A Pariah State?

http://www.williampfaff.com/article.php?storyid=689

A Pariah State?

William Pfaff

Paris, July 30, 2014 -- Israeli attacks on hospitals and UNRWA refugee shelters brought the total of Palestinian dead to 1,224 according to the UN this morning, with more no doubt to come. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just promised his people “a prolonged campaign” in Gaza. If it is, Israel may find itself considered, even by Americans, a pariah state.

Children on playgrounds and in shelters will undoubtedly again be among the victims. Those killed on Monday, the Israeli Defense Forces say, were not killed by them, but by Hamas missiles aimed at Israel. The 19 killed yesterday were the victims of artillery fire.

Diligent readers will recall that last week’s attack on the URWA school at Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, killing 16 women and children and wounding more than 100, was described by Israel as a matter of “Hamas rockets or mortar shells falling short,” as the IDF explained to London’s Financial Times.

Later, the explanation was changed to one of Israeli forces responding to “intense fire from the school area,” and was meant to eliminate the threat. U.N. Refugee Works officials said they had informed the Israelis twelve times of the school’s coordinates, pleading for permission from the IDF to evacuate the civilians, which never was given. Yesterday's school attack disregarded 17 UN warnings.http://www.williampfaff.com/article.php?storyid=689