George Bisharat's Poor Editorial

"Israel on Trial"; By George Bisharat; A19

George Bisharat pens a dated, repetitive, and biased opinion piece today.

Dated

"Chilling testimony by Israeli soldiers substantiates charges that Israel's Gaza Strip assault entailed grave violations of international law," writes George Bisharat. But last Tuesday, Isabel Kershner reported that, according to an internal Israeli investigation, the testimony was "based on hearsay and not supported by specific personal knowledge."

Repetitive

Bisharat outlines "six offenses" committed by the IDF, but items two and three – about civilian causalities – are effectively the same. Compare language from each, respectively:

“The laws of war permit attacking a civilian object only when it is making an effective contribution to military action and a definite military advantage is gained by its destruction.”

“International law authorizes killings of civilians if the objective of the attack is military.”

Biased

• Bisharat uses the numbers of the UN special rapporteur for civilian deaths rather than those of the IDF. 
• He makes unwarranted predictions about the future stating that because Likud is in power, there will be “violations to come.”
  
• He describes one Israeli procedure of warning civilians of an impending attack as a “cruel flaunting of international law.”
• He highlights the “particularly weakened conditions” of Gaza’s residents.

To conclude, the greatest problem with Bisharat's argument is that it conforms to a reality unlike the one that exists in Gaza, where Hamas has purposely blurs the line between civilian and military/terrorist personnel and infrastructure. This flaw, by the way, pervades "offenses" two and three.

Furthermore, what underpins Bisharat's piece is his belief that Hamas is not a terrorist entity. "Many countries do not regard violence against foreign military occupation as terrorism," he writes.