UN peacekeepers injured by Israel

[EasterIssland]

After all the news this week regarding IDF threatening peacekeepers in Lebanon this is news now.

from bbc

Two UN peacekeepers injured after Israeli tank fires at watchtowerpublished at 12:50 British Summer Time
12:50 BSTBREAKING
Two UN peacekeepers have been injured after an Israeli tank fired towards a watchtower at a UN base in southern Lebanon, the UN says.
According to a statement by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the observation tower at its headquarters in Naqoura was directly hit, causing the peacekeepers to fall.
"The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital," the UN says.
It adds that Israeli soldiers also fired at a UN base in Ras Naqoura, "hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system".
There's more in their statement which we'll bring you shortly.
UNIFIL is a UN peacekeeping mission created in 1978. It monitors hostilities and helps to ensure humanitarian access to civilians.

https://unifil.unmissions.org/unifil-statement-10-october

It was only a matter of time before they attacked them. Unfortunately, I don't believe it will be the last. The question is will there be consequences? I don't believe there will.

I don't think anyone expects Israel to play by the rules or within international law.

If Israel can kill countless thousands of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza and Lebanon while the world sits back and watches, I doubt that there will be any consequences for injuring two peacekeepers.

I believe this was a big error of judgement made by the allies when the war started and they pledged full support. They assumed that Israel would follow international law as expected from a democracy.

The UN have also said that yesterday Israel deliberately fired and disabled UN cameras and flew drones over the bunkers where peace keepers were residing. This clearly was a planned attack.

There's a lot of gaslighting involved in this conflict and international relations.

We are allies of Israel as we are reliant on their intelligence in the ME. In exchange, Western powers have ignored decades of breaches of international law in Palestine, so much so that we're supplying arms to support a genocide.

At the beginning of the conflict, Starmer a human rights lawyer, said that Israel had a right to cut off power and supplies to Palestine. He took a very long time to call for a ceasefire and we are still supplying weapons.

The US doesn't bother with fig leaves, they're not part of the ICC or the human rights council and their military can't be tried abroad. We assisted them in slaughtering millions of Iraqis and in the disaster that is Afghanistan.

We helped bring in the current Iranian regime which the US is going after via Israel. As we all know, the US has given billions in arms to fund the genocide and has blocked attempts by the UN to broker peace for years.

Israel has been ignoring international law and UN resolutions for decades so I doubt anyone is surprised at their current behaviour. They're the only country in the world that tries children in a military court.

Their occupation of Palestine has been found to be apartheid but we're still supporting them.

There have been calls all week in Ireland for the Irish troops to brought home but as they are there as part of UNFIL that decision is with UNFIL. UNFIL may well now assess the region is no longer safe and withdraw, no doubt what the IDF wants. Mission accomplished.

Attacking UN peacekeeping forces... as was previously recommended by Mr Brodsky of the US, I believe. How much more is the world going to try to look the other way about...?

From what I read the peacekeepers also refused to leave their position and didn't want to give in to the intimidation tactics of the IDF. But as you say maybe they will reassess now as clearly their lives are in danger.

Can UNFIL attack back? And I ask this without much knowledge about them and their role. But if I understand it right they’re there to keep peace in the region. If someone is attacking them, couldn’t they reply back? Something like what has happened with the Lebanon army that has strike back a few times after one of their members was killed by IDF. I know this would escalate in a bigger problem,

Yes they do not answer to IDF. IDF does nor give orders to UN soldiers

Civilians in Palestine haven't been viewed by the people that matter as human enough to warrant action being taken. Neither have civilians in Lebanon. There'll be some impressive double-think needed here to dehumanise UN peacekeepers enough for it not to matter that the IDF have attacked them.

Maybe it'll just be their fault for not getting out the way fast enough.

This is from the guardian

Security council resolution 1701 was passed in 2006, and intended to resolve the 2006 Lebanon war, by calling for a full cessation of hostilities between Hezbollahand Israel, and that only the Lebanese army and the Unifil force have a presence between the blue line separating Israel and Lebanon and the Litani River, about 30km north of the blue line. Israel has criticised Lebanese authorities for failing to fully implement the resolution.
Reuters reports there was no immediate comment from the Israeli military after the Unifil statement.

How dare they fire at and injure UN soldiers. Surely an attack on the UN is an attack on all of us.

Can UNFIL attack back?

No I doubt it. UN peacekeepers have been killed in the region before, there's a diplomatic response not a military one

Thanks @Dulra

If the peacekeepers had done their job, Hizbollah wouldn't be operating openly in S Lebanon. What have they be doing over the last 18 years?

Not sure that justifies attacking them, but it's probably a line that some people will go along with as a reason why it's ok that it happened.

Nothing surprises me anymore. I'm glad they were ok.

It is not their job to intervene. It is their job to monitor and observe. Israel is obliged to protect the peacekeepers. Israel knows this!

Justifying and supporting the attacks?

@HelenHen They're not doing a very good job of it. Israel that is.

Does that justify the IDF attacking them?

I'm not saying they deserved to be attacked - the injuries seem very light and we don't know the full circumstances. But it is the case that UNFIL has allowed itself to be bossed around by Hizbollah for years, and that's part of the reason why Lebanon is in such a mess.