this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There is no military goal that justifies killing "any amount" of civilians. All of them have limits, which are based on military capabilities.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Okay, what is the limit of children the IDF should be able to kill before it is no longer justified? Give me a number.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

In general, civilian-combatant casualty ratios range from 1:1 to 5:1. They tend to be higher in urban settings like Gaza. The Chechen wars were closer to 7-10:1

The US estimates 15,000 combatants have been killed in Gaza. If so, we would consider 15,000 to 75,000 civilian deaths to be normal at this point.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Anyone reading along in this thread should probably check the veracity of these claimed ratios. Wikipedia has an okay overview.

It's also worth noting that the Russian wars in Chechnya were particularly notable for their brutal war crimes.

@FlyingSquid

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'll save you the effort:

  • Mexican American War, 1:1
  • WW1, 1:1
  • WW2, between 3:2 and 2:1
  • Korean War, 3:1
  • Vietnam War, between 1:3 and 2:1
  • Lebanon War, between 4:1 and 6:1
  • Chechen Wars, 10:1 (first), 4:1 (second), 7.6:1 (overall)
  • Yugoslav War: between 1:10 and 10:1
  • Iraq War: between 1:2 and 3:1
  • Mosul: between 0.7:1 and 1.5:1

If there are 15,000 combatants among the 35,000 dead in Gaza, then this war stands at 1.3:1

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Israel themselves said they would accept 15 dead civilians for low level Hamas staff and 100+ for higher ranking ones.

And they overshoot hard.

IDF count every male above 16 as Hamas by default. You're gonna get a lot of false positives that way

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm using US estimates of combatant deaths, not IDF estimates.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (6 children)

https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-said-to-believe-israel-killed-just-20-30-of-hamas-terrorists-in-gaza-fighting/

The US puts the number of Hamas men injured at between 10,500 and 11,700, many of whom could keep fighting, a US official told the newspaper.

Just FYI the total stats for injured is way way way above 35k

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68387864

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I consider all civilians to be equal, so I'm not going to separate children for the same reason I'm not going to separate Palestinian Christians, mothers, teachers, or retirees.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Okay, let me put it this way- are you so firm in your conviction that all the child deaths in Gaza so far have been justified that you would be willing to say that to the parents of a dead child? Because I'm willing to find some so that you can tell them that yourself. I bet they'd even be willing to get on video chat with you so you can tell them, to their faces, that their child's death was justifiable.

So, are you willing to do that? Tell grieving parents that their child's death was justifiable because Israel is accomplishing its military objectives?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Believing something is true does not mean that you should tell someone, especially someone in grief.

If someone's husband just died, would you be willing to say, "You should know that he was cheating on you for years"?

If someone's mother just died, would you be willing to say, "I really think you should have spent more time with her in her final days"?

If someone's child commits suicide, would you be willing to say, "You could have prevented this if you had bothered to pay attention to the warning signs"?

Even if all these things are 100% true, I think it would be monstrous to blurt them out.

Sometimes compassion means respecting that people are not always ready to hear the truth.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Okay, so you would be willing to tell them that in a year, correct? You gave them time to grieve, so they would be ready to hear the truth.

Shall we make an appointment in one years' time for you to tell the parents of a dead Palestinian child that their child's death was justified so that Israel could meet their military objectives?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Some people will never be ready.

One year later, ten years later, a million years later: I would never say "You could have prevented your child's death".

Most people do not want to debate the circumstances of their child's death, ever. They often only want reassurance that it's part of god's plan. And if that's all they want, then that's all I will ever say about it (even though I'm not exactly religious).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Do you think any Palestinians will be willing to hear that the death of a Palestinian child was justified so that Israel could achieve its military goals?

Edit: Wait a second-

I would never say “You could have prevented your child’s death”.

What are you even talking about? I thought this was about whether or not the death was justified, not whether or not it was preventable.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

“You could have prevented your child’s death” is simply an example of something that may be true, but I will never say to anyone. Not next year, not in a hundred years. Not in Palestine, not in New York.

Do you think any Palestinians will be willing to hear that the death of a Palestinian child was justified so that Israel could achieve its military goals?

I don't think anyone, Palestinian or not, will be willing to debate whether the death of their child was justified.

I think plenty of people, including Palestinians, are willing to debate whether the death of other people's children is justified. For example, some Palestinians argued that the death of Israeli children on 10/7 was justified.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You didn't answer my question. I will ask it again:

Do you think any Palestinians will be willing to hear that the death of a Palestinian child was justified so that Israel could achieve its military goals?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I think some would be willing and some wouldn't.

Some Palestinians are in the IDF, they might agree it's justified. Some Palestinians don't agree, but are willing to hear an opposing view. And many Palestinians, like many people in general, don't want to hear an opposing view.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But no parent would be willing to hear that within a year? Just other Palestinians who did not lose children?

And let's talk about agreement- How about a lot of the rest of the world? Would you say that most of the world would agree with you that Israel is justified in killing thousands of children for their military goals? If a majority, how big a majority? Can you back that up? If a minority, then it sounds less like it's justified and more like you personally consider it to be so, which is a different issue.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As I said, I think the vast majority of people who have lost a child do not ever want to debate whether the death was justified. Furthermore plenty of other people - Palestinian or otherwise - do not want to engage in a debate over Israel.

I have no idea how many people in the rest of the world agree with Israel, and it doesn't matter to me at all. I don't think it affects whether they are justified. There are plenty of things that are not justified even though they are very popular, and vice versa.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sorry... you think moral justification does not depend on what the majority considers to be morally justified?

Where does it come from, your god?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Morality usually comes from some sort of first principles. Some are religiously inspired, but I think it's much better to start with one or more moral philosophers.

If we simply put it to a vote, then we would likely conclude that slavery was moral in the 18th century.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (31 children)

Which moral philosopher says that it's justified to kill thousands of children to achieve military goals?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Pol Pot springs to mind...

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