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Hamas has one strategy to victory, and it is working perfectly; maximize civilian casualties, even their own.

4/3/24
from The Gray Area,
4/3/24:
Monday's deadly and unfortunately bombing of the aid convoy for Gaza has energized teh calls for a cease-fire and even war crimes against Israel.  How ridiculous.  Where are the continuing cries for war crimes against Hamas? Israel mistakenly hit this convoy, have stood up quickly and said it was theiremistake and apologized.  That doesn't bring people back to life, I know.  But, anyone who thinks you can be in a war zone, for any reason, without the risk of injury or death is unrealistic, delusional, or both. And, assigning blame to the people who are defending themselves against Hamas barbarism is insane! Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, one of the world’s preeminent experts on the Israeli–Arab conflict, and a professor of international and constitutional law at George Mason University, explains in this interview on EPOCH TV how Biden's policies and the media and western allies acceptance of the Hamas strategy 'are prolonging' the Hamas War. Hamas has one strategy and it is working perfectly; maximize their own civilian casualties. This is an evil tactic that no force has ever actually done to this extent in warfare. ...they’re only winning because the media is letting them win. International law says …you cannot directly target civilians, though collateral casualties are tolerated by the laws of war. Hospitals, places of worship, schools, all enjoy some level of heightened protection. But that is where Hamas locates all of its operations. Every school and every hospital in Gaza was turned into a Hamas base. Why? Because either way they win. Either Israel says, “We shouldn’t attack it because it’s a school and there’s going to be a big controversy,” or Israel does attack it, which is allowed under the law of war. ...they’re only winning because the media is letting them win...instead of holding them accountable for the evil they did and the evil strategy they now employ. Israel has achieved what is actually a miracle by the standards of modern urban warfare...The goal of a law-abiding military is to keep the civilian casualties down to some reasonable amount. When you talk about the people who died in Gaza, it has been at least 50 percent Hamas fighters. That creates one of the best civilian-to-combat casualty rates in modern warfare. That is to say, there has not been any war that has been free of civilian casualties. But typically, when the United States has fought in Afghanistan or in Iraq, civilian casualties have been three times, four times, or five times that of military casualties. In other words, for every enemy soldier, there are three or four enemy civilians that will die. It is even more amazing because Hamas has had a specific strategy of trying to have its own civilians killed. Israel is fighting Iran as well...President Biden just released sanctioned funds to Iran, so Hamas going to have the money from Iran. Hamas' defeat needs to be like the defeat of Nazi Germany, an absolute defeat.
from EPOCH TV,
3/30/24; updated 4/3/24:
“Israel is fighting Iran on every front, so that America doesn’t have to.” In this episode, I sit down with Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, one of the world’s preeminent experts on the Israeli–Arab conflict, and a professor of international and constitutional law at George Mason University. We get an update on the situation in Gaza and the current status of the war, and try to separate fact from fiction. The war has been overwhelmingly successful, both from Israel’s military objectives of keeping its civilian population safe from another October 7th, and also from the objective of protecting innocent civilians in Gaza. Let’s talk about what has actually happened since the war started. Israel was invaded by thousands of Hamas members and also random civilians who killed over a thousand Israeli civilians in a country of less than 10 million people. It was on the magnitude of five or six 9-11s. They tortured, mutilated, raped, and took hundreds of hostages captive. That’s how the war started. Since then, Israel has been fighting to eliminate Hamas in Gaza. Even by the account of Hamas, which there’s no particular reason to trust, about 30,000 people have been killed. Perhaps half of them have been Hamas fighters. When you talk about the people who died in Gaza, it has been at least 50 percent Hamas fighters. That creates one of the best civilian-to-combat casualty rates in modern warfare. That is to say, there has not been any war that has been free of civilian casualties. Name whatever war you want to. In World War II, millions of German civilians were killed by the allies as a result of the war. The goal of a law-abiding military is to keep the civilian casualties down to some reasonable amount. But typically, when the United States has fought in Afghanistan or in Iraq, civilian casualties have been three times, four times, or five times that of military casualties. In other words, for every enemy soldier, there are three or four enemy civilians that will die. By having this amazing ratio, Israel has achieved what is actually a miracle by the standards of modern urban warfare. It is even more amazing because Hamas has had a specific strategy of trying to have its own civilians killed. Hamas understands that it cannot defeat Israel militarily. If Israel has the will to fight, which it does, they will beat Hamas. Hamas has one strategy and it is working perfectly; maximize their own civilian casualties. By the way, this is an evil tactic that no force has ever actually done to this extent in warfare. International law says …you cannot directly target civilians, though collateral casualties are tolerated by the laws of war. Hospitals, places of worship, schools, all enjoy some level of heightened protection. But that is where Hamas locates all of its operations. Every school and every hospital in Gaza was turned into a Hamas base. Why? Because either way they win. Either Israel says, “We shouldn’t attack it because it’s a school and there’s going to be a big controversy,” or Israel does attack it, which is allowed under the law of war. The law of war clearly states that placing military objectives in a civilian area, in a protected area, does not protect the military target. You are not going to get immunity. You’re not going to get safety by breaking the law of war. But what it will do is increase the civilian casualties on the side of Hamas. Then you have the international community attacking Israel for the civilian casualties that Hamas has purposefully engineered. There has never been a military that has fought like this, even Nazi Germany, the model for an evil force. They didn’t care about the Jews and they didn’t care about the gypsies, but they did care about their own civilians. When they were fighting on German soil, they were fighting to reduce their civilian casualties, not maximize them. Hamas wants to maximize their civilian casualties and wants to maximize damage to hospitals, because that creates international pressure. That creates a certain kind of response. We hear, “Look at all these civilians dying in Gaza,” which will get the United States and other Western powers to intervene. It creates the media headlines we see in the New York Times that Israel is killing Gaza children. Their only hope of victory is to have Israel’s Western allies step in and hold it back. That strategy is working for them. By the way, they’re only winning because the media is letting them win. Again, by any objective standard, the civilian casualties are extraordinarily low, lower than Afghanistan, lower than Iraq, and lower as a proportion of combatant casualties. Nonetheless, there are some civilian casualties, and that is being weaponized to stop Israel. That is the current situation of the war. Israel has done an amazing job of beating Hamas. Now, Hamas has retreated with many of the Israeli hostages, including women, children, and even babies, to Rafah, which is a city on the Egyptian border, where presumably they have tunnels. They’re hiding out there with the hostages. Israel now needs to take this last stronghold. But the United States says, “Wait, no, that’s it. You can’t do this.” It’s kind of like a cancer treatment where you get rid of most of the cancer, and then for the last few cancer cells, you say, “That would be too much to get rid of them.” Their major ally is Iran. President Biden just released sanctioned funds to Iran, so they’re going to have the money from Iran. They’re going to have vast popular support, because they stood up to Israel and didn’t lose. Top Hamas officials have gone on Arab TV over and over again, saying, “October 7th was a great thing. We want to do it again. We will do it again.” They think it was a victory for them. In a sense, they are right. Who was talking about a Palestinian state before October 7th? Nobody. They have raised the profile of their issue by murdering their own civilians. Why? Because the international media and the Western powers are rewarding them. Every time President Biden says, “We should have a Palestinian state,” he is teaching Hamas and other Islamic terrorists the way to get what you want is to murder babies. On the first day, people will say, “It’s bad what you did.” On the second day, they will say, “But now, what can we give you?” More From EPOCH TV:


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