Note how pristine they are Christmas. References and photos showing used flechettes 2001, 2002, 2008 and in 2009 - the photo showing them stuck in the wall in 2009 show what they look like after they have been fired.
Story brought to the world by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights - Psst Christmas if any front organisation for Hamas told me that the Moon wasn't made of green cheese I'd want that checked. Their reputation as lying bastards is unparalleled.
"Of course, these could have been planted by Hamas who happened to be on hand and carry around such fragments in their pockets just in case"
Wouldn't put it past them, if they thought that it would serve their purposes.
"An Israeli humanitarian group has reported the use of flechette weapons and white phosphorus on civilians in the past"
AND? Your point is?
"So what have we got - the use of a weapon, reported world-wide, not denied by those accused of having used it"
So what do you actually have? Uncorroborated evidence of the use of this weapon, based on use on previous occasions and lack of denial of use on those previous occasions. That is what you have got.
"The munitions are not prohibited under international humanitarian law"
The Apache Helicopters in Afghanistan used these munitions to great effect against the Taliban in the "Green Zone" of Helmand.
"a regime which has just slaughtered approaching 2000 impoverished human beings (overwhelmingly civilians, largely made up of women, children elderly and infirm), destroying their homes, hospitals, schools, public buildings..... and leaving them with the future prospect of squatting on cities which resemble the ruins of Agidir following the earthquake."
Awwww jayzus when it comes to emotive claptrap Christmas you are in a class of your own. I have heard civilian casualty claims by Hamas apologists in the past that proved to be total bollocks - I will wait and see. By the way do all these Palestinian refugees segregate themselves in accordance with the tenets of their religion whilst attempting to shelter from this IDF/Hamas onslaught? Do they split up into women and children in one place and men in another? - If they did that (plus seemingly unerring pure bad luck) would explain the preponderance of fatalities falling amongst young males aged 17-29 wouldn't it Christmas?
"For those who don't know the story" THE FACTS OF THE BATTLE OF JENIN What on earth has a weapon that is acknowledged as being in the arsenal of the Israeli army and has been used by them in the past and has not been denied as having been used here, got to do with Jenin - a murderous battle that was responsible for the deaths of many hundreds of civilians
What has it got to do with it Christmas?? What has it got to do with it?? How about it proving that they have a well documented track record of being lying bastards when it comes to making claims relating to what the other side did? What about it having to do with them having a track record of being lying bastards when it comes to reporting "civilian" casualties?
So Jenin was "a murderous battle that was responsible for the deaths of many hundreds of civilians" was it?
1:"The UN report to the Secretary General noted "Palestinians had claimed that between 400 and 500 people had been killed, fighters and civilians together. They had also claimed a number of summary executions and the transfer of corpses to an unknown place outside the city of Jenin. The number of Palestinian fatalities, on the basis of bodies recovered to date, in Jenin and the refugee camp in this military operation can be estimated at around 55 (27 of whome were combatants)."
2:" Human Rights Watch completed its report on Jenin in early May, stating "there was no massacre,"
3:"Amnesty International's report concluded "No matter whose figures one accepts, "there was no massacre." Amnesty's report specifically observed that "after the IDF temporarily withdrew from Jenin refugee camp on April 17, UNRWA set up teams to use the census lists to account for all the Palestinians (some 14,000) believed to be resident of the camp on April 3, 2002. Within five weeks all but one of the residents was accounted for."
4:"A BBC report later noted, "Palestinian authorities made unsubstantiated claims of a wide-scale massacre,"
Mind you he would probably have then been subsequently sacked by the Beeb for reporting that.
5:"A reporter for the Observer opined that what happened in Jenin was not a massacre."
So then Christmas imagine that the UN, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the BBC and the Observer all say quite clearly no massacre yet you Christmas sat on your boney arse on the west coast of Ireland know better than all those who were there? Ludicrous.