lades are cruel, not bombs: the Obama Doctrine

By: Dr. Javed Jamil

Source: muslimvillage.com

There is huge difference between “We” and “They”. This instinct is omnipotent. But when this instinct stings the mighty “we” is ready to kill “they” if “they” even dare to stare at “we”. What “we” do is always right, and what “they” do, unless approved by “we” is never right. If “they” behead half a dozen, they are cruel and barbaric, if we bombard millions to death, “we” are “peace-loving” and “civilised”. Beheading is brutal because it is “their” method; bombardment is civilised because it is “our” method. Nothing to do with the truth that the swords can behead dozens or hundreds and the bombs can destroy millions.

Gaza death toll rises to 1,283

Source: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/

The Palestinian death toll from a devastating Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip rose to 1,283, according to a Health Ministry spokesman.

“At least 54 Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, taking the death toll to 1,283,” Ashraf al-Qodra told Anadolu Agency.

He said that 170 people were also injured in Wednesday’s Israeli attacks.

On ‘human shielding’ in Gaza

The Israeli army has tried to justify striking civilian areas.

Israeli propaganda aims at transforming the presence of civilians as suspect in areas of bombardment, write Perugini and Gordon [EPA]

By: Nicola Perugini, Neve Gordon

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/

All fighting within cities and all bombardments of urban spaces, even the most “precise and surgical”, is a potential death trap for civilians. Consequently, the permeation of war into cities inevitably transforms their inhabitants into potential human shields.

For Palestinians living in Gaza today, simply spending time in their own homes, frequenting a mosque, going to a hospital or to school has become a dangerous enterprise since any one of these architectural edifices can become at any moment a target. One can no longer safely assume that the existence of masses of human bodies – even the bodies of children – in civilian spaces can serve as defence of the weak against the lethal capacity of the hi-tech states.

“Where do Gaza terrorists hide their weapons?“

But since hi-tech states can and do kill hundreds or thousands of civilians, they have to provide moral justification for their action in order to preserve their standing in the international arena; they have to demonstrate that they are protecting the principles of liberal democracy. It is precisely within this context that we should understand the series of posters recently disseminated by the Israeli military through its Twitter account, Facebook and blogs.