Palestinian toddler burned to death in suspected Jewish ‘price tag’ attack

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Palestinian toddler burned to death in suspected Jewish ‘price tag’ attack

An Israeli soldier walks past a house that had been torched in a suspected attack by Jewish extremists killing an 18-month-old Palestinian child, injuring a four-year-old brother and both their parents at Kafr Duma village near the West Bank city of Nablus July 31, 2015.

A suspected “price tag,” or retaliation, arson attack by right-wing Jewish settlers killed an 18-month-old Palestinian child in a house in the occupied West Bank and injured several other people, according to Israeli police.
The toddler died in a house fire which broke out in a village of Kafr Duma near the West Bank city of Nablus, Reuters reports.

The victim’s four-year-old brother and both parents were also injured and have been brought to the hospital. The attack took place in the early hours of the morning when the family was fast asleep and could not react immediately.

The house was reportedly destroyed by fire at the time the family was sleeping inside. The blaze also damaged another house, which was luckily empty at the time.

"I am in shock from this criminal and terrible act," Aruts Sheva quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying Friday morning. "We are talking about terrorism in every respect."

The infamous “price tag” tactic, typically used by radical Jewish settlers attacking Palestinian homes, Christian churches, mosques and government buildings, in response to Palestinian attacks on Jewish settlements, was daubed on the walls of the family’s home.

She called it a “suspected attack with nationalist motives,” adding that Israeli security forces were at the scene.

“This attack against civilians is nothing short of a barbaric act of terrorism,” Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Force said. “A comprehensive investigation is under way in order to find the terrorists and bring them to justice.”

He added: “The IDF strongly condemns this deplorable attack and has heightened its efforts in the field to locate those responsible.”

The death of a child will inevitably aggravate Israeli-Palestinian tensions at the time when the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pursues the controversial settlement expansion policy in the occupied territories.

READ MORE: Israel approves building of 300 new ‘illegitimate’ West Bank homes amid demolition protests

Just this Wednesday, Netanyahu approved the construction of 300 new homes in the central West Bank Jewish settlement of Beit El despite international condemnation. US State Department responded by a statement criticizing the “illegitimate” construction.

However, Israeli authorities have, at the same time, disgruntled some of the Jewish settlers in Beit El, as the Supreme Court has ordered that two blocks of houses illegally built on the Palestinian-owned land in the same area be torn down. The demolition sparked fierce resistance, with settlers protesting and clashing with police on Tuesday.

ARCHIVE: Palestinians watch Israeli heavy machinery demolishing apartment blocks in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Beit El near Ramallah July 29, 2015

Jewish extremists often respond to anti-settler measures with attacks ranging from graffiti and minor vandalism to destruction of property and arson. In June, the Catholic Church of the Multiplication, erected on the spot where Jesus is believed to have performed the Biblical miracle of loaves and fishes, was defaced with Hebrew graffiti and torched. Sixteen Jewish youths visiting the area from the West Bank were detained and questioned in connection with the incident, but later set free.

READ MORE: ​Israel questions, sets free 16 young Jewish settlers after Christian church burned down

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UN excludes Israel from child rights violators list

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UN excludes Israel from child rights violators list

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ignores rights groups' calls to add Israel to List of Shame.

The UN has left Israel off its List of Shame of states and armed groups that violate children's rights during conflicts, despite an outcry over the death of more than 500 children in the Gaza war.

Rights groups had called on Ban Ki-moon to add Israel to the list released on Monday, and there was much debate among UN agencies before the final decision that rested with UN  secretary-general.

Ban decided that last year's list would remain unchanged, but said he was "deeply alarmed" by the "grave violations suffered by children as a result of Israeli military operations in 2014".

"The unprecedented and unacceptable scale of the impact on children in 2014 raises grave concerns about Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law, notably the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution in attack, and respect for international human rights law, particularly in relation to excessive use of force," he said.

Ban cited a "dramatic increase" in the number of children killed in Israel and in the Palestinian territories in 2014.

At least 561 children (557 Palestinian, four Israeli) were killed and 4,271 injured (4,249 Palestinian and 22 Israeli) last year.

Ban also criticised "Palestinian armed groups" for indiscriminate rocket fire that endangered children in Israel and Gaza.

Leila Zerrougui, UN special envoy for children and armed conflict, had included Israel's army and Hamas in a draft of the report she had sent to the secretary-general, who had final say on the blacklist.
The list is an annex of a thematic report on children and armed conflict submitted annually to the Security Council.

Stephane Dujarric, UN spokesperson, stressed that "the report is more than the list" and lays out concerns about the plight of children in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ron Prosor, Israeli ambassador to the UN, welcomed the decision not to include Israel on the list.
The AFP news agency quoted him as saying Ban "was right not to submit to the dictates of the terrorist organisations and the Arab states, in his decision not to include Israel in this shameful list, together with organisations like ISIS, al-Qaeda and the Taliban".

The current list has 51 groups including Boko Haram and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group as well as the armed forces from eight countries such as Syria, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

"Ban's disappointing decision to override the advice of his special representative by removing Israel and Hamas is a blow to UN efforts to better protect children in armed conflict," said Philippe Bolopion, a representative of Human Rights Watch.

"Facts and consistency dictated that both be included on the list, but political pressure seems to have prevailed."

The blacklist of children's rights violators was released just two months after a UN inquiry found that the Israeli military was responsible for seven attacks on UN schools in Gaza that were used as shelters during the 2014 war.

The board of inquiry confirmed that UN officials working with Palestinian refugees sent twice-daily communications to the Israeli military with precise GPS coordinates of the schools being used as emergency shelters.

The UN is discussing measures to address the findings of the UN inquiry and it remains an open question as to whether they could be used in a possible war crimes case against Israel.
The 50-day conflict in Gaza last year killed 539 children and injured 2,956, most of whom are Palestinians now struggling with trauma and life-long disabilities, according to the UN children's agency, UNICEF.

Israeli soldiers 'admit to Gaza war atrocities

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Israeli soldiers 'admit to Gaza war atrocities

Israeli group publishes accounts of troops that expose policy of "indiscriminate fire" that killed Palestinians.

An Israeli group that collects testimonies from combat soldiers has published accounts from last year's Gaza war alleging indiscriminate fire killed Palestinian civilians.

Breaking The Silence said on Monday that its accounts, gathered from dozens of unnamed soldiers, show a "change in the military's combat norms".

"A troubling picture arises of a policy of indiscriminate fire that led to the deaths of innocent civilians," the group's director Yuli Novak said.

The report said that the testimonies came from soldiers who served in the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian group that rules over Gaza. Soldiers only were identified by their rank and branch of the military they served in to protect their privacy.

The group says its reports, which are critical of the military, are meant to show the Israeli public the difficult "reality" where soldiers serve in Palestinian areas.

More than 2,200 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, were killed during the war. In Israel, 67 soldiers and six civilians were killed.

The Israeli army said it would investigate all complaints of abuse made against his soldiers.

"The Israeli Defense Force is committed to properly investigating all credible claims raised via media, NGOs, and official complaints concerning IDF conduct during operation Protective Edge, in as serious a manner as possible," it said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera.

The accounts claimed that Israel loosened its rules of engagement, resulting in heavy civilian casualties.

Wartime misconduct

"Anything inside (the Gaza Strip) is a threat, the area has to be sterilised, empty of people and if we don't see someone waving a white flag, screaming, 'I give up', or something then he's a threat and there's authorisation to open fire," one soldier, identified in the report as an infantry sergeant, said.

Others described incidents in which civilians were killed.

The Israeli military has launched dozens of investigations into alleged wartime misconduct. It rejected the group's report, saying the claims lacked proof and could not be investigated.

Israel argues that the heavy civilian death toll was Hamas' fault, accusing it of using civilians as human shields, launching rockets and drawing retaliation from civilian areas.

Still, the report is likely to add fuel to Palestinian claims that Israel committed war crimes during the fighting.

The Palestinian Authority recently joined the International Criminal Court in hopes of prosecuting Israel over alleged war crimes.