Why is Israel turning a blind eye to South Sudan arms sales?

[Jefferson23]

July 7, 2015

As expected, the resolution adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on July 3, condemning Israel based on the report of the UN panel probing Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip, provoked scanting criticism on Jerusalem's part. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to condemn the condemners, stating that Israel not only assiduously upholds the equal rights of all its citizens, but also “acts in accordance with international law.” Once again claims were heard that the UNHRC picks on Israel, which adheres strictly to its “purity of arms” military ethical doctrine, while ignoring far worse crimes against humanity committed by other states.

Netanyahu ignored the fact that three days before the UNHRC’s decision, the Associated Press reported on a harsh UN report about war crimes being committed in South Sudan. Survivors of the attacks by the military there recounted that South Sudanese soldiers and their allies killed civilians, burned down and destroyed villages and forced some 100,000 people to flee their homes. Some reported kidnappings and sexual abuse of women and girls, a few of whom were burned alive in their homes.

In April 2014, the United States froze military aid to South Sudan, and President Barack Obama signed an executive order imposing sanctions and freezing assets of those involved in fighting and war crimes there. At the end of the year, the European Union decided to impose an arms embargo on the African state, which was founded in 2011. Meanwhile, in June, an official delegation from South Sudan attended ISDEF, the Israeli weapons expo, unencumbered.

In a letter to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Knesset member Tamar Zandberg of the Meretz Party described close ties between Israeli arms dealers and the regime in Juba. She said that Israelis involved in defense dealings were a common site in South Sudan. Referring to a detailed report prepared by attorney Itai Mack, who has for years been following Israeli weapons exports, Zandberg added that Israel trained Sudanese soldiers in South Sudan and in Israel, and that arms dealers, officials of the defense industries and Israeli trainers were spotted on flights to Juba.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/israel-south-sudan-arms-sale-european-union-embargo.html#ixzz3fGNvarr3

[azurnoir]

1. Is Israel supporting the South Sudanese Peoples Liberation Armies use of child soldiers?

by deed if not word?

South Sudan’s army has used child soldiers during recent fighting against opposition forces in violation of international law, Human Rights Watch said today. South Sudan’s former rebel forces, now the national army, had made tangible progress in ending its longtime practice of using child soldiers. But since the current armed conflict began in December 2013, both the government and opposition have recruited and deployed children in their forces.

The government used child soldiers in renewed fighting in mid-August 2014 in Bentiu, the capital of Unity State, and in the neighboring town of Rubkona, Human Rights Watch found. Ten people who fled the fighting told Human Rights Watch in Bentiu that they saw dozens of children in military uniform, armed with assault rifles, deployed with government soldiers and firing on opposition positions. On August 12, Human Rights Watch saw 15 soldiers who appeared to be children around the government’s Rubkona military base and airstrip.

“South Sudan’s army has returned to a terrible practice, once again throwing children into the battlefields,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Civilian and military leaders should immediately remove all children from their ranks and return them to their families.”

Boys described to Human Rights Watch their experiences with the government Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). A 12-year-old boy told Human Rights Watch that during the early hours of August 15, an SPLA soldier ordered him and other child soldiers in Rubkona to shoot at the opposition forces, and that dozens of mostly older children were sent to fight at the Rubkona base. A 14-year-old described fleeing the battle in Bentiu close to the front lines. “I ran and whenever I heard shelling I lay down,” he said.

Other observers told Human Rights Watch that they have seen numerous child soldiers at the Rubkona military base and in defensive positions just outside Rubkona and Bentiu since the government recaptured them from opposition forces in May 2014. Child soldiers said that government forces had been deploying children as soldiers at their front lines around Bentiu for weeks.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/08/20/south-sudan-child-soldiers-thrust-battle