HRW can't imagine a terror group doing anything immoral as it accuses the IDF with no evidence

Human Rights Watch just issued what it calls an "in-depth look" at three separate incidents at Gaza schools, concluding that Israel must have deliberately attacked these schools.

Let's look at their bias, and errors of omission, from the July 24 Beit Hanoun incident.

In the first attack, at about 3 p.m. on July 24, apparent Israeli mortar shells struck a coeducational elementary school in Beit Hanoun run by the United Nations, killing 13 people, including six children, and wounding dozens of others.

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that days of fighting in the area had caused most of the people staying at the school to leave, but several hundred remained. Most were awaiting transport to a safer area when two munitions, probably 81mm or 120mm mortar shells, hit inside the school compound.

Jamal Abu `Owda, 58, said he was sitting outside a classroom when one of the munitions struck. “Most people got killed in the middle of the courtyard,” he said. There were “shredded bodies, a mix of everything, boys, men, girls, women, a mix of different faces and bodies.” Witnesses said a second shell hit the courtyard shortly after the first, followed in quick succession by two more just outside the school compound.

The Israeli military alleged that Hamas fighters had “operated adjacent to” the school. After coming under fire with anti-tank missiles, soldiers responded by “firing several mortars in their direction.” The military said a “single errant mortar” hit the school courtyard, which was “completely empty” – a claim disputed by seven witnesses who separately spoke to Human Rights Watch.

Witnesses described at least four shells striking in and around the compound within a few minutes – a precision that would be extremely unlikely for errant Palestinian munitions. And there were no reports of Israeli troops near the school that might have led the Palestinians to fire mortar rounds there.

HRW assumes that Hamas would never, ever shoot at Gaza civilians.

Let's think about that for a second.

We know that Hamas purposefully places its rockets, weapons caches, command and control centers - indeed the entire infrastructure of their military operations - among civilians, placing them at risk.

We know that Hamas kills people it doesn't like without trial.

We know that Hamas wants to maximize the appearance of civilian casualties to the world.

We know that Hamas shoots rockets towards its own people - sometimes aiming at areas that have no Israelis.

HRW has no problem accusing Israel, a professional army, of deliberately shooting multiple munitions at a school that it clearly knows is filled with civilians. But it cannot imagine a terror group, whose major war strategy was to shoot rockets at Israeli civilians, doing the same.

Human Rights Watch doesn't mention that the IDF was trying for days to evacuate the school, and that Hamas had stopped many of the people there from leaving.

Here's what HRW didn't say:

Why didn't HRW mention any of this? Clearly the IDF was under attack from Hamas terrorists in the area. Clearly the IDF was trying to evacuate the school for days. Clearly the IDF gave a window for evacuation that Hamas prevented.

And guess who also tweeted that Hamas rockets fell in Beit Hanoun that day?

None other than Chris Gunness of UNRWA itself!

I received an email recently from a source that is knowledgeable about the incident, and here is their description of what happened:

COGAT had tried to get them to evacuate the shelters in beit hanoun for 3 days because there was increased fighting in the area and the writing was on the wall that there would be civilian casualties in the area if they stayed. UNRWA refused because according to them they are not legally obligated ot move IDPs [internally displaced persons - EoZ]  if the IDPs refuse to leave - which was the case here. The morning of the incident there was an agreed upon 4 hour evacuation window from 10 to 2. They ended up not utilizing it because they didn't have transport because Hamas had actively interfered with the efforts to secure buses. COGAT reached out to local leaders to appeal to the IDPs to leave, and pretty much when they agreed there was the security incident and the rocket/mortar/shell/whatever hit the school yard.

Then UNRWA goes around claiming Israel didnt give them an opportunity to leave - only the UN could have it both ways: they refuse to leave and then blame israel for making them stay.

I floated the idea of a purposeful Hamas (or other terror group) attack on the school the day it happened.

Human Rights Watch is making two basic, and very biased, assumptions. The first is that Israel is so immoral as to target the very people it is trying to evacuate. The second is that Gaza terror groups whose entire strategy is to attack civilians and use their own civilians as shields would never do anything to harm their own people.

When HRW says that the schoolyard was hit "probably 81mm or 120mm mortar shells" that means they want to match the incident up with known Israeli munitions with zero forensics evidence.

When HRW says that "there were no reports of Israeli troops near the school that might have led the Palestinians to fire mortar rounds there" they are assuming that Hamas - the only party that stands to gain from the death of women and children - would never target women and children. It also proves that HRW was not looking for evidence of Hamas fighters near the school.

By making these assumptions, not only does it prove that HRW is not a credible investigator. It doesn't only prove that HRW is suffused with anti-Israel and pro-Hamas bias.

It also proves that HRW cares little about human rights if Arabs are both the attackers and the victims.