Former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner Mary Robinson has described the Hamas attacks, such as that on a party in which Irish-Israeli woman Kim Damti was killed, as serious war crimes.
They were not justified by what had been happening to the Palestinian people under occupation, she told RTÉ radio’s News at One.
“It does not justify the horrific killings and the kidnappings which are war crimes. And we must be very, very clear on that and we must not be ambivalent. And there is no question we have to treat them separately. These are war crimes. And I want to talk about accountability.”
Mrs Robinson said she had been very glad to hear US President Biden say that Israel must comply with the rules of law.
“There are rules of law, international humanitarian law, international human rights law. And already, sadly, Israel is in serious breach of its obligations. It is carrying out a massive, indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. So civilians are suffering, 1200 have been killed already in the last few days. And I don't know how many are injured. And on top of that, there is the siege and blocking food and fuel and electricity and water. That is a war crime.”
When it was pointed out that the Israelis were claiming the blockade was to ensure the release or recovery of their citizens who had been taken hostage, Mrs Robinson, said the situations could not be compared.
“This is collective punishment against a whole population, many of whom don't support or don't like Hamas. It completely has to be dealt with on its own, cannot be in some way a bargaining chip or something. We also need much more protection of civilians.
“We should be talking about at least if the bombardment continues, safe havens, if the ground troops go in, safe havens for civilians, and also we must have humanitarian aid go in. And I am very glad that the EU has spoken very clearly about this and spoken about continuing to support UNRWA and humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian.”
Mrs Robinson pointed out that there is a UN permanent commission on the occupied territories, Israel, which issues reports from time to time. “It has just announced it is examining the war crimes on both sides and in relation to what happened since the 7th of October, since last Saturday, and the ICC, the International Criminal Court, has jurisdiction.
"And yesterday, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Imran Khan, acknowledged that he has jurisdiction over what is happening now over the war crimes by Hamas, over the war crimes by Israel in not being proportionate, in not having safe havens and having collective punishment, and above all else, in a siege that's cutting off water and food to an undernourished population.
"Of the two million (in Gaza), a million are children. I mean, it's inconceivable. And the point I want to get across, and Ireland may be able to play a role here, unfortunately, because Israel doesn't want to be accountable.
"The United States has not supported the International Criminal Court in relation to Israel. It does in relation to Ukraine, but not Israel. And Western countries have been, to say the least, ambivalent and have not supported it.
“Now is the time to support accountability. There's also an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which would be looking at the legality of the whole occupation. So these are steps that can help us with. We can't go back to the status quo.
“Both Ban Ki-Moon and myself saw it was just boiling point. We have to move forward. And now is probably not the time. We've got to try and contain the present calamitous situation. But Ireland, I think, by talking more about accountability, could help.”
