Comment by rany_
2 years ago
Really? I guess they're just "following orders" from the AI then. What a shameful response, if Russia did this or if the roles were reversed you'd be appalled.
2 years ago
Really? I guess they're just "following orders" from the AI then. What a shameful response, if Russia did this or if the roles were reversed you'd be appalled.
There are pretty clearly cases where non-combatant deaths in war are necessary -- for example if you are in a total war situation as in WWII.
People can and do argue about the morality of the Tokyo firebombings and Dresden and Hiroshima and Nagasaki where it was largely purely civilian populations in cities that were attacked, but I think it's _fairly_ non-controversial that in a total war that industrial sites and weapons manufacturing facilities and so on are valid targets in a war situation, and they are generally staffed by non-combatants.
The rule in the geneva conventions is: "In so far as objects are concerned, military objectives are limited to those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage."
Which encompasses quite a large category of non-combatants that are likely to be in the area of those "objects".
edit: not making any kind of judgement or statement at all about this particular situation -- just clarifying in general the rules of war involving non-combatants.
That's all well and fine, except that is very much not the situation with Israel and Palestine.
Quite the opposite. Israel has the Palestinians entirely cornered and that already for the past 76 years. They have always had the upper hand and could very easily have negotiated a reasonable peace deal. Heck, where they not racist ethnonationalist bigots they would have incorporated the Palestinians in Israel as happens in normal situations when one state decides to land grab another. If anything it is the Palestinians, you know the victims who are entirely cornered and helpless, who should use your argument to justify civilian causalities, but you would be completely horrified if were to write that.
Yitzhak Rabin did try to negotiate a reasonable peace deal (with Arafat), and was assassinated because of it. Israel left the West Bank [mostly] alone and that's what allowed the territory to get taken over by Hamas (with some degree of popular support).
I think what Israel is doing is bad; I also happen to think that putting the Palestinians in control of Israel+Palestine (which is what integrating them into Israel would do, since they form a numeric majority) would be much worse (because at least Israeli values align closer with western values than the Palestinian ones). So there are no real good options than a tentative ceasefire and everyone on edge again.
It is reminiscent of the war on terror in Afghanistan, and I imagine the outcome will be similarly somber, and likely objectives probably won't be met.
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So, if the AI kicks out your name, you're ok with that?
When you look at the map of Gaza, it looks like the AI must have told them to bomb every single house that was still standing.