War Crimes In Gaza: Japan And Its Recent Past – OpEd

As Israel’s war in Gaza continues, Israel’s Netanyahu has been hailed a conquering hero by US leaders during his recent US visit and given the unprecedented opportunity to address a joint Congress for the fourth time. He is the only world leader to have this honour.

On this occasion he praised Biden who he described as a “proud Irish American Zionist” - in Biden’s own words according to Netanyahu’s speech. He also condemned opponents of the war as “choosing to stand with evil” and becoming “Iran’s useful idiots”, and pledged to achieve “total victory”.

How history will judge Netanyahu and Israel in this war and its aftermath will be very different from how the United States and its western allies and supporters in Asia have responded to date.

UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Report

On 12 June 2024, the office of the UN commission on human rights issued the UN’s first in-depth investigation of the events following Hamas’s military action on 7 October 2023. The report, based on interviews with victims and witnesses, thousands of open-source items verified through forensic analysis, hundreds of submissions, satellite imagery and forensic medical reports found Israel and Netanyahu “responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity.”

The Commission also found “crimes against humanity of extermination, gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys, murder, forcible transfer, and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were also committed”.

Not only did Israel systematically try to obstruct the Commission’s investigations but the Commission also found that “statements made by Israeli officials – including those reflecting the policy of inflicting widespread destruction and killing large numbers of civilians – amounted to incitement and may constitute other serious international crimes. Direct and public incitement to genocide is a crime under international law whenever perpetrated, even by persons with no direct authority for the conduct of the hostilities. Incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence is a serious violation of international human rights law and may amount to an international crime.”

Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission noted that “[i]t is imperative that all those who have committed crimes be held accountable” as [t]he only way to stop the recurring cycles of violence, including aggression and retribution by both sides, is to ensure strict adherence to international law.”

Japan’s Policy On War Crimes: Present and Past

Among Asian countries, the failure of Japan to unequivocally condemn Israel and Netanyahu is conspicuous especially in view of its position in G7 acknowledged to be the most powerful intergovernmental political and economic forum, and of which it is the sole Asian member sitting with Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States and with the European Union as a "non-enumerated member".

There has been plenty of opportunity for Japan to explicitly condemn Israel and publicly call out against Israel’s war crimes. On Nov 3, 2023, Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawametwith her Israeli counterpart and condemned the “brutal killing and kidnapping by Hamas and others,” while expressing “Japan’s solidarity with the people of Israel.” A few hours later, Kamikawametwith her Palestinian counterpart, expressing her “sincerest condolences” and “sympathy” to victims of the hostilities in the Gaza Strip, and said Japan is prepared to increase its humanitarian aid.

This contrast in messaging as well as policy action - condemnation of Hamas and expression of support for Israel on the one hand and failure to denounce Israel and hold it responsible for its immeasurably more horrific war crimes seen by most ordinary citizens of the world as amounting to genocide, ethnic cleansing and serious violation of human rights - is not surprising.

Japan’s refusal to act to prevent further atrocities in Palestine points to its political and economic alignment and allegiance to the US and the West which has seen critics call it out as a client state of the US since the end of the Second World War. In this unequal and dependent status it has been treated like a lackey and as an ATM - a role it regularly and reflexively plays out on the global stage rather than stand up to assert its independence and neutral alignment.

The failure of Japan to support the UN’s efforts at ensuring transparency and accountability of all parties in war crimes and other crimes against humanity is hardly unsurprising given its refusal to fully acknowledge the war crimes and crimes against humanity the Japanese army engaged in during the Second World War.

Japan’s war crimes are considered by many ihistorians and authorities to rank even worse in barbarity and number of victims than that inflicted by Hitler’s Nazi government against Jews. These crimes ranged from sexual slavery and massacres to biological warfare, human experimentation, starvation, and forced labour, all committed or condoned by the Japanese military and government.

A fuller examination of Japan’s war crimes can be viewed in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes.

It is a chapter of history which the Japanese government has not only refused to fully acknowledge or apologise for but instead has been in denial as evidenced by the repeated attempts to whitewash its military actions in Asia and the Pacific; and the actions of Japan’s political leaders in continuing to pay respects at the Yasukuni Shrine which honours all Japanese war dead, including convicted Class A war criminals.

Israels’ leaders may be drawing comfort from this particular page of recent history dealing with war crimes and war criminals when the war in Gaza ends. .