Almost as soon as the first Israeli missile struck the Gaza Strip, a veteran cheering squad suited up to support the home team. "Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life," Charles Krauthammer claimed in the Washington Post. Echoing Krauthammer, Alan Dershowitz called the Israeli attack on Gaza, "Perfectly 'Proportionate.'" And in the New York Times, Israeli historian Benny Morris described his country's airstrikes as "highly efficient."
While the cheerleaders testified to the superior moral fiber of their team, the Palestinian civilian death toll mounted. Israeli missiles tore at least fifteen Palestinian police cadets to shreds at a graduation ceremony, blew twelve worshipers to pieces (including six children) while they left evening prayers at a mosque, flattened the elite American International School, killed five sisters while they slept in their beds, and liquidated 9 women and children in order to kill a single Hamas leader. So far, Israeli forces have killed at least 500 Gazans and wounded some two thousand, including hundreds of children. Yesterday, the IDF blanketed parts of Gaza with white phosphorus, a chemical weapon Saddam Hussein once deployed against Kurdish rebels.
"It was Israel at its best," Yossi Klein Halevi declared in the New Republic.
By New Year's Day, Israel's cheering squad had turned the opinion pages of major American newspapers into their own personal romper room. Of all the editorial contributions published by the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times since the Israel's war on Gaza began, to my knowledge only one offered a skeptical view of the assault. But that editorial, by Israeli novelist David Grossman, contained not a single word about the Palestinian casualties of IDF attacks. Even while calling for a cease fire, Grossman promised, "We can always start shooting again."
Israeli public relations agents fanned out to broadcast studios from the US to Europe, fulfilling an aggressive strategy conceived after the country's catastrophic 2006 attack on Lebanon. An analysis by Israel's foreign ministry of eight hours of coverage across international broadcast media concluded that Israeli representatives received a whopping 58 minutes of airtime compared to only 19 minutes for Palestinians. "Quite a few outlets are very favorable to Israel, namely by showing [its] suffering. I am sure it is a result of the new co-ordination," said Major Avital Leibovich, an IDF spokesperson who has become a fixture on cable news in the past weeks.
But while Israel's PR machine cranked its Mighty Wurlitzer to full blast, drowning out all opposing voices with its droning sound, a surprisingly substantial portion of the American public decided to dance to its own tune. According to a December 31 Rasmussen poll (so far the only measure of US opinion on the Gaza assault), while Americans remained overwhelmingly supportive of Israel, they were split almost evenly on the question of whether Israel should attack Gaza -- 44% in favor of the assault and 41% against it. The internals are even more remarkable.
While Republicans supported the assault on Gaza by a large margin, a predictable finding, only 31% of Democrats did. Members of the Democratic base thus stood in sharp contrast to most of their elected representatives (freshman Rep. Donna Edwards is a notable exception), who backed the latest Israeli assault in lockstep, and seem to support Israel no matter what it does. The rift between the progressive base and the party played out on Barack Obama's Change.gov site, which was deluged in recent days with demands for a statement condemning Israel's assault on Gaza.
So what accounts for the surprising trend in American opinion on Gaza? The proliferation of progressive online media and social networking sites could be a factor, but I have another theory: The same pundits who are cheerleading Israel's assault on Gaza once sold the occupation of Iraq to America, and with a nearly identical set of arguments. In their voices and those of the grim Israeli PR agents carted out for cable news, many Americans hear echoes of the Bush administration's most fantastical lies. When they see images of Gazans under withering bombardment, they flash back to Fallujah and the assorted horrors of Iraq. When they look at Israel, they see themselves during the darkest days of the Bush era.
Now, an increasing share of Americans know what Israel is doing to Gaza. And they reject it, even when Israel is "at its best."
Update: Israeli shells killed 42 women and children who tried to flee gunfire at a United Nation-run school, bringing the Gazan death toll to an estimated 600. 100 children have died as a result of the Israeli assault on Gaza, according to Save the Children.
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Israel Assaults Hamas In Gaza
SCROLL DOWN FOR SLIDESHOW ***UPDATE*** 12/29 11:45PM Israel continued to pound Hamas targets in Gaza for a fourth straight day: Israeli warplanes killed 10 Palestinians...
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Israel Masses Troops, Tanks For Possible Ground Invasion
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel widened its deadliest-ever air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers Sunday, pounding smuggling tunnels and government strongholds, sending more tanks...
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Axelrod: Obama Understands Israel's Urge To Respond
One of Barack Obama's chief spokesmen repeated on Sunday that it would be counterproductive for the president-elect to weigh too deeply into the crisis between...
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Hamas Calls For Martyrdom After 280 Palestinians Die (VIDEO)
Israel has continued airstrikes on Gaza for the second day. The death toll has risen to 280, reports Al Jazeera. It also reports that Hamas...
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Gaza Crisis Complicates Obama's Policy In Mideast
CRAWFORD, Texas — The deaths of hundreds of Palestinians in Israel's deadliest-ever air assault on Hamas further complicate President-elect Barack Obama's challenge to achieve a...
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Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian militants sent a deadly barrage of missiles flying deep into Israel on Monday, demonstrating that Hamas still had firepower...
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Progressive Jews See Potential Conflict With Obama Over Gaza
The flaring of tensions and violence in the Gaza Strip has created more than just another sensitive foreign policy crisis for Barack Obama to juggle....
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Why Did Israel Attack Gaza?
Why has Israel launched the deadliest attacks on Palestinian territory since the 1967 Six Day War? Israel's onslaught is a reprisal for a week-long barrage...
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US, UN, EU and Russia urge immediate Gaza truce
UNITED NATIONS — Key world powers trying to promote Mideast peace urged Israel and Hamas on Tuesday to immediately stop fighting in Gaza and southern...
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Israel weighs 48-hour halt to Gaza air campaign
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel, under international pressure, is considering a 48-hour halt to its punishing four-day air campaign on Hamas targets in Gaza...
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Israeli airstrike kills a top Hamas leader
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An Israeli warplane dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on the home of one of Hamas' top five decision-makers Thursday, instantly killing...
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Israel Invades Gaza: Info, Updates, Video
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO ***UPDATE*** January 4th, 9:38PM The Times of London reports that Israel's rain of fire on Gaza is thought to be caused...
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Israeli troops and tanks slice deep into Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships surrounded Gaza's largest city and fought militants at close range...
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Diplomats Converge On Israel In Push For Truce
Scroll down for video GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israel seized control of high-rise buildings and attacked houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels as it pressed...
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Diplomatic Pressure On Israel, Hamas Intensifies
UPDATE 6 pm Heavy fighting broke out in Gaza's populated streets Monday night as Israel dismissed calls for a truce, reports the Telegraph. Explosions were...
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Day Four: Gaza War Postings
I've been zigzagging my way between Israel and the West Bank to avoid IDF checkpoints. When we enter the Palestinian territories where emotions ran high, my Palestinian driver almost has a fit when he finds out that my cameraman is an Israeli.
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Photos From Israel That You Won't See on the News
Israel is not media savvy -- we have installed warning systems and bomb shelters. No casualties means no photos, which means that many incidents aren't even covered by the media.
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To Succeed in Israel/Palestine Where Clinton Failed, Obama Needs a History Lesson
If Obama limits his negotiating horizons to the failed visions of his Clinton-era Mideast team, the situation in Israel-Palestine is going to get a lot worse in the coming years.
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The CNN-NPR-NYT Middle East Conspiracy
When people complain about bias in the media, it's always bias against their own point of view, and never in favor of their side. Nowhere is this more true than in coverage of the Middle East.
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No Exit for Civilians in Gaza in the Midst of War
In similar situations around the world, civilians caught in the midst of conflict would have the option of seeking safety in neighboring countries as refugees. Gazans have no such option.
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Evidence Grows That Israel is Using White Phosphorus in Gaza
Today, at least two UN officials have flatly declared that three or more white phosphorous shells were part of the attack today that set a UN building and compound ablaze in Gaza City.
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Gaza Death Toll: 375 Palestinian, 4 Israeli
Israeli politicians continue to labor under delusions that this military operation can "clean up" their "problem" once and for all.
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Israel, Stop! Just. Stop.
Killing lots of people on the other side is not only ineffective, it is counterproductive. It hurts your cause. It gets more of your own people killed in the long run. Israel, you are so better than this.
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Israel and Gaza: Stop the Violence Now!
Israelis and Palestinians have been trying to prove to each other that they can survive never ending violence, an eternal occupation, and a perpetual cycle of denial that the two cannot exist together.
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Changing the Reality in Gaza
Counting on international pressure to bring a quick end to the Israeli onslaught may prove to be misplaced as Israel is now determined to never allow a return to the status quo ante.
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Understanding the Gaza Catastrophe
The people of Gaza are victims of geopolitics at its inhumane worst: producing what Israel itself calls a 'total war' against an essentially defenseless society.
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Gaza: Lessons We Should Have Learned
The horrors that are unfolding in Gaza are but a tragic replay of past confrontations.
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Arab-Israeli Rage
More than anything, it seems that the Arab world needs to produce it's version of Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi that can smartly and gracefully lead their people to a dignified future.
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Hamas and the Death of a Better Future
To me, Gaza is personal. As an Israeli infantry officer, I served in Gaza before, during, and after the 2005 Disengagement.
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In Gaza, A Doctor's Voice Tells of Shaking Houses, Breaking Windows
Four days after Israeli air attacks against the Gaza Strip began, hospitals are already overwhelmed by the influx of wounded patients.
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Al Jazeera English Beats Israel's Ban on Reporters in Gaza with Exclusive Coverage
Some may call it propaganda but I call it hardcore reporting. If you are not watching Al Jazeera English's coverage of the War on Gaza, you are missing much, if not, most of the story.
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A Minnesota College Newspaper Editor on Israel-Hamas Conflict, from Tel Aviv
There are 6 sets of parents in America right now who might be wishing that their kids weren't college newspaper editors.
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Israel as Mini-Me
We are both settler states -- the Puritans, who escaped oppression in the Old World only to mete out oppression in the New, unfolded their Zionist project in the 17th century with their "city built upon a hill" as the New Jerusalem.
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Maybe Hamas is Not so Stupid
Judged as a piece of political theater, Hamas has succeeded in presenting Israel as the golem on the block.
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Israel: Attacks on Gaza will Likely Backfire
If you're a civilian living in Gaza and an Israeli missile strikes your home killing your loved ones what are you to do? . Chances are you're going to take up arms and attack anyone and everyone you feel is responsible for the death of your family.
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Gaza: The War On Children
Israel has accused Hamas of intentionally attacking from civilian-populated areas, driving up casualties among non-combatants to provoke anger against Israel. But do children have to pay the price?
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The Future of Civilization
No war, no military action, no act of self-defense or revenge has a legitimacy that exempts the perpetrators from responsibility for the consequences they create.
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What Was Israel Supposed to Do?
Every day now, I hear someone saying, "What was Israel supposed to do? Hamas keeps firing rockets into their country." So, here is a quick list of the things they were supposed to do.
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Jews are Soul-Searching About Madoff -- What About Gaza?
The future of Judaism and the moral standing of the US Jewish community are being threatened. It is happening in Gaza. And unfortunately there is far too little handwringing about it in the Jewish leadership.
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Did Israel Use Disproportionate Force?
The tide of public opinion seems to invariably side with the underdog, regardless of who's to blame. Hence, Israel now finds itself in the awkward yet familiar position of defending its actions.
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More Birth Pangs in the Middle East?
Israel finds itself in a similar position the United States found itself in Vietnam: The more it flexes its military muscle the politically weaker it becomes vis-à-vis a determined, largely civilian enemy.
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Israel's Extensive PR Campaign
Last Friday, at the height of the attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced without a hint of irony: "We are peace seekers."
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What Was Hamas Thinking? Understanding the Events in Gaza
So what are Hamas's strategic imperatives? Hamas still behaves like a traditional guerrilla or terrorist group -- such groups are interested in relative, not absolute, victory.
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Accused of Funding Hamas, Controversial Charity Collects Money in Lebanon for Palestinians in Gaza (VIDEO)
On Beirut's waterfront road, young men dressed in green jackets with the Etelaf Al-Khair logo on their backs are handing out fliers with images of bloodied Palestinian children and holding donation boxes.
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Georgetown Newspaper Editor Reports on Sderot-Gaza, and Recording With Rockets
In a recording studio in Sderot, a few miles east of Israel's Gaza strip, Sergio Arditi felt the steady pulse of Rock and Roll give way to the sporadic vibration of bombs.
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Israel: There Has To Be A Better Way
The war between Israel and Hamas is not as two-dimensional as the United States Senate would like to believe. This is a complex and asymmetric war that will not end favorably for either side.
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Where Is Israel Going?
Does the Gaza war improve Israel's long-term (or even short-term) situation? I am not questioning Israel's right to respond. But that is the wrong question.
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Israel's Blitzkrieg on Gaza Proves Politically Expedient, Disproportionate and Unstoppable
While the threat of rockets launched from Gaza can seem menacing, or even "terrorizing," it is incomparable to the terror that millions of Palestinians endure on a daily basis.
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Famed Israeli Journalist Decries Civilian Casualties in Gaza -- But Who is Amira Hass?
Hass is not only an Israeli but both of her parents are Holocaust survivors. She has become the most prominent Israeli journalist to make it her mission to report as often as possible from Gaza and the West Bank.
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Defending Condi: Olmert Shames Himself in Kick-in-the-Teeth Attack on Rice
Olmert's statements certainly send a signal to many in the incoming Obama administration that while there are convergent American and Israeli interests -- friendship and trust are eroding.
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The Phony War Crimes Accusation Against Israel
If Israel were ever to be charged with "war crimes," that would mark the end of international human rights law as a neutral arbitrator of conduct.
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Palestine's Guernica and the Myths of Israeli Victimhood
After hundreds dead and counting, it is Israel who refuses to re-enter talks over a cease-fire. They are not intent on securing peace as they claim; it is more and more clear that they are seeking regime change -- whatever the cost.
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Israel May Win in Gaza, Hamas Won't Lose and Moderate Arab Leaders and Obama Will Worry
With or without intention, Israel has incited millions across the Arab world to praise Syria and Iran, both dedicated to the Palestinian cause, and perhaps just as many to condemn Egypt and more moderate countries.
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Christmas Spirit Shattered in the Holy Land
A tense atmosphere in anticipation of more bad news and an air of sadness has engulfed East Jerusalem in the aftermath of the Gaza attacks. The spirit of Christmas has all but died.
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Calling Out Bush's War in Gaza
Is it in the interest of humanity that we Americans engage in the charade that the Israeli government is an autonomous actor in this matter?
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Fanaticism and Contempt
Once the master of revolutionary war, Israel cannot seem to grasp the essential nature of asymmetrical warfare.
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IDF Photos of Hamas Targets in Gaza Before Strike
Israel Defense Forces released aerial photos of the Hamas facilities targeted by fighter pilots on Saturday's Operation Cast Lead. The red outline indicates the Hamas facilities targeted.
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America is Primarily at Fault for the Conflict in Gaza
The Bush administration demanded -- against the advice of nearly every expert in the field and the Israeli government -- that the Palestinians hold elections. They did. Hamas won.
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Bomb A Ghetto, Raise A Cheer -- The Video
On January 11, an estimated 10,000 people rallied in front of the Israeli consulate in New York in support of Israel's attack on Gaza. The event was a festive affair that began and ended with singing and joyous dancing.
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Gaza on YouTube: Film at 11!
In lieu of actual reporting, all you have to do is log on to the Israel Defense Forces' YouTube Channel and you can see images of Israel pummeling Gaza, and sit in on "the first ever" Twitter press conference.
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NY Times Responds Weakly Today to Israel's 'Incursion' -- As Shells Kill Dozens at U.N. School
It takes until paragraph #8 for the Times, to mention that, by the way, Israel "must" allow foreign journalists access to Gaza, especially since its highest court so ordered.
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Gazans in Peril
The human tragedy that has befallen Gaza's Palestinians -- Hamas supporters or not -- warrants every American to take cognizance because of its consequences for a durable Middle East peace.
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Hold Your Fire: Children and Civilians In Gaza
If the killing of unarmed civilians by terrorist groups is wrong, Israel's killing of unarmed Palestinian civilians and our defense of Israel's conduct cannot be right.
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War Diary from Sderot
Not in my name and not for me did you go into this war. The bloodbath in Gaza is not in my name nor for my security. Behind this accursed leadership of Hamas live human beings.
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Overwhelming Force Is the Only Way to Fight Terrorists
The destruction of Hamas benefits the Palestinians far more than the Israelis. It is they that must live under the cruelty of an organization that terrorizes its citizens even more than its enemies.
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Israel's Invasion Inspires One-Sided Commentary in U.S. Media
The invasion, to no one's surprise, did begin today -- so any further criticism will now come too late. But as in the past, U.S. media coverage and commentary has overwhelmingly backed Israeli actions.
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After Years in Exile, My Grandfather Returns to Gaza
My family had been trying to speak with my grandfather since Saturday, after Israel began its onslaught on Gaza. But we haven't managed to reach him.
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Gaza and the Obama Effect -- Ending the War
It might be pushing the envelope to call Obama the peacemaker here, but it's hard to deny that his impending entrance to the world stage has an effect.
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Killing the Messenger: Targeting the Press in Gaza
As is with the current situation with Gaza, when Israel is performing air strikes, everyone is vulnerable -- militants, civilians, and journalists alike.
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Obama's Silence
As January 20 approaches, Obama will have to make a lonely decision - to remember his 2007 words about Palestinian suffering and his campaign pledge to talk unconditionally with adversaries.
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How Propaganda Hijacked Israeli Strategy in Gaza
While Israel's explicit goal is to cease all attacks on southern Israel, senior IDF and intelligence officials have privately signaled that this is unrealistic, even with a ground invasion.
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Jordanian MPs Burn Israeli Flag
Nationalist MPs shared together in a clear act of national consensus as they torched the Israeli flag at the outset of the parliament's session Sunday.
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Video Reveals that a Lack of Moral Center Is Central to Hamas's War Strategy
The whole world is quick to condemn Israel for civilian deaths in Gaza, but there is utter silence over Hamas's blatant disregard for the lives of its own citizens.
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Israel/Palestine Debate Is Shifting
With each fresh round of bombing, Israel's reputation gets worse, allowing growing numbers of people who might never have said a critical word about that country to finally speak up.
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Goodnight My Love, See You in Heaven -- Diary From an Aid Worker in Gaza
The situation has now reached such a critical point that doctors frequently confront dilemmas such as these -- to treat the child who is bleeding to death or the baby who has severe head injuries?
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The U.N.'s Richard Falk: Gaza a Victim of Geopolitics
The people of Gaza are victims of geopolitics at its inhumane worst: producing what Israel itself calls a "total war" against an essentially defenseless society that lacks any defensive military capability whatsoever.
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Israel in Gaza: Three Wrong Arguments
The Reid/McConnell resolution is a perfect articulation of one voice in the American debate over Israel's actions in Gaza. Here are a few objections that should be raised.
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Dead Children In School Uniforms In Gaza City: A Nagging Thought About 'Collateral Damage'
I wish I could parse the politics and figure out where I stand on this shiny new conflict, but I'm stuck on its opening act.
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Israel, Gaza and Iran: Trapping Obama in Imagined Fault Lines
While there certainly is an underlying rivalry between Israel and Iran that has come to fuel many other otherwise unrelated conflicts in the region, not every war Israel fights is related to Iran.
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The True Story Behind This War is Not the One Israel is Telling
The Israeli government wants peace, but only one imposed on its own terms, based on the acceptance of defeat by the Palestinians.
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Weighing Proportionality in Gaza
The losses on both sides will be all in vain if the final outcome of the war does not substantially improve both the prospects for an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace.
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I've Seen This One Before
The only thing more predictable than a Jets football season is the ongoing saga that is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Reportage from Israel/Gaza
We can't ignore this fact: Gaza is becoming not the embryo of the so-desired Palestinian State, but the advance base of a total war against the Jewish State.
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Proportionality and Disproportionality: A Guide to Arguments about Gaza
Even if the guns fall silent the charges and counter-charges of violations of international law will continue. Already the airwaves are full of talk that Israel's "disproportionate" response is a violation of international law.
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Obama -- Please Say Something!
In just over two weeks Obama will be unable to avoid saying something and the world will be looking to him and demanding to hear his opinion on the crisis in Gaza.
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Reading The Pictures: Is That A Snuff Film The Israeli Air Force Has Posted On YouTube?
 What troubles me most is how the IDF, in the name of transparency and smart public relations, has not only posted quite a few videos of bombing runs, but continues to show one in question.
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How Israel is Wrong and the Palestinians are Misguided
Israel is occupying the West Bank (and effectively Gaza because they control the borders, the airspace, etc.). What are they going to do with it -- hold on to it forever?
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Lessons Learned from the 2006 War Being Implemented in Gaza
While many have spoken about the lessons Hamas has learned from Hezbollah over the years, it appears the Israeli political and military establishment has learned one or two of its own.
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It's Overtime for Hamas' Leaders and Time for Them to Go
As long as Hamas rules its Gaza roost with its iron fist, any hope for a two state solution is just not in the cards. Hamas plays with a crooked deck.
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Kuwait's Political Machinations Lower U.S. Stocks as War on Gaza Raises Oil Prices
As the American dollar declines and bombs drop on Gaza, the likeliness of regional countries becoming drawn into the conflict are mounting.
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Has Israel Revived Hamas?
It is abundantly clear that Hamas movement has been brought back from near political defeat while moderate Arab leaders have been forced to back away from their support for any reconciliation with Israel.
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American Jewish Responses to Gaza: Old & New
In the past several years, the emergence of pro-peace American Jewish organizations has provided an alternative voice on critical Middle East issues.
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Hamas Is Largely to Blame for Israel's Gaza Offensive
How is it that Hamas, a terrorist organization that refused to extend the truce and fired rockets at civilians on a daily basis, gets so much sympathy, with Israel condemned for defending itself?
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Israel's Risk
What we're watching in Gaza is not so much low-intensity warfare as the continued fracture of the post-Soviet international order.
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Why Do So Few Speak Up for Gaza?
Why is it that there is such widespread acceptance, beginning with the apologetic arguments of George Bush, that whatever Israel does is always justified as necessary to the survival of the Jewish state?
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Why Israel Was Right to Invade Gaza
How should Israel attempt to protect its people, long-term, if it merely acts defensively in a tit-for-tat manner? That would be a horribly naïve response given its history.
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Brzezinski: Obama Must Press Agreement on Israelis and Palestinians
In order to get beyond the superficial analyses one might find on Morning Joe, I called up Zbigniew Brzezinski to offer him a serious opportunity to talk about Obama and the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
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Gaza Clouds Obama's Prospects
Clearly, Hamas and its hard-line supporters in the region reject the goal of an Israel at peace with its neighbors and secure within its boundaries.
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Gaza, Qaddafi, And Starbucks
Along with the images of bloodied children, scenes of destruction and carnage in Gaza, debates on Arab disunity have increased in the Arab media.
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Obama's Silence on Gaza is Deafening
Obama has massive political capital, and could have injected himself into the crisis before it happened and could have lent his credibility to a situation that has spiraled dangerously out of control.
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Attack on Gaza: As Usual, U.S. Media (And Most Liberals) Silent -- As Israeli Newspaper Raises Doubts
The foreign press, and even Haaretz in Israel, carries more balanced accounts than the American media.
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Israel's President Shimon Peres, On the Attacks in Gaza
Peres: "It is the first time in the history of Israel that we, the Israelis, cannot understand the motives or the purposes of the ones who are shooting at us. It is the most unreasonable war, done by the most unreasonable warriors."
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My Kuffiyeh Says I Care
It's New Years Eve in Beirut, and everyone is wondering what to do. In times of war, going about one's usual business can be a form of protest. In times of solidarity, the code of conduct is vague.
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Israel, Hamas, Gaza: Plenty of Us in America Just Need to Shut Up
Something labeled "Subject: Fwd: Some Differences Between Hamas and the Nazi Party" showed up in my inbox Monday night.
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Selective Memory Is a Problem when dealing with the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict
Irrespective of time and chronology, trading land for peace continues to be the most logical and appropriate way to address the conflict which has bridged the 20th and 21st centuries.
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Obama Camp "Prepared To Talk To Hamas," Says the Guardian
The Obama administration's emphasis on "talk" with Hamas will bring a significant moral shift in U.S. policy -- but it will not do away with some of the core grievances vis-a-vis U.S.-Israel relations.
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Mitchell Bard is Wrong On Israel
Hamas did not start this conflict. Here's an extensive time line of events, making clear that Israel broke the ceasefire, not Hamas.
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AP Reporter Watches Own Home Destroyed, via YouTube, in Gaza
In one of the most moving accounts of the war in Gaza, Ibrahim Barzak, the AP's chief correspondent there for 17 years, today wrote of watching his own home destroyed on YouTube.
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Protesters in Beirut Demand Action from Arab Leaders on Gaza, Focusing on Egypt as Demonstrations Rise (VIDEO)
Millions across the Arab world are demonstrating, demanding that Arab governments do more to support Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
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Eyeless in Gaza
I wish I didn't believe that the events now unfolding in the Middle East are too complicated for unalloyed outrage. I wish the arguments of only one side rang wholly true to me.
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Ceasefire
The first reason for a ceasefire now is to stop the killing. The second is to ensure that a year or two from now we are not all wishing that Hamas was still in charge.
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Livni and Barak's Gaza Calculus
If hundreds of innocent deaths helps secure a real security mandate for the moderate-to-dovish Kadima/Labor and Israeli-Palestinian peace, that's political calculus Livni and Barak were willing to take.
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Iraqi Parliamentarian to His People: "It's Not Between Palestinians and Israelis, it's Between Terrorists and Moderates"
I spoke over the phone with Iraqi Parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi, head of the Iraqi Nation Party in Baghdad -- he says, interestingly, a significant number of Iraqis are not reflexively anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian.
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What's Next on Gaza/Israel and Why Americans Should Care
So here we are, in a dangerous escalatory cycle that is already sweeping the region, with scores of Palestinian dead, horrific images, a highly-charged blame-game and no obvious exit-strategy. What needs to happen next?
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Was Israel Punked by Hamas? Are Progressives Attacking Israel Being Punked too?
The only way the Israeli and Palestinian people have a shot at peace is for outsiders to put pressure on both sides to make it happen and to stop the violence. It can be done.
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Israel and Hamas: Two to Tango
What is going on in Gaza is that it is not the result of a sudden decision or an immediate and intolerable provocation by one side or the other -- this thing has been in the planning by both sides for months.
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Even in Sderot, Israelis Say No to Endless War
The people I met in Sderot were not calling for war, they were calling for negotiation. They knew that they would be the ones to catch the brunt of an attack on Gaza, not Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem.
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Hamas Is Responsible for the Civilian Casualties in Gaza
By choosing tactical advantages over the safety of its citizens, the terrorist organization chose its military goals over the safety of its fellow Palestinians in Gaza.
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Indifference to the Dead and Dying
Collectively punishing the mothers and children of Gaza does not just violate international law, it does not just kill the people of Gaza, it kills any chance of a future peace.
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The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Is An Ancient Story
I've been living in Israel now for almost a decade, and have survived biological warfare threats from Saddam, Intifada #2, terror attacks targeting Israeli civilians, and the war with Lebanon. But today, I feel pissed off.
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Self-Deception and the Assault on Gaza
From the civilian deaths in Gaza will spring more hatred and terrorism. Yet no people are so prone as Americans and Israelis to think admiringly of our own good intentions.
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Letter From Beersheva
I am here in Beersheva -- on the "almost" frontlines of the conflict with Hamas -- to tell you the first thing to go when missiles start to fall nearby, is your diet.
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How to Defeat Hamas -- Face Up to the Truth
Making Hamas into a unique demon is pure propaganda. But no form of Islamic extremism will end until moderate Muslims stand up for their religion.
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Two Paths Ahead for the Palestinians: Nonviolence vs. Violence
There are only two paths ahead, one for Hamas and one for the Israelis, that each must take in order to solve this conflict once and for all.
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In the Shadow of Airstrikes in Jerusalem
With the coming war and intifada on my mind, I realize that thousands of rockets have been fired into Israel in recent years, yet because we in Jerusalem don't get hit by them, it has always seemed removed.
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It's Time for a Sustained Focus on a Lasting Middle East Peace
What we continue to lack is the kind of real political solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that could finally make a "ceasefire" endure.
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Gaza: Fight at the End of the Tunnel?
Any ceasefire must include an ironclad commitment by Egypt to cooperate fully with Israel to shut Hamas' tunnel network once and for all whatever Hamas' political or military wings decide tomorrow in Cairo.
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The Lesson Israel Should Have Never Learned
Israel, torn in anger and exaggerated feelings of vulnerability, is unlikely to stop bombing until it realizes that is has once again shot itself in the foot.
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As you may see, from the comments on your article, "the American people" are speaking out.
The Congress of the United States, as is usually the case on most controversies, is way behind public opinion.
The House and the Senate have no problem at all, in passing resolutions in support of massacre, and genocide.
"The People" of the country, however, think otherwise.
We need to seize the initiative, and force our legislators to break the connection. Yes we can.
Maybe so, but these papers are eager to publish photos of carnage in Gaza. Hamas seems to have pretty good P.R. partners in the newsrooms.
Israel has not yet finished the Big Project of zionist Organistion of 1919 in Paris when they had decided to control the Jordan River (done ) the Golan Heights (Done ) and the Litani river (south Lebanon Failed miserably twice because the Lebanese have read History . we want Bully arrogant Israel to leave us alone and END Its Occupation and allow the people in Gaza to live a normal life instead of subjecting them to a life of a ghetto , controlling their air , their land , their skies , and lock all the gates . how are they going to have an economy ?? how ??
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Are you saying the innocent people I listed above were not killed by Israel bombs? You say I am incorrect. Why? Are th reports wrong? Why? If you don't give a reason, then, it is because you say so.
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I am saying that because HAMAS committed terrorism against Israel and then HAMAS placed their military equipment within crowded civilian areas, that makes HAMAS primarily responsible for the deaths of the innocent civilians.
This is fact....
Michale......
hamas is fighting OCCUPATION , NO they have not left they only took away the settlers and subjected the people to inhumane conditions . they locked the gates and killed many and shoot sometimes while a car is moving killing everyone around that car , and destroyed homes and allowed crops to rot at the gates , locked the gates so people can not import food or fuel , reduced the electricity and clean watter . even their fishermen are targeted daily by the Israeli Gunships . AID was stopped 2 years ago , even Arabs are not allowed to help or else America will teach them a lesson . so how can you say they left Gaza .
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Terrorism is definded by those in power who make the rules. It is not applied objectively but in the interest of those in power at the detriment of the weaker group(s). If you believe it is applied objectively, then, there isno need wasting my time trying to convince otherwise.
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Again, you are wrong.... I KNOW it's being applied objectively because I am applying it..
If you have some FACTS to dispute my facts, then let's see them...
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Law is NEVER definded or used objectively. There are simply too many shades of gray, no black and white
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Terrorism IS black and white..
Or are you saying that there is justification for terrorism???
Michale.....
Let me help you out...
This is the definition of terrorism...
"Terrorism is defined as ongoing and systematic attacks of violence specifically targeted against innocent civilian persons or property for the purpose of furthering a political, economical or ideological agenda."
Now, being OBJECTIVE, apply any act you think might be terrorism to this definition.
If it fits, it's terrorism. If it doesn't fit, it's not...
Let me know what you come up with..
Michale.....
The definition of "terrorist" is not a matter of who has the smaller or the bigger instrument-Hamas is paper and comb terror compared to the Israeli government's philharmonic, state of the art orchestrated terror. They both seek to create terror and mayhem. The difference is that Hamas creates less mayhem than a Mexican drug cartel, and Israel is committing genocide.
What the world is now witnessing is state terrorism, designed not to "destroy Hamas" but to ratchet up the misery and terror of the Palestinians to the point where they will accept either perpetual subservience to their Israeli overlords (which will not happen) or eventually flee the Gaza strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
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Would you be indifferent if your family members were killed for no reason at all--ALL of them, dead? Would you cite your justification if you had just lost your ENTIRE family, burned beyond recognition? If you went to the one place you were supposedly safe and IT was bombed--twice--killing innocent people who tired to get out of harms way?
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Probably not, but introducing one's family into the equation brings emotional hysteria to a situation that already has too much...
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I just don't understand how one could be so insensitive to human suffering.
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Two and a half decades in field and I am still not "insensitive" to it.. But I DO look at things objectively because that is the best manner to operate to get things done.
And, objectively speaking, it's clear that HAMAS is at fault here...
Michale.....
This makes all the collateral damage the fault and the responsibility of Hamas.
Michale.....
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What Israel is doing, killing children in their beds, as they walk home from school, fits the definition of terrorism.
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Sorry, this is not correct..
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They seem willing to kill women and children and innocent males in order to kill one terrorist. They drop 1000lb bombs in the most densely populated place on the planet and, then, accuse Hamas for the civilian deaths. We are not stupid, please.
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Again, you are wrong. Gaza is the SIXTH most densely populated area in the world, not the first. Secondly
"Terrorist organizations that hide behind civilians bear the primary responsibility for civilian casualties.
Should civilian casualties ensue from an attempt to shield combatants or a military objective, the ultimate responsibility lies with the belligerent placing innocent civilians at risk."
Dinstein,'Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict'
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The attack is disproportionate; that is the problem, not Israel definding itself.
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Proportionate is defined by the International Criminal Court (ROME Statute) as the amount of force necessary to eliminate the threat. Since missiles are still being fired, Israel has the right to continue AND escalate the use of force...
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I don't know who the terrorists are at this point. I do know something is terribly wrong when children and entire families are killed in the name of justice. And the media respond with indifference.
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As I have proven, those deaths are solely the responsibility of HAMAS...
Michale.....
It's like you saying that the sky is magenta hot pink... It's not correct and you saying it is correct, doesn't make it correct.
Terrorism has a set, definitive and objective definition. It is also applied objectively..
You can't simply make up your own definition of terrorism and then randomly and hysterically apply it to something or someone, simply because you don't like them or it...
Michale......
Firing rockets, which did not kill anyone, into Israel is wrong, but killing hundreds and wounding thousands more is disproportionate--as International that you are citing makes clear.
" the personal interests of the aggressor are significantly diminished due to the aggressor"s culpability in launching the attack."
International Criminal Court, ROME STATUTE
This is the law..
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Firing rockets, which did not kill anyone, into Israel is wrong, but killing hundreds and wounding thousands more is disproportionate--as International that you are citing makes clear.
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Cite????
Michale.....
Should civilian casualties ensue from an attempt to shield combatants or a military objective, the ultimate responsibility lies with the belligerent placing innocent civilians at risk."
Dinstein,'Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict'
A military target remains a legitimate military target, even if it is located in a civilian area.
"Civilians do not enjoy absolute immunity. Their presence will not render military objects immune from attack for the mere reason that it is impossible to bombard them without causing injury to the non-combatants."
Oppenheim's 'International Law'
The use of civilians as shields to try to prevent attacks on military targets is prohibited.
"The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations."
Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 28
Israel - IDF Operational Planning and Orders:
In cases where there is doubt as to whether a civilian object has turned into a military objective... one is to assume that is not a military objective unless proven otherwise.
Michale.....
The Old Way or "How to Let a Bully Walk All Over You" by H.A. Mas
Step 1: Allow your neighbor to indiscriminately bomb civilian targets in your country.
Step 2: Refrain from military response since your neighbor purposely hides its munitions near women and children.
Step 3: Issue strongly worded pronouncements condemning your neighbor's actions.
Step 4: Take comfort in the knowledge that you have the sympathy of the rest of the world.
Step 5: Repeat steps 1 through 4.
The New Way or "How to Put an End to the Madness" by Dee Cisive Action
Step 1: Warn your neighbor that indiscriminate bombing of civilians will no longer be tolerated.
Step 2: When your neighbor invariably ignores your warning, respond by deploying your own much bigger bombs.
Step 3: Listen to a chorus of pronouncements from other countries condemning civilian casualties.
Step 4: Discover that life is better without the constant threat of terrorist attacks.
Step 5: Give the air raid siren operator his first night off in 60+ years.
You're setting the bar pretty low, aren't you?
That's one of the reasons people start questioning the official story. The second is that the force of Israel is so obvious and the lack of proportion to the attacks so clear, one can't help questioning the Israeli attacks. The last ten days, four Israeli settlers have been killed by Hamas rockets. The last death toll on the Gazan side shows more than 530 dead, a large part of them civilians. We aren't talking about an eye for an eye. We're talking about 125 eyes for an eye. And that kind of numbers speaks volumes. Wilfully targeting civilians is a breach to international treaties like the Geneva Convention. It's a breach against human rights and international law. A war crime, simply put. One can't kill five little girls in their beds and pretend they were terrorists.
To that, I can only say amen.