German Hostage Found Dead

[Dill]

(12-19-2023, 11:08 AM)GMDino Wrote: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hostages-gaza-hamas-war-52fa9628e6284cdad6d7f7db6cc30742

It also came days after another incident raised questions about Israel’s open-fire rules. After Hamas militants shot at a busy Jerusalem bus stop, an Israeli man who had rushed to confront the attackers was gunned down by an Israeli soldier, even though he had raised his hands, knelt on the ground and flung open his shirt to indicate he wasn’t a threat. The military has launched an investigation.


Critics see a direct link between a long list of shooting deaths of Palestinians – from the killing of 32-year-old autistic man Eyad Hallaq, to the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and many more over the years – to the incidents that led to the deaths of Israelis.

Most recently, B’Tselem accused the army of carrying out a pair of “illegal executions” after releasing video footage that appeared to show Israeli troops killing two Palestinian men — one who was incapacitated and the second unarmed — during a military raid in the occupied West Bank. Military police are investigating, but rights groups say such incidents rarely lead to punitive measures.

There is a rather natural progression here that I have seen before. Some Palestinian attack on Israel leads to sympathy for Israel, but then sparks greater international scrutiny of Israel's culture of military occupation--especially among those who were unaware there was a military occupation. Initially, Israeli behavior is "excused" because they are under threat and have a right to self defense; and then questions arise as to why they are under threat and whether Palestinians might also have a right to self defense. 

This war departs substantially from every previous event, though, in that it began with a massive strike that killed 1400 Israelis--roughly the number of Palestinians killed in Operation Cast Lead back in 2008, plus the very visible murder rape atrocities of unarmed civilians. The Palestinian casualties, which will follow the usual inexplicable excess, bring the focus back to the IDF and Netanyahu government. But in this case Israel's killing of their own hostages is accelerating the questioning.