Israeli Police Beat 15 year old American Citizen

[Al B. Sure!]

According to google, 22nd MEU en route to Lebanon was diverted on October 20th to Grenada.

[Al B. Sure!]

Pictures from the Gaza beach:

[Hauldren Collider]

While the pictures provide excellent reinforcement to the fact that Hamas is causing the Gazan people immense suffering, they're hardly necessary to be aware of that fact.

[Fake Boris]

Sure, I'd love for them to build homes and businesses instead of suicide bombers and rockets.

Embargoes help

[Fake Boris]

While the pictures provide excellent reinforcement to the fact that Hamas is causing the Gazan people immense suffering, they're hardly necessary to be aware of that fact.

If Palestinians ceased to resist, Israel would cease to annex land.

Oh wait...

[Dr Strangelove]

If Palestinians ceased to exist, Israel would cease to annex land.

Fixed.

[Berzerker]

According to google, 22nd MEU en route to Lebanon was diverted on October 20th to Grenada.

then it wasn't in response to Beirut

[regexcellent]

WaPo reported that when the Israelis blow up a house, they call the occupants on the phone and tell them to leave, then fire an inert missile at it 5 minutes later as a warning shot, then shortly thereafter fire a live munition. Apparently in between the warning shot and the real one, Gazan teenagers have a tendency to run onto the roof of the house and chant something along the lives of "SAVE THE HOUSE OR BECOME MARTYRS!"

There's a name for that and it's suicide by cop.

[Sava]

No. It's called murder.
You ****ing nazi pig.

Did you see the video of the Israeli gunboat murdering the four children on the beach?

You make me sick reg. You are despicable.

[The Mad Monk]

Embargoes help

Sadly, they don't. Now if only the Gazans would cease the activities that trigger the embargoes...

UNRWA Strongly Condemns Placement of Rockets in School
17 July 2014
1 / 1
Agency Demands Full Respect for the Sanctity of Its Premises in Gaza

East Jerusalem

Yesterday, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered approximately 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA strongly condemns the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations. This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law. This incident, which is the first of its kind in Gaza, endangered civilians including staff and put at risk UNRWA’s vital mission to assist and protect Palestine refugees in Gaza.

Immediately after discovery, the Agency informed the relevant parties and successfully took all necessary measures for the removal of the objects in order to preserve the safety and security of the school. UNRWA has launched a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident.

UNRWA has strong, established procedures to maintain the neutrality of all its premises, including a strict no-weapons policy and routine inspections of its installations, to ensure they are only used for humanitarian purposes. UNRWA will uphold and further reinforce its procedures.

Palestinian civilians in Gaza rely on UNRWA to provide humanitarian assistance and shelter. At all times, and especially during escalations of violence, the sanctity and integrity of UN installations must be respected.

http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/unrwa-strongly-condemns-placement-rockets-school

[The Mad Monk]

Meanwhile, back in Syria...

UNRWA strongly deplores the killing of nine Palestine refugees and three Syrians in southern Syria
17 July 2014
1 / 1

East Jerusalem

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) strongly condemns the parties responsible for two explosions in Dera’a Palestine Refugee Camp on 15 July, which resulted in the deaths of nine Palestine refugees and three Syrians. Of the Palestine refugees, six women and three men were killed. UNRWA is deeply saddened by the deaths of both Palestine refugees and Syrians, and offers its condolences to the grieving families.

Dera’a Palestine Refugee Camp is located on the southern periphery of Dera’a City in southern Syria. Though the majority of camp residents have left to seek safety elsewhere, in the months prior to this incident, a few Palestine refugee families were trickling back to their homes. The explosions that caused the twelve fatalities also destroyed the homes of four families.

The recurrence of deadly violence against Palestinian and Syrian civilians must end. In the strongest possible terms, UNRWA reiterates its demand that all parties to the Syria conflict comply with their obligations under international law and desist from conducting armed engagements in civilian areas. All parties are responsible for ensuring respect for and compliance with norms that protect Palestinian and Syrian civilians from the effects of armed conflict. UNRWA repeats its appeal to the parties to seek a resolution of the Syria conflict through dialogue and political negotiations.

As the armed conflict continues to rage in and around Dera’a, this is only the latest of a sequence of grave incidents in which Palestinian civilians have been killed there. On 22 May, 6 Palestine refugees died and 30 injured in Dera’a City when the tent in which they were attending a public event was struck by a mortar explosion. In February, five Palestine refugee school children and an UNRWA staff member were killed by explosions in Muzeirib, 13km north-west of Dera’a.

http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/unrwa-strongly-deplores-killing-nine-palestine-refugees-and-three-syrians

[Fake Boris]

Sadly, they don't. Now if only the Gazans would cease the activities that trigger the embargoes...



http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-...rockets-school

This is bull****. Israel is pursuing a war of annexion; these violations are just pretext.

[Al B. Sure!]

Where is Az? I genuinely want to know what kind of cultural education Israeli soldiers receive.

American counterinsurgency is represented as a battle of ideas; of winning hearts and minds. In all military conflicts, it is important to turn the map around and put yourself in your enemy's shoes and not just tactically. You need to understand your enemy's motivations and culture. In the Marine Corps, we call it 'operational culture'. We orient ourselves, the enemy, and the host nation along 5 dimensions: physical environment, economy, social structure, political structure, and belief systems.

In a counterinsurgency, it is especially critical to turn the map around. I have heard the same rhetorical question at least a dozen times: 'How would you feel if Chinese troops were walking down your block? How do you think the Iraqis/Afghans/potentially North Koreans or whoever else will feel?'

It is an important mindset to instill in every Marine and soldier. The people there don't want us there but if we were in their shoes, we wouldn't either. Hell, considering we're the ones who joined the military, we'd probably be the first ones to pick up an AK47 and fight back. We can't dehumanize them. So what this means is that it is critical for us to always present the best image of ourselves and of America. Even if the civilian population doesn't like us and wants us out, they will grudgingly accept that we are still better than our enemies. We must always present ourselves as better than our enemies and take care that while fighting monsters, we don't become ones ourselves.

And there's the potential for the bridge. That is how we work together with the local authorities. Cooperation with host nation forces which goes back to the Philippine Insurgency of 1899 has been standard protocol for the US military during counterinsurgencies. Not only do they help 'our guys' establish credibility among the civilian population and position the conflict not as, for example, Iraq vs. America but America and Iraq vs. bad guys, but both sides are humanized. American soldiers are recognized as humans worthy of respect, not evil invaders, by the host nation forces and American service-members appreciate the host population as not 'them' but as one of 'us', helping to curb bad behavior and potential atrocities which will instantly cause us to lose the battle of ideas.

American military thinkers long ago read Clausewitz and recognized that war is political and it is a clash of wills and ideas. You cannot kill all the bad guys. For every one you knock down, his brother, his son, or his cousin will pick up a weapon against you. In fact, the means by which you kill can potentially drum up more support against you. Instead, you must take away their will to fight, isolate them from their support base in the population and turn the civilians against them. Killing bad guys is only a small task within this greater mission.

Even if the results have not always been ideal, that is the way you fight a counterinsurgency. That is the way you hold onto the precious quality of being the good guys. That is the right way to do it. Sadly, what is right is not always effective but it is still the American way and to see certain posters here, of chest-beating, warhawking, patriotic facades, mock it, is, frankly disturbing.

What are the Israelis taught?

[DinoDoc]

What are the Israelis taught?

Clearly that Palestinian Blood makes for an excellent ingredient in matzos. That's what you wanna hear, right?

[Bereta_Eder]

How do they harvest it afterwards?