Israel-Gaza war

[YPestis25]

Can we please drop it?

Something very distasteful about these stupid fights in a thread devoted in part to discussing hundreds of civilian deaths.

[YPestis25]

Great job on the thread everyone! Congratulations due all around.

I can confidently say that after keeping up with this all day, that I hardly know more about the ongoing war from this thread than I did at 10:00am. On the plus side I now know what an East German apartment looked like.

[YPestis25]

Does anyone have any information on the Iranian reaction? The tweet from the embassy in Damascus certainly seems to indicate something serious is coming.

[YPestis25]

This isn't true. The International Community has delegated the West Bank and Gaza Strip to a future Palestinian state. Israel agreed to this in the 1993 Olso Accords. Any West Bank settlement is ILLEGAL under international law. A process that Israel agreed to. The IDF occupation in the West Bank is also illegal, since Israel said they would withdraw all military forces from the West Bank in 5-10 years from when Olso was signed. The blockade of Gaza since 2007 is also illegal even if Hamas is not the internationally recognized government.

Any military action, by any country, that isn't entirely defensive is illegal unless authorized by the UN security council. The exception being to stop genocide.

So all military action by the IDF taken in Gaza is illegal unless its shooting down missiles or bombing strictly missile sites. Bombing hospitals, shelters, schools, declared safety routes, food pantries etc are all war crimes which goes beyond unauthorized miliary action.

I agree with you that Israel shouldn't be creating settlements in West Bank.

You DO realize that Egypt is also an active participant in the blockade of Gaza, right?

Do you also realize that Hamas strategically set up and fire their rockets from civilian homes, school and hospitals and use those spaces for their paramilitary operations?

As you are obviously a scholar of international military law, what is the legality of that?

I'll wait.

All these actions can be and are illegal at the same time, clearly. What's the point of this post?

[YPestis25]

All these actions can be and are illegal at the same time, clearly. What's the point of this post?

The use of those facilities for military purposes eliminates their protected status while they are being used as such.

Ah - I was focused more on the right to title discussion at the beginning of Mike's post, my apologies.

[YPestis25]

This isn't true. The International Community has delegated the West Bank and Gaza Strip to a future Palestinian state. Israel agreed to this in the 1993 Olso Accords. Any West Bank settlement is ILLEGAL under international law. A process that Israel agreed to. The IDF occupation in the West Bank is also illegal, since Israel said they would withdraw all military forces from the West Bank in 5-10 years from when Olso was signed. The blockade of Gaza since 2007 is also illegal even if Hamas is not the internationally recognized government.

Any military action, by any country, that isn't entirely defensive is illegal unless authorized by the UN security council. The exception being to stop genocide.

So all military action by the IDF taken in Gaza is illegal unless its shooting down missiles or bombing strictly missile sites. Bombing hospitals, shelters, schools, declared safety routes, food pantries etc are all war crimes which goes beyond unauthorized miliary action.

I agree with you that Israel shouldn't be creating settlements in West Bank.

You DO realize that Egypt is also an active participant in the blockade of Gaza, right?

Do you also realize that Hamas strategically set up and fire their rockets from civilian homes, school and hospitals and use those spaces for their paramilitary operations?

As you are obviously a scholar of international military law, what is the legality of that?

I'll wait.

All these actions can be and are illegal at the same time, clearly. What's the point of this post?

So you are positing that if an enemy fires rockets at your civilians from the 'protection' of civilian centers, in violation of international law, you cannot return fire against those rockets without violating international law?

You'd make a great Hamas mouthpiece...

As I said, I misread your post and apologized.

If you could not accuse me of being a mouthpiece for a repugnant organization that'd be much obliged, thanks.