In the third paragraph of the report in question, Amnesty International makes clear that Tel Aviv killed far more civilians than Hizballah: "Israel's 'Operation Change of Direction' involved widespread attacks across Lebanon from land, sea and air, killing some 1,000 civilians. Hizbullah launched thousands of Katyusha and other rockets on northern Israel, killing 43 civilians" ("Israel/Lebanon: Under fire: Hizbullah's Attacks on Northern Israel," 14 September 2006, <http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/lebanon/document.do?id=ENGMDE020252006>).
However, Amnesty International did not include the term "war crimes" in the title of its briefing focused on Tel Aviv's destruction of Lebanese civilian lives and infrastructure ("Israel/Lebanon: Deliberate Destruction or 'Collateral Damage'? Israeli Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure," <http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/lebanon/document.do?id=ENGMDE180072006>) or the press release about it ("Evidence Points to Israel's Policy of Deliberate Destruction of Lebanese Infrastructure, According to Amnesty International," 23 August 2006, <http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/lebanon/document.do?id=ENGUSA20060823001>), though the term is used within the main body of the report: "Many of the violations examined in this report are war crimes that give rise to individual criminal responsibility" ("Israel/Lebanon: Deliberate Destruction or 'Collateral Damage'? Israeli Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure," <http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/lebanon/document.do?id=ENGMDE180072006>).
At the same time, the report on Israeli war crimes came earlier, and arguably that had a favorable political impact on the international perception of the Israeli-Lebanese conflict.
What Amnesty International could have done without is to take the following Israeli allegation seriously:
<blockquote>This briefing does not address Israeli charges that Hizbullah used the civilian population as a cover for its military activities and that it must therefore be held responsible for the harm caused to civilians by Israeli attacks. Specifically, Israel accuses Hizbullah of having bases in tunnels and other facilities within towns and villages; of storing Katyusha rockets and other weapons there; of firing Katyusha rockets from close proximity to civilian houses; and of having prevented civilians from fleeing their villages.
Hizbullah denies any policy of endangering civilians and accuses Israel of deliberating targeting civilians in Lebanon. Hizbullah officials deny that their fighters launched Katyusha rockets into Israel from populated areas or that they stored their rockets in such areas. They acknowledge that other weapons and facilities are present in towns and villages and argue that they are needed for their fighters to defend their communities against Israeli attacks. Hizbullah strongly denies that it prevented civilians from fleeing.
Amnesty International is conducting further research into these issues and intends to address them separately. ("Israel/Lebanon: Under fire: Hizbullah's Attacks on Northern Israel," 14 September 2006, <http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/lebanon/document.do?id=ENGMDE020252006>)</blockquote>
If Hizballah made an allegation that Tel Aviv deliberately put Israeli civilians in harm's way, used them as human shields, etc., would Amnesty International or anyone else take it seriously and pledge to investigate that? -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>