reply to post by bigyin
OK, I would like to address your points one by one
1) Obviously he wouldn't condemn it... he is considered more right-wing then Olmert was (even though they started out at the same party)
2) You claimed (if memory serves) that "a lot" or "many" were children... while the numbers vary, it is the assumption of the Israeli army that
around 1,200 people in total were killed, with roughly 700 of them being combatants. As for the number of children among the rest of the 500 or so
killed, I guess we will never know.
3) No, I am not OK with it. Actually, the army stopped using the white phosphorous after cast lead. In addition, you need to remember, that Hamas,
being what it is, fired rockets, missiles etc from populated areas, and military code allows you to fire to areas where you are fired upon (check the
fourth Geneva convention), basically, if we are enemies, it is expected of you to wear uniform so that my soldiers would know that you're a combatant
and not a civilian, you are required to put your military bases away from civilian areas, and mark them as such etc... things that Hamas doesn't do
(they actually put their weapons next to hospitals and masques...) this is all well-documented (even by them, in the last round, Hamas published
videos of them firing from near a school - look it up)
4) I do not blame civilians... not directly at least. First, remember that Hamas was democratically elected by the Palestinians in the 2007 elections
(I believe it was 2007), so, if you, as the leader of a people who elected you, start a war, and your people suffer, it's mostly on them...
specifically since all Palestinians know what Hamas says about Israel. Second, some civilians were forcibly prohibited from leaving their homes by
Hamas, in the hope that either 1) Israel would not attack, or 2) Israel would attack, there would be civilian deaths and Israel would be blamed. Also,
I remind you again, that in addition to leaflets from the air, Israeli soldiers called by phone many of the residents urging them to leave before
impending attacks.
5) Actually, there have been several of these, I know for sure about one soldier who went to jail for looting, and two other soldiers who were thrown
out of the army for using a child to look in bags. I am not sure about other incidents - but I do know that there a couple still under investigation.
I seem to remember a case of a soldier shooting a woman by mistake where that soldier was also punished, although I don't remember exactly what the
punishment was, since the woman was shot during a fire-fight.
Take into account that Judge Goldstone claimed that his report is not accurate anymore, taking into account the steps that the Israeli army has taken.
Now, I can't make the same moral comparison between intentionally attacking civilians, where there is no military target there (i.e. Hamas), as
opposed to the unintentional death of civilians (i.e. IDF). Both are regrettable, reprehensible and should be avoided... but you can't honestly say
that unless Hamas provoked it, Israel would have done anything...