Eras Tour cancelled in Vienna due to planned terrorist attack

[Turogue]

2 hours ago, whenthedogscaneout said:

Yeah. I’m not gonna waste time on someone already resorting to name calling because they can’t handle a proper discussion. And I’m sorry, but you do realize that the official number of casualties/deaths comes from the Health Ministry of Gaza, right? They are run by Hamas… not in the mood to spell out why that’s not exactly reliable. I’m sure you can figure it out. Not saying there aren’t any innocent people, but the real numbers are unknown and you have no clue how many are actually innocent or not. 

If you don’t have a perfect magic solution to prevent collateral damage, then what exactly do you expect? How would you get a terrorist organization to release over 250 innocent civilians including children that were abducted from their home after a cruel mur*** spree of over 1200 people? How do you think they would just hand them over to you without a war? 

But anyway, like I said I’m not gonna get into that argument because ignorance bores me tbh and there’s no way any of us would convince the other anyway…And for the record, because you had to go there… of course I am sad for any innocent life that is lost. It’s really low to insinuate otherwise.

You’re also very conveniently missing my point. It’s not about that specific war, but just a reminder that terrorism is everywhere and there’s no excuse for it. The point is that many of us are closing our eyes when terror attacks have become a normal reality all over the world. The terrorist admitted that he wanted to kill “infidels”. And like I said, we all know what 99.9% of terror attacks have in common, so why play dumb/innocent? 

Honey I can handle a proper discussion (unlike you that's why you are playing the victim card now). You insinuated that I'm making excuses for terrorists (and you couldn't highlight where I did that, because I didn't) so it's the pot calling the kettle black. If ignorance bores you then you must be hella bored with yourself. You were the one who was making a gross generalisation, you didn't say a single word about all the dead children, only about the ones from the side that you think are worth mentioning. You basically said that all Muslims are terrorists and always support their actions.

It has been confirmed that thousands gave lost their lives. Estimates exist for a reason and with how long that conflict has been going on it would be silly to assume that casualties amount to just what..a few hundred people. Bombs and cutting off resources has consequences.  

A Genocide Foretold

CHRISHEDGES.SUBSTACK.COM

---

The genocide in Gaza is the final stage of a process begun by Israel decades ago. Anyone who did not see this coming...

 

Where did I make an excuse for terrorism, again point me exactly to where I said it.  Guess what? You can't.

So because terrorists have hostages it's ok to kill thousands of civilians including children? How many times to do I need to repeat it for you? I call out terrorists but I also call out a country's leadership that doesn't care about all the further death that is being caused.

You wanna know what ignorance is? Well look in the mirror.

[whenthedogscaneout]

11 minutes ago, Turogue said:

Honey I can handle a proper discussion (unlike you that's why you are playing the victim card now). You insinuated that I'm making excuses for terrorists (and you couldn't highlight where I did that, because I didn't) so it's the pot calling the kettle black. If ignorance bores you then you must be hella bored with yourself. You were the one who was making a gross generalisation, you didn't say a single word about all the dead children, only about the ones from the side that you think are worth mentioning. You basically said that all Muslims are terrorists and always support their actions.

It has been confirmed that thousands gave lost their lives. Estimates exist for a reason and with how long that conflict has been going on it would be silly to assume that casualties amount to just what..a few hundred people. Bombs and cutting off resources has consequences.  

A Genocide Foretold

CHRISHEDGES.SUBSTACK.COM

---

The genocide in Gaza is the final stage of a process begun by Israel decades ago. Anyone who did not see this coming...

 

Where did I make an excuse for terrorism, again point me exactly to where I said it.  Guess what? You can't.

So because terrorists have hostages it's ok to kill thousands of civilians including children? How many times to do I need to repeat it for you? I call out terrorists but I also call out a country's leadership that doesn't care about all the further death that is being caused.

You wanna know what ignorance is? Well look in the mirror.

Your arguments are too dumb for me to bother tbh. 

“You basically said that all Muslims are terrorists and always support their actions” - that literally never happened. Keep your melodramatic lies to yourself. 

What gEnoCiDe made this terrorist want to bomb a Taylor Swift show? What gEnOCiDe is responsible for all the awful terror attacks all over the world? Please enlighten us all. Or just keep it to yourself, cause I’ve already wasted too much time on you. 

Edited August 9 by whenthedogscaneout

[Turogue]

5 hours ago, whenthedogscaneout said:

Your arguments are too dumb for me to bother tbh. 

“You basically said that all Muslims are terrorists and always support their actions” - that literally never happened. Keep your melodramatic lies to yourself. 

What gEnoCiDe made this terrorist want to bomb a Taylor Swift show? What gEnOCiDe is responsible for all the awful terror attacks all over the world? Please enlighten us all. Or just keep it to yourself, cause I’ve already wasted too much time on you. 

Well then stop bothering. 

The terrorists in Vienna showed allegiance to another terrorist group.

"So do you have a magic solution to handle monstrous terrorists that hide among civilians (who, btw, mostly support those heinous acts) without any collateral damage?..."

You may wanna read your own words again. Stop lying to yourself. And you insinuated that I'm making excuses for terrorists. I already told you your pathetic attempts at gaslighting don't work with someone like me.

You take collateral damage for granted even if that means the deaths of heaven knows how many people. You act as if I started an argument with you when I was actually responding to someone else's post. So you may wanna direct your question to said user if you're smart enough. Then you injected yourself with your ignorant broad brush takes that hardly had any weight and now you play the too enlightened to bother card while still responding. 

Do yourself a favour and follow your own advice by keeping it to yourself.

Edited August 9 by Turogue

[trip to my touch]

On 8/9/2024 at 3:49 PM, Turogue said:

Honey I can handle a proper discussion (unlike you that's why you are playing the victim card now). You insinuated that I'm making excuses for terrorists (and you couldn't highlight where I did that, because I didn't) so it's the pot calling the kettle black. If ignorance bores you then you must be hella bored with yourself. You were the one who was making a gross generalisation, you didn't say a single word about all the dead children, only about the ones from the side that you think are worth mentioning. You basically said that all Muslims are terrorists and always support their actions.

It has been confirmed that thousands gave lost their lives. Estimates exist for a reason and with how long that conflict has been going on it would be silly to assume that casualties amount to just what..a few hundred people. Bombs and cutting off resources has consequences.  

A Genocide Foretold

CHRISHEDGES.SUBSTACK.COM

---

The genocide in Gaza is the final stage of a process begun by Israel decades ago. Anyone who did not see this coming...

 

Where did I make an excuse for terrorism, again point me exactly to where I said it.  Guess what? You can't.

So because terrorists have hostages it's ok to kill thousands of civilians including children? How many times to do I need to repeat it for you? I call out terrorists but I also call out a country's leadership that doesn't care about all the further death that is being caused.

You wanna know what ignorance is? Well look in the mirror.

1. “Genocide” refers to the physical destruction of an entire group in whole or in part that has been targeted on the basis of its identity. This is not Israel’s objective in Gaza.

Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent, introduced the term genocide in 1944 to refer to events including the ****s’ systematic extermination of Jews. 

Lemkin explained the need for a new legal term to describe this horror, saying: “there has been no serious endeavor hitherto to prevent and punish the mur*** and destruction of millions.... there was not even an adequate name for such a phenomenon.”

What You Need to Know About the Latest International Court of Justice Action in the Case Against Israel

The United Nations General Assembly recognized genocide as a crime under international law in 1946 and it was codified in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948.

The Convention defines genocide as the commission of grave harm against members of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group - such as by killing, causing serious physical or mental harm, inflicting conditions that bring about physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent births or forcibly taking away children - with the intent to destroy the group as such. 

Genocide means targeting members of a group because of their group identity and not something they are individually thought to have done. 

Israel’s war is against Hamas: Israel is not seeking to destroy the Palestinian people or the Palestinian population of Gaza, which is what would need to happen in order to correctly apply the term “genocide.” Israel’s leaders have repeatedly asserted that their campaign in Gaza is solely against the terrorist organization Hamas. In fact, this type of military campaign is the exact opposite of reflecting an attempt to eliminate the Palestinian population.

Unpacking South Africa’s Baseless Genocide Charge Against Israel

Furthermore, on occasions in which Israeli officials have made statements reflecting callous disregard for Palestinian civilian lives, they have been disciplined and the IDF has reiterated that it has no wish to harm innocents.

2. Israel is responding to a genocidal attack by Hamas

Since October 7, Israel’s objective in Gaza has been to destroy Hamas, a terrorist organization that carried out an unprecedented and brutal massacre against its people, including infants, children, elderly and disabled people. The goal of Hamas is to wipe Israel and Jews off the map, and its representatives have recently reiterated that they will never stop pursuing it. That’s an example of genocidal intent. 

Expose this false claim

Why Israel is Not a Settler Colonial State

Israel is fully justified in using military force to respond to Hamas’s October 7 attack (read AJC’s explainer on Israel, Hamas, and international law). Given the extent of the damage the Iran-backed terror group inflicted and the nature of Hamas’s genocidal intentions, Israel’s goal of eliminating the terrorist group entirely is appropriate, and its use of significant force (which always must be directed at legitimate military targets) to achieve is compatible with the requirement of proportionality. Israel’s use of military force in Gaza in the face of such a threat is not evidence of genocide, but completely consistent with international law.

3. Israel’s actions reflect its desire to spare Palestinian civilians from harm, not to deliberately harm them

The humane practices of the IDF disprove claims of genocidal intent, as the Israeli military sends Arabic-language warnings to Gazans prior to its airstrikes on terrorist infrastructure and legitimate military targets in the coastal enclave. 

Humanitarian corridors: In fact, Israel called for the temporary evacuation of the local population in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, and delayed its ground operation in Gaza for weeks to allow civilians time to heed Israel’s warnings. Before and since it has continued to go to great lengths to indicate safe routes for Palestinian civilians to relocate from northern Gaza. Israel has made it clear to residents that Gaza City has become a battle zone because Hamas terrorists are hiding in terror tunnels located under civilians’ houses and has repeatedly stated that residents of northern Gaza will be able to return to the area when conditions permit.

Far from reflecting genocidal intent, Israel’s temporary relocation of Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza reflects an intention to ensure they are out of harm’s way as it undertakes a  legitimate military campaign to destroy Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure, which unfortunately is embedded in and under civilian areas in Gaza.

Moreover, since October 17, Israel also has allowed more and more humanitarian aid deliveries for Palestinians to enter through the Rafah crossing, further refuting the suggestion that its limitations on the entry of aid and supplies for Palestinians have any purpose other than to deprive Hamas of the ability to resupply and continue its attacks against Israel.

4. Hamas’ actions are designed to cause harm to Palestinian civilians and blame Israel 

Israel has a right to defend itself within the bounds of international conventions and law from the thousands of Hamas missiles that have been fired on Israeli towns and cities since October 7. Those missiles don’t originate from military bases, as international law dictates. They are fired from civilian neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip, and from inside, next to, and underneath nominally civilian areas in Gaza like residential buildings, schools, mosques, and hospitals. When Hamas takes these actions it transforms what were once protected civilian sites into legitimate military targets.

Israel, Hamas, and International Law: What You Need to Know

Hamas puts civilians in harm’s way: While Israel goes to great lengths to avoid harming civilians as it targets Hamas’s weapons and operations centers in Gaza, Hamas typically proceeds to place Palestinian civilians directly in the path of the IDF’s targets. It has repeatedly called on Palestinian civilians to ignore Israel’s warnings about impending strikes and reportedly forced civilians to remain in the vicinity of military objectives, using them, like its hostages from Israel, as human shields.

7 Ways Hamas Exploits Palestinian Civilians in Gaza

Hamas’ actions are not only aimed at protecting its leaders, weapons, and property but also at vying for leverage in the public opinion war by inflating the number of civilian casualties.

Through its actions in Gaza, Hamas greatly increases the likelihood that military actions by Israel that are permissible in war and not prohibited by the law of war - let alone by the Genocide Convention - will nevertheless result in some harm to civilians. International law does not prohibit Israel from attacking legitimate military targets even when it is possible or likely that some civilian harm will result - unless the expected civilian harm will clearly exceed the anticipated military advantage from the attack. 

While Israel takes many steps to minimize civilian harm resulting from its attacks against Hamas targets, as much as it can, it cannot eliminate it entirely. This is a horrible outcome of war, but it is not illegal, and it certainly is not genocide.

5.  The “facts” of the genocide charge don’t add up

Those who claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza not only misunderstand the legal definition of genocide and what the laws of war permit; they also base the charge on unsubstantiated claims.

It is unquestionable that many civilians in Gaza have died and even more have suffered immensely since October 7. However, there are so many “unknowns” with an important bearing on Israel’s conduct in this war that it is impossible to say with certainty that it is acting wrongfully.

• The number of “innocents” vs. terrorists that have died: This is impossible to know given that the Ministry of Health in Gaza is under the control of and susceptible to influence by Hamas, and does not separate innocent civilians from fighters in its announced death tolls.
• The circumstances in which numerous innocents have been killed in Gaza: This includes whether they died because of attacks carried out by the IDF or because of intentional or unintentional harmful actions by Hamas or other Palestinian armed groups. A key example is the explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, which the U.S. and other governments have determined was caused by a failed rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and not, as Hamas, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza, and many other sources claimed, by the IDF.
• The nature of the military objective of attacks carried out by the IDF in which Palestinian civilians have died: Given that it is not possible for independent assessments to be conducted into whether a Hamas leader, tunnel, and/or weapons cache was present at the site of any specific IDF attack in Gaza, which Hamas still largely controls.

[The Greatest Show]

On 8/8/2024 at 12:12 AM, Isla said:

This is so sad. Safety is important though and I feel absolutely devastated for all the swifties who were meant to be going to see her this weekend  makes me a bit nervous for the remaining London shows. 

I am so pissed. Night 3 Vienna was the only show I had tickets too. Ive been waiting for 13 moths and now this. She also cant rescedule because the stage will be shipped to the US after London and there is no way they can bring it back just for 3 shows in Vienna. Ive wasted a lot of money on plane tickets and a hotel for absolutley nothing. 

RIP my hope of seeing the eras tour. The most annoying thing is people saying "just be happy that you are aliv". Like?? I can be happy about that but still devastated at the same time. 

 

 

[Isla]

8 hours ago, The Greatest Show said:

I am so pissed. Night 3 Vienna was the only show I had tickets too. Ive been waiting for 13 moths and now this. She also cant rescedule because the stage will be shipped to the US after London and there is no way they can bring it back just for 3 shows in Vienna. Ive wasted a lot of money on plane tickets and a hotel for absolutley nothing. 

RIP my hope of seeing the eras tour. The most annoying thing is people saying "just be happy that you are aliv". Like?? I can be happy about that but still devastated at the same time. 

 

 

No of course you can be sad, I’m so sorry  I’m seeing some Vienna swifties online have been trying to get tickets to see her in London instead. I was also wondering why the shows couldn’t be rescheduled but the stage transportation makes sense. 

[Body ache]

On 8/9/2024 at 6:49 AM, Turogue said:

Honey I can handle a proper discussion (unlike you that's why you are playing the victim card now). You insinuated that I'm making excuses for terrorists (and you couldn't highlight where I did that, because I didn't) so it's the pot calling the kettle black. If ignorance bores you then you must be hella bored with yourself. You were the one who was making a gross generalisation, you didn't say a single word about all the dead children, only about the ones from the side that you think are worth mentioning. You basically said that all Muslims are terrorists and always support their actions.

It has been confirmed that thousands gave lost their lives. Estimates exist for a reason and with how long that conflict has been going on it would be silly to assume that casualties amount to just what..a few hundred people. Bombs and cutting off resources has consequences.  

A Genocide Foretold

CHRISHEDGES.SUBSTACK.COM

---

The genocide in Gaza is the final stage of a process begun by Israel decades ago. Anyone who did not see this coming...

 

Where did I make an excuse for terrorism, again point me exactly to where I said it.  Guess what? You can't.

So because terrorists have hostages it's ok to kill thousands of civilians including children? How many times to do I need to repeat it for you? I call out terrorists but I also call out a country's leadership that doesn't care about all the further death that is being caused.

You wanna know what ignorance is? Well look in the mirror.

You do realize that when a country attacks another country then that country that’s been attacked will obviously retaliate, right? Palestine doesn’t get a get out of free card. This is why countries don’t randomly attack other countries out of nowhere unless if they are prepared for it. Yes, the events happening in Gaza is unfortunate. They had hotels, high end dealerships, restaurants, shops, etc but their government decided to attack a country that risked the well being of their citizens.

[Unbroken]

12 hours ago, The Greatest Show said:

I am so pissed. Night 3 Vienna was the only show I had tickets too. Ive been waiting for 13 moths and now this. She also cant rescedule because the stage will be shipped to the US after London and there is no way they can bring it back just for 3 shows in Vienna. Ive wasted a lot of money on plane tickets and a hotel for absolutley nothing. 

RIP my hope of seeing the eras tour. The most annoying thing is people saying "just be happy that you are aliv". Like?? I can be happy about that but still devastated at the same time. 

 

 

She has a 2 month break after London so I’m really hoping they will reschedule the Vienna shows since it will still be possible to transport the stage back to Vienna instead of the US.

The fact that she still hasn’t made a statement makes me believe that.

[The Greatest Show]

6 hours ago, Unbroken said:

She has a 2 month break after London so I’m really hoping they will reschedule the Vienna shows since it will still be possible to transport the stage back to Vienna instead of the US.

The fact that she still hasn’t made a statement makes me believe that.

Do you realize how long it takes to ship a stage from one continent to another?  She would also need the arena for an entire week to setup and do the shows. All of her crew/ dancers/ musiciansand dancers would have to be available + they said it's canceled. That means even if they do some shows in Vienna it's not a reschedule and the people who originally had tickets have no guarantee that they will get to go.

[BlackoutIsYay6543]

On 8/9/2024 at 1:08 PM, Turogue said:

You know for a fact that the tens of thousands of civilians that were killed supported the terrorists? The thousands of children too?

Please point exactly to where I said they should forever be safe or that they should be rewarded for their actions? You really need to work on your reading and comprehension skills.

Where did I say that Taylor and her fans deserve a potential terrorist attack? Are you completely insane?? I'm glad it didn't happen, especially since it is the city I live in. I hate that the threat of terror destroys the opportunity for people to come together to just have a good time. My best friend sold her Coldplay ticket because the whole situation has her worried about what could happen.

Your gaslighting is really pathetic. As I said you can condemn terrorists but you can also condemn governments that are responsible for thousands of lives lost.

The thousands of children that lost their lives mean nothing to you? Or you only care about them when they come from the right culture? 

I don't have the perfect solution at hand (neither do you), I wish I did.

I'm also perfectly aware that Islam is not inclusive for LGBTQ people and that women play second fiddle. But guess what that's a pattern of so many faiths and that's why I'm critical of religion in general, including Judaism and Christianity. And at the same time I don't wish for people to be killed, especially children. 

I think it would suit you to visit here and see the situation on the ground for yourself. It would give you a much better undertanding of whats going on. 

Its very convenient to sit from a comfy western home, undisturbed by wars and literal genocidal threats to your existence.

Poll after poll has shown that the vast majority of Palestinians supported Hamas and the October 7 massacre-

reuters.com

WWW.REUTERS.COM

"Poll shows Palestinians back Oct. 7 attack on Israel, support for Hamas rises".

Children are not to blame for the situation or for being used as shields. Their parents are. Especially those who support Hamas and terrorism.

[Turogue]

On 8/11/2024 at 8:27 AM, trip to my touch said:

1. “Genocide” refers to the physical destruction of an entire group in whole or in part that has been targeted on the basis of its identity. This is not Israel’s objective in Gaza.

Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent, introduced the term genocide in 1944 to refer to events including the ****s’ systematic extermination of Jews. 

Lemkin explained the need for a new legal term to describe this horror, saying: “there has been no serious endeavor hitherto to prevent and punish the mur*** and destruction of millions.... there was not even an adequate name for such a phenomenon.”

What You Need to Know About the Latest International Court of Justice Action in the Case Against Israel

The United Nations General Assembly recognized genocide as a crime under international law in 1946 and it was codified in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948.

The Convention defines genocide as the commission of grave harm against members of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group - such as by killing, causing serious physical or mental harm, inflicting conditions that bring about physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent births or forcibly taking away children - with the intent to destroy the group as such. 

Genocide means targeting members of a group because of their group identity and not something they are individually thought to have done. 

Israel’s war is against Hamas: Israel is not seeking to destroy the Palestinian people or the Palestinian population of Gaza, which is what would need to happen in order to correctly apply the term “genocide.” Israel’s leaders have repeatedly asserted that their campaign in Gaza is solely against the terrorist organization Hamas. In fact, this type of military campaign is the exact opposite of reflecting an attempt to eliminate the Palestinian population.

Unpacking South Africa’s Baseless Genocide Charge Against Israel

Furthermore, on occasions in which Israeli officials have made statements reflecting callous disregard for Palestinian civilian lives, they have been disciplined and the IDF has reiterated that it has no wish to harm innocents.

2. Israel is responding to a genocidal attack by Hamas

Since October 7, Israel’s objective in Gaza has been to destroy Hamas, a terrorist organization that carried out an unprecedented and brutal massacre against its people, including infants, children, elderly and disabled people. The goal of Hamas is to wipe Israel and Jews off the map, and its representatives have recently reiterated that they will never stop pursuing it. That’s an example of genocidal intent. 

Expose this false claim

Why Israel is Not a Settler Colonial State

Israel is fully justified in using military force to respond to Hamas’s October 7 attack (read AJC’s explainer on Israel, Hamas, and international law). Given the extent of the damage the Iran-backed terror group inflicted and the nature of Hamas’s genocidal intentions, Israel’s goal of eliminating the terrorist group entirely is appropriate, and its use of significant force (which always must be directed at legitimate military targets) to achieve is compatible with the requirement of proportionality. Israel’s use of military force in Gaza in the face of such a threat is not evidence of genocide, but completely consistent with international law.

3. Israel’s actions reflect its desire to spare Palestinian civilians from harm, not to deliberately harm them

The humane practices of the IDF disprove claims of genocidal intent, as the Israeli military sends Arabic-language warnings to Gazans prior to its airstrikes on terrorist infrastructure and legitimate military targets in the coastal enclave. 

Humanitarian corridors: In fact, Israel called for the temporary evacuation of the local population in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, and delayed its ground operation in Gaza for weeks to allow civilians time to heed Israel’s warnings. Before and since it has continued to go to great lengths to indicate safe routes for Palestinian civilians to relocate from northern Gaza. Israel has made it clear to residents that Gaza City has become a battle zone because Hamas terrorists are hiding in terror tunnels located under civilians’ houses and has repeatedly stated that residents of northern Gaza will be able to return to the area when conditions permit.

Far from reflecting genocidal intent, Israel’s temporary relocation of Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza reflects an intention to ensure they are out of harm’s way as it undertakes a  legitimate military campaign to destroy Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure, which unfortunately is embedded in and under civilian areas in Gaza.

Moreover, since October 17, Israel also has allowed more and more humanitarian aid deliveries for Palestinians to enter through the Rafah crossing, further refuting the suggestion that its limitations on the entry of aid and supplies for Palestinians have any purpose other than to deprive Hamas of the ability to resupply and continue its attacks against Israel.

4. Hamas’ actions are designed to cause harm to Palestinian civilians and blame Israel 

Israel has a right to defend itself within the bounds of international conventions and law from the thousands of Hamas missiles that have been fired on Israeli towns and cities since October 7. Those missiles don’t originate from military bases, as international law dictates. They are fired from civilian neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip, and from inside, next to, and underneath nominally civilian areas in Gaza like residential buildings, schools, mosques, and hospitals. When Hamas takes these actions it transforms what were once protected civilian sites into legitimate military targets.

Israel, Hamas, and International Law: What You Need to Know

Hamas puts civilians in harm’s way: While Israel goes to great lengths to avoid harming civilians as it targets Hamas’s weapons and operations centers in Gaza, Hamas typically proceeds to place Palestinian civilians directly in the path of the IDF’s targets. It has repeatedly called on Palestinian civilians to ignore Israel’s warnings about impending strikes and reportedly forced civilians to remain in the vicinity of military objectives, using them, like its hostages from Israel, as human shields.

7 Ways Hamas Exploits Palestinian Civilians in Gaza

Hamas’ actions are not only aimed at protecting its leaders, weapons, and property but also at vying for leverage in the public opinion war by inflating the number of civilian casualties.

Through its actions in Gaza, Hamas greatly increases the likelihood that military actions by Israel that are permissible in war and not prohibited by the law of war - let alone by the Genocide Convention - will nevertheless result in some harm to civilians. International law does not prohibit Israel from attacking legitimate military targets even when it is possible or likely that some civilian harm will result - unless the expected civilian harm will clearly exceed the anticipated military advantage from the attack. 

While Israel takes many steps to minimize civilian harm resulting from its attacks against Hamas targets, as much as it can, it cannot eliminate it entirely. This is a horrible outcome of war, but it is not illegal, and it certainly is not genocide.

5.  The “facts” of the genocide charge don’t add up

Those who claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza not only misunderstand the legal definition of genocide and what the laws of war permit; they also base the charge on unsubstantiated claims.

It is unquestionable that many civilians in Gaza have died and even more have suffered immensely since October 7. However, there are so many “unknowns” with an important bearing on Israel’s conduct in this war that it is impossible to say with certainty that it is acting wrongfully.

• The number of “innocents” vs. terrorists that have died: This is impossible to know given that the Ministry of Health in Gaza is under the control of and susceptible to influence by Hamas, and does not separate innocent civilians from fighters in its announced death tolls.
• The circumstances in which numerous innocents have been killed in Gaza: This includes whether they died because of attacks carried out by the IDF or because of intentional or unintentional harmful actions by Hamas or other Palestinian armed groups. A key example is the explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, which the U.S. and other governments have determined was caused by a failed rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and not, as Hamas, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza, and many other sources claimed, by the IDF.
• The nature of the military objective of attacks carried out by the IDF in which Palestinian civilians have died: Given that it is not possible for independent assessments to be conducted into whether a Hamas leader, tunnel, and/or weapons cache was present at the site of any specific IDF attack in Gaza, which Hamas still largely controls.

 

So what to believe then?

"Israel’s warplanes, missiles, drones, tanks, artillery shells and naval guns daily pulverize Gaza — which is only 20 miles long and five miles wide —  in a scorched earth campaign unlike anything seen since the war in Vietnam. It has dropped 25,000 tons of explosives — equivalent to two nuclear bombs — on Gaza, many targets selected by Artificial Intelligence. It drops unguided munitions (“dumb bombs”) and 2000-pound “bunker buster” bombs on refugee camps and densely packed urban centers as well as the so-called “safe zones” — 42 percent of Palestinians killed have been in these “safe zones” where they were instructed by Israel to flee. Over 1.7 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes, forced to find refuge in overcrowded UNRWA shelters, hospital corridors and courtyards, schools, tents or the open air in south Gaza, often living next to fetid pools of raw sewage.

 

Doctors are forced to amputate limbs without anesthetic. Those with severe medical conditions — cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease — have died from lack of treatment or will die soon. Over a hundred women give birth every day, with little to no medical care. Miscarriages are up by 300 percent. Over 90 percent of the Palestinians in Gaza suffer from severe food insecurity with people eating animal feed and grass. Children are dying of starvation. Palestinian writers, academics, scientists and their family members have been tracked and assassinated. Over 75,000 Palestinians have been wounded, many of whom will be crippled for life.

“Seventy percent of recorded deaths have consistently been women and children,” writes Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, in her report issued on March 25. “Israel failed to prove that the remaining 30 percent, i.e. adult males, were active Hamas combatants — a necessary condition for them to be lawfully targeted. By early-December, Israel’s security advisors claimed the killing of ‘7,000 terrorists’ in a stage of the campaign when less than 5,000 adult males in total had been identified among the casualties, thus implying that all adult males killed were ‘terrorists.’”

Israel plays linguistic tricks to deny anyone in Gaza the status of civilians and any building - including mosques, hospitals and schools - protected status. Palestinians are all branded as responsible for the attack on Oct. 7 or written off as human shields for Hamas. All structures are considered legitimate targets by Israel because they are allegedly Hamas command centers or said to harbor Hamas fighters.

 

These accusations, Albanese writes, are a “pretext” used to justify “the killing of civilians under a cloak of purported legality, whose all-enveloping pervasiveness admits only of genocidal intent.”

 

Zionist leaders are open about their goals.

Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, after Oct. 7, announced that Gaza would receive “no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel.” Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz said: “Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened.” Avi Dichter, the Minister of Agriculture, referred to Israel’s military assault as “the Gaza Nakba,” referencing the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, which between 1947 and 1949, drove 750,000 Palestinians from their land and saw thousands massacred by Zionist militias. Likud member of the Israeli Knesset Revital Gottlieb posted on her social media account: “Bring down buildings!! Bomb without distinction!!…Flatten Gaza. Without mercy! This time, there is no room for mercy!” Not to be outdone, Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu supported using nuclear weapons on Gaza as “one of the possibilities.”........