War crimes? What war crimes?

The Israeli Defense Force has completed its investigation into five alleged atrocities committed during January's military campaign in the Gaza Strip, and - not surprisingly - found that in all five instances they examined “Israeli forces acted professionally and ethically.”

Of course the Israelis are accused of far more than five instances of atrocities; a United Nations envoy to the region said that she alone had “hundreds” of credible accounts of potential war crimes that included Israeli forces using unarmed Palestinian civilians as ‘human shields’, snipers shooting Palestinian women and children and the illegal use of weapons like white phosphorous shells (which cause horrific burns on skin) by the IDF. (A post about the allegations is available here).

And while the IDF seems to want to sweep the allegations under the rug, the government of Norway might not. Norway's public prosecutors announced today that they would study a complaint brought by a group of Norwegian lawyers to charge Israeli leaders - including Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni - with war crimes. Norway recently passed a law giving their prosecutors broad powers to charge foreigners with war crimes committed anywhere in the world, even if Norwegians were not directly involved.

Norway's chief prosecutor said that a review is underway to decide on whether or not to order Norwegian police to launch a formal investigation into the allegations in Gaza. The United Nations is also continuing its own investigation. Seems like the IDF's word just isn't good enough for them.