Even if one takes Israel’s allegations at face value — which I absolutely do not, given Israel’s track record — and entertains the idea that in 2013, at the age of 17, al-Sharif joined Hamas in some form, what are we to make of that choice? Hamas has been the governing authority of Gaza since 2006.
So… maybe he was Hamas, what’s the big deal?
Yeah if the guy was Hamas, he’s a valid target.
So there was a lot of outrage over his death by news organizations around the world last week. Israel presented their evidence, and then… silence. That indicates news organizations consider Israel’s evidence to be at least credible.
And then this opinion column comes out and this guy is saying “He’s not Hamas… and even if he was, it’s ok for him to be Hamas.” It smacks of the Trumpian “I didn’t do that, and if I did, it’s perfectly fine” style of logic.
The silence of news organizations (other than Al Jazeera and alt media trash) on this and then this opinion piece making excuses about why it’s perfectly fine for Anas al-Sharif to be a member of Hamas… it kinda seems like he actually was a member of Hamas.
No, according to the Geneva Conventions only armed combatants are legitimate targets.
A militant Hamas member who is injured and in hospital is not a legitimate target.
A journalist, even if he was a Hamas member, is not a legitimate target.
A doctor, even if he worked for the Hamas run health ministry is not a legitimate target.
The public diplomacy of Israel, or hasbara (Hebrew: הַסְבָּרָה), includes mass communication and individual interaction with foreign nationals through social and traditional media, as well as cultural diplomacy. Organizations involved include the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and pro-Israel civil society organizations.
Historically, these efforts have evolved from being called “propaganda” by early Zionists (when the term was considered neutral), with Theodor Herzl advocating such activities in 1899,[1] to the more contemporary Hebrew term hasbara introduced by Nahum Sokolow, which translates roughly to “explaining”. This communicative strategy seeks to justify actions and is considered reactive and event-driven.
Since the rise of social media, Israel is building its propaganda efforts both on paid and volunteering organizations, similar to the infamous Russian “troll farms”.
In the case of journalists, they go even further, using intelligence units to smear journalists, like the murdered Anas Al-Sharif. We can expect this information then to be disseminated through various channels
It should be noted that a lot of people are not paid or otherwise organized actors when it comes to Hasbara, but have fallen victim to the propaganda they then help to spread.
And here you are wrong. There is a difference between Hamas armed wing and government workers. For Israel they are the same. According to international law they are not.
For Israel every male in Gaza is a Hamas fighter which is so inherently wrong. They simply kill those males with utter impunity.
And if we have a bit more critical thinking, even if he was a legitimate fighter, why didn’t they kill him when he was alone. Why did they kill him when he was with his colleagues. Because they never said anything about the other victims. It is almost like there is a clear trend of killing local journalists and not allowing international ones, so that they can control the narrative.
For Israel every male in Gaza is a Hamas fighter which is so inherently wrong.
That is not true. You’re being shown video of a guy that’s dressed like a civilian being killed by a drone and told that’s not Hamas because they look like a civilian. But Hamas doesn’t wear uniforms. They all dress like civilians. So is that guy a civilian or Hamas? Depends on who you believe.
And that’s the horrible nature of Hamas. You may think that a military having their soldiers wear uniforms and clearly mark their vehicles as military is stupid because it makes them obvious targets. But we do this so in a war it’s easy to distinguish between military and civilians. This results in there being less civilian casualties. You may think that Hamas is being “smart” by dressing like civilians and hiding among the civilian population, but really it just results in higher civilian casualties. We respect soldiers for putting on a uniform because that’s them taking on additional risk to make civilians safer. Hamas doesn’t do this because why would they? More civilian casualties brings more sympathy for them, and more money being sent to them.
And international law agrees with this. The reason why captured Hamas are treated as criminals and not prisoners of war is because that’s what international law considers them to be. If they wore uniforms they would be POWs, but since they don’t they are criminals. Of course if they wore uniforms the war would be over fairly quickly and there would be much fewer casualties. But this is why international law is the way it is. To avoid long drawn out wars with combatants that don’t wear uniforms resulting in a high number of cvilian casualties.
Hamas is a criminal organization, and has been declared a terrorist group by most sensible countries for good reason.
And if we have a bit more critical thinking, even if he was a legitimate fighter, why didn’t they kill him when he was alone.
That’s not how wars work. It is expected for a military to keep their own civilians safe by building their bases apart from civilians (not under hospitals and schools) and wearing uniforms. The onus isn’t on your enemy to keep your civilian population safe, the onus is on your military to keep you safe. Hamas is doing the exact opposite of keeping Palestinian civilians safe, they’re using the tactic of purposefully putting their civilian population at risk and for some reason you think it’s fine for them to do this. It is not illegal in war to hit a target because your enemy insists on using civilians to protect themselves. Hamas is using cowardly tactics, and telling you this is a good thing to do and you’re believing them.
So… maybe he was Hamas, what’s the big deal?
Yeah if the guy was Hamas, he’s a valid target.
So there was a lot of outrage over his death by news organizations around the world last week. Israel presented their evidence, and then… silence. That indicates news organizations consider Israel’s evidence to be at least credible.
And then this opinion column comes out and this guy is saying “He’s not Hamas… and even if he was, it’s ok for him to be Hamas.” It smacks of the Trumpian “I didn’t do that, and if I did, it’s perfectly fine” style of logic.
The silence of news organizations (other than Al Jazeera and alt media trash) on this and then this opinion piece making excuses about why it’s perfectly fine for Anas al-Sharif to be a member of Hamas… it kinda seems like he actually was a member of Hamas.
No, according to the Geneva Conventions only armed combatants are legitimate targets. A militant Hamas member who is injured and in hospital is not a legitimate target.
A journalist, even if he was a Hamas member, is not a legitimate target.
A doctor, even if he worked for the Hamas run health ministry is not a legitimate target.
It’s a hasbara bot unfortunately
What do you mean?
“Hasbara” is a term for Israeli propaganda.
Since the rise of social media, Israel is building its propaganda efforts both on paid and volunteering organizations, similar to the infamous Russian “troll farms”.
https://www.apnews.com/article/2b9d37b6d0ab4916bd5df9498ae4118f
In the case of journalists, they go even further, using intelligence units to smear journalists, like the murdered Anas Al-Sharif. We can expect this information then to be disseminated through various channels
https://www.972mag.com/israel-gaza-journalists-hamas-hasbara/
It should be noted that a lot of people are not paid or otherwise organized actors when it comes to Hasbara, but have fallen victim to the propaganda they then help to spread.
Does hamas follow the Geneva conventions?
Show me where in the Geneva convention it says this. Go on, find this in the rules of war where it says that. I’ll wait.
You know just making shit up doesn’t further your cause, it just makes people distrust you.
And here you are wrong. There is a difference between Hamas armed wing and government workers. For Israel they are the same. According to international law they are not.
For Israel every male in Gaza is a Hamas fighter which is so inherently wrong. They simply kill those males with utter impunity.
And if we have a bit more critical thinking, even if he was a legitimate fighter, why didn’t they kill him when he was alone. Why did they kill him when he was with his colleagues. Because they never said anything about the other victims. It is almost like there is a clear trend of killing local journalists and not allowing international ones, so that they can control the narrative.
That is not true. You’re being shown video of a guy that’s dressed like a civilian being killed by a drone and told that’s not Hamas because they look like a civilian. But Hamas doesn’t wear uniforms. They all dress like civilians. So is that guy a civilian or Hamas? Depends on who you believe.
And that’s the horrible nature of Hamas. You may think that a military having their soldiers wear uniforms and clearly mark their vehicles as military is stupid because it makes them obvious targets. But we do this so in a war it’s easy to distinguish between military and civilians. This results in there being less civilian casualties. You may think that Hamas is being “smart” by dressing like civilians and hiding among the civilian population, but really it just results in higher civilian casualties. We respect soldiers for putting on a uniform because that’s them taking on additional risk to make civilians safer. Hamas doesn’t do this because why would they? More civilian casualties brings more sympathy for them, and more money being sent to them.
And international law agrees with this. The reason why captured Hamas are treated as criminals and not prisoners of war is because that’s what international law considers them to be. If they wore uniforms they would be POWs, but since they don’t they are criminals. Of course if they wore uniforms the war would be over fairly quickly and there would be much fewer casualties. But this is why international law is the way it is. To avoid long drawn out wars with combatants that don’t wear uniforms resulting in a high number of cvilian casualties.
Hamas is a criminal organization, and has been declared a terrorist group by most sensible countries for good reason.
That’s not how wars work. It is expected for a military to keep their own civilians safe by building their bases apart from civilians (not under hospitals and schools) and wearing uniforms. The onus isn’t on your enemy to keep your civilian population safe, the onus is on your military to keep you safe. Hamas is doing the exact opposite of keeping Palestinian civilians safe, they’re using the tactic of purposefully putting their civilian population at risk and for some reason you think it’s fine for them to do this. It is not illegal in war to hit a target because your enemy insists on using civilians to protect themselves. Hamas is using cowardly tactics, and telling you this is a good thing to do and you’re believing them.
Brave doing this on lemmy. We don’t want your facts or rational thinking, we prefer hate and calling for more violence (looking at you, ayyy)