Retired general - Hezbollah using UN post as shield

Actually, this assertion that Hez was using the observers as a shield makes it more plausible to me that Israel hit them on purpose. Israel could have asked them to vacate so they could shell Hezbollah, and maybe they did ask. But, since the observers weren't moving, they went ahead and hit the bunker to show Hezbollah they won't be safe just because they hide near noncombatants. UN forces, hospitals, churches, play schools, there is no one Israel isn't willing to bomb.

 

Regardless of whether it was an accident or not, the assumption that it was deliberate is still premature and inflammatory.

 

Earlier you said I hinted at this.

When have I hinted at this? Could you provide the post(s) in question?

Thanks for reading the aritcle by the way.

 

First of all it is contested that Hezbollah were even firing from positions near the outpost.

But if they did, then Israel needs to use means other than widespread shelling to take out the Hezbollah units. That way no UN observers are killed, and Hezbollah is stopped.

 

Pretty hard to defend killing UN observers.

If they were certain hezbolla was operating from there, they should have told the UN guys to leave.

About the best you could say is that the bombers were extremely reckless.

 

I didn't say it was deliberate, only that it is more believable if Hezbollah was using them for a shield. It is premature to conclude it was deliberate, and I doubt there will come a time where I personally could say authoritatively one way or the other. Whether it is inflammatory or not is another matter. I'm not of the mind right now to extend Israel much courtesy while they're bombing Lebanon to hell. I don't think accusing them of murdering 4 UN observers is nearly as inflammatory as shelling a known UN outpost (even accidentally), blowing up trucks carrying vegetables, denying safe passage to ambulances, or killing 400 civilians with indiscriminate shelling. Would it be more inflammatory to say the US is siding with the wrong party in this conflict?

 

Cool....now add up the pre-intifada deaths, and thanks again for playing.

 

Do you think more Israeli civilians were killed than Palestinians prior to the intifada?

 

I believe that from 1948 to the intifada, more Israeli civilians were killed by the armies of Egypt, Jordan/Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq as well as Arab paramilitary groups than "Palestinian civilians" were killed by the Israeli army.

 

You may be correct. I know that there was a fedayeen and other armies that killed many Israeli civilians during the 40's and 50's. I also know that Israel wiped out numerous civilians in attacks on Arab/Palestinian villages, but I couldn't find comparitive numbers for that.

I do know that during the wars of '48 and '67 Israel lost fewer civilians than their opponents.
www.pcr.uu.se/conferenses/ Euroconference/Leitenberg_paper.pdf

But I don't know about overall.

 

I'm not certain either, but it is what I think. I doubt it's even possible to add up all of the civilian casualties on both sides from 1948 - present, because I think that if it were possible, it would have been done already by someone.

 

The whole "the IDF must either bomb the shelther or give the Hezbollah a haven of sefety" argument is pure bull****.

The IDF could approach the shelter with infantry force and take out the Hezbollah men by themselves, you think they'd still bomb the shelter if 10 Israelis civilians were inside instead of the UN observers? No, they would've approached the shelter by themselves and manually eliminate them, but they choose to bomb the shelter and kill the UN workers with the primary purpose of destroying the shelter. All this is done without giving a crap about the safety of the innocent people inside the shelter.

Nobody is saying the Israelis planned to kill the UN workers, the charge here is that the IDF was willing to kill innocent people that lies in their path. It's not reckless collateral damage, it's utter and complete disregard for innocent civilian lives.

 

Really I think this is silly. If it is true that Hezbollah is using the UN positions as cover, Israel could have just taken a timeout and ripped the ref's to call a 3 second violation.