Appreciate the good faith response. While I’m certainly not going to excuse thousands of dead children, I don’t find these other conflicts comparable for the following reasons:
- these are averaged over about a decade, most of which is in the form of a “frozen” conflict between entrenched armies outside of populated areas. We might (I don’t have numbers on this) see a much higher rate if we focused in on the hottest/most urban part of each war. The “30 day” range for this conflict is widely out of step with the others. If we “froze” the conflict for a decade, we’d depress the number by 120x and it would suddenly match the others.
- most of these did not involve significant urban conflict in populated areas, especially with an entrenched defender making use of human shields.
- the average age in Gaza is only ~18, meaning all else being equal, child deaths will be outsized. Further, Hamas employs teenage soldiers and the provided numbers don’t make a civilian/militant distinction. As horrific as it is, there is a difference between an armed 17 year old child soldier and a 3 year old bystander.
Okay, city fighting is messy…
Except the second item on the list,
https://edition.cnn.com/gaza-israel-big-bombs
Israel is using 2000lbs bombs in Gaza, using hundreds of them. These are not, in any way, targeted strikes. They kill civilians by the dozens.
In 20 years of war, the US only ever used 500lbs bombs in urban environments. Even that was often barbaric in the amount of collateral damage caused.
Also, are you calling the fucking Battle of Mosula frozen conflict?
That was some of the bloodiest fighting in the entire war, all of it urban. There were fewer children killed in the entire 9 months than there have been killed in 3 in Gaza. And not by a small amount.
Yeah those are fair points. I’ve never defended the usage of 2000 pound bombs in urban areas.
I’m also certainly not calling Mosul a frozen conflict, merely noting that it is deceptive to present an average figure of child deaths over the 14 year long Iraq war against 30 days of intense urban fighting in Gaza.
I didn’t follow the fighting at the time, but per wikipedia the operation took 9 months, with the majority of the fighting/bombing happening during the initial 3 months during which half the city was taken. The enemy force was approximately half as strong as Hamas, and an estimated 20k - 40k civilians were killed, with about 1 million displaced. Interestingly it seems like the population density is somewhat comparable today, although it is hard to estimate the population at the time.
Taken together, this might make Mosul a good benchmark against which to judge the Israeli assault. Doing so, Israel definitely seems more cavalier to civilian deaths, but not wildly so. I still don’t see “genocide” here.
Take it from someone who was paying attention at the time. As bloody and horrific as it was, the fighting in Mosul was fucking laser guided precision compared to what Israel is doing in Gaza.
Israel is using massive bombs in areas that it tells refugees are safe. They bomb refugee camps and convoys. As in, directly targeting them, with bombs designed to cause as much collateral damage as possible.
And remember, the refugees are only camped in those places and taking those routes because Israel said they would be safe.
As to the “not being fair” comparing the dead children in different wars, remember that Total deaths of children in Iraq, for the entire 14 years of the conflict with ISIS, were less than died in Gaza in a single month.
That’s what you don’t seem to understand. That’s why we can easily call this a genocide in motion.
Add in comments by Israeli officials about “voluntary resettlement” in other countries.
It’s pure genocide. They’re literally saying “leave your home or die, surrender your land and property on the way out”. It’s exactly what the Germans said to Jews in the lead up to the Holocaust.
I still don’t see “genocide” here.
Said another way: “And if it was, does it matter?”
You’re following the narcissist’s prayer to a tee.
