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Right. You have to wonder just how many Palestinian civilians have been shot if they can make that kind of mistake regarding escaped Israeli hostages. Thousands, surely.

They’re releasing more details about it and have revealed that the three hostages emerged holding white flags and were shirtless. I’m just amazed they’re willing to reveal that despite this they still killed them?? I guess the logic is to suggest that Hamas integrates itself even into the ‘white flag civilian population’ but to me it doesn’t reveal anything other than the policy is to kill first and hope it turns out to be Hamas later.
 
Right. You have to wonder just how many Palestinian civilians have been shot if they can make that kind of mistake regarding escaped Israeli hostages. Thousands, surely.

According to Haaretz (quoting the IDF preliminary report), the hostages were shirtless, waving a white flag and one was even shouting for help in Hebrew.

Which surely for the biggest defenders perhaps calls into question Israel's drive to minimise civilian casualties. Which they are definitely doing and they definitely don't also purposely kill civilians (wink wink nudge nudge). And even if they do, there's a really big difference between actively killing them and just bombing indiscriminately knowing that there are still civilians there and not caring.
 
Masha Gessen, a russian-american LGBT activist of Jewish descent, who sparked a massive controversy in Germany when they criticized the Israeli response to the 10/7 attack and compared Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto.

They were about to receive the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought, but the ceremony was postponed due to a very strong protests form the Heinrich Böll Fundation which awards the prize. As far as I know they will receive the prize (and rightly so), as no one can accuse them of antisemitism, but it highlights the current hysteria in Germany and a remembrance culture gone completely haywire. A textbook example of being more papist than the Pope.

 
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The Catholic branch of Hamas thankfully getting their comeuppance too.
 
They’re releasing more details about it and have revealed that the three hostages emerged holding white flags and were shirtless. I’m just amazed they’re willing to reveal that despite this they still killed them?? I guess the logic is to suggest that Hamas integrates itself even into the ‘white flag civilian population’ but to me it doesn’t reveal anything other than the policy is to kill first and hope it turns out to be Hamas later.
I suppose that there was too many eye-witnesses and an autopsy would quickly reveal that Israeli bullets killed the hostages. So the IDF went ahead and spilled the beans to minimize the controversy.

Kill first and don't ask has been the IDF modus operandi for decades, they have zero qualms with shooting at anything that moves. It's always about asserting dominance and they don't really think of Palestinians as human beings. Here's an interview of a former Israeli soldier who was in Gaza in 2014 and is now a peace activist (Breaking The silence). Quite enlightening, especially on how the Occupation affects and mentally corrupts the occupiers, and how deeply ingrained the "Us or Them" is in the mind of the Israeli society.

 
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IDF spokesperson announces that three Israeli hostages had escaped their captivity, but were shot and killed by the IDF. I think that reveals an extraordinary amount regarding the extent of precautions taken by the IDF to protect civilians.
IDF soldier interviewed last month

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She was about to receive the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought
Not a very important footnote, but it’s they/he for them.

I’m really not a fan of their work overall but the article in New Yorker was brilliant.
 
Taking their “kill anything that moves” policy to the extreme.

I wonder if there’ll be international outrage at these three (tragic) deaths but still not the c19,000 Palestinians killed.

Take USA’s support out of the equation and Israel would be international lepers. It‘d be like a little kid who’s hung around with a group of big kids and being all Billy Big Bollocks then the group dumps him and all of a sudden he’s on his own.
 
The thread is one-sided because the situation on the ground is one-sided right now. Throughout October and November, the thread was full of pro-Israel or Israel-friendly posts arguing that they were trying to minimize civilian casualties, had not committed any atrocities, and were behaving quite well all things considered. That position is untenable today so the argument is no longer made.



One Israeli poster here said that after October 7th, they just wanted security and didn't care what it took. Another one said that a round of ethnic cleansing was the best option for everyone. These are not far-right politicians.
Great post, it required a lot of mental gymnastics to defend it at the start but now even some of the most staunch Israel supporters are running out of ideas. If the shooting of unarmed people waving white flags won't convince people the IOF are deliberately killing civilians nothing will.
 
Not a very important footnote, but it’s they/he for them.

I’m really not a fan of their work overall but the article in New Yorker was brilliant.
Thanks for the heads-up. A blunder on my part and I've edited my post.
 
IDF spokesperson announces that three Israeli hostages had escaped their captivity, but were shot and killed by the IDF. I think that reveals an extraordinary amount regarding the extent of precautions taken by the IDF to protect civilians.
Horrifying, but hardly a surprise action by the terrorist army.
 
Horrifying, but hardly a surprise action by the terrorist army.

The white flag is written in the Geneva convention, you can not shot even militants if they surrender. It is a straight violation of international law and a war crime. That being said, we only got this information because it was 3 Israeli citizens. Imagine how many Palestinian women and children did they kill holding the white flags? Anyone tells you that Israel does not intentionally kill civilians is either a liar or lying to himself.
 
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Bill Maher nailed it. Word by word.


You’re being sarcastic.. or ironic?

The whataboutism… the wooden delivery… the sycophantic false laughing.

Muslims had an empire hundreds of years ago, so Israels actions are ok? Is that his rationale? Ireland “let it go” so Palestine should?

Watched (out of interest), turned off after four minutes. Something I could imagine Netanyahu saying to the UN …. on a good day
 
It's easy to take up the 'just suck it up' attitude when you are the benefactor.
 
You’re being sarcastic.. or ironic?

The whataboutism… the wooden delivery… the sycophantic false laughing.

Muslims had an empire hundreds of years ago, so Israels actions are ok? Is that his rationale? Ireland “let it go” so Palestine should?

Watched (out of interest), turned off after four minutes. Something I could imagine Netanyahu saying to the UN …. on a good day
And all the big movements / mass deportation of peoples he mentioned came after decades (sometimes centuries) of grievances and conflict. He made it sound like it happened in a couple of months and only palestinians are stubborn enough to keep this going for decades.
 
https://x.com/yoavzitun/status/1735985651563028793

Two interesting points from this

5. Because of the western appearance of one of the three who were killed at the scene, the force decided to check the identity of the bodies, and thus it was understood that they were abductees who had apparently escaped from Hamas captivity.
7. every day there are pull-out attacks and temptations for fighters to enter the extermination areas

Seems the only reason the identities were revealed is that one of the hostages was white.
 
The " Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem " released a twitter statement saying that two women were shot in cold blood as they entered the church in Gaza where most of the remaining Christians live. IDF tanks also blew up another building where apparently, disabled people were staying.
Statement here.

There is also a lot of noise, including a video report from the aftermath, of the IDF running over dying people/patients in tents with a bulldozer. Someone made a connection to "Rachel Corrie pancake parties" held by the IDF to commemorate their crushing of that American girl with a bulldozer.

Combined with the shooting of men holding a white flag, and the soldiers singing about "no uninvolveds", the last shreds of doubt about the nature of the Israeli ground campaign are gone.
 


She should have told him that this is not only breaking the rules of engagement but more a war crime according to the international law (IHL 47).
 
This can’t be true surely? Because Israel isn’t interested in land grabs, it’s all about Hamas then Palestinians can return?

“‘A house on the beach is not a dream’. An Israeli real estate company specialising in Jewish settlements in the West Bank is planning for the day after. This is beyond aspirational, their staff is already working on plans.”

https://x.com/lana_tatour/status/1735747677521055794?s=61&t=ZvGzfV2Qafn11jKrPfufuA
 
This can’t be true surely? Because Israel isn’t interested in land grabs, it’s all about Hamas then Palestinians can return?

“‘A house on the beach is not a dream’. An Israeli real estate company specialising in Jewish settlements in the West Bank is planning for the day after. This is beyond aspirational, their staff is already working on plans.”

https://x.com/lana_tatour/status/1735747677521055794?s=61&t=ZvGzfV2Qafn11jKrPfufuA
I mean it explains why they've gone with the blank slate approach of levelling the city to the ground, as well as destroying institutions like university, mosques, schools and hospitals. Rendering the whole area inhabitable and near impossible for Palestinians (who have no right of return) to return to of course makes these sorts of plans "not a dream".

We can only blame Hamas for settler beach houses on Palestinian territories. I even blamed Hamas the other day for forgetting to inflate my wife's car tyres.
 


And again it was only because one of the hostages had the look of a white European that anyone knows about this.
 
I cannot believe the Israeli military is out there in broad daylight just indiscriminately killing people (including their own), and still the whole world is just watching??????

I don't want to hear a word from any of the so called 'leaders' condemning anyone - they've shown they're all the same as those they accuse of being 'undemocratic'. Despicable.