From Haaretz report:
Six Hezbollah detainees being held by Israel since the second Lebanon war will petition the High Court of Justice on Wednesday, asking that they be recognized as prisoners of war.
Attorneys for the six, Semadar Ben-Nati and Itai Hermalin, who were appointed by the Public Defender’s Office, are also to ask the court to allow their clients to be visited by the International Red Cross. Israel has blocked such visits after Red Cross representatives saw the men only twice.
I am totally for strict adherence to Geneva convention and for pampering and cuddling our would be killers. However, in this case it is a bit too much. And allowing the Red Cross to see the men twice is two times too many.
Israel’s attitude in this case contradicts its policy, which allows the Red Cross to visit foreign nationals imprisoned in Israel, including terrorists, whom Israel does not recognize as prisoners of war. The stance in this case is a response to Hezbollah’s refusal to allow Red Cross representatives to meet with the two Israel Defense Forces soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.
Sorry for being so unfeeling, cruel and inhuman. But there is Ron Arad and many others to think about. They too happen to be human, they too are sons, husbands, fathers…
So Geneva convention be damned.
Cross-posted on SimplyJews
Hamas deserves no mercy !!
I don’t think it matters much, either way, in terms of the main issue: neither allowing nor forbidding such visits is going to affect the bestial (with apologies to beasts) way that Hezbollards treat prisoners.
The only real question is, it seems to me, whether permitting ICRC visits somehow implicitly confirms a POW status on the Hezbollards, who don’t deserve it, as they objectively don’t qualify. (The lack of uniform or distinguishing insignia, among other things.)
Nope; if the Hezbollards want to have the right to be treated according to the Geneva rules, they’ve got to consistently comply with the requirements — and they don’t.
Of course, this being the Israeli High Court, the request will be granted.
Hamas and Fatah terrorists are usually non-uniformed, illegal combatants. Hence, they are not covered by the Geneva Conventions when apprehended. Therefore, they should be treated as saboteurs and spies – executed.
chsw
“Hamas and Fatah terrorists are usually non-uniformed, illegal combatants. Hence, they are not covered by the Geneva Conventions when apprehended. Therefore, they should be treated as saboteurs and spies – executed.”
Under the 1949 Genneva Convention, yes. But the 1977 Geneva Convention, written with the specific intent of extending to the Vietcong the same protections previously enjoyed only by those who upheld the Convention themselves, supercedes the 1949 Convention. So, technically, the Euros are correct, but that’s because the Convention as it stands today is not intended to protect war crime victims as it is to protect war criminals.