The families of the hostages are very, very angry at the Bibi administration.
Domestic pressure against him is definitely going to grow now.
Friendly fire deaths are inevitable in wars but this one is particularly bad.
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Is it just me, or isnât friendly fire used in conjunction with inadvertently firing on your own troops? This is a whole lot different. Here itâs more like âwe killed the wrong civilians.â
Not a good look on a couple of levels.
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You are correct that friendly fire is primarily used to describe killing oneâs own troops but its use is sometimes broadened to the killing of oneâs allies. Some of the headlines for this story used the friendly fire term. But we are being a bit pedantic here. The more important point is that it is a very sad outcome.
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This seems way worse than Benghazi. They should have endless investigations and make Bibi testify for hours on end.
Is it possible for the families of the dead hostages to sue the Bibi administration in civil court?
Because that is 100% where I would be headed. Its clear now that the pretext of âwe are bombarding gaza to also get the hostages outâ is basically a lie on the part of Bibi & Co.
This is going to be a massive scandal. Turns out they were shot by the IDF when they were bare chested and waving a white flag.
This is it. This will end Bibi.
This is precisely why going in heavy and bombarding the areas indiscriminately was a terrible idea. I pointed this out a while ago because it just doesnât work (IRA & ETA). All you end up doing is creating masses of future terrorists.
So congratulations to Bibi & the Israeli right-wing. You have fallen into the Hamas trap and made Israel far less safe in the long-term.
Thatâs going to make it hard to use the excuse that the Gaza offensive is to save the hostages.
If so, it would be the silver lining in a very dark cloud.
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Iirc Israel has stated that theyâre are attempting to get rid of Hamas. Which sounds pretty open ended and hostages are incidental at best.
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Pretty much agree with the Israeli lawyer. His analysis of the current situation on the ground is worth a read.
I canât imagine that it would be. âFriendly fireâ incidents are generally considered accidental and not subject to prosecution.
Letâs just stop calling it friendly fire, please. Itâs about as accurate as calling it a mercy killing.
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I didnât invent the term, but itâs widely used to describe an accidental battlefield killing of someone on your side. Seems applicable here.
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Friendly fire is about accidentally killing your own troops. These are better described as collateral damage. Thatâs the phrase.
In fact, there is no evidence it was an accident. Let me paint a hypothetical.
IDF are advised to be wary of suicide bombers. They may even be carrying a white flag. But they will use that guise to draw close before detonating. So donât let them get close.
This is something from my life experience. In the Viet Nam war, it was impossible to tell friendliest from enemies. You had best assume you were a target. Meanwhile, the locals were dehumanized (gooks) and routinely âhandled roughlyâ. Much Like having the Palestinians strip and kneel in a line. The dehumanization makes normal people do crazy shit.
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âI was in junior high, dickhead!â
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It also came days after another incident raised questions about Israelâs open-fire rules. After Hamas militants shot at a busy Jerusalem bus stop, an Israeli man who had rushed to confront the attackers was gunned down by an Israeli soldier, even though he had raised his hands, knelt on the ground and flung open his shirt to indicate he wasnât a threat.
Most recently, BâTselem accused the army of carrying out a pair of âillegal executionsâ after releasing video footage that appeared to show Israeli troops killing two Palestinian men â one who was incapacitated and the second unarmed â during a military raid in the occupied West Bank.
Avner Gvaryahu, who heads Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group that documents testimonies of former Israeli soldiers, said soldier accounts from previous military engagements in the Gaza Strip showed that once an area was deemed by the military to be cleared of civilians, they were instructed to âshoot everything that moves.â
That is not what they claim to be doing. The claimed intention is to destroy Hamas so they can never instigate another pogram on Israeli soil.
Yes, i think it is wrong-headed, as well as bitterly cruel to the civilians. But thatâs where they are coming from.
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I know youâre not the one saying this.
But like, are they going to invade Germany next?
Destroying ideology is hard and often creates new dissent in the wake of major crackdowns.