Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole
K. Pooranampillai of St. John’s College
Our own identity often determines where we stand on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, whereas it is good to move beyond our identity. Nearly all of us at St. John’s College were programmed to have a pro-Israel identity.
It was early in the year 1968, just after Israel shattered the larger armies of the surrounding Arab world. I was in my AL first year. My subject teacher was absent and my St. John’s Principal Mr. K. Pooranampillai came to cover our teacher’s absence. These were some of my best moments at St. John’s because, not being a scientist or mathemtician, he took us into general discussions on English and “arts” things. I recall his asking us each to write down the name of a car’s parts in English which is when we recognized that we knew the names but not how to spell them. On another occasion he asked us to spell the sound of the letter Z. We had zat, zad as I did, izad, izat, etc. No one tried zee. It is zed he finished.
He, KP or Bond as we called him for his walks around school to see what teachers were doing and which classes were noisy, was respectfully feared and loved.
Time as Opinion Maker: Admiration Turning Sour
The day in question was to be a discussion (or more a lecture) about the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He relied heavily on Time which had just featured a cover story on Israel’s struggle to survive (9 June 1967), featuring Premier Levi Eshkol. He brought the magazine to class. He also had with him another cover story on Defence Minister Moshe Dayan (16 June, 1967). Dayan had been watching the battlefield through his binoculars when a bullet that should have killed him was stopped by his binoculars, leading to his patch-eye. KP recounted how the vast Arab armies ran away as Isreli forces advances. Perhaps our Tamil mindset – we admired clever people. So we were on Israel’s side just as I admired Benjamin Netanyahu for having an MIT PhD. It took me long, too long, to see the butcher in him.
For us young Tamils, already feeling the pinches of growing discrimination and remembering the riots and the Satyagrahas, how could we not grow up admiring the Israelis standing up to a numerically overwhelming Arab majority? We could not see the Europeans armed by the West battling against primitive nomads. We saw shared geography with us in the aridity of our land and admired how the desert was being turned green. Soon the Maanavar Peravai (the Students’ Front’s Nicholas Ariaratnam in particular) developed contacts with Israel and would show us magazines given to them by their Israeli contacts on how to make Jaffna bloom.
In time, our admiration turned sour. It seemed clear when under JR Jayewardene Mossad entered the fray and was training the Sri Lankan army in brutality leading to sexual bestiality in Mullivaikal by Sinhalese troops in 2009.
To quote from The Diplomat, “Israeli human rights lawyer Eitay Mack wrote in a recent article in Al Jazeera that Israeli weapons, including surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other military equipment, were likely used by the Sri Lankan Army in atrocities against civilians during the decades-long war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Sri Lankan government, he writes, also purchased combat aircraft and battleships from Israel that were used in the commission of war crimes.” Former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky, in his book By Way of Deception told us in 1990 about how Israel trained the Tigers and Sri Lankan troops at the same place in shifts without letting them see each other.
Now, as Israel bombards the Gaza Strip, killing more than 4,300 people since Oct. 7, we Tamils see parallels to the massive and genocidal bombardment of Mullivaikal killing large numbers of innocent Tamil civilians. One sees that just like LTTE Terrorism is used to justify the killing of innocent Tamils civilians and children such as when my secretary was asked by the SLA to gather at place to collect infant milk and then bombed the place, we see Hamas Terrorism being used to justify similar genocide by Israel.
The world watched when we Tamils were put though genocide. It is mainly NGOs that speak up for us Tamils and against SLA’s attempts at genocide which continue today as the government tries to eliminate rather successfully the Tamil presence and Tamil culture from the North-East. The Government is on the brink of success in the East.
Tamils have to thank organizations like AI, HRW, and Crisis Group.
Other Governments are largely silent. India too. They have geostrategic interests they say. Who are we Tamils to them?
But the Arabs are far more influential. And South Africa is one bold country that acts without fear or favour on the world stage. Recall that the UN Secretary General’s Report on Sri Lanka was by Yasmin Sooka of South Aftrica. The other two authors were Marzuki Darusman (the Chairman from Indonesia and Attorney General) and Steven Ratner, a university professor from Michigan. Their authorship gave strength and credibility to the report. Our Bar Association let itself down badly when it condemned the report even before it went public.
South Africa Files Genocide Charges Against Israel
On 28 Dec. 2023, South Africa filed Genocide Charges against Israel at the UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, the ICJ. Initial hearings would be on 11th and 12th January 2024. Manel Fonseka, a Colombo Telegraph writer of the Civil Rights Movement, has written to say: “This week on 11 Jan. 2024 , the ICJ will be hearing charges of genocide against Israel. The BBC & other MSM outlets aren’t covering this. It will be live on UN TV though, on the following link: www.webtv.un.org Please share and help get the genocide into the mainstream.”
Israel usually ignores the ICJ but this time has promised to defend itself. The ICJ normally deals with states. All three, South Africa, Israel and Palestine, have signed on to the relevant convention.
The jurisdiction of the ICJ is spelt out from paragraph 8 of the filing which is linked above. To quote from The Conversation, ICJ can hear cases brought by states (“contentious cases”) and requests by United Nations bodies, such as the General Assembly, for advisory opinions. The first time a case was brought to the ICJ alleging violation of the Genocide Convention was in 1993 by Bosnia against Yugoslavia. The second case was in 2019 by The Gambia against Myanmar. The third case was by Ukraine against Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Of these cases the ICJ has so far only handed down a final judgment in the 2007 Bosnian judgment, 14 years after the case was initiated.
Although full judgment can take years (14 for the Bosnia case), the ICJ has issued provisional measures in all the Genocide Convention cases, within a few months after the cases were brought to the court. Provisional measures are orders of the court to prevent irreparable harm. They bind the respondent state to refrain from certain actions until the court has delivered final judgment. The provisional measures in the Myanmar case adopted by the court in January 2020 prohibited the state from, among other things, taking action against the minority Rohingya group by (again quoting from The Conversation):
(a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
Allegations and Comments
Paragraph 4 of the filing calls for provisional ruling: This application by South Africa and its request for the indication of provisional measures fall to be considered in that context and in the light of those calls. It is made against the background of South Africa’s foreign policy objective for the attainment of a durable peace between Israel and the State of Palestine, with two States existing side by side within internationally recognised borders, based on those existing on 4 June 1967, prior to the outbreak of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, in line with all relevant United Nations resolutions and international law.
Paragraph 4 is very specific on the charge of Genocide: 4. The facts relied on by South Africa in this application and to be further developed in these proceedings establish that — against a background of apartheid, expulsion, ethnic cleansing, annexation, occupation, discrimination, and the ongoing denial of the right of the Palestinian people to selfdetermination — Israel, since 7 October 2023 in particular, has failed to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute the direct and public incitement to genocide. More gravely still, Israel has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Those acts include killing them, causing them serious mental and bodily harm and deliberately inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction as a group. Repeated statements by Israeli State representatives, including at the highest levels, by the Israeli President, Prime Minister, and Minister of Defence express genocidal intent. That intent is also properly to be inferred from the nature and conduct of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, having regard inter alia to Israel’s failure to provide or ensure essential food, water, medicine, fuel, shelter and other humanitarian assistance for the besieged and blockaded Palestinian people, which has pushed them to the brink of famine. It is also clear from the nature, scope and extent of Israel’s military attacks on Gaza, which have involved the sustained bombardment over more than 11 weeks of one of the most densely populated places in the world, forcing the evacuation of 1.9 million people or 85% of the population of Gaza from their homes and herding them into ever smaller areas, without adequate shelter, in which they continue to be attacked, killed and harmed. Israel has now killed in excess of 21,110 named Palestinians, including over 7,729 children — with over 7,780 others missing, presumed dead under the rubble — and has injured over 55,243 other Palestinians, causing them severe bodily and mental harm. Israel has also laid waste to vast areas of Gaza, including entire neighbourhoods, and has damaged or destroyed in excess of 355,000 Palestinian homes, alongside extensive tracts of agricultural land, bakeries, schools, universities, businesses, places of worship, cemeteries, cultural and archaeological sites, municipal and court buildings, and critical infrastructure, including water and sanitation facilities and electricity networks, while pursuing a relentless assault on the Palestinian medical and healthcare system. Israel has reduced and is continuing to reduce Gaza to rubble, killing, harming and destroying its people, and creating conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction as a group.
The South African filing is a must read for those interested. As Sri Lankans we will recognize some of things the Israeli Defense Forces are doing from what happened here in Sri Lanka to us Tamils:
* Israel’s parallel implementation of a wide buffer zone inside Gaza’s eastern border fence (estimated to restrict access to approximately 24 per cent of Gaza) severely impacts internal food supply, by reducing the main agricultural area for farming. Israel also made fishing extremely hazardous for Palestinians, who have not had full access to the fishing zone of 20 nautical miles stipulated in the Oslo Accords — interim agreements concluded between the PLO and Israel in the early 1990s. The naval blockade — policed by Israeli forces through the use of force, arrests and the confiscation of fishing equipment — severely reduced the fishing catchment area for Gaza’s fishermen. (These are tactics used in Sri Lanka. Who taught whom?)
* Those killed by Israeli soldiers, firing from behind the separation fence, included three medics and two journalists. A total of over 36,100 Palestinians, including nearly 8,800 children, were injured by Israel, including 4,903 people who were shot in the lower limbs, “many while standing hundreds of metres away from the snipers, unarmed”. A hundred and fifty six of them had to have at least one limb amputated, and over 1,200 required specialised limb reconstruction treatment. The Commission found that the maiming was not accidental: the rules of engagement adopted by Israel permitted snipers to shoot at the legs of the “major inciters”.One Israeli soldier admitted that he shot “42 knees in one day”.
* The Commission found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers “intentionally shot” children, knowing them to be children, and they also “intentionally shot” health workers and journalists “despite seeing that they were clearly marked as such”.
* . . [T]he IDF apparently on grounds of military necessity, has destroyed homes and laid to waste a significant amount of agricultural land, especially in Gaza, which is already land starved. Statistics shows that 94 homes have been demolished and 7,024 dunums [a dunum is about 1000 sq. m] of agricultural land bulldozed in Gaza. Damage to private houses is put at US$ 9.5 million and damage to agricultural land at about US$ 27 million. . . . Houses situated on this land had been destroyed and families compelled to live in tents. Water wells in the vicinity had also been completely destroyed. [The Sri Lankan Army is known to dump Tamils it killed in wells which are made unusable for long thereafter. Staff a Sunil Ratnayake was found guilty of murdering 15 Tamils in Mirusuvil and sentenced to death. President Gotabaya Rajapakse immediately pardoned him ajd set him free. That is congratulating him for killing Tamils! What ONUR Bill after that?]
* The Mission did not find any evidence to support the allegations that hospital facilities were used by the Gaza authorities or by Palestinian armed groups to shield military activities or that ambulances were used to transport combatants or for other military purposes. On the basis of its own investigations and the statements by United Nations officials, the Mission excludes that Palestinian armed groups engaged in combat activities from United Nations facilities that were used as shelters during the military operations.
* Taking into account the weapons used, and in particular the use of white phosphorous in and around a hospital that the Israeli armed forces knew was not only dealing with scores of injured and wounded but also giving shelter to several hundred civilians, the Mission finds, based on all the information available to it, that in directly striking the hospital and the ambulance depot the Israeli armed forces in these circumstances violated article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and violated customary international law in relation to proportionality. [There is report of evidence that the SLA also used chemical weapons]
* The Gaza military operations were, according to the Israeli Government, thoroughly and extensively planned. While the Israeli Government has sought to portray its operations as essentially a response to rocket attacks in the exercise of its right to selfdefence, the Mission considers the plan to have been directed, at least in part, at a different target: the people of Gaza as a whole. . . .
* The repeated failure to distinguish between combatants and civilians appears to the Mission to have been the result of deliberate guidance issued to soldiers, as described by some of them, and not the result of occasional lapses.
* It is clear from evidence gathered by the Mission that the destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems, concrete factories and residential houses was the result of a deliberate and systematic policy by the Israeli armed forces.
* Allied to the systematic destruction of the economic capacity of the Gaza Strip, there appears also to have been an assault on the dignity of the people. This was seen not only in the use of human shields and unlawful detentions sometimes in unacceptable conditions, but also in the vandalizing of houses when occupied and the way in which people were treated when their houses were entered. The graffiti on the walls, the obscenities and often racist slogans, all constituted an overall image of humiliation and dehumanization of the Palestinian population. . . .
* Like Rajapaksa’ boast of his soldiers going with the Human Rights Charter, the IDF states “The operations were carefully planned in all their phases. Legal opinions and advice were given throughout the planning stages and at certain operational levels during the campaign. There were almost no mistakes made according to the Government of Israel.”
* The Mission also finds that the Israeli armed forces unlawfully and wantonly attacked and destroyed without military necessity a number of food production or food processing objects and facilities (including mills, land and greenhouses), drinking-water installations, farms and animals in violation of the principle of distinction. From the facts ascertained by it, the Mission finds that this destruction was carried out with the purpose of denying sustenance to the civilian population.
* Like in the Vadamarachi operation, “warnings to evacuate were meant to create ‘sterile combat zones’, and the people remaining in the area would no longer be considered civilians and thus benefit from the protection afforded by their civilian status. For example, the Head of the Doctrine Desk at the Infantry Corps Headquarters, . . . , reportedly stated: “… In peacetime security, soldiers stand facing a civilian population, but in wartime, there is no civilian population, just an enemy.” [That is how the SLA was able to obliterate Tamil civilians in Mullivaikal]
* Inferring that anyone remaining in an area that has been the object of a warning is an enemy or a person engaging in “terrorist activity”, or issuing instructions to this effect, contributes to creating an environment conducive to attacks against civilians. Those civilians choosing not to heed a warning do not lose the protection granted by their status. The only way in which civilians lose their protection from attack is by directly participating in the hostilities. Merely issuing a warning does not absolve the Israel Defense Forces of their legal obligations to protect civilian life . . .
* I am reminded of the use by Sri Lanka of multi-barrel launchers in the next atrocity identified by South Africa: “The sheer number of shells fired, as well as the reported dropping of over 100 oneton bombs in a short period of time in a densely populated area, together with the reported use of an artillery barrage, raise questions as to the respect by the IDF of the rules of distinction, precautions and proportionality. These methods and means employed by the IDF could not, in such a small and densely populated area, be directed at a specific military target and could not adequately distinguish between civilians and civilian objects and military objectives as required by IHL. The information available also indicates that during the Shuja’iya operation on 19 and 20 July the IDF violated the prohibition of treating several distinct individual military objectives in a densely populated area as one single military objective. … The choice of the methods and means used by the IDF cannot be reconciled with the obligation to take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects or at the very least to minimize incidental loss of civilian life and damage to civilian objects in a densely populated area. . . .[My note: This is exactly what the SLA did like clockwork spraying Jaffna town with indiscriminate bombs at 6 am and 6 pm daily. I have lived through it. Everyone vacated Jaffna Town as a result.] … Its in these circumstances that the Mission concludes that what occurred in Gaza in just over three weeks at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 was a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.
* Information received by the commission suggests that in several cases Palestinians who had been detained, mostly in their homes in Khuza’a, had been insulted, beaten, threatened to be killed and otherwise ill-treated by IDF soldiers. My note: I experienced this in Vavuniya switching from my train from Colombo to the bus from Vavuniya to Jaffna. My travelling companion was held up and released days later, after I asked his wife in Jaffna to go to Vavuniya as the SLA was less suspicious of married men
* I am reminded of Isaipiriya and women in the Channel 4 documentary by the next: “as regards the treatment by Israel of Palestinian detainees, the Special Rapporteur found “instances of torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment include sexual assaults;
* For many Palestinians, the forced evacuation from their homes is necessarily permanent. Israel has now damaged or destroyed an estimated 355,000 Palestinian homes — amounting to 60 per cent of the entire housing stock in Gaza. (This seems comparable to the Palaly area)
* Like in Vadamarachi, the army formed part of the logic of soldiers on the ground that those civilians who had stayed put without evacuating had to be combatants. Like in Vadamarachi, those who built bomb shelters to evade SLA shells were presumed to be enemies and shot dead in their bunkers. At home debates turns heated over whether to dig a bunker or not. Which was more dangerous?
Lessons for Sri Lankans – and the World
There are lessons in the South African endeavor for justice. Sri Lanka will come up for review soon in Geneva. The President seems to think he can fool the world by giving death certificates to the disappeared without justice for the victims or closure to their families, and can pretend to reconciliation through a toothless ONUR whose members will be politically appointed.
Article 15 of our Constitution prohibits exercising our right to free expression if that causes defamation or incitement, puts national security and public order at risk, or obstructs the duties of the armed forces.
So, highlighting the Mullivaikal massacres invites imprisonment, just as Pastor Jerome Fernando is in jail for comparing religions as any Pastor should. The government and all who engaged in war crimes during battles in 2009 and before, hope that the next UNHCR review will be the last. I hope not. I hope we are not let off and that the world will come forward to punish the beasts in Sri Lanka so that the world is a safer place.
Sinhala_Man / January 11, 2024
Dear Jeevan,
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Thanks for this article throbbing with emotion. You start by telling us that you were brainwashed by “St. John’s Principal Mr. K. Pooranampillai” into uncritically approving everything that Israel ever did, but progressing to recognising what monsters comprise the Israeli Establishment. There’s little point talking generalities known to the entire world. It is not all Jews who are to blame; I have my Jewish neighbour as object lesson of that fact. He was a posthumous child, after his father was presumed “liquidated” in a concentration camp. That example made all the more poignant by the son’s reticence.
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When Hamas took those first hostages he labelled Hamas a terrorist organization, but acknowledged that Zionism, given its impetus by Balfour well over a century ago, made that terrorism inevitable. He also predicted the brutality that would be unleashed by the Israelis.
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I’ve read all of your painful article; I fully approve of all that you say. It deals, naturally, with all that your community suffered at the hands of those who claimed to be fighting on behalf of the Sinhalese community to which I belong.
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This was your previous article:
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https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/a-common-presidential-candidate-from-a-fractured-tamil-identity/
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Honest, in its own way. I made many comments, always acknowledging your honesty and sincerity, but wishing that you hadn’t said half the things that you did say.
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Manel Fonseka / January 11, 2024
Jeevan I’m afraid getting into the ICJ site to hear the proceedings due to begin at 2pm our time, is very complicated and I still havent got there. I hope other readers wont be so inept.
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Manel Fonseka / January 11, 2024
Jeevan, Ive given up trying to access the ICJ video site. But Ive come up with this:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2JQIJA_fSU
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which may be dealing with the proceedings. Unfortunately, for me, it doesnt have captions (I am deaf).
Manel
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SarathP / January 11, 2024
From today’s New York Times
“The International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, begins hearings on Thursday in a case accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
Israel categorically denies the accusation and will be defending itself in person, attesting to the gravity of the indictment and the high stakes for the country’s international reputation and standing.”
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Captain Morgan / January 11, 2024
“(These are tactics used in Sri Lanka. Who taught whom?)”
Where monkey tricks are concerned, there is so much that other countries can learn from Sri Lanka.
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Manel Fonseka / January 11, 2024
Im watching the ICJ hearings on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f_yoal4gx8
Manelf
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Lester / January 12, 2024
“we Tamils see parallels to the massive and genocidal bombardment of Mullivaikal killing large numbers of innocent Tamil civilians.”
Most of the casualties could have been avoided, had the LTTE simply surrendered. LTTE was intentionally trying to create a humanitarian crisis to force the GOSL into a ceasefire that would allow it to re-arm. This is the issue with terrorists: they don’t fight in the open. They use schools, hospitals, and other venues to fire rockets and mortars. Asymmetric warfare.
“The world watched when we Tamils were put though genocide.”
Sri Lanka was definitely not a genocide, going by numbers alone.If you assume 100K people died in 26 years, that’s an average of 3846 per year. 25K Palestinians have died in less than 4 months, equivalent to around 6.5 years of the Sri Lankan war. If Israel continues its operations for a full year, you will likely be approaching 100K in casualties.
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Tony / January 12, 2024
Here are very few antics of church backed, India armed, financed, trained, and protected LTTE:
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*Kallathoni LTTE kick-started terrorism by killing 13 unarmed soldiers,
*Anuradhapura massacre at Sri Maha Boddhiya which killed 146 Sinhalese,
*Massacre of 700 surrendered policemen,
*1987 Eastern Province massacre- more than 200 Sinhalese,
*Kaththandiya massacre -150 people,
*Habarana bus massacre-127 Sinhalese,
* October 1995 massacres-120 Sinhalese,
*The Eravur massacre- 174 civilians,
*The Colombo bus station massacre- 150 civilians,
*The Palliyagodalla massacre- 109 Sinhalese,
*The 2006 Digampathaha- 112 Soldiers,
*The Central Bank massacre- 91 Sinhalese,
*etcetera, etc,
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Remember, LTTE fought for Indian interests, not Tamils.
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LTTE recruited women and CHILDREN as suic1de b0 mbers. Also, they fought a criminal and an illegal war to invade Sinhala country.
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The countries funed, armed, and protected LTTE terrorists are also accountable for terrorism in Sri Lanka.
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Now it’s been 15 years since the terrorism was ended fair and square, but no barstard has dared challenge Sri Lanka military in a court of law.
So challenge this year (2024) or shut the hell up and forever hold your peace!
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SJ / January 12, 2024
“kick-started terrorism by killing 13 unarmed soldiers,”
Was it not JRJ’s men in uniform that kick started the LTTE?
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Mahila / January 13, 2024
SJ,
Everything started by, KNOW WHO??? But insidiously transferred as started by the Minority!!!??? Innocent B__g__s, won’t hurt even an ant!!!??? JRJ’s Men only reacted to what the Minorities did!!??? The State was PURE and Simply INNOCENT of all follies!? DO NO WRONG, HEAR NOR, SEE ANY WRONG!? Unperceivable, Imbeciles and Nincompoops – acting as Lords and Masters – NOT FIT FOR SUCH EXTEEM?
REFER TO THE STORY OF 3 FEIGNED (MANUFACTURED) MONKEYS – CRYSTAL CLEAR!???
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Fairmindedone / January 14, 2024
One death is a tragedy and a million is mere statistics theory nice follows your numbers.
Regarding Sinhalese and Tamils, here is something for your to digest my bro.
Mitochondrial DNA history of Sri Lankan ethnic people: their relations within the island and with the Indian subcontinental populations.
authors: Lanka Ranaweera, Supannee Kaewsutthi, Aung Win Tun, Hathaichanoke Boonyarit, Samerchai Poolsuwan & Patcharee Lertrit
Journal of Human Genetics volume 59, pages28–36 (2014)
Some salient points being:
…
This again reflected the close genetic relationship among the two Sinhalese groups and Sri Lankan Tamils when compared with Indian Tamils.
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There is no clear genetic separation based on the PCA map between Sinhalese and Tamils, and between Up- and Low-country Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. “
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Just because one speaks or develop a different language doesn’t means different DNA. Such a waste of human resources over 75 years merely to drive the country to bankruptcy. Rose by any name is a rose.
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Hope and trust DNA will rescue the nation.
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Ruchira / January 14, 2024
Fairmindedone,
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The contention is the claim that Sinhalese are therefore descendents of Tamils and Tamils inhabited the island before Sinhalese therefore has legitimate right to a homeland in the north and east of the island.
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I don’t think DNA evidence per se gives anyone the right to land ownership. :) But according to the claimants of the above there are archeological evidence disproving Mahawansha.
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There are more recent DNA studies than the one that you have shared.
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Lester / January 14, 2024
Ruchira,
“The contention is the claim that Sinhalese are therefore descendents of Tamils and Tamils inhabited the island before Sinhalese therefore has legitimate right to a homeland in the north and east of the island.”
40% of Tamil vocabulary is derived from Sanskrit, according to Dr Subramanian Swamy and others. Linguistically speaking, it would imply that Sanskrit, not Tamil, is the “mother” of all Indian languages. That is what Swamy says: “Every Indian language has a huge proportion of Sanskrit in it, including Tamil, which has 40% of Sanskrit, Bengali has, even more, Malayalam has much more. Every language has a Sanskrit vocabulary.” Based on this argument, one can easily see that Sinhala is not a “Dravidian” language by any stretch of the imagination.
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Ruchira / January 15, 2024
Lester,
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Thanks. I did not see this comment earlier. But our Tamil brethren here seems to tell a different story, which includes the claim that the Tamils inhabited the island way before Sinhalese. Looks like one may have to revist the history books in the light of any new archeological and other evidence that may have recently surfaced, to sort the mess out.
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davidthegood / January 12, 2024
Jeevan, the baseline is that Israel cannot be uprooted anymore as Jesus is coming back there as messiah as well as to rule and reign from Jerusalem the city of God in the centre of heavenly Eden.These places have been fixed from before the beginning of time when God said ” let us make man in our own image” Cen.1,26 Better to accept truth than fight it
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LankaScot / January 12, 2024
Hello DTG,
So you agree with Netanyahu? 1st Book of Samuel “‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
This is what your God said
Best regards
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davidthegood / January 13, 2024
LankaScot… exactly what I said. Cannot try to eliminate Israel. Death is the answer for them. Jesus is a jew and jewish messiah and no one can alter his coming back to Jerusalem to establish his kingdom as preplanned. Watch and see what happens eventually. Gods plan +
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leelagemalli / January 13, 2024
1
Unfortunately, most people in the world are ruled and fooled by an unknown god above all others. For so long this thought will not leave the mind, and all those divine wars will not cease.
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The so-called exemplary West assumes that God is behind humans and not other animals.
They further believe that all other animals are created by God for human consumption, and when the church bells ring, God believers or others forget everything and indulge in their joy.
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Among them, for example, are well-known biomedical scientists who continue evolutionary research in Boston.
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This is contrary to my opinion which repeatedly blocks me. I’m confused. My life has not been the same since my mother is no more. I don’t know who to believe regarding the existence of human life. I believe it’s just a reaction like any other creature and its lifespan..
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tbd
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leelagemalli / January 13, 2024
2
In recently we were forced to see how our people queued up to grab their ration of A CONCOCTION hand-mixed by a schizoprenic patient,by name, Dhammika Bandara, in order to get away from COVID virus. There Professors and university dons and all other average thinkers were seen in those lines.
And a week ago, a man self proclaimed to be bodhisathwaya was welcomed by a 200-people at BIA as if they were all caught a drug of special nature
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So, when it comes to target the psyche of the people, all or more seem to fall on the same pit.
. Almost everyone is the same regardless of their education, but a tiny fraction seems to be get away with the superstiion and they are unfortunately covered by the majority of blind believers. It is all emulations of the other.
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leelagemalli / January 14, 2024
3.
We should be ashamed as human beings today. The developed world is now silent on the deliberate genocide Israel is promoting against innocent Palestinians.
The voice of the United Nations is also not strong. why ? They believe that Jerusalem is the most powerful place of God’s faith and must be protected. God, people are so crazy.
Natanahu should be hanged without any discussion. The same should be the case with Mahendra Rajapaksa who ordered the killing of innocent Tamil people during the last period of the war.
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If there is a God, should Mahinda Rajapaksa and his close relatives have the right to continue their lives?
Why is JVP-NPP not saying a word about this Rajapakshe’sgenocide? It is to cover behind hypocrisy and continue their voter gains.Sinhala racists would not support JVP, if they would raise the issue in public. Can anybody of you explain me why ?
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tbc
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leelagemalli / January 14, 2024
4.
There is no doubt that there was a genocide in Sri Lanka, all the killings in the last phase of the war were aimed at human torture. I once met northern Sri Lankans in Zurich and some of them shared untold stories with me about it.
–
Rajapaksa went the extra mile to kill Christians on April 21, 2019, seize power and abused the courts through GOTA and got them all free from court cases. What they did was to ruin the nation again. Had it not been for RW and the current caretaker government, the unimaginable would have happened to the starving people of this country. Our people are real mercy cows, not yet being able to see the truths through their eyes.
–
By July 2022, people were thrown off the cliff, and no one could help them recover. Thanks to the RW led government somewhat relief is gained for the survival of the nation. Could it ever be possible, the cry baby aka AKD was elected as the current caretaker government?
I hope those NPP torchbearers would provide us with their thoughts soon.
/
Lester / January 14, 2024
Leela,
“Natanahu should be hanged without any discussion. The same should be the case with Mahendra Rajapaksa who ordered the killing of innocent Tamil people during the last period of the war.”
What about the first and second periods of the war? Are you willing to take CBK to the Hague, ICC, etc?
“Sinhala racists would not support JVP”
JVP are no different than LTTE. Other than, JVP gave up their weapons & entered politics, similar to the IRA. But the Marxist ideology is the same, minus the anarchist element. JVP will turn the island into Cuba or North Korea. Maybe Zimbabwe. Who will be the allies of JVP, maybe Putin, China, and North Korea.
/
davidthegood / January 14, 2024
Lester, Natanahu and Mahendra need to be taken to courts first. We cant do our own judgements on leaders of nations.
/
leelagemalli / January 15, 2024
DTG,
–
What you have added above may be valid if the law and order of our country is properly set up.
–
Do you think so?
–
Mahendra Rajapaksa and Rajapaksa have been proven guilty but there is still no response about their arrest?
–
What a travesty of justice is ruling this island destroyed by the Rajapaksas?
–
THat was the reason me to have added as such, that they should all be hanged without any further discussion. Period.
/
Ruchira / January 14, 2024
Lester,
.
Now that you mentioned, what is the relationship the JVP has with Ireland if any
.
Wasn’t there a rumour at one time that AKD has a house there in Ireland and the JVP often visits Ireland.
.
Any truth in these rumours?
/
Raj-UK / January 15, 2024
Lester
Agree with you. We accuse Israel for war crimes but shouldn’t we first look at our own war crimes? MR & Sirisena have stated in public that no war ‘hero’ will be allowed to be judged by an International court, so where do we draw the line on war crimes & war heroes? What does it make us, hypocrites?
/
Lester / January 15, 2024
Raj-UK,
What would have happened had the LTTE succeeded? Since the LTTE is banned by 33 countries, the so-called “Tamil Eelam” would have been treated as a pariah state. Not necessarily due to pressure from Colombo, but more so from India. The Gandhi family is very powerful in India and India is the largest democracy. When Prabhakaran took out Rajiv Gandhi, he basically shot himself in the foot. The LTTE had a chance to join mainstream politics under the auspices of the “Indo Lanka Accord.” The Indian Army was there to protect the Tamils. We know what happened. The way I see it, the LTTE was never interested in a political solution. Their endgame was probably to take over the whole island. That’s why Mahinda was given a mandate to end the war once and for all.
/
Ruchira / January 15, 2024
Sadly he lost all direction once the war was won and wanted more. Became too big for his own shoes and took the country down with him.
/
Lester / January 14, 2024
Leela,
“Unfortunately, most people in the world are ruled and fooled by an unknown god above all others.”
Yes, the Judeo-Christian religions and Hinduism. Although most liberal Jews tend to be atheist. Since you live in Germany, have you heard of the philosophers Schopenhauer and Nietzsche? They thought Buddhism is the ideal religion, because Christianity does not let people behave in a normal way.
“I was gripped by the misery of life as Buddha was in his youth when he saw sickness, old age, pain and death. The truth … was that this world could not have been the work of an all-loving Being, but rather that of a devil, who had brought creatures into existence in order to delight in the sight of their sufferings; to this the data pointed, and the belief that it is so won the upper hand.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer
/
old codger / January 13, 2024
DTG
Wasn’t it the Jews that called for Jesus to be killed?
Isn’t that why Christians (not Muslims) murdered millions of Jews?
So why would Jesus want to come back to Jerusalem to save people who don’t believe in him?🤣🤣🤣
/
davidthegood / January 14, 2024
old codger, When Jesus comes back to Jerusalem, bible says that the jews will receive him as their messiah and mourn and weep for their earlier mistake. History is progressive with or without mistakes and new decisions are always made as we go along
/
Paul / January 14, 2024
dtg, Stone Age superstition. https://skepticsannotatedbible.com/dwb/gen.html?k=3
/
davidthegood / January 15, 2024
Paul, when you really face him, it wont be superstition but reality. Hope it wont be too late to change your mind then
/
old codger / January 15, 2024
Paul,
Classic ! 🤣🤣🤣
/
leelagemalli / January 14, 2024
LS,
I don’t think he OR anyone with some sanity would agree with Netanyahu, but the lies spread by religious clerics make fools of such people.
How can these people support extra judicial killings in broad daylight? Those blind believers distort information in their cognitive systems.
Dont you see what is happening in Sri Lanka in the name of perverted Sinhala Buddhism?.
the latest myth has been: A Man formerly a dog-guard in Egypt is said to have brainedwashed a Herd of naive people (2000) in the country. And even defames the place (the highly sacred Kelaniya Temple) that Buddhist literature believes the Buddha once visited.
Religious myths are the real narcotics for weakened people.
/
Mahila / January 14, 2024
LM,
Undoubtedly, Religion is the OPIUM of the Masses!!!???
/
davidthegood / January 14, 2024
Mahila, Some sre able to interpret religion accurately and receive truth in it
/
Lasantha Pethiyagoda / January 12, 2024
At the time South Africa submitted the case of genocide at the ICJ, the official murder toll in Gaza was way over 4700 as suggested in the article. It was well past 20,000 not counting the thousands of women and children still rotting under tons of rubble. No atrocity committed in Sri Lanka, although abhorrent, come anywhere close to what Israel is doing to the trapped people of Gaza. There is a big difference between shooting fish in a barrel and in open waters.
/
Ajith / January 12, 2024
“No atrocity committed in Sri Lanka”.
LP,
Were you in the Mullivaygal during the war?
Can you answer what happened to those surrendered?
Can you answer what happened to those who were handed over to the military?
Do you think that Easter bombing is not genocide?
/
SJ / January 12, 2024
“Do you think that Easter bombing is not genocide?”
It is mass murder like the murder of worshippers in the Kathankudi Mosque 30+ years ago.
Neither is genocide.
/
Ruchira / January 12, 2024
SJ – What exactly constitutes genocide?
/
SJ / January 12, 2024
This is a commonly accepted definition:
“the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group”
But the US uses different interpretations for different contexts, depending on who perpetrates systematic mass killings on whom.
/
Ruchira / January 13, 2024
SJ – Thanks. Typical of the US.
/
LankaScot / January 13, 2024
Hello Ruchira,
from Article II of the Genocide Convention –
Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Apart from (e) Israel is probably guilty of everything above
Best regards
/
Ruchira / January 13, 2024
Thanks LankaScot – So it doesn’t depend on the numbers killed? It’s the intent that matters? Wonder how you establish the intent in a context of war?
/
Mahila / January 13, 2024
LankaScot,
Quote,
“(e) FORCIBLY TRANSFERRING CHILDREN OF THE GROUP TO ANOTHER GROUP”
Unquote,
In this context, there were reports in 05/2009 plus, that some children Orphaned, due to their Parents (especially Mothers and some fathers lost at Mullivaikkal) were sent to the South for care and Nurturing (Claimed) and why his couldn’t be done in the North, if not in Mullivaikkal, in the Jaffna Peninsula is an unanswered question and amounts to an Offence!!! However, have not gleaned anything about these so-called transferred Children of 05/2009 being restored to their relatives or surviving Parents in the North even after the lapse of 14 years!!!???
If not restored would that ACT of Transferring, be construed as GENEOCIDE!!!??? Perhaps people have not realised the Folly and we may have to take Remedial action to comply with the Law!!! Restorative Justice, not to pursue Genocide action, as it seems done in Good faith!!!???
/
SJ / January 13, 2024
LS
Too bigoted for (e). The Zionists would rather kill them.
/
Lester / January 13, 2024
Ruchira,
Here is the legal definition. It’s rather precise. Note that collateral damage is not included. Many people confuse collateral damage with genocide. They are mutually exclusive. Collateral damage does not constitute intent.
Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as
… any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2[7]
Article 3 defines the crimes that can be punished under the convention:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.
— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 3[
/
Ruchira / January 13, 2024
Lester- Thanks. So it doesn’t depend on the numbers killed? It’s the intent that matters? Wonder how you establish the intent in a context of war?
.
Also indiscriminate killing could still be a war crime? Indiscriminate killing of civilians even when they are used as a human shield I believe still constitute a war crime and can not be written off as collateral damage?
.
So was SL army guilty of any of it – genocide and war crimes against Tamils during Elam War?
/
SJ / January 13, 2024
R
One can.
For example, when public buildings are systematically destroyed and civilians killed where there is no armed conflict, the intention transcends fighting the enemy.
That is where SA has a solid case against IDF.
/
Ruchira / January 13, 2024
SJ – thanks. Must be the case.
/
Ruchira / January 14, 2024
SJ,
.
You have commented on Palastine but not on what happened in SL during Ealam War.
.
Lester on the otherhand has commented below stating: “…if you take Mahinda and Gota before the judge, you have to do the same to CBK, Bush, Blair, Obama, Sunak, Trump, Biden Netanyahu and numerous others.”
.
Would the Tamil community around the world support for something like that?
.
TIA
.
PS: From what I have heard ICC found Blair and others guilty of war crimes in Iraq, but subsequently withdrew its verdict stating it was done with good intentions. True?
/
SJ / January 15, 2024
“subsequently withdrew its verdict “
I do not know how a verdict could be withdrawn.
Do you have in mind:
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2011/11/28/kuala-lumpur-tribunal-bush-and-blair-guilty
OR
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/31/tony-blair-prosecution-over-iraq-war-blocked-by-judges
/
Ruchira / January 15, 2024
SJ – Thanks for the two links. No I wasn’t thinking of either. It was in fact a local journalist’s claim made in one of his vblogs posted online. I tried to retrace the video but failed.
.
I know. I used the term withdrew not knowing what exactly happened and not knowing any other correct legal term to use.
.
May be the verdict was not acted upon. I will see if I could trace the video in which I came across this.
/
Lester / January 13, 2024
Ruchira,
By indiscriminate, do you mean not distinguishing between civilian and non-civilian? If that were the case, then the casualty rate in Gaza should be much higher, based on the population density: 5500/ km^2, total population of 2 million.
“So was SL army guilty of any of it – genocide and war crimes against Tamils during Elam War?”
To answer your question, not genocide, but likely some war crimes by individual soldiers, acting on their own volition. Genocide is systematic, it requires a much broader effort and resources. Bosnia/ Herzegovina is a good example. On the other hand, if you take Mahinda and Gota before the judge, you have to do the same to CBK, Bush, Blair, Obama, Sunak, Trump, Biden Netanyahu and numerous others.
/
Ruchira / January 14, 2024
Lester,
.
“By indiscriminate, do you mean not distinguishing between civilian and non-civilian?”
– Yes.
.
Thanks for the explanation on SL forces.
/
Mahila / January 14, 2024
Lester,
Each case has to be deliberated on its own merits, the potency of evidence and arguments by prosecuting and defence counsel!!?? A case in point is the Irish Lawyers presentation at the opening address and claim/argument of validity for “Immediate ceasefire” as point against further delays!! At least, during CBK the UN monitoring team was present – a redeeming factor that nothing untoward was reported as against 2008/09! One could never consider any 2 cases, though similar to be identical, providing identical outcomes – small differences – outcomes, significantly STAND-ALONE, UNIQUE!!!???
/
Ruchira / January 14, 2024
Lester – The authour Hoole however seems to equate the scenario in Palastine with that of Elam war. Any comments?
/
Lester / January 14, 2024
Ruchira,
” The authour Hoole however seems to equate the scenario in Palastine with that of Elam war. Any comments?”
Hoole does not account for the high population density in Gaza and the fact that all the borders are closed. When the SLA was preparing to capture Jaffna or Mullaitivu, for example, there was a mass exodus of the local population. Similarly, at the end of the war. In Gaza, people can only move from north to south. Unlike in Jaffna or Mullaitivu, they cannot move out of Gaza. Hoole assumes that in all scenarios, the local population is being attacked as a matter of collective punishment. I agree that there is collective punishment, but it is much more so in Israel/Gaza than in Sri Lanka/Tamil areas. In Gaza, there is a total economic blockade (land, sea, air). Restrictions on mobility. CCTV cameras, drones, satellites watching the people at all times. A person from Gaza cannot simply move to Jerusalem to avoid the hassle. Jewish Israelis do not face such restrictions. Similarly, Tamils in Sri Lanka do not face these restrictions.
/
Ruchira / January 15, 2024
Lester – thanks for the comment. Yes I could see that the conditions between Gaza and Sri Lanka are quite different but Hoole it seems is of the view that war crimes were committed here in SL too, that requires legal proceedings, initiated.
/
old codger / January 15, 2024
Lester,
You are lying yet again.
330 Tamil civilians were expelled from Colombo.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_non-resident_Tamils_from_Colombo#:~:text=On%20June%2010%2C%202007%20Sri,accepted%20responsibility%20of%20the%20incident.
/
Manel Fonseka / January 13, 2024
Ruchira, with respect to the latest war in Gaza (I cant remember if this is the 6th or 7th), one of the sources of intent is the various deadly statements made by leading individuals — from Netanyahu, his 2 most fascist “associates” in the Knesset, downwards. And the South African evidence of the spread of these murderous threats was shown, in court, by a video of IDF soldiers dancing and singing Netanyahu’s Biblical citation about killing the Amalites.
–
Sadly, I dont feel at all optimistic about the ICJ’s verdict. Perhaps, like the famous Goldstone Report (452pp. It’s online) which investigated an earlier war on Gaza, the findings will go into hiding. I am truly amazed that Palestinians have given up and fled their country by now.
/
Ruchira / January 14, 2024
Thanks Manel for the comment. Yes, most international bodies lack ‘teeth’ to do anything meaningful when countries with power brake international conventions and laws.
/
Manel Fonseka / January 14, 2024
Correction to my post:
I meant to say that I’m amazed the Palestinians have NOT given up and fled…..”
–
Watching one of the lawyers for IZ at the ICJ weave a tissue of lies about IZ’s humanitarian provisions, etc., to Gaza while they’re trying to wipe it out of existence, left me speechless. But as Jean Genet use to say, the Izs are “master manipulators of the media”.
/
LankaScot / January 13, 2024
Hello Lester,
The Israelis are using 2000 lb bombs to flatten buildings with many families in them. They claim that under the building is a Hamas terrorist and the 30 or so civilians killed (sometimes more) are collateral damage. The Israeli Ambassador in the UK has claimed that “every school, every mosque, every second house, has an access to tunnels…” When challenged by the presenter “That’s an argument for destroying the whole of Gaza, every single building in it.” – Ambassador Hotovely replied that there was not “another solution” to achieving Israel’s war aims following Hamas’ October 7 attack.
That is (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; – nothing to do with collateral damage.
Al Jazeera has reported extensively on the situation in Gaza and many of its Journalists and their families have been killed by the IDF – that is a War Crime. The pictures/reporting that we see coming out of Gaza are not shown by the Israeli media. The Qatari Government was asked by the US to tone down its coverage of Gaza. However the American news organization CNN has now agreed that its coverage from Gaza is censored by the IDF.
Best regards
/
SJ / January 13, 2024
LS
He is perhaps the nearest to a fascist hereabouts.
/
Lester / January 13, 2024
LankaScot,
Al-Jazeera is two-faced. The English reporting appears to be balanced, with even the Israeli viewpoint given airtime. But the Arabic version is something else, they are putting Hamas on a pedestal.
“Ambassador Hotovely replied that there was not “another solution” to achieving Israel’s war aims following Hamas’ October 7 attack.”
She is right to some extent. The real issue, which Al-Jazeera does not cover, is that Iran is becoming stronger and arming its proxies with more powerful weapons. If Israel does not stop Hamas now, they will carry out an even more devastating attack than 7th Oct. Whether it can successfully dismantle Hamas or not is a different question.
“That is (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;”
Israel has more powerful, more destructive weapons that it has not used so far. The high civilian death toll comes from the population density.
With all of the above said, there should be a political solution to the problem. Israel goes back to 1967 borders, Hamas does not exist, international mediators at various borders, similar to Lebanon. Right now, Gaza is an open-air prison and that is not acceptable.
/
davidthegood / January 14, 2024
Lester, cant go back to old borders when there is an opening to go forward to a more correct new border as described in the bible
/
LankaScot / January 14, 2024
Hello Lester,
Having spent 11 years in Qatar and being neighbours with a married couple who were both Al Jazeera journalists, I understand the differences between Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English – AJA caters for an Arabic speaking readership and targets their news to local Middle East/North African affairs. Al Jazeera English is watched by an International audience and is reflected in the content of their news and programming.
Israel is not the only country to target Al Jazeera journalists. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, US forces targeted and killed AJA reporter Tareq Ayyoub in Baghdad. https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/91363 “Even before the Iraqi invasion, Al Jazeera was exposed to U.S. military violence at the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. The Bush administration launched a missile attack on the channel’s office in Kabul in November 2001, which the Pentagon initially denied. Based on an unpublished conversation between Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush may have wanted to bomb Al Jazeera’s headquarters in Doha and elsewhere. However, Blair convinced him not to do so, warning of the risk of a wider regional backlash”.
See this link on targeting of journalists https://cpj.org/2024/01/attacks-arrests-threats-censorship-the-high-risks-of-reporting-the-israel-hamas-war/
Best regards
/
Ajith / January 12, 2024
Is it right that LP=SJ?
Any way you agree that all others are genocide!
/
SJ / January 12, 2024
It is as true as Ajith = stupidity
/
SJ / January 12, 2024
Any observations on the Kaththankudi killings?
/
Ajith / January 13, 2024
I know that Kaththankudi is an area for breeding of Islamic fundamentalism where the Easter bombers are based on, who were closely associated with Sri Lankan military. You may have to ask the former deputy LTTE Leader about the killings that happened 30 years ago.
/
SJ / January 13, 2024
What levels can one sink to defend the indefensible!
The desperate Netanyahu can do with a campaigner like you!
/
Rohan25 / January 14, 2024
Correct Ajith. Kathankudi an area that is still a hotbed for Islamic fundamentalism. Its main mosques that was attacked, served as the headquarters and armed depot for Muslim/Islamic home Guards, who were set up by the Sri Lankan state/STF and were heavily armed by them. They used this mosque as a base to plan and attack the surrounding Tamil villages not only in Batticaloa but also in the Amparai district, to kill rape, loot and ethnically, destroy Hindu Temples burn them, many now converted to mosques. Even now many of these ancient Tamil villages that were ethnically cleansed in the deep south of Amparai and converted to 100% Muslim villages, are still a no go zone for the Tamils. The LTTE was forced to react, and the attack was planned by the former deputy LTTE leader, now the darling of the Sinhalese and Muslims.
/
Rohan25 / January 14, 2024
Strange after the attack on the Kathankudi Mosque, by the LTTE, the attacks on Tamil Hindu villages in the east, by these Sri Lankan state sponsored Muslim home guards miraculously stopped. Proving just like during the 2019 Easter bombing this area and its mosques were indeed the headquarters of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. There were far more innocent Tamil civilians killed, ethnically cleansed and many ancient Hindu temples destroyed at the hands of these Sri Lankan state sponsored Muslim/Islamic home guards than the casualties that occurred in during the Kathankudi mosque, attack. These Sri Lankan state sponsored Islamic home guards, before attacking a Hindu Tamil village, used to gather at the mosque to pray for blessings(sic) and to gather their arms, stored there. The LTTE knew this and attacked them during one of these gatherings. unfortunately, many innocents were also got caught up.
/
Rohan25 / January 14, 2024
However, there was a deliberate news blackout by the Sri Lankan state and their supporting states about what really triggered the Kathankudi Mosque attack and the actions of the Muslim home guards. Everything is now normal in Kathankudi and as usual it is still operating as a hotbed for Islamic fundamentalism, pathetically trying its best to look like some part of the Arabian Gulf, and not in Tamil eastern Sri Lanka. However, nothing is normal for these once 100% Tamil villages in the deep South of Amparai, that were ethnically cleansed and resettled with outside Muslims, now another hot bed of Islamic fundamentalism. This self-hating Tamil is fully aware of all this but as usual keeps on trying to give a lop-sided anti Tamil story, instead of the real story, with deliberate quips like what happened in Kathankudi but is dead silent about what happened in ancient Tamil villages like Karai Valu and many others, especially in Amparai.
/
SJ / January 15, 2024
“You may have to ask the former deputy LTTE Leader about the killings that happened 30 years ago.”
So that criminal acted against LTTE policy?
Did the boss pull him up?
You are a disgrace, do not pass the buck.
/
Mahila / January 13, 2024
(Part I)
LP,
“No atrocity committed in Sri Lanka, although abhorrent, come anywhere close to what Israel is doing to the trapped people of Gaza”
Totally agree with you on that!!!???
Except that, the comedy enacted by the very popular MP and Minister – “Not Worthy”, who almost got Lynched at Rupavahini Studios and apologised for his ‘FOLLY’ meekly and got out of the mess and tried his best to make out his innocence that the Samurdhi man tied HIMSELF to the tree and whipped himself was realised by all, including his electorate as FAT LOAD of lies, he tried to FAKE a proposal of marriage to whoever that Lady from SA, who was a Member of “Dharusman Inquiry” to investigate the Genocide claim also failed – as that lady was not interested in this “Jokers’ Antics” and the whole inquiry went asunder!!!??? That was the objective of this Cunning, un-intelligent Nincompoop!!!??? WIN THE BATTLE NOT THE WARS!!!???
After, realising his Folly tried to become Bodhisattva and started program – stop the “Killing of Fowls and Goats” at Munneswaram and Mutuwal Temples (Ancient religious Practice) which was again HOAX perpetrated on Innocent uneducated citizens to Garner votes for his re-election!!!???
(TBC)
/
Mahila / January 13, 2024
(Part II)
People have come to realise how foolish this past MP is and cannot be trusted!!! HE IS A LIVE HOAX in all its Elements!!!???
The outcome of all this miscarriage, We (SL) couldn’t carry out ‘Genuine Truth and Remediation Enquiry’, Post War and we NOW make INSTEAD a ‘PARADE’ or ‘CHARADE’ to GENEVA TWICE A YEAR – Come SEPTEMBER AND MARCH EVERY YEAR since 2010 – 14 Years – this year would become 15 Years!!! What A PATHETIC and SORRY STATE of AFFAIRS!!!???
/
a14455 / January 13, 2024
what is the point. it is good fodder for journalists but nothing will happen . US does not recognize the ICC . Its just a useless exercise
/
SJ / January 13, 2024
It makes an impression globally.
Public pressure on governments to act, even intervene, will be strengthened
/
Agnos / January 13, 2024
Israel, by agreeing to defend itself in the court, has accorded legitimacy to the court.
It cannot then argue that the court is not legitimate if the verdict is it committed genocide.
Anyway, the court ruled that Russia committed genocide in Ukraine, and Russia simply ignored it. So those who took the pro-Russian position in the war need to remember that when they take the pro-Palestinian position.
/
SJ / January 14, 2024
Let us not assume that the ICC and ICJ are politically neutral.
Russia did not accept the legitimacy of either and there lies a key difference.
The US and Israel have brazenly defied every UN resolution on Palestine-Israel.
A positive verdict will make a difference to those not aligned with the US.
/
Mahila / January 14, 2024
a14455,
My recollection of the matter is, it is before the ICJ and not ICC
South Africa filed its claim to the INTERNATIONAL COURT of JUSTICE (ICJ), not ‘International CRIMINAL COURT’ (ICC) – CNN Posting! 12/01!? Further reference to obviate any existing confusion:
“The ICJ is the MAIN LEGAL ARM OF THE UNITED NATIONS. Based in The Hague, The Netherlands set up by the UN in 1945. It is a CIVIL COURT and seeks TO SETTLE DISPUTES BETWEEN STATES.
Conversely, the ICC is a PERMANENT, AUTONOMOUS court — NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE UNITED NATIONS — that PROSECUTES INDIVIDUALS. Possible Place where Sri Lankan International Crooks, Criminals and Looters held to account, if THE PEOPLE OF Sri Lanka FEEL COMMITTED TO RIGHTIOUSNESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND RATIFY THE ROME STATUTE!!!???
Blaming Ranil + Rajapaksa’s – singularly or collectively, is one thing and doing the DEED IN BRINGING THE THIEVES AND ROBBERS TO BOOK AND RECOVERING THE LOOT IN WHATEVER FORM IT IS NOW IS ANOTHER MATTER, WHICH IS MOST IMPORTANT!? NOT JUST LOOSE TALK FOR POLITICAL GAIN!!!???
ICC only able to prosecute individuals who have ratified “Rome Statute” — gives it jurisdiction — or if CRIME has occurred WITHIN A SIGNATORY COUNTRY!!????
Israel doesn’t recognize ICC!!!??
/
Good Sense / January 13, 2024
The author is known to dot every i and cross every t, and it was a surprise for me to find him commenting on article 15 of the constitution of Sri Lanka giving the reader a misunderstanding that it negates unreasonably the right to free speech. A reader might think for instance the gun power of the armed forces alone is bad enough but to provide a constitutional cover is the real killer and no wonder these people played havoc at times. The constitutional requirement as per article 15(8) of the constitution for a restriction in the operation of articles 12(1), 13 and 14 with respect to armed forces, and others MUST BE COVERED BY LAW. The implied threat of the use of a gun upon the very act of bearing it is one thing, but the author is effectively deifying them in stating that they do have the right to maim us for our free speech. Every instance of the threat of misuse of fire power must be decried, including those that prevented the author from assuming duties as Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna, which I believe the author wishes to be silent now.
/
SJ / January 13, 2024
” must be decried, including those that prevented the author from assuming duties as Vice Chancellor “
Very true.
Repeated acts of sucking up to politicians to become Vice Chancellor too need to be decried. Quite a few have been involved in that game.
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Good Sense / January 14, 2024
Yes! In very many cases repeated acts of sucking up to the politicians resulted in the appointment of Vice-Chancellor. Of Course, one must remember that to be appointed as VC, the successful candidate must be one of the three nominated by the respective University Council for Axcellency to make his/her pick amongst those nominated. Nevertheless, the bum suckers pass all those barriers. But in the case of Prof. Samuel Ratnajeevan Herbert Hoole, I believe it was different. Prior to his appointment Prez. Percy Mahendra Rajapakse was ever willing to support his application to the VC to score a point advantageous to the Rajapakses. Obviously, those whose terror in the North spread out widely had two good reasons to block the appointment. Under Hoole it would have been impossible to commandeer the resources of the University towards the LTTE without killing him which will naturally boomerang on them. Secondly Prez. Mahendra would show case this appointment to demonstrate how genuine he was in appointing the most suitable person for any given job. (Genuine! My Foot!) Obviously the LTTE must put a stop to it hook or by crook. Hence the threatening messages making Hoole to take to his heels.
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Ruchira / January 14, 2024
SJ – Wasn’t he among the deserving candidates for the position?
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SJ / January 15, 2024
Was he?
It takes several qualities to be deserving.
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SJ / January 15, 2024
The point I made earlier concerns integrity.
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Ruchira / January 15, 2024
I thought the whole hoo ha is because he was a man of integrity.
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Ruchira / January 15, 2024
I do not know. I thought he was, given the scholar he is.
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Agnos / January 13, 2024
South Africa and the Houthis have demonstrated support for the Palestinians in a way that much richer Arab nations haven’t. If a country’s value system emphasizes economic prosperity above all else, unwilling to take risks for a just cause, that country can only waffle. This applies to individuals as well as nations.
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Manel Fonseka / January 13, 2024
Agnos, the Houthis are also sacrificing their own wellbeing intervening in this way . Apparently a huge percentage of their vital food aid comes via the same route.
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Terrible that our President is thinking about sending a ship/boat to join the US-sponsored retaliation on them.
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Just like he agreed to send Sri Lankans to help out on Israeli farms, etc., while their usual sources of labour (Palestinians?) are either banned from coming or fighting in Gaza. There’s also a Human Rights report on Thai farm workers in Israel investigating suicides and deaths and their shocking living conditions. I think all surviving Thai workers must have left by now.
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leelagemalli / January 14, 2024
Dear Manel, Please accept my belated New Year greetings. I wish you a healthy and happy new year. I was thinking of you, however, for some reasons I couldn’t send it earlier. My yahoo email did not work for some time now. I have to recheck it EOB of tomorrow.
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I don’t think the president’s thinking of deploying troops to the region will ever work. That may be just a diplomatic statement in public. Instead, they could send them to Tahiti or other places where the United Nations wants to deploy troops.
About Houthi rebels and their strikes would not stop in yemen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC3O4ybfQkU
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SJ / January 14, 2024
Very true.
It applies most for the imperialist powers.
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davidthegood / January 14, 2024
SJ, The one and only who has real power, and not imperialist powers will eventually carry it out to perfection so that the rest will gasp in unbelief.
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Agnos / January 15, 2024
DTG,
It seems to me that you are one of those nutty evangelicals.
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Ruchira / January 15, 2024
DTG – Unbelief or disbelief?
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davidthegood / January 15, 2024
Ruchira, Does it matter which
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SJ / January 15, 2024
I have seen on many a wall for many an year that the guy is coming.
But nothing seems to have happened for two millennia.
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Manel Fonseka / January 14, 2024
There’s an interesting discussion on journalist Chris Hedges’ site about brainwashing in Israel. The General’s son, Miko Peled, describes how lies about the Palestinians were implanted in him from childhood.
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https://therealnews.com/the-idfs-war-crimes-are-a-perfect-reflection-of-israeli-society
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davidthegood / January 15, 2024
Ruchira, Does it matter which
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