Israeli military prosecutors have decided not to take legal action over the country’s use of cluster bombs during last year’s war in Lebanon, the army said today. It closed an investigation into a practice that has drawn heavy criticism from the UN and international human rights groups.The investigation determined that Israel’s use of the weapons, which open in flight and scatter dozens of bomblets, was a “concrete military necessity” and did not violate international humanitarian law.

The United Nations and human rights groups have accused Israel of dropping about four million cluster bomblets during its 34-day war against the Hezbollah guerrilla group.They say as many as one million bomblets failed to explode and now endanger civilians. More than 30 people have been killed by cluster bomb and land mine explosions in Lebanon since the war in summer 2006.

In a statement, the army said its chief investigator, Major General Gershon HaCohen, established “it was clear that the majority of the cluster munitions were fired at open and uninhabited areas, areas from which Hezbollah forces operated and in which no civilians were present”.

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Hmmm, so what about the cluster munitions which were not in the majority? I also seem to recall Israel accusing Hezbollah of using “human shields” in populated areas every time the IDF bombed innocent Lebanese civilians. Additionally, this new revision doesn’t explain why “90 percent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict”, or the rather contradictory genocidal statement made by Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon that anyone remaining in Southern Lebanon would be considered a Hezbollah supporter, and thus fair game.