On War Crimes.
The trick with war crimes is to able to get away with it.
Israel seems to be able to do that for some time now. Any modern warfare supposes a high level of civilian casualties; there are estimates that claim that up to 90% of the casualties in modern warfare are civilians. In the US we call them 'collateral damage' rather than call them 'civilian casualties'. I don't know what the Israelis call them but I'm sure it's something impersonal and detached like the term used by the US policymakers and media.
One necessary ingredient about getting away with war crimes is to belong to the right club. The perpetrator needs to be an ally of the US and to a lesser degree the EU. These are the countries that control the public opinion where it matters and are the ones who prosecute the war criminals if they get a chance. The Serbs did not belong to this club so we see their criminals punished at the Haague. The Palestinians are not even considered to be victims let alone victims of war crimes.
This is not some revelation but it's the sad reality.
Israel seems to be able to do that for some time now. Any modern warfare supposes a high level of civilian casualties; there are estimates that claim that up to 90% of the casualties in modern warfare are civilians. In the US we call them 'collateral damage' rather than call them 'civilian casualties'. I don't know what the Israelis call them but I'm sure it's something impersonal and detached like the term used by the US policymakers and media.
One necessary ingredient about getting away with war crimes is to belong to the right club. The perpetrator needs to be an ally of the US and to a lesser degree the EU. These are the countries that control the public opinion where it matters and are the ones who prosecute the war criminals if they get a chance. The Serbs did not belong to this club so we see their criminals punished at the Haague. The Palestinians are not even considered to be victims let alone victims of war crimes.
This is not some revelation but it's the sad reality.
9 comments:
Probably the Israelis call it "pest control."
The most important reason that this Israelis can get away with this is the guilt that Europe and the U.S. can't shake in the creation of the Zionist idea. It's not so much that they're pro-Israeli as that they're the reason Israel exists, instead of a mixed-ethnicity Palestine.
A beautiful, balanced, and insightful look at what was, and what happened, is this one:
www.wwnorton.com/catalog/spring07/032984.htm
City of Oranges: An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa
A profoundly human take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, seen through the eyes of six families, three Arab and three Jewish.
The US or the Europeans do not condemn Israel because they do similar things themselves and Israel has influential backers in these countries so it's an ally.
If we are to be pragmatic, war crimes can be a necessary component of waging hostilities by a state even if it's tragic for the victims and the persons actually perpetrating them. That is one reason why the modern armies try to distance the people doing the killing from the people being killed (the latest example being the Predators operated by someone sitting in a room in Miami and blowing up someone else in Pakistan).
The Israel-Palestinian conflict is my least favorite thing in the world to think about. But I'm sure glad that Bush and Condi took care of it like they promised before they left...
Dont be surprised to see more suicide bombers in the near future. What a person who lost his whole family is expected to do?
The west continuously fails to understand the Eastern psyche.
Yeah, it's my least favorite topic, too, but it is one of the most important ones, because the future of West Asia (aka the "Middle East") and, perhaps, by extension, a big chunk of the world hangs in the balance.
It's one of my least favorite topics because there is so much disinformation and general bullshit out there about it that it is next to impossible to have a discussion about it.
As far as I'm concerned, however, the problem is quite straightforward: The Israeli ruling class is holding the Israeli middle and lower classes hostage by telling them that the Arabs are frothing at the mouth waiting to kill them and that the only people protecting them from the crazy Arabs is the Israeli military machine.
Oh, boy.
Merry Christmas! Peace on Earth, Good Will toward Men!
Anyonimous it is interesting to know your opinion about the Free Masons.
Actually, I was interested to learn that Jews created gold 2000 years ago. Guess that stuff in Troy was only fool's gold?
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