Israel army to fight human shield ban

[Yerda]

I had thought previously only the terrorists were using human shields, and that the Israeli military had a higher moral ground on this one. Have I missed something or is Israel's army less concerned for civilian life than I thought?

Full Story.

Note: The source is probably less than flattering in describing Israel. If anyone has more objective viewpoints I'd be happy to read them.

 

[michel]

Personally I would rather see that info from a better source than aljazeera.

 

[Yerda]

Personally I would rather see that info from a better source than aljazeera.

I realise that some people might have reservations about AlJazeera. Maybe the Israeli High Court has made a press release concerning their decision to ban the act or the military has made a press release concerning their decision to fight the ban?

 

[Yerda]

Israeli high court bans military use of Palestinians as human shields - Guardian

From the report:

How they've been deployed

The Israeli army used Palestinian civilians as human shields in a variety of combat situations:

· Forcing them to enter the homes of wanted men to tell them to surrender, or ordering them to enter suspected booby-trapped buildings

· Placing civilians between troops and hostile crowds to discourage stone-throwing or shooting

· Troops standing behind a Palestinian and then firing over the civilian's shoulder during combat

· Palestinian families locked into a room after the army commandeered their homes as military posts, to discourage militants from attacking

· Civilians ordered to pick up suspected bombs on roads

Charming.

Does the Guardian satisfy your sourcing requirements?

 

[michel]

Yes thanks; the trouble is, I am highly biassed on this subject. i ralize two wrongs don't make a right, but........

 

[robtex]

Jaiket war is the moral issues and all that comes about it will abound many's moral grounds irregardless of the circumstances for the war or the good that may come about from it. I feel great sadness at the death of [font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Nidal Daraghmeh (in your guardian article) but I realize it is war.

If I was in the same situation walking through a hostile district with a gun and an objective that was incongruent to the armed population of that district I am not sure I would take extreme measures either to help ensure my survivial. Fear kicks in and decisions are made.

I remember seeing on the net once where us army gi's shot and killed a wounded man in the streets of an Iraq city last year. The guy was unarmed and laying curled up in the street. He was not a threat nor where there other enemy forces around. Two of them shot him in the back on the ground and he died. I came to the realzation while the act was evil and vile that under no other circumstances would it likley have occured. The man was killed because the soliders tanked up on aderline and fear were releasing their pent-up emotions by killing what amounted to a disabled-unarmed pow.

Many acts of war while evil or bad occur because the context in which they are in: war. Because of such I don't look at the Israeli soldiers and think they are evil men in a natural enviroment, but that they are normal men in an evil envirorment. I couldn't sit there, fold my arms and pass judgement because, if I was in the same situation, pumped-up on fear and aderline, maybe would be using human shields too or worse.
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[michel]

Unfortunately, you are right, Rob. Look at the way the American and British troops treated the Iraqis in Jail, for one.


There were some pretty gruesome goings on when the allies finally got to the Germans after WWII - especially after having seen Auschwitz, and other camps.........

 

[robtex]

Unfortunately, you are right, Rob. Look at the way the American and British troops treated the Iraqis in Jail, for one.
There were some pretty gruesome goings on when the allies finally got to the Germans after WWII - especially after having seen Auschwitz, and other camps........

Actually assuming you buy into my arguement that the enviroment creates the applicable senerios, I would say a jail does not apply. The reason being that fear is elemenated as a major factor in decsions. When the USA soliders tortured and in one case killed a captive they were not in fear of their lives or safetly. I would say this only applies to the field and that fear, and the instinct to survive is the primary motivator for things like using human shields.

I would be really curious as to the motives and reasons for the USA prision tortures of iraq. I think the sentences they are getting are good but I am dissappointed that the reasoning has not been further explored. It gives me the impression that the US army in that situation was looking for a quick fix instead of a long-term solution by looking at the reasons this occured. I am ignorant about UK prisoner abuse in the Iraq campaign.

 

[Darkdale]

I am not bothered by "incidents" like this. I only get bothered by things when they become a "practice". America definitely needs to answer for our injustices against pows... but the Israeli army is, in my opinion, amazingly restrained. If I were the general... ohhhhh boy........

 

[michel]

I am not bothered by "incidents" like this. I only get bothered by things when they become a "practice". America definitely needs to answer for our injustices against pows... but the Israeli army is, in my opinion, amazingly restrained. If I were the general... ohhhhh boy........

Thank you; it is not often i find people (who are not Jewish) who will actually stand up for the Jews.

 

[Yerda]

but the Israeli army is, in my opinion, amazingly restrained.

In the use of civilian human shields and decision to fight the ban you find the Israeli army restrained?

I understand they operate under difficut conditions, but these are horrendous acts:

· Forcing them [civilians] to enter the homes of wanted men to tell them to surrender, or ordering them to enter suspected booby-trapped buildings

· Placing civilians between troops and hostile crowds to discourage stone-throwing or shooting

· Troops standing behind a Palestinian and then firing over the civilian's shoulder during combat

· Palestinian families locked into a room after the army commandeered their homes as military posts, to discourage militants from attacking

· Civilians ordered to pick up suspected bombs on roads

I'm more a fan of the Israeli High Court if this is a true account of form.