#military necessity

[eretzyisrael]

by John Spencer

Hamas forces indisputably violated multiple laws of war on October 7 in taking Israelis hostage and raping, torturing and directly targeting civilians, as well continuing to attack Israeli population centers with rockets. Years of intelligence assessments and media reports have shown that Hamas also commits war crimes by using human shields for its weapons and command centers and by purposely putting military capabilities in protected sites like hospitals, mosques and schools.

On the other hand, nothing I have seen shows that the Israel Defense Forces are not following the laws of wars in Gaza, particularly when the charges that the IDF is committing war crimes so often come too quickly for there to have been an examination of the factors that determine whether an attack, and the resulting civilian casualties, are lawful. The factors that need to be assessed are the major dimensions of the most commonly agreed to international humanitarian law principles: military necessity, proportionality, distinction, humanity and honor.  

President Joe Biden and multiple European countries, including the UK, Germany and France, are supporting Israel’s self-defense even as they express concerns over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Though Gaza’s legal status is unresolved under international law, Israel needs no permission to enter the territory and resort to using force in order to wage defensive operations because Israel’s right to immediate and unilateral self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter is universally recognized.

Israel has pledged to obey international law, and one of its cornerstones is proportionality. The concept is often misunderstood to allow only for equal numbers of civilian casualties on both sides, with any lopsided numbers considered disproportionate. But proportionality is actually a requirement to take into account how much civilian harm is anticipated in comparison to the expected concrete and direct military advantage, according to UN protocols. In other words, a high civilian death count in Jabalya could potentially be considered legal under international law so long as the military objective is of high value. The Israel Defense Forces said the intended target in this case was the senior Hamas commander who oversaw all military operations in the northern Gaza; neutralizing him is an objective that most likely clears the proportional bar. Furthermore, Israel pointed out that the loss of life was compounded because Hamas had built tunnels that weakened the targeted structure that then collapsed in the strike.

The attack also passes muster on the level of “military necessity,” the principle that the action was necessary to pursue an allowed military goal (killing enemy troops), rather than an illegal goal (causing civilians to suffer). The IDF has said that its aim is to remove the rockets, ammunitions depot, power and transportation systems Hamas has embedded within their civilian population. So far, a number of military experts have assessed that Israel appears to be trying to follow the law of armed conflict in its Gaza campaign.

[myreia]

✦ B A R D

She does not consider herself an archer, but the bow feels slick and powerful in her hand. She settles on the peak of the roof, unbothered by the fog and the rain, leather coat unfurling around her. Like the skill it takes to learn an instrument, hunting is as much about patience as it is about precision. Her breath stills. Her fingers flex, the bowstring taut. They will not see the arrow coming. —level 90 compendium

[c4tto626]

but do we get to see o.o the thigh straps?

you just want crotch pictures, admit it 😏 but also sure

[hathorik]

THE BOMBS DROPPED ON GAZA ARE 25 TIMES THE PAYLOAD ALLOWED ON URBAN AREAS

25 TIMES THE PAYLOAD ALLOWED ON URBAN AREAS

25 TIMES

THIS IS A GENOCIDE

*IMPORTANT REPORTING* A Times Investigation Tracked Israel’s Use of One of Its Most Destructive Bombs in South Gaza

(Source: New York Times | Last Updated Dec. 22, 2023) During the first six weeks of the war in Gaza, Israel routinely used one of its biggest and most destructive bombs in areas it designated safe for civilians, according to an analysis of visual evidence by The New York Times

Here's a clip for easy access, but please WATCH the FULL VIDEO ON YOUTUBE with no paywall * Warning: Graphic Content* Ultimately, the investigation identified 208 craters in satellite imagery and drone footage. ... the findings reveal that 2,000-pound bombs posed a pervasive threat to civilians seeking safety across south Gaza. Reporting By Robin Stein, Haley Willis, Ishaan Jhaveri, Danielle Miller, Aaron Byrd and Natalie Reneau

This is not defense, this is not justice, this is an affront to international humanitarian law. Stop the carnage.

The international community must do more than merely profess the defense of human rights; it must also ensure compliance in practice. DON'T LOOK AWAY. KEEP UP PUBLIC PRESSURE. PUSH FOR PEACE.

[daydreamerdrew]

Marvel Super-Heroes (1967) #13 and Captain Marvel (1968) #1

[trendynewsnow]

Divisions Among American Voters Over Gaza Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis

Divisions Among American Voters over Gaza Conflict The Biden administration’s backing of Israel during the ongoing war in Gaza has created a significant rift among left-leaning voters in the United States. This includes a notable segment of Arab Americans, many of whom express growing discontent with Vice President Kamala Harris’s political ambitions. Their concerns echo a broader sense of…

[lackadaisical-lesbian]

I'm sorry but if you genuinely feel that joining the military "for financial reasons" is a justifiable reason then you are so morally apathetic, so removed from any substantial beliefs, that it is pathetic to witness.

Even if you're poor, that does not give you the excuse to further the United States' imperial agenda and wash your hands of the blood you spill. It does not remove you from the effects of your actions.

If you pick up a weapon you are no longer a simple cog in the machine, you are an active participant, an agent of the machine.

There is no reason, not one, good enough to join the military that absolves you of the guilt.

If you claim yourself some flavor of leftist and preach on the inherent value of human life but justify joining the US military, or forgive those who do, then you are nothing more than an amalgamation of buzzwords without any sort of substance. You will never be such a pitiful creature within the imperial core that you can be forgiven for spilling the blood of people in the name of this country.

Your financial survival will never, regardless of circumstance, be worth more than human life.

[rlim1908]

NATO & the new Vatican state put maiden RINA in perfect time. Correct timeline & time reality. No time space distance azalea connected time anomalies!!! Hold Luxembourg tightly by the neck!!! It’s supposed to do maiden RINA perfect work. Lxmb is having a very very hard time with Charito Hugo ilao terrorists. (She has to be shot & killed literally) super Muslim. Lxmb NATO Return those to NATO main office UP diliman or NATO or Beda homecare charity or UST will call them abt it….

[homunculus-argument]

Another worldbuilding application of the "two layer rule": To create a culture while avoiding The Planet Of Hats (the thing where a people only have one thing going for them, like "everyone wears a silly hat"): You only need two hats.

Try picking two random flat culture ideas and combine them, see how they interact. Let's say taking the Proud Warrior Race - people who are all about glory in battle and feats of strength, whose songs and ballads are about heroes in battle and whose education consists of combat and military tactics. Throw in another element: Living in diaspora. Suddenly you've got a whole more interesting dynamic going on - how did a people like this end up cast out of their old native land? How do they feel about it? How do they make a living now - as guards, mercenaries? How do their non-combatants live? Were they always warrior people, or did they become fighters out of necessity to fend for themselves in the lands of strangers? How do the peoples of these lands regard them?

Like I'm not shitting, it's literally that easy. You can avoid writing an one-dimensional culture just by adding another equally flat element, and the third dimension appears on its own just like that. And while one of the features can be location/climate, you can also combine two of those with each other.

Let's take a pretty standard Fantasy Race Biome: The forest people. Their job is the forest. They live there, hunt there, forage there, they have an obnoxious amount of sayings that somehow refer to trees, woods, or forests. Very high chance of being elves. And then a second common stock Fantasy Biome People: The Grim Cold North. Everything is bleak and grim up there. People are hardy and harsh, "frostbite because the climate hates you" and "stabbed because your neighbour hates you" are the most common causes of death. People are either completely humourless or have a horrifyingly dark, morbid sense of humour. They might find it funny that you genuinely can't tell which one.

Now combine them: Grim Cold Bleak Forest People. The summer lasts about 15 minutes and these people know every single type of berry, mushroom and herb that's edible in any fathomable way. You're not sure if they're joking about occasionally resorting to eating tree bark to survive the long dark winter. Not a warrior people, but very skilled in disappearing into the forest and picking off would-be invaders one by one. Once they fuck off into the woods you won't find them unless they want to be found.

You know, Finland.

[falesten-iw]

Warning: Long Post No one reads long texts anymore, but despite everything I've been through with my country, my family, and recently my son, I need to get this off my chest. It's completely unbelievable to me that so many people still don't understand the background of the genocide in Palestine. What kind of journalists or influencers do we have today? Are they too afraid to report and remind their audiences about the real story behind what's happening now? No, it's not just one year of suffering! It's outrageous how the media consistently ignores what Palestinians have been enduring for decades. Have they, or you, even bothered to look at the statistics of how many Palestinians have been killed by Israel since 1948? How many children have been killed? Who holds the responsibility for what's happening now? I often wonder: what if the situation Palestinians face was applied somewhere else? For example, what if, after World War II, the West had decided that all Jews should have a state in the USA—let’s say Chicago—how would the people of Chicago have reacted? Imagine the people there being driven off the land their families had worked for generations, stripped of their rights, and harassed or persecuted if they resisted. Do international laws simply not apply when ### is involved? Do you know that people in Gaza are killed simply for fun? Yes, for fun! Israeli soldiers have been known to shoot women, children, and even animals on the spot, then walk away. Did you feel the wind when those shots were fired? Or was it too far away for you? Do you understand what death means? Good. Do you know why there are so many Palestinians living in different countries, or maybe even right next door to you, even though they smell like hummus, garlic, za'atar, and other traditional foods? Do you know why your neighbors are Palestinian and not Israeli? It's because we've been forced to flee since 1948. Our cities were erased then, and more are still being erased—through violence, through apartheid laws, through genocide, through different methods. Ilan Pappe, an Israeli historian, wrote a book about hundreds of Palestinian cities that were erased to create the Israel you know today. This isn't a war that started a few days ago or even a year ago—this has been going on since at least 1948. More than 45,000 have been killed in Gaza just in the past year alone. 17 000 of them are children, and 13 000 are women. Do you even know what that means? How it feels to lose your children or part of your family? Are you going to tell us how it feels? Do you have no empathy? Is your heart so closed that you can't see the pain around you? Are you really so blind to the suffering of others? How can you ignore these realities? Do you know that the Israeli military has cut off all electricity and completely halted the import of food, water, fuel, and other necessities? There are no hospitals and no medicines left, and 85% of people in Gaza are living in makeshift tents. Yes, tents—but not like the ones you see in movies. These are handmade from plastic scraps. Do you know that my family is suffering from all of this, and I will lose them in this cold weather if you don't act now? Please help us and donate now!

Vetted and shared by @90-ghost: Link.

Verified and shared by @el-shab-hussein: Link

Listed as number 282 in "The Vetted Gaza Evacuation Fundraiser Spreadsheet" compiled by @el-shab-hussein and @nabulsi : Link

Listed on the Butterfly Effect Project, number 957: Link

Additionally, Al Jazeera News has documented apart of my family's case: Link

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@dailyquests

[iridessence]

Rashida Tlaib is a powerhouse. Her grandmother just passed away under occupation (her words) but she’s still organizing for HEAL Palestine— an initiative providing Health, Education, Aid, and Leadership opportunities in a collective effort to help heal Gaza’s youth.

A donation to HEAL Palestine will help shelter, feed, and treat injured and sick Palestinians who have fled military violence, and who are in dire need of basic necessities including food, clean water, and medical supplies because of Israel’s cruel blockade. currently HEAL is working to open a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and a new maternity department in Rafah, plus sponsoring medical teams to go to Gaza.

In addition to funding urgent needs, a donation will support long-term solutions and projects in Palestine as well, such as mental health and mentorship for children who’ve been living with trauma their entire lives, and programs to rebuild Gaza’s education and health systems.

Here’s the link to donate.

[thefandomexpert]

did i just see someone compare transformers and GI Joe

[hazamacore]

with bds calling for an official boycott of eurovision, one of the things they have asked is for “supporters to launch creative, strategic initiatives that can pressure broadcasters to withdraw” and so i encourage all those whose countries are participating in eurovision to find out how to contact your national broadcaster to make a complaint. for those living in countries who dont broadcast eurovision i know u can still send a complaint to the bbc if ur outside the uk for one

this is the message i have been sending, feel free to translate it/use it as a template/improve it/etc:

Dear sir/ma'am,

In 2022, following the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, pressure was applied to the Eurovision Song Contest to bar Russia from competing that year and all years since. It was widely rightfully agreed that the invasion was worthy of strong condemnation and that Russia should be given no avenues to rehabilitate its public image.

In October 2023, the state of Israel began a military campaign against the people of the already occupied Gaza Strip in Palestine. In a disproportionate, atrocious response to the Hamas attack on the 7th of October 2023, Israeli forces have murdered over 30,000 Palestinians and displaced almost 2 million from their homes. Palestinian civilians (journalists and doctors included), entirely unaffiliated with the Hamas party Israel claims to target, have been targeted and killed indiscriminately. Stripped of basic necessities like food, water and electricity by Israel, with intent vocalised by multiple Israeli forces to eliminate Gaza and the Palestinian people, this is no less than a genocide.

Thus Israel, much like Russia, should not be permitted to compete in a contest that has been used repeatedly to maintain its pristine public image while it brutally oppresses Palestine. Especially when it has been charged with genocide explicitly by South Africa, a case that took place in the ICJ, thoroughly elucidating the crimes committed by the Israeli state, a charge agreed upon by several countries and genocide scholars alike.

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement has called for a complete boycott of Eurovision by broadcasters, artists and viewers and I ask that the BBC comply with this - abstain from broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest and withdraw this years entry to the contest.

Thank you.

[dearinglovebot]

breaking normal posting to say: merry christmas to those who celebrate. i make a point of keeping this blog fandom focused, but i am palestinian. from a place not far from bethlehem; where jesus was born and where this holiday began. but today, bethlehem is under military occupation. today, on christmas, bethlehem was bombed.

if you enjoy my jokes and posts, or if christmas means something special to you, i humbly ask you consider including bethlehem in your holiday giving. ANERA provides necessity like food and mattresses to palestinian refugees. PRCS provides critical medical care. CFG is a gaza-based grassroot collective which gives necessities to the community. thank you.

[heritageposts]

if you support israel right now, you're supporting the extermination of the palestinian people.

it really is that simple.

this isn't a 'complicated conflict,' it isn't a situation that 'requires nuance,' it's not a 'geopolitical event' that requires us to condemn the 'bad actors' on 'both sides.'

it's a genocide.

there is no 'nuance' to be had here. it's a genocide, committed by the israeli state against the palestinian people, and it's happening right now as we speak. you don't have to infer anything: israel has openly, with next to no pushback from so-called liberal democracies, cut off gaza's access to water, food and electricity. that's more than two million palestinians denied even the basic necessities for life. a million of them, children.

what is that, if not a genocide?

and that's only the latest escalation. we could go all day, listing the atrocities the palestinian people have been subjected to. the killings, the beatings, the children sexually abused in detention center, all the hospitals and ambulances being blown up, videos of palestinians being heckled by settlers as they're driven from their homes, israelis gathering on hilltops to cheer as their military drops bombs on gaza...

but all westerns want to talk about, is hamas.

because the murder of palestinians by the IDF is status quo; it doesn't affect them. what's one more dead palestinian but a statistic? but if hamas has killed a handful of israelis — if they've go as far as to even kill babies — then that justifies the extermination of two million palestinians, children and infants included.

westerns will even say that the palestinians brought it on themselves; that they should have know that a drop of israeli blood requires a river in return.

and just so we're clear, you don't have to like hamas. but when you equate hamas with the IDF, when you derail every conversation by demanding a condemnation of 'both sides,' or when you, god forbid, agree that israel is justified in dismantling hamas — which, as israel themselves have outlined, will involve the complete destruction of gaza and the murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians — then either wake up, or own up to the fact that you're a participant in the extermination of the palestinian people.

do you think i'm being harsh? then imagine how it's like living under constant aerial bombardment. with no food, no water, no electricity. constant air-raid sirens. a bomb, dropping every minute. never knowing a moment a peace, always wondering if today is going to be your last day, if you and your family are still going to be here tomorrow.

could you stomach living in gaza, for even a day? i doubt it.

and still, now, on the eve of what might be the ground invasion of gaza — with one million palestinians being told to flee, with nowhere to go — i'm getting messages from people who demand my sympathy... for israel.

well, you're not getting it.

i'm not even humoring your hand-wringing.

if you live in israel, and you're one of the ones who've turned a blind-eye to the suffering of the palestinian people, if you've fought for the IDF or tacitly supported them, if you've callously called upon the memory of the holocaust thinking the death and suffering of your ancestors would wash the blood of your own hands....

then yeah, i think you deserve every single hamas rocket lobbed at you and so much more.

[xxmourningdove666xx]

great seeing ableist and classist shit on my dash this 4th of july <3 please dont forget veterans are actually just as mistreated and used by the US government as anyone else <3 theres a fucking reason homeless vets are so common, retards, and it aint cuz people care abt them and it aint cuz they have family who can fucking help them