gambit
PROFESSIONAL
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2009
- Messages
- 28,569
- Reaction score
- 148
- Country
- Location
But...This is about state-on-state conflict. What this means is that a target may be 'legitimate' to one party may not be 'legitimate' to another. A 'legal combatant' is essentially someone with a license to kill and he cannot be prosecuted for the killing, or to put it another way, he is endowed by a higher authority with the privilege to kill. He has a sponsor, reasonably assumed to be a state, and must acknowledge responsibility for him.Good, as long as what you say applies to all I don't mind the definition. Meaning that i.e. Israeli scientists and technicians are on the target list.
If a 'legal combatant' kill an 'illegal combatant', the kill is 'legal'. But if an 'illegal combatant' kill a 'legal combatant', that kill is a war crime. Put it another way, if a 'legal combatant' has an 'illegal combatant' in his gunsight, he is looking at a 'legitimate target'. But if the 'illegal combatant' has the 'legal combatant' in his gunsight, he is looking at an 'illegitimate target'.
Who claims authority over and responsibility for Hezbollah? None? That mean any killing done by Hezbollah against any Israeli, be it a soldier or a scientist, is an 'illegal' kill. Remember, it was the nation-states who gathered these ideas, debated for and against and finally codified them, so it should be ONLY nation-states who can endow their agents with the privilege to kill. If Iran or any other nation-state refuse to acknowledge their agents in the Israelis-Palestinians conflict, any Israeli death at the hands of Hezbollah, Hamas et al is an 'illegal' kill. Therefore, the moral and legal rights are in Israel's favor whenever Israel persecute Hezbollah and Hamas fighters. The moral and legal rights are also in Israel's favor if Israel decide to prosecute a state-on-state conflict against any state that sponsors, but refuse to acknowledge, Hezbollah and Hamas.
When enough people are blowing themselves up in Iraq, guess Osama's interpretation of the Quran is not so 'wicked' after all.I still don't neither recognize or accept his wicked definition.
No...I would not say that. No one could say that, except you, of course. If one side is deliberately using human shields then the burden of being in breach of the GCs falls upon that side. You may believe that the use of human shields by Hamas et al is isolated but Human Rights Watch or assorted minor watchdog organizations who are hardly pro-US disagree with you. Israel has the right to respond.So the roughly 80% civilian casualties of Gaza and Lebanon are a severe breach of the GC. Would you say that Israel then committed war crimes in both Lebanon and Gaza?
You are contradicting yourself. You previously asserted that practically all of Israeli society are legitimate targets due to their mandatory membership in the Israeli military structure.I don't condone attacks on market places unless ALL there are military targets, and what are the odds of that, very slim.
I am a firm believer in justice and human rights, if the GC allows it then Yes, if not, then of course no.
ALL fit Israelis must serve in the army, and become reserves afterwards. Therefore the only civilians I can see are Israelis below the age of 18, Israelis that have not served in the army, and israelis that are pensioned.
That mean a marketplace is an assembly of 'enemy' formation, therefore, civilians in that marketplace are 'collateral damages'. But then again, because this is a non-state actor who does the killing, the attack is an 'illegal' one, therefore, any death is a war crime. Notice I said 'actor' not 'agent' because the word 'agent' imply a representative of a higher authority and no one has claimed responsibility for either Hezbollah or Hamas. The Palestinians do not have a 'state' but they have a government-like authority figure -- the Palestinians Authority (PA) -- who speak on their behalf. The PA does have a police force but not a formal military, so unless the PA declare itself and the Palestinians to be at war against the Israeli state with the PA police force becoming an acknowledged military wing of the Palestinians, any Israeli killing anywhere is a war crime and the killer is an 'illegal combatant'.
Then based upon what I explained above, you should be equally hateful to the...errr...'anonymous'...governments who financed Hezbollah and Hamas for their own gains.Look, I hate the Israeli army for what it has done and does to others.
But does your religion prohibits moral support for those who do NOT share your stated belief? Ever see the movie 'The Accused'? In the movie, a rape victim decide to press charges against the cheerleaders to the rapist. If a suicide bomber blew up an Israeli marketplace...errr...I mean an assembly of Israeli troops, do you cheer the act, either silently or with some external gesture of approval? No one would hunt you down for being such a cheerleader, but would your conscience, supposedly the 'voice of God', speak disapproving of you? Just curious.But I would never target anyone who is not in connection with a conflict and battlefield, my religion simply prohibits that.