Flotilla activists broke international law by taking hostages

There have been multiple accounts by now of how the people on the Mavi Marmara ship took the first Israeli commandoes hostage, after wounding them.

For example, this description in Reuters:
Andre Abu Khalil, a Lebanese cameraman for Al Jazeera TV, gave an account that backed some of what both sides have said.

In his telling, activists initially wounded and captured four Israelis from a first wave that boarded the ship. A second wave of troops tried to storm the ship after the four were taken below decks.
...

One activist used a loudhailer to tell the Israelis the four captive soldiers were well and would be released if they provided medical help for the wounded activists. With an Israeli Arab lawmaker acting as mediator, the Israelis agreed. Wounded were brought to the deck and were airlifted off the ship.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3898960,00.html

The International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages starts off this way:

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6b3ad4.html


In other words, the "humanitarian activists" performed a textbook definition of hostage taking. Which means that these "humanitarians" violated humanitarian international law by taking the IDF soldiers hostage.

It doesn't matter if it was only for a relatively short time. It doesn't matter that the hostages were soldiers or that the hostage takers were nominally civilians (although I am fairly certain that by acting violently against the soldiers legally enforcing a blockade, and by taking them hostage, they forfeited their status as civilians and became official combatants, waiving their rights as civilians under international law.) All that is irrelevant to the definition here: this was a case of hostage taking.

This treaty was acceded to (accepted as law) by Turkey in 1989: http://www.unodc.org/pdf/crime/terrorism/Commonwealth_Chapter_7.pdf

Not only that, but hostage taking is a form of terrorism.

This Convention is considered by the UN to be one of the "legal instruments and additional amendments dealing with terrorism." Moreover, it is referenced in the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
http://www.un.org/terrorism/instruments.shtml
http://www.un.org/law/cod/finterr.htm

This means that whoever was involved in the decision to take Israeli commandoes hostage was, effectively, engaged in terrorism, by the UN's definition and under international law.

IHH seems to have been clearly complicit, but the other groups such as Free Gaza may also be implicated in this terrorist act.

Israel would be within its rights to demand extradition of the hostage-takers, those who aided them, and those who know the identity of the hostage takers, to stand trial for these terrorism charges.

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2010/06/taking-of-hostages-is-illegal-under.html

 

I don't think that it matters all that much. To the U.N., a crime isn't a crime if the victim is a Jew.

 

Yes, Israel is very know country to follow laws... Ah yes! Each time they commit some crime they didn't and everyone who claims opposite is actually anti-semite!
Whole world are actually anti-semites. Excpet US. And Will.Spencer.

 

lol quite logical

 

read the full article

 

As the Islamists were not in uniform and were attempting to enter a belligerent territory, the Geneva Convention makes it legal for the Israeli's to execute them all as spies.

You should be careful what you ask for.

 

hahahahahahahahaha this is one of most hilarious post ever made here on DP! Are you serious?!? It's incredible how much BS you can post day after day after day.

 

Go read the Geneva Convention documents.

 

No Muslim has yet commented on the fact that the terrorists on the Flotilla took hostages.

 

Terrorists are now expected to follow international law?
What's next? learn quantum chemistry? not to beat their wives?

 

That's their big disinformation plan, the famous "bury your head in the sand" technique.

 

You spelled "bury young women in sand" wrong.

 

Its quite easy to say Muslims terrorists - right? should not take more than a minute to make someone terrorist. lol

 

It takes less than a minute to pick up a deadly weapon and try to kill someone. Even you can become a terrorist -- in less than a minute.

 

Someone took a deadly weapon and tried to kill someone? Where did you saw that?

 

yes, only having weapon is not enough, you should know how to use it

 

What in the hell are you talking about? It's not as if most handheld weapons need user manuals.

Here's a stick, figure it out.

Sometimes it seems like you're drunkposting.

 

Only in lalaland hiting soldeir with a sctick makes you a terrorist

 

I have never ever seen any original weapon yet, then how come a people like me will use it!

I would suggest stop spreading your hate here.

 

Are you claiming that you are too stupid to use a stick?