Hamas attacks Israel

[Renauda]

Civilians, they say. Perhaps they were but all the same, a just end to Hamas collaborators. Sorry to hear that Hamas again used children as human shields. But as the saying goes, when you chop wood, chips fly.

[Mik]

You cannot hide 220 hostages among civilians without some of them knowing.

[Renauda]

@Mik

Some? Am sure all the adult males and the vast majority of adult women were in the know.

[Mik]

And supporting it.

[LuFins Dad]

[LuFins Dad]

I really wish I hadn’t listened to that. I was having a really good day up until then.

[Copper]

@Renauda said in Hamas attacks Israel:

@Mik

Some? Am sure all the adult males and the vast majority of adult women were in the know.

And certainly all the Ivy League students.

[George K]

Benny Gantz has resigned. Is this a thing?

[George K]

WSJ:

Blaming Israel for Rescuing Its People

Hamas hid four hostages in a crowded civilian area and fired on rescuers.

The Editorial BoardJune 9, 2024 at 2:43 pm

It’s rare good news in a grinding war. On Saturday Israeli commandos rescued four hostages from two civilian buildings near the heart of Gaza’s Nuseirat market. It was a high-risk but well-planned and -executed mission that is a morale boost for Israelis.

Noa Argamani, age 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40, were all abducted during the music-festival massacre. A video showed Ms. Argamani begging for her life. Eight months later she heard a knock on the door: “It’s the IDF, we’ve come to rescue you.” She can now visit her terminally ill mother. Mr. Jan was mobbed on his return by friends chanting, “He is one of us, and we will never give him up,” a refrain of sports teammates now given new meaning. Mr. Jan’s father died hours before his son’s return.

The non-surprise is that professional anti-Israel voices, United Nations officials and the European Union foreign-policy chief rushed to attack Israel. Egypt condemned the operation “in the strongest terms.” How dare Israel rescue its own citizens. Didn’t it know there would be casualties? The BBC asked whether Israel gave a warning that the rescue raid was coming. Seriously? A tip-off to terrorists? Perhaps read them Miranda rights too.

“BREAKING: Gaza’s Health Ministry says 274 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli operation,” reports the Associated Press, only 48 hours after it had exposed how the Hamas ministry’s daily death tolls are “at odds with underlying data.” When will the media stop taking the kidnappers at their word?

Haters of Israel will blame it and excuse Hamas every time, and the media are easily manipulated into playing along. The Hamas figure is likely inflated, and it includes the terrorists killed trying to stop the rescue as well as those who hid the hostages.

Hamas started the war with a massacre, took these hostages and hid them in a crowded civilian area. Then, when Israel came to free them, Hamas responded with heavy fire, including RPGs—yet people are condemning Israel. It makes us wonder if the West has lost the moral discernment and instinct for self-preservation needed to defend itself in a world of killers. Hamas could not survive if not for its enablers around the world.

[Jolly]

We have stumbled into idiotville.

I've said it before, I'm an OT kind of guy. Until quite recently, siege warfare used starvation as a military tactic. Shame the Israelis couldn't have cut off all food and water until EVERY hostage's status was accounted for, live or dead. The Palestinians could have ratted out Hamas or the whole bunch could suffer.

[LuFins Dad]

Heard a great one liner this morning -

“Palestine is more trans-friendly than we thought. All the men the Israelis killed yesterday turned into women by this morning.”

[jon-nyc]

Maybe too little too late but interesting all the same.

[George K]

You get the government you elected.

The dildo of electoral consequences rarely arrives lubed.

[jon-nyc]

Sometimes you get the government your parents and grandparents voted for. Probably no one in that photo was old enough to vote in 2007.

[George K]

Fair point. Have there been elections since 2007 (too lazy to look)?

[jon-nyc]

No. In Arab countries there’s only ever one.

[jon-nyc]

Helmet cam footage of hostage rescue.

[taiwan_girl]

[George K]

Gaza civilian deaths in Israel's hostage raid may be war crimes, UN says

The U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday the killings of civilians in Gaza during the Israeli operation to free four hostages, as well as Palestinian armed groups' holding of captives in densely populated areas, could amount to war crimes.

Israel said the operation, accompanied by an air assault, took place on Saturday in the heart of a residential neighbourhood in central Gaza's Nuseirat area where Hamas had kept the hostages in two separate apartment blocks.

The operation killed more than 270 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials.

"The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution - as set out under the laws of war - were respected by the Israeli forces," Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office, said.

Laurence added that the holding of hostages in such densely populated areas by Palestinian armed groups was "putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities."

"All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes," he said.

Funny, no mention of war crimes such as rape, torture, DELIBERATE killing of civilians, including children 8 months ago. And a passing mention of keeping hostages in civilian locations.

[bachophile]

The UN can kiss my butt