RAMALLAH, July 8 (JMCC) - Human rights groups have responded to
Israel's decision to prosecute four cases of possible war crimes with ridicule, reports
The National.
Following an internal investigation, Israel’s army said on Tuesday that its chief prosecutor had decided to take disciplinary and legal action in four separate cases. They include indicting a staff sergeant with manslaughter for deliberately shooting at least one Palestinian walking with a group waving a white flag, and charging a battalion commander for allowing his troops to use a Palestinian civilian as a human shield.
Israeli media reported that the army also used in its probes Palestinian testimonies provided by B’Tselem. Avichai Mendelblit, the military prosecutor, made the rare gesture of thanking the Israeli rights organisation for the accounts and for helping coordinate the questioning of Palestinians by the army.
B’Tselem, however, said the actions announced were far from sufficient and did not address what critics have claimed was an Israeli use of excessive and indiscriminate firepower. Sarit Michaeli, a representative, said: “I think that it would be very difficult for Israel to show that it adheres to its obligations to investigate if that’s all that they came up with.”
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