Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2009] BETRAYING TRUTH 167
tions was Richard Starr of the London’s Daily Standard. What had been
labeled “the massacre of the 21st century” was a lie, he wrote, “concocted
not only for local consumption–to keep the Palestinian people whipped up
in a patriotic, Israel-hating frenzy–but mostly for export to the West.” 111
“Collective Punishment”
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions (1949) established collective
punishment as a war crime, emphasizing individual responsibility:
“No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not
personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of
intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals
against protected persons and their property are prohibited.” Article 52 of
the Convention’s Additional Protocol I (adopted in 1977) similarly states,
“Civilian objects shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals.” 112
In the first five months of 2008, the non-governmental organization
known as Human Rights Watch issued thirteen statements condemning
Israel’s response to attacks against Israeli civilians launched from the Gaza
Strip. These statements–which to some observers reflect a political agenda,
misinterpret international legal terminology, repeat incomplete or false
analyses of international law, and omit or minimize deliberate Hamas
attacks at Israeli border crossings through which humanitarian aid is transferred
(as well as the diversion of this aid by Hamas) 113 –were picked up by
111. Richard Starr, “The Big Jenin Lie,” The Daily Standard (London), May 8,
2002. Sharon Sadeh of the Guardian was another exception: The Independent, the
Guardian and the Times were quick to denounce Israel and made sensational accusations
based on thin evidence, fitting a widely held stereotype of a defiant, brutal,
and don’t-give-a-damn Israel.
112. These conventions were engendered by various incidents in the 20th century.
On May 17, 1942, SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich was killed in the
suburbs of Prague, Czechoslovakia by a bomb thrown by Free Czech agents trained
in England. Although the killing of Heydrich (the commander of invading forces)
was clearly legal under international law, in response, the Gestapo and the SS killed
over 1000 people suspected of being involved in the plot. In addition, 3000 Jews
were deported from the ghetto at Terezin (Theresienstadt, created by Heydrich) for
immediate extermination. In Berlin, 152 Jews were ordered executed on the day of
Heydrich’s death. On June 10, 1942 Lidice was ordered destroyed. All 172 Czech
men and boys over 16 were shot. The village itself was then razed and its name
removed from German maps. These and similar atrocities were fresh in the minds
of international diplomats after the end of the War. See Michael I. Krauss, “Collective
Punishment and Newspeak,” The American Thinker, February 24, 2008.
113. See generally NGO Monitor, available at http://www.ngo-monitor.org/
search.php?query=Human+Rights+Watch&x=24&y=3.