What's Happening While We Prepare for the Inauguration?

(Video: Israel's Channel 10, 2009.01.16)
For English subtitles, click the triangle in the lower-right corner
and select the middle of the three icons that pop up.

From Reuters:

Israeli television broadcast desperate cries for help from a Palestinian doctor on Friday after his children were killed in an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip and troops later helped surviving members of the family.

The telephone calls created extraordinary scenes during evening news broadcasts, as the doctor, a Hebrew-speaking physician who spoke regularly on Israeli television, said three of his children were killed in a tank strike and others were wounded.

h/t Pax Pac

If you pay taxes in the United States, you paid for the explosives that killed Dr. Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish's children.

We can argue all we like about who started what -- the Israelis and the Arabs have been killing each other for the love of God* for millennia -- but a realistic appraisal is that both sides share responsibility for the conflict. Each side is responsible for their actions, and there are innocents (on both sides of the border / conflict) caught in the middle. We who pay for the weapons bear some of the responsibility.

America's image overseas is formed, in part, by support for Israel. In a very real way, to much of the world, it is America who is killing children in Gaza.

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Song for Gaza, and Israeli Operation in Bethlehem

"We will not go down"


Rare video of Israeli operations in Bethlehem and a very brief discussion of how the video became available:


I had to take an ethics class for my MBA, and the short version of the class was "If you would do an action that everybody knew about, then it's an ethical action". I'm not sure I agree with the idea that being willing to be seen doing something makes that something ethical, but certainly by that standard, the IDF are doing unethical things because they hide them.

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"Israel at its best"

(Photo: The bodies of three Palestinian siblings from the Al-samoni family, killed by an Israeli tank shell
early on January 5, 2009 lie in the mortuary of Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza City. Getty Images)

Why Gaza Matters, by Yossi Klein Halevi:

It was Israel at its best. In response to random attacks aimed at its civilians, Israel launched precise attacks aimed at terrorists.

(Photo: The bodies of four Palestinian siblings from the Eliwah family lie at Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital mortuary on January 5, 2009. Getty Images)

"precise attacks aimed at terrorists"

(Photo: The bodies of two Palestinian children, killed by an Israeli tank shell early on January 5, 2009, lie on the ground next to two corpses of adults at the mortuary of Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital. Five children were killed in two separate Israeli strikes in Gaza early today, Palestinian medics said. Getty Images)

"random attacks aimed at its civilians"

(Photo: Palestinian doctors carry the bodies of children killed by an Israeli tank shell, to the morgue at Shifa hospital in Gaza January 5, 2009. Reuters Images)

"It was Israel at its best"

(Photo: A badly wounded Palestinian youth is carried into a hospital in Gaza City on January 4, 2009. Getty Images)

"random attacks aimed at its civilians"

(Photo: Palestinian medics carry a wounded boy into a hospital in Gaza City on January 4, 2009 as Israeli troops continue its ground assault in Gaza. Getty Images)

"precise attacks aimed at terrorists"

(Photo: Palestinian father carries his wounded baby daughter into a hospital in Gaza City on January 4, 2009. Getty Images)

"It was Israel at its best"

There is no question that the actions of terrorists operating in Gaza are criminal. No question. None. The launching of rockets against civilian targets is illegal. It's wrong. It's criminal. It's terrorism.

However, Israel's response is disproportionate. It is illegal to use white phosphorus against civilian targets. It is illegal to wantonly shell civilian targets. Every effort must be made to avoid civilian casualties and to limit the use of weapons to legitimate combatants. Israel doesn't seem to be making any effort to limit civilian casualties. In doing so, they are violating international law and giving up any legitimacy they might have claimed.

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Willy Pete in Gaza

(Photo: Hellfire ... artillery shells explode above Gaza City, Gaza split by Israeli invasion)

It appears that Israel is firing white phosphorus ("Willy Pete" or WP) rounds into Gaza. Hubris Sonic identifies the rounds illustrated as WP.

(Photo: Israeli artillery shells explode with a chemical agent designed to create smokescreen for ground forces (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images), Israel splits Gaza in three as soldiers battle Hamas)

White phosphorus is a chemical round with multiple uses. It can be used as a smoke round to mark locations. It can be used as an incendiary round against materiel and structures. Both of these uses are legal. It is also used as an incendiary against personnel, which use is of questionable legality.

WP burns in the presence of oxygen, and will burn even inside the human body. It must be smothered with water or oil, and is toxic while burning in the body, if ingested, and if inhaled.

(Photo: Artillery shells explode above Gaza City, Getty Images)

According to US military doctrine, "It is against the law of land warfare to employ WP against personnel targets":

(4) Burster Type White phosphorus (WP M110A2) rounds burn with intense heat and emit dense white smoke. They may be used as the initial rounds in the smokescreen to rapidly create smoke or against material targets, such as Class V sites or logistic sites. It is against the law of land warfare to employ WP against personnel targets.

This Guardian story indicates that WP is illegal to use against civilians, and points out that WP, because it is a chemical weapon, is a WMD. The US previously used WP in the battle for Fallujah in Iraq. American doctrine lumps nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons together as WMD and the US reserves the right to respond to any WMD attack with nuclear weapons.


Other stories which discuss the invasion, use of cluster munitions, etc.:
FDL
Newshoggers
Gaza Today
Haaretz
Pacific Free Press

Update: Stirling Newberry has a great story on it

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