ISRAEL RESPONDS TO HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Lebanon War Rebuke "Nonsense," Israelis Say - Oakland Ross
Israeli officials reacted with anger Thursday, following accusations by Human Rights Watch that their country launched "indiscriminate" attacks resulting in unnecessary civilian deaths during last summer's war in Lebanon. "It's nonsense," said retired Maj.-Gen. Yaakov Amidror, former chief of the Israel Defense Forces' research and assessment division. "They are living in a bubble. They don't have to protect their citizens against terrorist attacks."

Amidror insists that Israel did everything required of it, and more, to ensure its forces attacked only legitimate military targets. Unfortunately, he said, Hizbullah fighters often used civilians as a human shield, and that left Israel at times in a difficult position. Amidror said that two-thirds of the 4,000 rockets fired at Israel by Hizbullah during the conflict were launched from populated areas. Last month Human Rights Watch condemned Hizbullah for repeated rocket attacks in northern Israel that resulted in dozens of civilian deaths. (Toronto Star)

See also Does Human Rights Watch Single Out Israel for Excessive and Disproportionate Criticism? (NGO Monitor)