Mick Hartley

No, not another diatribe against the supposed crimes of Israel. For a welcome change the focus is on Palestinian groups:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) slammed Palestinian terror groups for killing and injuring both Israelis and Palestinians with rocket fire, saying that they had committed war crimes during Operation Guardian of the Walls, in a report published on Thursday.

The organization stated that munitions that misfired and fell short killed and injured an "undetermined number" of Palestinians in Gaza. In one incident of a misfire over Jabalia in the Strip, seven Palestinian civilians were killed and 15 others were injured. HRW was able to determine that the deaths were caused by a misfire based on witness accounts, site visits, munition remnants and a review of video footage.

A rocket launched from Gaza landed about 20 meters from a mosque in Jabalia. One Palestinian resident HRW interviewed said that he was told afterwards that six rockets had been launched from a shopping and residential area one kilometer from where the rocket hit. The other five rockets hit different areas nearby. The Defense for Children Palestinian organization announced at the time that eight Palestinians had been killed in the misfire, including two children.

According to Israeli authorities, 680 Palestinian rockets fell short and landed in Gaza, causing deaths and injuries in some cases. Hamas has not provided information about how many rockets misfired or how many people were killed by these rockets.

“Palestinian armed groups during the May fighting flagrantly violated the laws-of-war prohibition on indiscriminate attacks by launching thousands of unguided rockets towards Israeli cities,” said Eric Goldstein, acting Middle East and North Africa director at HRW.

Here's the HRW report – Indiscriminate Attacks by Gaza-Based Armed Groups Are War Crimes.

Last month HRW made the news when Executive Director Kenneth Roth tweeted what was widely condemned as a justification for antisemitism and blaming the victim:

“Antisemitism is always wrong, and it long preceded the creation of Israel, but the surge in UK antisemitic incidents during the recent Gaza conflict gives the lie to those who pretend that the Israeli government's conduct doesn't affect antisemitism.”

Former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon responded, “Antisemitism is bad, period. To justify anti-Semitism as a result of our just operation against Hamas in Gaza is to give it legitimacy. I would suggest focusing on the human rights violations in Gaza under Hamas rule.”

Advice which, at least to a certain extent, they've now taken.