Israel ‘hit squad’ kill 3 Palestinians in West Bank Hospital

[Desertrose2023]

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/1/30/israel-troops-kill-three-palestinians-in-west-bank-hospital-ministry

It’s not ‘they are bad people…but’

It is that they are people, not rabid animals to be put down.
Human beings with the human right to due process in a court of law if suspected of terrorism or war crimes.

Itmar Ben Gvir was once a suspected terrorist. He was convicted in a Jerusalem court of the lesser crime of supporting terrorism. Would it have been ok to just murder him instead of arresting him and allowing him is right to due process in a court of law?

I can't remember why they didn't arrest and try him now. Do you know? It seems so long ago.

I would have thought so. It was more complicated though because they were not in their jurisdiction so couldn't arrest him and I'm doubtful the US has extradition agreements with Pakistan. I wouldn't consider the US a beacon of morality either though. Guantanamo bay wasn't exactly legal

Like this paramedic in Jenin, assaulted by the IDF just a day or so ago. How can healthcare workers be treated like this

@Dulra I agree that a society that respects the law's processes is preferable to me too. I imagine the concern in Israel over the Supreme Court reforms may have had a similar basis.

It’s an international rule book that Israel signed up to called the Geneva Convention and the Paris Accords. “it doesn’t work like that” is one of the most ignorant things you can say on the matter.

Again, following the international laws of armed conflict is how you fight back. It’s not a rule book that says wait for it to happen again. Do nothing, repeat.

Well if the Israeli forces are tried for this as a war crime, fair enough but at least there are three fewer terrorists in the world

Imagine the effect this had on the medical and nursing staff and other patients 🥺 imagine the sheer terror. Imagine knowing this could happen again and again, they had enough to fear as it was , now this new terror… IDF stalking hospital corridors executing people.

"The conclusion that unlawful combatants, including terrorist organizations and organizations that harbor them, are not subject to Geneva Convention protection also has other important consequences besides national security and the collection of life-saving military intelligence."

A very quick Google will help you with this.

Bin Laden had confessed on video tape numerous times that he was behind the 9/11 and other attacks so he wasn’t just a suspect. He was also a high value target being the #1 leader of the terrorist organisation.

In addition, he was targeted in his private, defended by armed combatants compound, which is a legitimate place to target unlike a hospital or school.

Finally, it was a “kill or capture” mission by the Navy Seals. They raided the compound with the intent to arrest him if he surrendered. He did not order his men to surrender but to fight. So even though he himself was unarmed, he was shot in a short fire fight when his defenders fought the Seals. There was one unarmed woman with Bin Laden but when she lunged at the Seals, she was killed in the cross fire.

There were many survivors- men, women, children that were not killed but restrained with plastic zip ties.

How far would you take this, though? What standard of evidence would you require for someone to be "fair game"?

This is especially pertinent in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where the word "terrorist" is used by some in a manner essentially synonymous with "Palestinian".

I have a friend who spent time in an Israeli prison as a supposed "terrorist". His crime: "taking part in a political demonstration while Palestinian". Would it be okay to kill him?

What about someone who merely considered taking part but did not end up going? Still okay?

At what point do you become a "terrorist"? Is pre-emptive action okay? If so: how far do your plans have to be advanced for it to be legitimate to take you out? Detailed plan? Rough idea? Intention? When you decide, in principle, that it is - vice versa - generally speaking defensible to "take those fuckers out"?

Because: you yourself have actually arrived at the last point - and since I suspect you would not be okay with being labelled dangerous and approved for summary execution, you might wish to more clearly define when someone becomes a target.

Unlawful combatants don’t get the Geneva protections for combatants. This means they do not have a right to kill like soldiers do without being prosecuted for murder. If they are captured, they are not POWs and do not have the rights or protections of POWs.

Instead, unlawful combatants are still considered to be civilians and they have the Geneva convention protections and rights of civilians unless they are visibly armed so as to present a threat or engaging in an attack.

Quick googles very rarely give one the whole picture.

Play silly games, win silly prices.

As it was in a hospital! Which is not supposed to be allowed to happen. But we have already seen the disrespect that they have for international laws especially when it comes to hospitals as they've already destroyed enough of them and murdered countless others there

Sorry? Is this a game to you? I don’t follow.

Terrorist, freedom fighter, unarmed soldier, innocent victim falsely identified. All of them as human beings deserve if possible a fair trial. In this case arresting and taking into custody was possible and therefore should have happened. If it can happen to an unarmed terrorist it can happen to an innocent person being mis-identfied. Like it or not, no matter how heinous previous crimes have been you don't summarily execute without a trial, its a line that should never be crossed. Once crossed then justification will reduce and errors will be made.

Interesting bit of history re: bin laden @MercanDede I understand why he was killed rather than arrested now. I'd forgotten the details as it was so long ago.

I had been meaning to post this ~ thank you for doing so. I watched the video yesterday and it is another in a longline of vicious assaults on healthcare workers. After this there was a video of a young child being attacked in the street by them... It is neverending.

Some of the responses to this are very strange. If this happened on UK soil and armed soldiers disguised as medics came in and shot and killed 3 unarmed suspects in their hospital beds posters would be saying it was fine? If you were a member of medical staff or a patient in a UK hospital and 3 executions were carried out in front of you how would you feel? This wouldn't be ok. I don't understand why Israel are held lower standards than other countries, especially when they are being provided with arms and funds.

No.

It's a saying.

When there is a war on, people do invariably try and kill those they are at war with.

They had dismissed a drone strike which would have killed everyone in the compound for these reasons

1. The law says should try and capture or arrest
2. The presence of human shields in the compound- civilians including women and many children.

That is why they did the six man SEAL raid. To give Bin Laden a chance to surrender and to not kill innocent human shields.

Sounds like a very responsible operation @MercanDede

Being called and other posters antisemitic every time were dare criticise the Israeli government's methods of operation is tedious and tiring. I also think that it indicates the inability to counter argue a point.
This was an assassination in an hospital. They deliberately dressed as medics to avoid detection, not the first time they have done something like that. Last time, this happened they pretended to bring in a pregnant woman. Despicable.
It is something terrorists would do, like Hamas.

Would you tolerate this if it was the other way round? Double standard, again.