon of genocide and war crimes, was handed over to Investigating Judge Sophie Huguet, who will decide whether the case is admissible. "We hope that Mr. Sharon will be brought to justice, will be tried and will defend himself," Chibli Mallat, a Lebanese lawyer representing the 23 Palestinian and Lebanese plaintiffs, told Reuters. Sharon is being pursued under a 1993 Belgian law which allows war criminals—whatever their nationality and wherever the crimes were committed—to be tried in Belgium. The law, extended in 1999 to cover human rights violations and genocide, strips government ministers of all immunity from prosecution. "RESPONSIBILITY" FOR MASSACRE Mallat said Sharon bore personal responsibility for the massacre, which took place following Israel's invasion of West Beirut after Israeli-allied Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel was assassinated. A 1983 Israeli state inquiry found Sharon, then the defense minister, indirectly responsible for the killing of hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. The slaughter took place after the Israeli army allowed Israeli-backed Christian Phalangist militiamen to enter the camp, ostensibly to search for Palestinian gunmen. "Civilians were taken as targets of a military operation and brutally massacred," Michael Verhaeghe, a Belgian lawyer jointly representing the plaintiffs, told a news conference. "We are confident that a criminal investigation will show the responsibility of Mr. Sharon." Souad Srour al-Mere'eh, a survivor of the massacre, traveled to Brussels to personally file the complaint. Reading a statement in Arabic, she recounted how gunmen shot dead most of her family and gang-raped her. "I've waited impatiently for this day," she told Reuters. Walking with the aid of crutches, with a bullet still lodged in her spine, Mere'eh called for justice to be done: "First justice and then peace. Money always disappears but justice will last." Arrest unlikely Sharon's aides insist that he and other Israeli commanders never anticipated the massacre would happen. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres Monday branded as scandalous a BBC program which suggested Sharon could be tried for war crimes. Lawyers for the survivors said bringing the case was no mere symbolic gesture, but admitted it would be difficult to physically bring Sharon to face trial in Belgium. "The execution of an arrest warrant could pose problems," Verhaeghe told reporters. He said that even if the investigating judge decided to issue an international arrest warrant for Sharon, other countries might not recognize Belgium's universal jurisdiction. If Sharon were to visit Belgium under an official invitation extended earlier this month by the Belgian government, he could not be arrested because the invitation was made before the filing of the complaint. Sharon canceled a planned June 6 visit because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The complaint is the second of its kind to be filed against the Israeli leader in a month. The first was brought in Brussels by two Arabs and has yet to be ruled admissible. The maximum sentence for the crimes alleged in the cases is life imprisonment. Earlier this month, a Belgian court convicted four Rwandans of war crimes committed in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in the first case to be successfully brought before a Belgian jury. |
