Under Scrutiny Over Gaza, Israel Points to Civilian Toll of U.S. Wars - The New York Times
Under Scrutiny Over Gaza, Israel Points to Civilian Toll of U.S. Wars - The New York Times
Israeli officials say it is impossible to defeat Hamas without killing innocents, a lesson they argue Americans and their allies should understand.
The excuse for that during WWII was that we couldnt really guide bombs very well. That doesnt really fly when you can thread a bomb through the eye of a needle. And 10,000+ dead civilians in a matter of days isnt an acceptable price to pay even if it did.
Here's a point that is not at all relevant to the purposeful annihilation of Gaza, but "smart" munitions, are still far less accurate than military cheerleaders let on.
Those "thread a needle" bombs are great when they work, but often don't.
I mean, 90% of the time you can still hit the right building with one, but the correct window? Maybe.
See, the issue is, these are single use devices, built by the lowest bidder. They require high precision in their manufacture, and then need fairly good weather conditions and a well painted target. Otherwise, they miss. Usually, that miss is "Close enough", i.e. the blast of the exploding munition will still take out the target (and maybe something nearby that you didn't want to hit) Sometimes that target is mostly fine and a building a block over is the one you hit.
All of this is when the intel is actually good. Usually it's not. "Smart" bombs can only ever be as smart as the people firing them.
The caveat here is drones. Drones have the option to linger in the air before approaching a target, so they generally only hit targets that are selected. Which then goes back to the issue of intelligence, and the stunning lack thereof in most military engagements.
Two wrongs don't make a right Israel.
Israel? More like Iswrongl!
Actually, it does. It is clearly not left Israel.
For sure, if someone shoots your kid, you must turn the other cheek because they're gonna dress in civilian clothes and pretend to be innocent when you shoot back. It's what these pricks have been doing to U.S. troops for years and it's the reason that civilians are more at risk when fighting animals like this.
Israel has a long history of over-reaction.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_demolition_of_Palestinian_property
Read the section on "Punitive Demolition".
That didn’t happen.
And if it did, it wasn’t that bad.
And if it was, that’s not a big deal.
And if it is, that’s not my fault.
And if it was, I didn’t mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.
And if you didn't, I'm not the only one doing it <--- YOU ARE HERE
The smart thing to do when someone makes a mistake is to try to learn from it, not double down
I need to find the album of these
Vaguely ask and you shall receive: https://imgur.io/gallery/YPHY0
I just google for 'em based on the name of the fallacy.
It's refreshing to see the "I know you are but what am I" level of argument at world scale and on the topic of war crimes
Alright. I'll be sure to let the children know.
USA: "Hey Israel, can you stop killing so many people?" Israel:"no, you" USA: "here is 5 more billion dollars"
Hey Israel? Might not be the wisest to bite the hand that feeds you, just saying...
American president supports Israel
American president's polls decline over supporting Israel
Israel is criticised
Israel criticises America to deflect blame
It’s a bold move Cotton, let’s see if it pays off.
Ah. I see they've fallen to Russian propagandist level of arguments.
Actually, it's the pro Palestinian level of argument. Their usual MO has always been out of context numbers.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The questions over whether Israel is violating laws of war intensified last week after warplanes dropped at least two 2,000-pound bombs — among the largest in the country’s arsenal — on the Jabaliya neighborhood, killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds, most from refugee families.
“Israel dropping several large bombs in the middle of a densely populated refugee camp was completely and predictably going to lead to a significant and disproportionate loss of civilian life and therefore a war crime,” Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch and a visiting professor at Princeton University, wrote online.
The Geneva Conventions, the widely accepted basis for international humanitarian law and codes of warfare, were adopted in 1949 with the aim of preventing governments from inflicting the level of mass casualties of World War II.
Israeli officials say they take extensive measures to protect civilians, including by dropping leaflets or making radio and television broadcasts and even phone calls urging residents to leave danger zones ahead of some attacks.
One benchmark that Israel considers relevant was introduced by a United Nations investigation of civilian deaths during the 1999 NATO bombing campaign over Kosovo, whose aim was to protect ethnic Albanians from attacks by Serbian forces.
Mr. Paul, the former State Department official, was a longtime employee in the agency’s political-military bureau, which handles weapons sales, until last month, when he resigned because of what he said was immoral U.S. support and lethal aid for Israel’s bombings in Gaza.
The original article contains 2,153 words, the summary contains 248 words. Saved 88%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Yup, after seeing a University student trying to point out the Civilian toll, I remember WWII - did everyone forget Dresden?
Laws of war are designed to make it somehow more civilised - but the more we see war, the more we see that it really cannot be 'more civilised' and that the 'fog of war' is a bitch.
A lot of horrendous shit happened in WWII.
It's not something any of us should seek to emulate.
In fact, it provided the impetus for making more international laws against it.
but the more we see war, the more we see that it really cannot be ‘more civilised’ and that the ‘fog of war’ is a bitch.
Is it really 'fog of war' when you're intentionally bombing places like hospitals and refugee camps because tHeRe aRe cOmMaNdErS HiDiNg aMoNgSt tHe cIvIlIaNs?