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War
crimes probe opens
The so-called "free press" in the United States is highly selective about which war crimes stories it will report and which it will not. When these involve bogus allegations against veterans in their 80's and 90's who fought against Communism 60 years, the media is not loath to whip up witch-hunt hysteria. But when it involves their nearest and dearest who are guilty as sin, they show just how commited they are to "freedom" and "democracy" by opting for— CENSORSHIP!
Belgian
Court Opens War Crimes Probe By JULIE STAHL, Jerusalem Bureau Chief JERUSALEM (CNSNews.com)—The Israeli Foreign Ministry had little reaction Monday to the news that a Belgian court has agreed to open an investigation against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for genocide and war crimes allegedly committed in 1982, when he was defense minister. Judge Patrick Collignon paved the way for the opening of the investigation when he accepted as valid two complaints against Sharon filed by survivors of the massacres of some 800 Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Beirut. Sharon was at the time overseeing Israeli forces that had invaded Lebanon to rout the PLO, which was using Lebanon as a springboard to launch international terrorism. Lebanese-allied militias, under local leadership but Sharon's overall command, carried out the massacres after entering the camps to search for PLO gunmen believed to be hiding there. Collignon will investigate whether there is sufficient evidence to press charges against Sharon, said Josef Colpin, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Brussels. According to a 1993 Belgian law, anyone from anywhere in the world can file a complaint in the Belgian courts for human rights violations. The maximum sentence is life in prison. Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Immanuel Nahshon Monday referred to earlier reaction, saying it was "extremely not useful" to bring up this complaint concerning events that took place 19 years ago. The events were also previously discussed in various tribunals, he added. On a recent trip to Belgium, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was asked by Flemish television about Sharon's role in Lebanon. He responded by saying that Sharon was one of Israel's greatest war heroes and asking where Belgium was when Israel was being attacked by neighboring Arab armies in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. A diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity in Jerusalem, said it was "absolutely pointless and ridiculous" for Belgium to open such a case. Belgium this week took over the rotating presidency of the European Union. If it wanted to play a role in Middle East peacemaking, the source suggested, such a move would not be helpful. Israel has generally refused European participation in the peace process because of a perceived pro-Palestinian bias. The investigation is being used merely as a "political instrument," the diplomat said. A senior legal expert in Jerusalem, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he did not know on what basis a Belgian court would base its judgments. But, he said, taking the example of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court—the document on which a full-time U.N. war crimes tribunal will base its judgments once it is instated—Sharon could not be found guilty anyway. The expert cited Article 25 of the ICC document, regarding individual criminality, which states that a person is guilty if he commits a war crime, or orders, solicits, induces, facilitates, aids or abets or furthers criminal activity. Sharon, he argued, was not guilty of such charges. The ICC, in any case, will not examine cases retroactively. An Israeli commission of inquiry at the time held Sharon indirectly responsible but not criminally responsible for the tragedy. Christian Phalangist militiamen were given the job of routing out PLO terrorists believed to have been hiding in the camps, after a deal was made to evacuate the PLO and Yasser Arafat from Beirut. Lebanese sources say the militiamen sought to avenge numerous atrocities perpetrated by the PLO against their community during Arafat's partial occupation of Lebanon. |
