Yet the U.S. undermines its criticism of Russia’s abuses in Ukraine by making excuses for Israel’s assault on Gaza.
During a United Nations Security Council meeting this week, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield launched a full-throated condemnation of Russia’s bombing of Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital on Monday. The attack was a part of a Russian bombing campaign that killed more than 30 Ukrainian civilians.
“We’re here today because Russia … attacked a children’s hospital,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “Even uttering that phrase sends a chill down my spine.”
Thomas-Greenfield went on to list a string of Russian attacks on other Ukrainian hospitals throughout the war. She described Russia’s aggression as a “campaign of terror” and labeled its attacks on civilian infrastructure as violations of international law. Representatives of other countries, such as the United Kingdom and France, echoed Thomas-Greenfield’s denunciations. (Russia’s ambassador denied responsibility for the Monday bombing.)
“I’m very glad the U.S. is coming out and so vocally condemning all of those actions,” said Jessica Peake, an international law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, referring to Thomas-Greenfield’s comments toward Russia. “But at the same time, we don’t get any language anywhere near as strong as that when we’re talking about Palestinian hospitals, or Palestinian schools, or Palestinian children.”
The U.S. has stood by Israel militarily and diplomatically as it has consistently attacked civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals and schools, in Gaza since October 7, in a brutal campaign that the International Court of Justice has deemed a plausible genocide.
Nate Evans, a spokesperson for Thomas-Greenfield, told The Intercept that the ambassador “has condemned loss of Palestinian civilian lives many, many times in the Security Council,” while adding that the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine are “two very different wars.” Evans noted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoked,” while Israel launched its assault in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
But there are also clear parallels in human rights abuses and violations of international law in each respective war, said Peake, who called the U.S. government’s handling of the conflicts “hypocritical.”
“What we see from the U.S. is a very stark difference in how they are choosing to handle its involvement in pushing for an end to those conflicts,” said Peake, who is also assistant director of UCLA’s Promise Institute for Human Rights.
U.S. officials have said they opposed ceasefire resolutions because they failed to stand by Israel’s apparent right to defend itself and argued diplomatic approaches would be more effective than public censures.
Strikes also hit a home in Deir al-Balah, which was inside Israel’s “humanitarian safe zone” where Palestinians have been told to flee, the Associated Press reported.
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The law requiring the U.S. to send arms to Israel was not made by Joe Biden. Biden is not the leader of Israel. Biden is delaying and limiting arms shipment. How difficult is that to understand?
I feel very confident in saying a childrens cancer ward far from the Ukrainian front likely had no military utilization. Probably no rockets fired from the roof, no soldiers inside, etc etc.
Can hamas say the same with confidence? Even though their medical facilities were very close to the fighting? I do not know, personally, and still condemn the Israeli attacks.
But I also know the circumstances are not the same.
There was no evidence for Hamas using the hospital as a military base so yes they are identical. There is no evidence of Hamas launching any rockets from the roof of those hospitals either not sure where that claim comes from.
There's a documentary about Al Shifa Hospital with interviews from the survivors. Be warned, it's very graphic with videos of the mass graves being bulldozed etc.
Exactly. And that is a difference. Since it is different, it means the circumstances are different. I'm not saying it's fair, circumstances are usually very unfair. They still exist though.
Let me repeat:
Even if Hitler, Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot were hiding where children are, you do not bomb your way through children to get at your target.
See, it really is that simple, no discussion or comparisons needed.
No, I'm afraid not. I wish it was that way, but it's not true. Otherwise any army could protect itself from bombardment with human shields, which is not the case.
I feel very confident in saying a childrens cancer ward far from the Ukrainian front likely had no military utilization. Probably no rockets fired from the roof, no soldiers inside, etc etc.
Even if their were a rocket or a soldier on the roof, Russia would but be morally justified in blowing it up. Nothing you said is relevant to that situation.
If a hospital is used as a combat position, it becomes a valid target for attack. You are not prohibited from returning fire just because the attackers are striking from a hospital.
I do enjoy the hypocrisy of Western leaders, they aren't even tacit about it anymore, and the public evidently are so propagandized as to justify genocide even when they think they oppose it.
Democracy and apartheid are diametrically and definitionally opposed to one another. By your metric, an illegal occupation is not an act of war, and the deaths, rapes, torturings, and kidnappings didn't constitute any violations. Only through ignorance or hatred can you arrive at your view of the war.
Ukraine doesn't have combatants using their hospitals as bunkers.
Hamas does use hospitals as bunkers for their combatants. This is actually a war crime. The reason it's a war crime to station combatants in a hospital is because it makes the hospital a valid military target, which is bad for the civilian population.
But Hamas doesn't give a shit about the civilian population and puts their combatants in hospitals anyway. The goal is propaganda so they can get donations and the people that only want to hear one side of the story aren't going to care about "little details" about Hamas war crimes. The leaders of Hamas living in Qatar are actual billionaires because they've monetized the suffering of Palestinians. But then so has TikTok, and this intercept site linked above which is making emotional pleas to get in on the donation action.
Grifting off of Palestinian suffering is getting to be a big business now.