to think that putting explosives in devices such as pagers and walkie talkies can lead to indiscriminate injuries and killings

[cakeorwine]

Let's get the first thing out of the way - it's not right to fire missiles and rockets at people - as that can cause indiscriminate injuries as well.

Putting explosives in devices such as pagers and walkie talkies - it sounds clever. Just send a signal and an explosion goes off potentially injuring and killing your opponent who has it. It will also disrupt communication methods.

But once you put the explosive in it, you lose control of where it goes and when it gets blown up. It could be a child has it. It could be on a plane - and might not be picked up by security.

You don't know where it ends up. Which means that it has the potential for unintended consequences.

What about any that didn't go off? Are there objects that have been booby trapped and are just potentially waiting to explode - and who knows where they are? The thing about booby traps is that you just don't know who will set them off.

Booby traps seem to be against the International Humanitarian Law if they can injure civillians.

Customary IHL - Rule 80. Booby-Traps (icrc.org)

Israel have plenty of neighbours who would happily wipe them out.

I'm sure that's not what you'd want?

Are you?

Israel has terrorised Gaza for decades.
I think this is under reported in the Uk press. I am not British and there is much more awareness of this in other European countries I think. It all loops back to the fear of being called a terrorist supporter and an anti semite.

Oh dear, you do know The Economist doesn't only write about economics, right?! 🤦‍♀️They're one of the most respected news sources available these days (there aren't many!) and they cover everything from economics to tech to culture, and very much to world events. They're also based in Britain, although they have offices all over the world. Can you not google?! You're gonna be shocked when you find out The Mirror doesn't only write about mirrors and The Sun doesn't only cover solar activity... If you prefer, today's FT have Subscribe to read (ft.com) "But with its communications networks largely struck down, experts said it was hard to see how it could launch an immediate retaliation." - but you probably think they only write about finance. The Times and Reuters have also had wide coverage, though I have to go out in 10 minutes and don't have time to trawl through any more articles for quotes. And you probably think the former just tells the time and the latter just reports the goings on of the Reuter family. You can maybe try investigating it yourself, though I'm guessing if it's not on Al Jazeera you're not interested.

And I never, ever said I only care about Jewish Israeli deaths. Where the fuck did you get that from. Do not put words in my mouth.

I'm not the one making all sorts of suppositions about how Hezbollah operations have been or will be affected. I suggest you try to educate yourself a little better on the matter to avoid looking foolish.

@MissyB1 ,

‘You are right. Israel have basically had a "free pass" to behave how they like, and as you say destabilise the region because;
A: they have the US in their pocket
B: no one want to be accused of of being anti semitic which is what happens when you criticise Israel.’

Unfortunately, this is both wrong and also (at least very close to being) antisemitic.

It is your ‘A’ that is particularly problematic, because the only way of justifying it is to believe that the U.S is controlled by some shady Jewish cabal, a common antisemitic trope. Otherwise, what leverage have Israel got over the U.S? Quite the reverse. Israel depend on the U.S for both money and, most importantly, defence. If the U.S stopped supporting Israel, Israel’s shelf life would be very limited,

As for criticising Israel, it very much depends how you do it. I have freely criticised Israel both on this forum and many others, but I criticise it as someone with both knowledge and friendship for the country, and no blurring of the line between Israel, its right to exist, its current actions (some of which are deplorable) and its current leadership (also deplorable, with several self-confessed racists in the cabinet).

Yes, you probably do need to be a little bit careful when criticising Israel, due to its origin and history, but no one has been threatened with death for doing so, unlike some of its Islamic neighbours. Try criticising the Iranian mullahs in Iran or Hamas from within Gaza.

The old ‘collateral damage’ justification, rarely used by anyone willing to have their own kid be ‘collateral damage’

Your post is very simplistic. The relationship between the US and Israel is much more complex and the strong pro Israel lobby in the US is a fact. Your post is just another example of how you are simplistically labelled as terrorist supporter and anti semite.

Do you just keep a big bunch of tropes in your pocket that you can pull out and scatter at any given moment?

I suggest you stop making assumptions on what I need to educate myself on.

Here we go again, proving my point.

@MissyB1 do you recognise there are many close neighbours who want to wipe out Israel?
.
What do you think should happen with that, should they succeed?

Er, literally always? :\

Thats an opinion not a fact. What a lot of Israel's close neighbors do want is for Israel to stop encroaching on other people's land, and stop treating Arabs / muslims as second class citizens. Israel is making it clear they want a war, you may argue that is necessary, I suspect most of the world would say it isn't.

The thing we have to realise is that those who deny what is happening to civilians (mostly women and children) in Gaza, do so because they are in suppport of it. It's easier and more comfortable for them to deny than admit their support.

So what should Israel do instead? It should make a lasting peace with the Palestinian people. Withdraw from the territory it invaded and occupied. As per many UN resolutions. All wars end with a ceasefire.

When the ceasefire was called in Northern Ireland 1994/96 , Israelis were asked for advice on how to proceed. They appeared to have succeeded with the Oslo Accords. But alas.....

Israel should make a lasting peace with the Palestinians? Someone should tell Israel. I bet they haven't thought of this....

@rumblegrumble

But with its communications networks largely struck down, experts said it was hard to see how it could launch an immediate retaliation." - yet another quote of someone speculating.

You keep doing this, quoting obsolete opinions that have been proven wrong by facts on the ground.

Hezbollah has averaged 4-5 rocket attacks per day over the past 11 months.

Yesterday they hit their usual quota and did 4 attacks:

• Rocket attack on Israeli artillery positions in the city of Neve Ziv
• Rocket attack on the headquarters of a company affiliated with the 810th Hermon Brigade in the Habushit Mountain
• Rocket attack on Al Sahl Battalion in the Beit Hillel barracks
• Artillery attack on Bayyad Blida site

This morning they have started their daily round of attacks:

• Two missiles from southern Lebanon into the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel, injuring 5 Israeli soldiers

There has been no observable impact on their attacks/retaliations.

I never, ever said I only care about Jewish Israeli deaths. Where the fuck did you get that from

I got the impression you do not care from the fact the only deaths you expressed any concern about were the death of Jews:

the terrorists are all doing wonderfully and can continue murdering Jews without skipping a beat.

You failed to mention the dozen Druze children who are currently 35% of total Israeli deaths from Hezbollah rockets. It’s very telling you wrote ‘Jewish’ instead of ‘Israeli.’

It was a question and you've responded with no you don't think they would try to wipe out Israel.

Given some of the statements from terrorists I want some more reassurance

This is pretty much my feeling as well.
I think Israeli is in serious trouble going forward though and won't be able to fight itself out of it. The fact is the Jewish lobby and fundamentalist Christians support of Israel in the US does shape policy towards Israel. The demographic make up of America is changing though and there will soon be more Muslims than Jews in America. The power balance may shift and this will affect US policy towards Israel.

Also, within Israel itself, Israel is a democracy and (without Google) I think something like 20% of the population are not Jewish. This balance is also shifting and the Arab population has a higher birthrate. This will also shape direction and could eventually mean Jewish people actually become a minority inside Israel. This might prove a strength (although I fear I'm being very optimistic) in that if hatred of Jew's is a motivation for hatred of Israel, where does that leave the Israel haters? I am also (naively and against historical evidence) hoping the non Jewish Israelis will stand with their Jewish neighbours against outside aggression towards them. Outside in the wider world, I heard some Jewish academic once say that the biggest threat to the Jewish race/religion was marriage. My own family is an example of that. I would add to marriage atheism.
I think Israel needs to two state solution lighting quick if it has any chance to survive as a 'Jewish state', it needs peace with its neighbours. Unfortunately, I don't think it's neighbours want peace with it. Even if they did settle disputes and have peace the demographic changes that I think are happening within Israel will shape its future.
One last thing, I think the 'my people were here first' argument somewhat underpinning these whole conflicts are complete bollocks because the Jew's and Palestinians have the same ancestors anyway.

@ToBeDetermined your posts are getting seriously weird - Hezbollah "hit their usual quota"? And a very detailed knowledge of exactly where their attacks are happening. You might want to remember that Hezbollah are classified as a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, and supporting them is illegal.

Oh dear, you don’t even appear to know which poster said what but I’m sure Hezbollah are very grateful for your support.