Reply #60: All Of That Is True, Ma'am

[The Magistrate]

It has never been my contention that report exonerated Israeli forces of all wrong-doing in that operation, only that it did not sustain the wildly exaggerated charges made at the time, which some continue to attempt resurrection of, and also to demonstrate that there was indeed an authoritative and reasonably impartial investigation made of the action at Jenin by a body not beholden to the Israeli government. There were certainly incidents wherein civilians were killed that ought to have been avoided, and there do seem to have been a handful of incidents in which fighgters were killed out of hand. The use of human shields is a particularly execrable tactic, and has been denounced here frequently, by myself and others, at that time and subsequently. Although it is worth noting that the practice did not, at Jenin, lead to any civilian deaths, that in no way mitigates the criminal nature of the act. It is also worth pointing out Human Rights Watch also reported on violations by Arab Palestinian fighters in the operation, centering on their insistence in fighting among their own people, exposing them to direct harm: the obligation to conduct combat with minimal danger to civilians binds both sides.