Read the article from ‘International News’: ‘International lawyer says deployment of armed U.S. mercenaries under guise of aid relief in Gaza is unlawful‘:
New York, May 20 (RHC)– A prominent human rights lawyer and former director of the New York Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says the deployment of armed U.S. mercenaries to assist the Israeli regime in the occupation of the Gaza Strip is itself unlawful under international law.
Craig Mokhiber said in a statement with a photo attached on Monday that “American mercenaries landed in Tel Aviv to pretend to hand out aid before cocking their guns.”
“Even without further crimes (which are inevitable) their mere presence under these terms implicates them in the crimes of aggression and collective punishment, and in the denial of the jus cogens right to self-determination.”
Mokhiber said such a bogus humanitarian scheme does not relieve them of individual accountability. “Perfidiously framing their presence as part of a bogus humanitarian scheme does not relieve them of individual accountability, and may also render them guilty of the war crime of perfidy. In sum, they have become part of the mechanism of repression for personal monetary gain, and they are accountable as such.”
Media reports earlier said a U.S.-backed humanitarian organization will start work in Gaza by the end of May under an aid distribution plan. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-supported NGO, said it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli authorities.
To read more, see: https://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/internacionales/383246-international-lawyer-says-deployment-of-armed-us-mercenaries-under-guise-of-aid-relief-in-gaza-is-unlawful
I think Craig Mokhiber makes some really over-the-top statements, claims and accusations in this article. Mokhiber is politicizing the matter.
I don’t know how Mokhiber can apply perfidy in this case. These PMSCs are identifiable as PMSCs and their scope or work is defined, i.e. more security related than military (they are not there for combat or a frontline role), e.g., checkpoints and, now, with the aim to eventually protect and escort aid coming into Gaza, which might be happening now. Many contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan were tasked with escorting convoys of supplies; this is hardly perfidious.
“Perfidy, as defined by the Geneva Conventions, is the act of intentionally deceiving an adversary to gain an advantage in combat, using a protected status or symbol to betray their confidence.” — Perfidy is something that Hamas, the PIJ and their allies do as par for the course, it’s their MO; perfidy is what they do on a normal day during this war, from using UN facilities, schools, mosques and hospitals as operations centres to storing arms, to firing missiles, to using ambulances for military purposes, etc. Meanwhile, as I said previously, the American and Egyptian PMSCs are not meant to be in a frontline role or to go into combat, that is not their purpose, as far as we can see for now. If anyone has more information about this, let us know.
My understanding is that these PMSCs will be there to help protect the aid going in to make sure criminals, Hamas, and their allies do not take control of those shipments. It’s not a bad idea to use American and Egyptian PMSCs to do the job vs Israeli security forces. Also, leaving it all to the UN and other humanitarian orgs to manage, isn’t sitting well with the Israelis since manny of these UN orgs and personnel have proven to be Hamas lackeys, taking sides or outright Hamas or PIJ members. Am I missing something?
Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan made a difference in getting supplies out and in, and generally protecting supplies, be it private, military, government or NGO. In other words, these contractors in Gaza could be good at making sure the bad guys don’t grab the goods for themselves
These Americans and Egyptians contractors on the ground will hopefully act as greymen; they are not Israeli security forces doing the escorting, protecting, etc.; thereby freeing up Israeli forces for other things and not having to contend with Gaza mobs that might attack their forces, which would create bad optics and risking Gazan civilian casualties, etc. Refer to the Intifada (largely carried out by civilians) and the chaos it can create.
Someone I know today wrote about Gaza early war and present:
“This environment of scarcity incentivises actors who specialize in violence to seize what exists. It also increases the value of the supplies they already have. In short, the war plus the aid squeeze has tilted economic power toward the armed groups. It helps recruitment because now, e.g., if you join Hamas, you’ll probably get more than one meal per day. Also, Hamas (and other groups) can generate premium income by selling off some of their supplies.”
This is true. Meanwhile, even Hamas has trouble policing the aid that they want control over; Gazan criminal elements/gangs are at war with Hamas over control of aid and supplies.
Are PMSCs a good solution to food and aid security in Gaza in this context and situation? I think it could work but I can also foresee problem, that it could also get messy. For example, I could see issues with mob control, where things get out of hand; what are the PMSCs mandates and rules of engagement? In the meantime, what’s another solution?
Let’s see what happens.
–RdM
The U.N. which was formed with good intentions (i think?) has really become a liberal arm of world cabal IMO. Paid billions and do nothing to solve anything. Gaza is a mess of course but they have HAMAS to thank for that. Stealing anything and everything from their own people to fund forces.
I agree, Gary.
After all, it was UNRWA that allowed it to be heavily infiltrated by Hamas and its allies, to be used for the terrorist groups’ own nefarious political, military and terrorist purposes.
UNRWA chiefs at the UN HQ must have known, yet they let it happen, didn’t seem to try and fix the problem, but instead did a lot of denials, excuses and pivoting and deflecting. UNRWA was and is corrupted, ergo, the UN and its organizations cannot be trusted, because neutrality doesn’t seem to apply.
And then add to all this that aid going into Gaza ended up under Hamas and its allies’ control or ended up in criminal gangs’ hands, this adds another factor to deal with. Keeping the civilian population fed is one thing, but having Israel’s enemies Hamas and its allies fed and controlling the food and goods makes for a complicated situation.
There are reasons Israel are doing what they are doing with the humanitarian aid.
Most of all, at the end of the day, if Hamas and its allies surrendered, laid down their arms and released the hostages, this war would immediately end. It’s Hamas that wants this war to continue, to create victims… They do not care about civilian lives… As they say, they welcome death, even if it’s not their own deaths.