Some of them were taking R&R, some were along the border fence.
When every single person in your country is required to be a soldier when they turn 18, I don’t think suggesting they’re fair game in a situation like what happened in October 7th.
If they’re actively fighting, that’s a different story. But they weren’t. The people sending them to war should be the targets considering they do not have a choice in the matter.
I assume you don’t blame Russian conscripts for the war in Ukraine despite that also involving genocide.
Every death is a tragedy, but combatants are “fair game” in an armed conflict. This does not mean to “blame” them for what brought them there.
And for the Russian conscripts i will still not count them as civilians killed, even though they are also on the short end of Putins madness.
There is a major difference between Russia and Israel though. The Russian conscripts rarely had a chance to escape Russia. Most Israelis have a second or even third nationality. Their families are there by choice, not by lack of options.
It wasn’t an armed conflict until they began it on October 7th.
Whether or not Israel drove them to do it is another issue. I believe that’s what happened. But it doesn’t change the fact that I would not consider conscripts fair game in that situation because the situation itself is not a fair one.
An armed siege and occupation are armed conflicts.
Just because there wasn’t active fighting at a time does not change the fact that at least one side established its position by force. To take the example of Crimea. Just because Russia moved in to occupy it quickly and there was little fighting, it is still an armed conflict. If Russia wouldn’t roam Crimea with its army, it wouldn’t hold control of it. The same is true for the siege of Gaza that Israel upheld before reinvading it.
Of course there was armed conflict or do you think the apartheid and blockade of Gaza was enforced with bubblegum and rainbows?
When every single person in your country is required to be a soldier when they turn 18,
Just because the state violently forces people to do awful things that doesn’t absolve the state from being awful. There are many people who resist. I know some. They’ve had to flee the state because the state and the society are so oppressive of decent people. It’s really gross to ignore the sacrifices of these brave people.
I have made it clear again and again that Israel as a state is not absolved.
Now you are dishonestly implying that I have not.
I see no reason to continue a conversation with someone who makes such a disgusting implication of me.
