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The Threat of the Human Shield Strategy Hamas Uses Extends Beyond Israel, Gaza
[U.S. News] Abraham Cooper and Harold Brackman - What if Osama bin Laden and company were holed up in a bunker underneath a hospital in Afghanistan occupied by women and children deployed as shields? Would President Obama launch an immediate strike with cruise missiles or hesitate because of the hostages? Would such a move thwart future 9/11's and be viewed as the death knell of al-Qaeda? Or would there be a firestorm of international protest that the American response was a "disproportionate" violation of humanitarian international law and even a "war crime"? Does anybody remember the thousands of French civilians killed by the Allies during World War II's Normandy invasion? Human shields are the weapon of cowards who violate every principle of humanitarian international law. Use of human shields constitutes "perfidy" under Article 147 of the Geneva Convention. The international criminals who use human shields are "common enemies of humankind." Rabbi Abraham Cooper is the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Harold Brackman, a historian, is a consultant to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.