As the Israel-Gaza conflict rages on, so do the accusations of civilian deaths and disproportionate use of force by Israel. These charges are nothing new, we've heard these same arguments during the first Gaza conflict in 2008. I began to wonder where did these new rules of war come from? It certainly hasn't always been the standard. During World War 2, while military and industrial installations were targeted, civilian targets were also fair game. Such as the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the semi-indiscriminate bombing of Berlin.
Somewhere along the lines the rules of war changed. The first real shift occurred during the the Vietnam war. The news media and anti-war protestors were quick to pick up on communist propaganda and harp on civilian causalities. The American troops returning home were spit upon and called baby killers. These accusations were an obvious attempt to slander and shame the United States military, and it worked. Militarily we won the war, but politically we lost it. Liberals today have adopted these contrived rules of war and have applied them to every conflict since, with America and Israel bearing the brunt of the scrutiny.
In Israel's case, it does everything it can to minimize civilian casualties by dropping leaflets, sending out text messages, and even calling people's home. More than what anyone has done prior. Not only does this come at a strategic expense to Israel, but it's also exploited by her enemies. If Hamas knows Israel is reluctant to fire on civilian buildings for fear of killing civilians, they will use those buildings from which to launch their attacks, and those civilians as human shields. And if Israel does attack and kills civilians they can use it to demonize her. It's a catch 22 for Israel, their damned if they do and damned if they don't. In reality Israel isn't responsible for protecting another nation's civilians, they are only responsible for protecting their own civilians. And that's just what their doing. Wars are never fought fair, there fought to be won. One has to wonder if we could have won World War 2 under the same constraints as Israel is placed under today. I don't need a magic eight ball to tell me "very doubtful".
