随著以色列持续在加沙的战事，以色列总理内塔尼亚胡最近在访美时，被美国领导人誉为征服英雄，并获得了前所未有的机会，第四次在美国国会发表演说。他是唯一一位获此待遇的世界领导人。
这次到访，内塔尼亚胡赞扬了拜登，他称拜登为“自豪的爱尔兰裔美国犹太复国主义者”——根据内塔尼亚胡说法，这是拜登自己的话。内塔尼亚胡更谴责战争反对者“选择与邪恶站在一起”，成为“被伊朗利用的白痴”，并宣称以色列将取得“全面胜利”。
历史将如何评价内塔尼亚胡和以色列在这场战争及之后表现，美国及其西方盟友和其亚洲支持者迄今的反应是截然不同的。
联合国就巴勒斯坦被占领土独立国际调查委员会报告
2024年6月12日，联合国人权委员会办公室发布了，对2023年10月7日哈马斯军事行动事件后的首次深入调查报告。
委员会还发现“以色列还犯下了人类灭绝罪、针对巴勒斯坦男子和男孩的性别迫害、谋杀、强行转移、酷刑以及不人道和残忍对待等反人类罪”。请参阅此链接。
以色列不仅有系统试图阻挠委员会的调查，委员会还发现“以色列官员的言论——包括那些反映造成广泛破坏和杀害大量平民政策的言论——构成煽动行为，进而可能构成其他严重国际罪行。无论何时，直接公开煽动种族灭绝行动，在国际法下都是犯罪行为，即使有关人士没有直接权力实施相对敌对行动。煽动歧视、敌意或暴力，都是严重违反国际人权法，可能构成国际犯罪。
该报告通过对受害者和证人的采访、数千个经过检验的公开物件、数百份提交资料、卫星影像和法医医学报告，发现以色列和内塔尼亚胡“需对将饥饿作为一种战争手段的战争罪行，谋杀或故意杀戮、特意攻击平民和民用物体、强迫转移、性暴力、酷刑和不人道或残忍待遇、任意拘留和侵犯个人尊严等负起责任。”
该委员会主席纳维·皮莱指出，“必须追究所有犯罪者的责任”，这是制止暴力循环的唯一途径，包括双方的侵略和报复，目的是确保各方严格遵守国际法。
日本对战争罪政策：过去与现在
在亚洲国家中，马来西亚和首相安华在谴责以色列及其使用违反文明国家道德和人文标准的种族灭绝策略方面，发挥了领导作用。尽管遭到西方的强烈反对，马来西亚仍然坚定地坚持自己的立场。
马来西亚的坚定立场与日本未能明确谴责以色列和内塔尼亚胡形成鲜明对比，尽管日本在巴勒斯坦人面对著以色列残暴入侵之初，担任七国集团主席。
七国集团被视为最强大的政府间政治和经济论坛，日本是唯一的亚洲成员，与加拿大、法国、德国、意大利、英国和美国并列，欧盟是“非正式成员”。七国集团被西方媒体广泛吹捧为，可透过其在经济和地缘政治的重大举措，发挥著重要国际影响力。
西方媒体无一例外地宣扬著七国集团会议是西方及其非西方盟友坚定维护基于法治的国际秩序决心。
这是七国集团广岛高峰会议前夕，日本外交部向国际媒体发布的高峰会议资讯摘录：
维护以法治为基础的国际秩序：展现七国集团维护法治国际秩序的坚定决心，坚决反对任何单方面以武力改变现状或威胁使用核武器的行为，如俄罗斯般，或者使用核……
日本有很多机会明确谴责以色列，并公开谴责以色列的战争罪行。2023年11月3日，日本外交部长上川阳子会见以色列外长时，谴责了“哈马斯等人的残酷杀戮和绑架”，同时表示“日本对以色列人民的声援”。几个小时后，上川会见巴勒斯坦外长时，也表达了其“最诚挚的哀悼”并对加沙地带敌对行动的受害者表示“同情”，也表示日本准备增加人道主义援助。
这种讯息传递和政策行动上的自相矛盾——一方面谴责哈马斯并表达对以色列的支持，另一方面却没有谴责以色列并追究其极其可怕的战争罪行，相当于种族灭绝、种族清洗和最严重的侵犯行为的责任。
日本拒绝采取行动阻止以色列在巴勒斯坦的进一步暴行，表明了日本在政治和经济上对美国和西方的效忠与结盟，批评人士称日本是美国的附庸国。在二战战败后出现的不平等和依赖地位中，日本一直被美国视为侍从和自动提款机——日本经常、本能地在全球舞台上扮演这一角色，而不是与美国对抗，主张本身独立和中立的立场。
拒承认日军罪行
日本未能支持联合国对所有犯下战争罪和其他反人类罪的透明调查和问责，事实上并不令人意外，因为日本迄今依然拒绝完全承认日本军队在二战期间犯下的战争罪和反人类罪。
许多历史学家和权威人士认为，日本在第二次世界大战中的罪行野蛮程度和受害者人数方面，比德国希特勒纳粹政府对犹太人犯下的罪行还要严重。
这些罪行包括性奴役和屠杀、生物战和化学战、人体实验、饥饿和强迫劳动，所有这些都是日本军方和政府犯下或纵容的。特别是南京大屠杀或南京大虐杀是在现代史上，军队集体犯下的最严重战争罪行之一。请参阅https://www.history.com/topics/asian-history/nanjing-massacre
对日本战争罪行的更全面了解可查阅https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes。
这是日本政府不仅拒绝完全承认或道歉的历史事实。相反，全世界看到的是日本不断否认并试图抹去这段历史，更试图粉饰其二战时在亚太地区的军事行动；以及日本政治领袖继续参拜靖国神社的行动，靖国神社供奉所有日本战死者，包括被定罪的甲级战犯。
当加沙战争结束时，内塔尼亚胡和其他以色列领导人一定会从日本的例子以及近代历史上处理战争罪行和战犯的篇章中得到鼓舞。
林德宜《为何日本拒绝带头谴责战争罪行》原文：Why Japan Refuses To Lead In Condemnation Of War Crimes
As Israel’s war in Gaza continues, Israel’s Netanyahu has been hailed a conquering hero by US leaders during his recent 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”. See here.
Not only did Israel systematically try to obstruct the Commission’s investigations, 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, Malaysia and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim have played the leading role in condemnation of Israel and its use of a genocidal strategy that has broken through the moral and humanistic standards of civilised nations. The Malaysian stand has been steadfastly adhered to despite the strong disapproval of the West.
Malaysia’s firm position is in stark contrast to the failure of Japan to unequivocally condemn Israel and Netanyahu despite its chairman position in G7 at the beginning of the reign of terror imposed on the Palestinians.
G7 is acknowledged to be the most powerful intergovernmental political and economic forum and has Japan as its sole Asian member sitting with Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States and the European Union as a "non-enumerated member". It has been widely touted in Western media as wielding significant international influence through its major initiatives in economics and geo-politics.
The meetings of G7 are invariably trumpeted in western media as the strong determination of the West with its non-West allies to maintain the international order based on the rule of law.
This is an excerpt of the Summit Information handed out to international media from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the eve of the G7 Hiroshima Summit
Upholding the international order based on the rule of law: Demonstrating G7's strong determination to uphold the international order based on the rule of law, firmly rejecting any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force or the threat to use nuclear weapons, as Russia has done, or the use of nuclear......
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 Kamikawa met with 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, Kamikawa met with 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 amounting to genocide, ethnic cleansing and the most serious violation of human rights - is not surprising.
Japan’s refusal to act to prevent further Israeli 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. In this unequal and dependent status that emerged after its defeat in the Second World War, Japan has been treated by the US as 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 independent 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 in fact hardly unsurprising given its refusal to fully acknowledge the war crimes and crimes against humanity that the Japanese army engaged in during the Second World War.
Japan’s war crimes are considered by many historians 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 and chemical warfare, human experimentation, starvation, and forced labour, all committed or condoned by the Japanese military and government. In particular the Rape of Nanjing or the Nanjing Massacre stands out in modern history as one of the worst acts of war crimes collectively committed by an army. See https://www.history.com/topics/asian-history/nanjing-massacre
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. Instead the world has seen continual denial and attempts at erasure of its past 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.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders must be drawing comfort from Japan’s example and this particular page of recent history dealing with war crimes and war criminals when the war in Gaza ends.
