The Stuffing of Crime: Israel’s Rafah Strike
It was much like witnessing a boy killing flies, with a slight afterthought of apology. The spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, did little to acquit himself, or the cause, as to why more Palestinian civilians had been indulgently killed in yet another Israeli air strike. “Despite our efforts to minimize civilian casualties during the strike, the fire that broke out was unexpected and unintended … Our investigation seeks to determine what may have caused such a large fire to ignite.”
The release commences with the usual garnish. The strike, despite resulting in deaths in a camp of displaced Palestinians in Tal al-Sultan, was soberly designated and professionally targeted. It was successful. Two Hamas terrorists had been procedurally “eliminated” (in the social media release, the IDF proudly places the word upon the heads of Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar). “The strike was based on precise intelligence,” Hagari tells us. Those killed had, in turn, killed Israelis. They were having a meeting. “Their deaths saved lives.”
Away from the glove handling reflections of Hagari, the returns of the May 26 strike showed that Palestinian civilians were also seen as miscellaneous detritus, fundamentally dispensable. The butchery is now a matter of record: 46 dead civilians, including 23 women, children and the elderly. All on a sliver of territory fast becoming the most famous real estate of death on the planet. It’s a particularly bloody ratio for killing two alleged terrorists.
In a statement on May 29 from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, various rapporteurs, including such figures as Francesca Albanese, responsible for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, to Ben Saul, charged with the task of promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, expressed their dismay. “Harrowing images of destruction, displacement and death have emerged from Rafah, including infants torn apart and people burnt alive.” Such reports indicated “that the strikes were indiscriminate and disproportionate, with people trapped inside burning plastic tents, leading to a horrific casualty toll.”
The Israelis have been told by a number of international bodies, entities, and sympathisers, with repeated urgency, that its current murderous efforts are simply not worth it. The Rafah front presents further calamitous risks. The toll, notably in striking camps of civilians displaced by prior bombings and military engagements, would be too great. The reputational toll, likewise. The slaughter that pads out and packs morgues; the bodies of women and children that seem to multiply with pestilential cruelty; the incidents of pure callousness dressed in a décor of euphemism: We target, and we target well; the rest is accidental or unavoidable.
The International Court of Justice, in yet another ruling on Israel’s campaign in Gaza, recently concluded that the military offensive in Rafah, along with “any other action in the Rafah governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” be “immediately” halted. It also ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing and permit UN officials to enter Gaza and report back to the court within a month to verify compliance.
The ICJ also noted the concerns of UN officials about the risks arising from any military assault on Rafah, one that would put “hundreds of thousands of people … at imminent risk of death.” Such risks had already “started to materialize and will intensify even further if the operation continues.”
Israel’s politicians and military personnel – at least those lacking candour – always hit upon the same formula in such instances. It is one noted by such unflagging scribes as the late Robert Fisk: the justification of violence with seemingly sound process, decency with the stuffing of crime. A trained pupil in such efforts is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake.” When compared with his previous statements equating all Palestinians to actors behind a terrorist cause, one that would, in turn, give birth to a terrorist state, the element of mistake is less relevant than the desire to conclude the task at hand.
The next instalment of the performance involves the mandatory investigation that yields no culprits, no charges, and no prosecutions. “The details of the incident are still under investigation, which we are committed to conducting to the fullest extent,” gabbled Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi at a news conference, noting that the IDF “regrets any harm to non-combatants during the war.”
Such a method is also approved by Israel’s staunchest ally. “You cannot reach a conclusion about the results of these investigations in the middle of a conflict,” reasoned White House spokesman John Kirby. Why, it should be asked, bother?
The Israeli response to attacks on its citizens on October 7 last year, increasingly enfeebled by reality, long ago moved into the realm of farce. But farce and advertising tend to be part of the same show, and the advertising about the ongoing campaign in Gaza by the Israeli forces continues to rattle the swill bucket.
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John C -
JulianP -
uncletimrob -
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Bert Hetebry -
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Geoff Andrews -
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ajogrady -
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paul walter -
Clakka
Return to home pageThe zionist scum and their Seppo protectors. Our world your be a much better and safer place withouit either of these nations existing.
Thank you Dr. Kampmark for stating the truth of the matter: “…the May 26 strike showed that Palestinian civilians were also seen as miscellaneous detritus, fundamentally dispensable.”
The Israeli PM tried to call the whole thing a horrible accident (“a tragic mistake”).
[ https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/netanyahu-tragic-mistake-after-israeli-strike-killed-dozens-110587125 ]
It was no accident and it was no mistake. As one commentator noted: “That is how Israel’s military operation is set up. Two Hamas operatives dead, [and] about 40 civilians. Those are the Israeli rules of engagement.”
Crucially, it had been earlier noted:
“The Israeli air force bombed a refugee tent camp west of Rafah City around 8:45 pm local time on Sunday. The time is important, since +972 Mag reported that the Israeli total war on Gaza is being conducted by AI programs. One of them is called, sadistically, “Daddy’s Home.” The Israelis are tracking Hamas militants through the day but wait to strike at them when they come home at night, ensuring that their wives, children, relatives and friends are also killed. The AI program is set up to allow 15 to 20 noncombatant, civilian deaths for every member of the paramilitary Qassam Brigades killed in the attack. The eight missiles that struck the camp killed 2 Hamas operatives and left others 45 dead, mostly burned up in their flammable tents, the majority women and children.”
[ https://www.juancole.com/2024/05/indigenous-population-technique.html ]
As if to add insult to injury, we now find that Israel has a long history of threatening the staff of the International Criminal Court.
“’Jaw-Dropping’: Mossad Chief Threatened ICC Prosecutor Over Israeli War Crimes Probe.”
[ https://www.commondreams.org/news/yossi-cohen-israel ]
In another report an Israeli journalist “ describes threats over reporting on spy chief and ICC”.
[ https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/30/journalist-threatened-over-reporting-on-spy-chief-and-icc-israeli-newspaper-says?/ ]
American assistance to the task of “vacating” Gaza comes in a variety of forms. Apart from the military intelligence, planning and ordinance, there is this:
“The state department falsified a report earlier this month to absolve Israel of responsibility for blocking humanitarian aid flows into Gaza, overruling the advice of its own experts, according to a former senior US official who resigned this week…”.
[ https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/30/stacy-gilbert-us-state-department-israel-gaza-aid?/ ]
The Jewish Council of Australia in referring to the Israeli airstrike, stated:
“In light of these developments, and the worsening conditions imposed on Palestinians in Gaza, and the West Bank, the Jewish Council of Australia calls on the Government to immediately cut all military ties and place sanctions on Israel.”
[ https://johnmenadue.com/rafah-massacre-demonstrates-urgent-need-to-cut-ties-and-sanction-israel/ ]
I agree with the Council and suggest further that the Israeli ambassador be ordered to leave.
The group ‘honest reporting” had this to say this morning:
– 100+ terrorists eliminated
– 62 miles of tunnels destroyed
– 7 bodies of hostages rescued
– ZERO Israeli strikes on humanitarian zones
And netenyahu called the fire in a refugee camp – caused by an airstrike – a “tragic mistake”
Now just who do I believe – “(dis)honest reporting” or world renowned media outlets such as the BBC? Let me ponder that for a few seconds.
What the israelies cannot seem to grasp is that they are creating a generation of dispossessed, hungry, angry young men who have had their lives shattered, and will turn to someone to help them get back some meaning. And who will these young men turn to? Make a guess……
“Our investigation seeks to determine what may have caused such a large fire to ignite.”
Dropping bombs near flammable materials – and tents tend to be rather flammable – does frequently lead to ignition and combustion. One would have thought that the IDF’s high command could have foreseen it, given that the average ten year old would.
It boggles the mind that anyone could still defend Netanyahu’s government and the IDF after this.
And some would call this article “antisemitic”
The situation in both Gaza and West Bank is intolerable.
To think that the this, dare I call it genocide, is being perpetrated by those who were targetted in the worst case of genocide in modern history is unspeakable, and the west looks away, hands in pockets, nothing to see here.
Why are we afraid of speaking out against this atrocity, why are we who dare to speak out labelles ‘antisemite’ when we are clearly pro humanitarian.
@Bert Hetebry. That’s a fair question Bert.
Australian historian Henry Reynolds noted a while back:
“The extraordinary realisation is that as far as we can tell no politician on either side has used the word genocide when talking about Gaza. Defence Minister Marles declared it was not a word he would ever use! And yet the overwhelming majority of the world’s leading jurists had found in favour of South Africa’s Case against Israel just under four months earlier.”
[ https://johnmenadue.com/dont-mention-the-g-word-ready/ ]
Bob Dylan, a Jew and Nobel laureate, wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind” sixty years ago. I’m sure Biden & Albanese were Dylan fans sixty years ago but they seem to have forgotten: “Yes and how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see” Well they would, of course; after all, Israel has the right to “defend itself” against an impotent enemy that just happens to be occupying land that it lusts after. Netanyahu, his gang of acolytes and all those happy people dancing in the street at the latest news from Gaza, have forgotten: “Yes and how many deaths will it take ‘till he knows that too many people have died” After the 7th October surprise raid, I read, saw & heard lots of reports of the carnage inflicted on an apparently defenceless town close to Gaza by an unspecified number of terrorists driving an unspecified number of vehicles (but enough to transport over 200 hostages back to Gaza). I am unaware of the time the raid took or what the response of the IDF was: did they deploy helicopter gun ships, fighter planes, paratroopers? The only official communique, as if by apology, was that it was an “intelligence failure” I’m sure that Albanese & Biden and all their strategists, having received assurances from their Israeli counterparts that they were caught completely by surprise, have dismissed the possibility that Israel knew that the attack was on and looked the other way when it happened.
They wouldn’t do that, would they?
And just to round out the plot for my next novel: Biden & Albanese wouldn’t have been given the “heads up” before it happened?
Unlikely, Geoff Andrews, that Anthony Albanese was a Bob Dylan fan sixty years ago, given he was only 12 months old at that time. I could be wrong about this, but perhaps your assertion of being ‘sure’ intimates knowledge of the circumstances to which I’m currently not privy. Please feel free to back up the certainty of your statement with substantiated evidence.
The West has created a uncontrollable nuclear armed rabid pariah state in the form of Zionist Israel.
Western elites in politics, business, media, and church have brought shame on themselves and us. Either covertly or overtly they have supported or wilfully ignored the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people by Zionists for well over 75 years. They stood against apartheid in South Africa but sanctioned and supported apartheid in Zionist Israel. History will be a very harsh judge. The Wests double standards and hypocrisy are there for all to see in their “rules based order” that ignores international law.
The question is for the West can it and is it capable of undoing its folly and control the despicable and despotic ugly monster the West created before a nuclear WW3 is declared?
This was syndicated in the SMH on Dec 2, 2023:
Probably worth keeping in mind.
International Criminal Court is pretty consistent with its ruling on the atrocities committed by hamas and israel when, last year, they issued an arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin.
It is amazing how committed xstians support the slaughter of Palestinians.
As Hillary Clinton said once,
“Cant they just spin it out?”
Although I have a strong view based on much research, the taking of sides between Israelis and Palestinians is hardly the point.
Clearly the ‘West’ from the get-go is completely to blame for the entire mess of murderous, oppressive, brutal establishment of impossible borders and regimes in the territory. And for complete and utter bias in not only maintaining, but funding, and turning a convenient blind eye, and making lame excuses as they provide weaponry, including nuclear arms. All on the usual basis of seeking to maintain commercial and strategic control over this west-east, north-south gateway since at least as far back as the Byzantine era and before. No different to all the many others over millennia who have sought control over the territory for the same reason.
The cover-off of ‘Holy Land’ and the ‘Chosen’, as much as any other arbitrary fiat ascribed in the region is merely an arcane tribal convenience peddled by demagogues and despots alike, to sanction theft, oppression and brutality. Much like in modernity, where so-called democracy, as opposed to autocracy and terrorist / freedom fighters, is often used as a cover-off over the peddling of supremacy, ‘othering’, hatred, oppression and brutality.
All the great empires have used the same techniques. And most recently, the expansionist empires of the ‘West’ exercised them with such industrialized brutality, that they not only scourged the entire world, but came close to blowing each other to smithereens. Subsequently, instituting the UN and its treaties, the Rome Statute and the ICJ and ICC, because they didn’t trust themselves or each other in the application of science, politics and diplomacy in the pursuit of universal peace. Yet, ironically they faied to upgrade their Constitutions to reflect that decision.
Unsurprisingly hubris and exceptionalism has seen some significant obdurate States demur from the process. Even though those obdurate States going it alone as righteous policemen completely failed, due to their self-interest and corruption, stuffing themselves full of crime.
It should be no surprise at all, in the face of huge and necessary global change, that those obdurate States and those commercially attached to them are seemingly unable to face the shame of their history, the lies to their people and the world, and instead opt for further entanglement in their own foolish contracts and divisive rhetoric, unreasonable silences and shadowy attacks on the UN, ICJ and ICC, even to the extent of some seeking to have them disbanded.
That the world’s economy, ecology and environment has nearly been laid waste by greed, commercial idiocy and m.o. of blackmail by its chest-thumping leaders, seems not to slow them from hurtling toward the edge of oblivion. As usual, it will be the ordinary citizens that pay the price meted out by institutional stupidity and brutality as they are forced to drag the obsessive leaders to back to reason.
In any circumstance, but particularly when faced with the urgency of change, that such lunatic leaders with their penchant for threat have their fingers anywhere near their ‘red buttons’ of revenge, destruction and doom, is testament to ignorance, incompetence and accedence to fear and madness.
One can be sure that in the main, the corporations that believe they ‘own’ the world, the advertisers and mass media, will regardless, press on with extraction wreckage, bling and bullshit for as long as they can find a victim, a customer and an audience.