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Why do we continue to hear about Israel targeting civilians?

Ralph

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I can't imagine the level of reality-distorting mental gymnastics required to sit there with a straight face & suggest Israel is deliberately killing civilians.

The US killed over 100,000 Japanese in a single raid with piston-engined aircraft and simple low-tech incendiary bombs in 1945.

Even when both sides were evenly matched---such as during the Iran/Iraq war....MILLIONS died--mostly civilians---when there was no genuine concern for loss of civilan life.

The IAF owns the airspace over Lebanon. They can bomb the snot out of population centers at will if they choose to do so.

The death toll should be in the tens or even hundreds of thousands by now if that were the case. Instead--we hear about 200-300 "civilians" killed and presented as examples of Israels lack of concern for civilian life.

Seriously--how can anybody who's not mentally retarded (and doesn't belong to Hezbollah) make this claim?
 
Ralph said:
I can't imagine the level of reality-distorting mental gymnastics required to sit there with a straight face & suggest Israel is deliberately killing civilians.
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Who's making that claim?
 
We continue to hear about it because Israeli's military leadership is incompetent. 400 civilians in 2 weeks is only the start. The number will continue to get higher and higher each day. 400 is a lower limit since we Israel won't even let the media along to cover the story as America has done in Iraq.

What sort of mental gymnastics is required to say Israel is targeting civilians?

What sort of mental gymnastics is required to compair this military action against those of ww2?
 
I've never heard anyone claim that Israel targets civilians (HAMAS and friends excluded). I suspect we hear about the deaths of civilians because it makes for good ratings.
 
Ralph said:
I can't imagine the level of reality-distorting mental gymnastics required to sit there with a straight face & suggest Israel is deliberately killing civilians.

The US killed over 100,000 Japanese in a single raid with piston-engined aircraft and simple low-tech incendiary bombs in 1945.

Even when both sides were evenly matched---such as during the Iran/Iraq war....MILLIONS died--mostly civilians---when there was no genuine concern for loss of civilan life.

The IAF owns the airspace over Lebanon. They can bomb the snot out of population centers at will if they choose to do so.

The death toll should be in the tens or even hundreds of thousands by now if that were the case. Instead--we hear about 200-300 "civilians" killed and presented as examples of Israels lack of concern for civilian life.

Seriously--how can anybody who's not mentally retarded (and doesn't belong to Hezbollah) make this claim?
Click to expand...

I think part of the PR problem is that spokespeople for Israel are taking this approach in defending its actions, rather than making very public memorial services for Lebanese civilians that were inadvertantly killed. If I was running Israel's PR, I would be working for media images to be widely distributed showing very sad looking government and military officials reading about the lebanese civilian casualties, and release to the media letters that they write to family members for each lebanese civilian killed by IAF actions.

Unfortunately, there's a dehumanizing element to relying primarily on arguments, true though they may be, that Israel has shown great restraint in keeping Lebanese civilian deaths to under 500 people.
 
Originally Posted by Grammatron:
That's because they are only targeting children.

with disabilities.
...trying to escape...
riding in vans.
 
KingMerv00 said:
I've never heard anyone claim that Israel targets civilians (HAMAS and friends excluded). I suspect we hear about the deaths of civilians because it makes for good ratings.
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Plenty of Arabs are claiming it who aren't affiliated with Hamas. Anan claimed Israeli apparantly deliberatly targeted the UN peace keepers as well.
 
Anan claimed Israeli apparantly deliberately targeted the UN peace keepers as well.
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It is being investigated.

That's really the best practice when dubious and unsubstantiated claims are made. (see: James Randi, our host for these discussions).
 
Ralph said:
I can't imagine the level of reality-distorting mental gymnastics required to sit there with a straight face & suggest Israel is deliberately killing civilians.
Click to expand...

Leif Roar said:
Who's making that claim?
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Dustin said:
Not many Americans are. It's basically a strawman.
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Dustin said:
Plenty of Arabs are claiming it who aren't affiliated with Hamas. Anan claimed Israeli apparantly deliberatly targeted the UN peace keepers as well.
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Dustin, are you saying that Israel is not deliberately killing civilians?
 
BPSCG said:
Dustin, are you saying that Israel is not deliberately killing civilians?
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I doubt Israel is deliberately killing civilians or Peacekeepers. However I might be wrong.



I believe the most likely case is incompetent military leadership and unskilled soldiers. Afterall they made the mistake of re-invading lebanon.
 
Dustin said:
I believe the most likely case is incompetent military leadership and unskilled soldiers.
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:eek:

I believe that may be the first time anyone has used those terms in describing Israel's armed forces. Next you'll be talking about "fat, bloated Tour de France riders and drunk Mormons."
 
And Hizbollah, with their point-in-the-general-direction-of-Israel rockets.....What are they "targetting".
 
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