UN Peacekeepers Contacted Israeli Troops 10 Times & Were Ignored-4 Killed

[kpete]

Israel troops 'ignored' UN plea

Israel had hit Khiam a number of times earlier on Tuesday

UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says.

The post was hit by a precision-guided missile after six hours of shelling nearby, diplomats familiar with the initial probe into the deaths say.

....................

The four unarmed UN observers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, died after their UN post was hit by an Israeli air strike on Tuesday.

The UN report says each time the UN contacted Israeli forces, they were assured the firing would stop.

more at:
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5217176.stm

[atreides1]

1. And Yet

Those who support Israel without reserve will either ignore this, try to spin it, or will go into denial mode.

And the official US policy is to let the killing continue!!!!

[CuteNFuzzy]

5. Israel can do no wrong

It just can't. No way. Never.

It is simply not possible.

[ThomCat]

13. Evil people are in charge

and many people are deluded into supporting them, even here at DU. x(

[katinmn]

2. precision-guided missile

:grr:

It was no "accident." It was intimidation.

[MadHound]

4. Either that,

Or simply eliminating those who would objectively observe and report the actions and atrocities of the IDF.

Yet sadly there are those who will defend this action, just like they continue to defend Israel's targeting of civilians, use of DU munitions, and the use of white phosphorous. It simply boggles the mind.

[burythehatchet]

3. Can we please wait

until the IDF's investiagtion finds itself not guilty?

[Jacobin]

6. LOL.

I needed that. A little levity among the carnage.

Thank you

:-)

[slor]

7. And the chimp...

still does not want a cease-fire.

[CuteNFuzzy]

8. just watch

in other threads we will still hear from people going "There is no evidence it was deliberate"

[malaise]

9. More here

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CAC26504-558A-4814-81A3-720B1030B04F.htm

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. The Hizzbulan Air Force did it to stir up trouble.

Which the Israelis will "investigate".

[whistle]

11. I think premeditated murder would apply here

[IronLionZion]

12. That'll teach them not to observe the war

maybe they shouldn't contact the troops to let them know where they are...oh nevermind Israel knows anyway.

Only God knows everything and he works for Mossad.

[CuteNFuzzy]

14. 16 pleas for firing to stop went unheeded

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1831067,00.html

An Irish army officer in the area also warned the Israeli military six times that their attacks were putting UN observers at risk, Ireland's foreign ministry said yesterday. "On six separate occasions he was in contact with the Israelis to warn them that their bombardment was endangering the lives of UN staff in south Lebanon," a department of foreign affairs spokesman said. "He warned, 'You have to address this problem or lives may be lost.'"

But at 6.30pm four artillery shells landed inside the UN position at Khiyam. "It caused extensive material damage to the building," Mr Strugar said. An hour later, two bombs landed at the site. One fell within the UN position, the other hit the building, killing the four observers. "It completely destroyed the position," Mr Strugar said.

[struggle4progress]

15. UN told Israel 10 times that artillery attacks were near its observers

By Donald Macintyre in Haifa
Published: 27 July 2006

The UN warned Israel with at least 10 separate telephone calls during six hours that repeated aerial and artillery attacks had already landed at or dangerously close to their post in Khiam, south Lebanon, before the bombing that killed four of its observers there on Tuesday ...

But an internal report on the incident says there were more than 20 aerial and artillery attacks on the post on Tuesday, including four artillery rounds that directly hit the UN position an hour before the fatal guided bomb attack that killed the unarmed personnel taking refuge in a bomb shelter. The report says that, each time, the Israeli officer promised that the attacks would stop.

When they failed to do so, the UN Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown, contacted in New York, also telephoned the Israeli officers to urge a halt to the attacks. Lt-Col John Molloy, the Irish chief liaison officer between UN forces in south Lebanon and the Israelis, warned Israel six times that air strikes threatened the lives of the UN observers before the direct hit ...

The internal reporting is understood to say there were 17 aerial bombing attacks on Tuesday within 1,000m of the UN position and another 12 artillery shells within 150m ­ of which four were direct hits on the position. The dead observers were a Finn, an Austrian, a Canadian and a Chinese ...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1199359.ece

[Vitruvius]

16. "Accidentally" attacking observers is part of the Israeli playbook --

especially when they are doing the unspeakable. The Israelis deliberately attacked the USS Liberty, an unarmed US observer vessel in international waters, during the 1967 war because the Israelis were doing things that could not bear the light of day. Like today, in Lebanon.

The Israelis attacked the Liberty for over two hours; they strafed, rocketed, napalmed, and torpedoed our ship. And machine-gunned the life rafts in typical Israeli fashion.

The Israelis killed 34 US seamen and wounded 171 out of a crew of 297, the worst loss of American naval personnel from hostile action since World War II.

And then claimed it was all an innocent "mistake".

For more information, see:
http://www.ussliberty.org / :

"I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. . . . Through diplomatic channels we refused to accept their explanations. I didn't believe them then, and I don't believe them to this day. The attack was outrageous "
-- US Secretary of State Dean Rusk

"...the board of inquiry (concluded) that the Israelis knew exactly what they were doing in attacking the Liberty."
-- CIA Director Richard Helms

"I can tell you for an absolute certainty (from intercepted communications) that the Israelis knew they were attacking an American ship."
-- NSA Deputy Director Oliver Kirby

"That the Liberty could have been mistaken for the Egyptian supply ship El Quseir is unbelievable"
-- Special Assistant to the President Clark Clifford, in his report to President Lyndon Johnson

Also see:
http://home.cfl.rr.com/gidusko/liberty /

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/margolis12.html