Slaughter in Qana by the Israeli's

galway | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Sunday July 30, 2006 14:50

by Tommy Donnellan - IPSC

54 civilians including 37 children; the latest atrocity count.

More than 50 Lebanese civilians - some news reports say 54 - sheltering in the basement of a three storey block in Qana have been murdered by the IDF, rescue workers are digging out their bodies by hand, severely hampered by the lack of heavy moving equipment.

Angry Lebanese have invaded the UN compound in Beirut and the impending visit of Condoleeza Rice has been cancelled, in revulsion, by the Lebanese government - however, the US spin machine is in overdrive as RTE's Radio 1 is now reporting that Condi called of her empty shuttle efforts herself.

True to form, RTE is reporting on this atrocity as a "mistake" and the scumbag on Radio One's, 1 'o clock news programme is brazenly insisting to his guests that the Lebanese brought it on themselves, this was/is not tongue in cheek devil's advocacy bollocks but virulent propaganda.
True to form, B. Ahern is "shocked and appalled" and digging deep into his ragbag of empty mantras and hypocrisy whilst D. Ahern will be calling for an "immediate ceasefire" at this Tuesdays emergency EU meeting.

Let us not forget this is the second Qana massacre, then, as now, Israel accused Hezbollah of using the civilian population as human shields when they launched their attacks when around 800 Lebanese civilians had taken refuge in the small UN Qana compound in 19996 to escape the fighting, of whom 106 were killed and around 116 others injured.
Amnesty International concluded in its report on the matter that ; "the IDF intentionally attacked the UN compound ...". The UN report cited the repeated use of airburst shells over the small UN compound, which sent down a deadly torrent of shrapnel that caused terrible injuries among the unprotected civilians. The UN also noted the presence of Israeli helicopters and a drone in the skies over Qana which must have witnessed the bloodbath

Human Rights Watch concurred, "The decision of those who planned the attack to choose a mix of high-explosive artillery shells that included deadly anti-personnel shells designed to maximize injuries on the ground -- and the sustained firing of such shells, without warning, in close proximity to a large concentration of civilians -- violated a key principle of international humanitarian law.