Mortar being fired at Israel from Gaza school
Mortar being fired at Israel from Gaza schoolIsrael news photo: IDF

The IDF has slammed a Human Right Watch (HRW) report issued last Thursday that criticized Israel for what it termed "white flag" deaths during last January's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

The report claimed that IDF soldiers killed 11 Palestinian Authority Arab civilians while they were holding 'white flags' in the Gaza Strip, including five women and four children.

According to testimony cited by the New York-based lobby group, each of the victims was either standing, walking or driving slowly in a vehicle at the time of their deaths. In each case, claimed the investigators, the IDF was in control of the area, and there was no local combat in progress. 

The IDF said flatly that the report is based on unreliable sources, adding that it was a common tactic of Hamas terrorists to shoot and then raise white flags to protect themselves from retaliation. The IDF Spokesman's Office posted a video on the YouTube website on Thursday showing Hamas terrorists waving white flags to escape IDF retaliation.

"The report is based on the testimonies of a few Palestinian civilians whose credibility has not been proven," the IDF Spokesman pointed out.



In the above video, taken during Operation Cast Lead, a Hamas terrorist plants a bomb, then mingles with civilians while raising a white flag.

Defense Minster Ehud Barak also slammed the report, and said that any casualties during Operation Cast Lead should be blamed on the Hamas terrorist organization.

"After eight years of ceaseless rocket fire against the State of Israel, the IDF engaged in the operation Cast Lead. This is the responsibility of every nation – to protect its citizens. Any damage to civilians is the responsibility of the Hamas which cynically uses civilians as human shields," he said.

Kadima MK Otniel Shneller, a member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs committee, reacted more harshly. He slammed the HRW report for blatant antisemitism. “The same organizations which are full of criticism of the State of Israel are virtually silent about Islamic terror,” he said.



Just a week ago, HRW issued a report documenting the Hamas terrorist organization had used the citizens it rules as human shields during the war.

NGO monitor, a group which monitors organizations which claim to be neutral human rights groups, sharply condemned HRW's disproportionate criticism of Israel.

Professor Gerald Steinberg, president of the watchdog group, said, "The release of a third lengthy publication condemning Israel over Gaza within the space of a few months, is reflective of HRW's Israel obsession. Its timing, only a week after criticizing Hamas, confirms that this was no more than a token attempt by HRW to display artificial balance. If the methodology and ideology repeat past 'reports', this will be more evidence of HRW's moral collapse in promoting the agendas of Hamas and Hizbullah." 

The Human Rights Watch organization was recently caught promoting its "battles" with "pro-Israel pressure groups" as a means of raising funds from Saudi Arabian donors. Although HRW executive director Ken Roth tried to duck some persistent, pointed questions about the incident, he finally admitted to journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, who writes for The Atlantic that the group's officials had indeed bragged about its ongoing accusations against Israel at a dinner attended by Saudi religious leaders, among others. 

"We report on Israel. Its supporters fight back with lies and deception. It wasn't a pitch against the Israel lobby per se. Our standard spiel is to describe our work in the region. Telling the Israel story--part of that pitch--is in part telling about the lies and obfuscation that are inevitably thrown our way," Roth acknowledged.