Military Advocate General: No one culpable for 2006 Beit Hanun shelling

[bemildred]

Military Advocate General Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit ruled Monday that there is no justification to investigate the November 2006 incident in which errant Israel Defense Forces shells killed 21 Palestinians in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun.

Immediately following the event, the IDF explained that an artillery battery containing 12 shells, aimed at a site from where Qassam rockets had been fired, had accidentally hit civilian homes some 500 meters from the intended target.

The IDF later maintained that the decision to fire the artillery was based on founded and reliable intelligence indicating that additional rockets were going to be fired from the site. An IDF query revealed that the civilian deaths stemmed from a rare malfunction in the control equipment which caused errors in the data used to aim the artillery fire. Following the incident, then-chief of staff Dan Halutz appointed a committee, led by former Deputy Head of the Ground Forces Command, Major General Meir Califfee, to investigate the circumstances of the deaths. Following an extensive and thorough investigation, Mandelblit decided that the facts regarding the incident, presented by the committee, were detailed and clear, and that consequently there was no need to launch a Military Police investigation into the matter. It was also decided that no legal action was to be taken against any military official in regard to this incident.

The Military Advocate General (MAG) ruled that the Palestinian deaths did not result from negligence, and therefore there was no justification to take disciplinary measures against them.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/958403.html

[Englander]

1. Israeli Military: 2006 Deaths Accidental

JERUSALEM (AP) — No one is to blame for the November 2006 Israeli military shelling of two houses in which 21 sleeping Palestinian civilians were killed, the military said Tuesday.

The shelling in Gaza was "not intentional and was directly due to a rare and severe failure in the artillery fire control system," the military said in releasing the findings of an internal inquiry. There will be no military police inquiry and no one will be held accountable, the statement said.

The shelling, which occurred during a large-scale Israeli ground operation in northern Gaza against Palestinian rocket squads, provoked the wrath of international groups and human rights organizations. Since then, Israel has rarely used artillery against Gaza.

Because daily rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli towns and villages continues, there is growing internal pressure for another large military ground operation. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ruled that out for now, pointing to the likelihood of high casualties on both sides.

The shells crashed into houses in the town of Beit Hanoun, about four miles from the Gaza-Israel border, after midnight on Nov. 8, 2006, killing mostly women and children.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1kvirLeD3hxiY3ZbvOhOjgfg2UQD8V29E600

[subsuelo]

2. "a rare and severe failure in the artillery fire control system"

How many are stupid gullible enough to believe that I wonder.

The question I would pose: How many excuses does the military have? It's seems so endless.

[bemildred]

3. Rights group slams IDF probe into deadly Beit Hanun shelling

A prominent Israeli human rights group on Wednesday criticized an Israel Defense Forces probe that decided not to press charges in an errant artillery attack that killed 21 Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip in November 2006.

The Military Advocate General announced late Tuesday that it was closing the case after its investigation determined the deaths were the result of a "rare and severe" technical malfunction.

In a statement, the human rights group B'Tselem questioned whether the inquiry met proper legal standards: an investigation which is independent, effective, open to review and timely. The group also called on the IDF to take measures that would prevent similar incidents in the future, and urged it to compensate relatives of the dead.

The shelling was part of a large-scale IDF ground operation in northern Gaza against Palestinian rocket squads, and the civilian deaths provoked the wrath of international groups and human rights organizations. Since then, Israel has rarely used artillery against Gaza.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/958794.html

[Tom Joad]

4. No one important was killed, after all. Just a couple dozen

Palestinians is all. Obviously, children of a lesser god, in the eyes of the Jewish State.

[azurnoir]

5. Following a extensive and thorough investigation

"No one will be held accountable" that about says it all for any "justice".

[subsuelo]

6. Why should anyone be held accountable?

It was just another 'rare and severe failure in the artillery fire system' - the Israeli military would never target civilians intentionally

:sarcasm: