Thread:Comments:International Committee of the Red Cross condemns Gaza blockade/International Committee of the Red Cross condemns Gaza blockade/reply (3)

So...ten innocent Israelis don't matter? At least when IDF forces kill civilians it is collateral damage, they are fairly precise, and try to target actual threats to Israel, as opposed to Israel's enemies, which want them to just die, men, women, children, all civilians, just because they are Israeli. They launch rockets aimlessly into Israel, with the sole intent of killing civilians. See the difference? One is a response to aggression with the intent of ending it, whereas the other is an act of aggression committed solely for ideological reasons with the intent of killing civilians. There haven't been very many rockets since we invaded Gaza, so I guess it worked, didn't it. Maybe the only reason for that is because of the blockade, which prevents weapons and their components from being smuggled in.

The whole concept of "civilians" and "combatants" becomes very clouded when a militant can throw down his weapons and claim to be a civilian the next day, they are not wearing uniforms, and every estimate of civilian casualties assumes a lot of things when there is simply no basis for making that claim. The Battle of Mogadishu was a similar instance of confusion between civilians and combatants. A civilian becomes a combatant as soon as he picks up a weapon, but long before that he was willing to kill. At least IDF forces have enough dignity to wear their country's colors and fight to protect their country. Can terrorists and non-aligned combatants say the same?

For comparison, consider what would happen if the US had a blockade under similar circumstances. We would 1) make a command for the vessel to turn back 2) fire a warning shot 3) sink the ship. Israel attempted to commandeer the vessels, and they were stabbed, beaten, and kidnapped before they use lethal force. Furthermore, the stories were blown out of proportion, trying to make Israel seem like the bad guys. Weapons were cropped out of pictures to make the flotilla seem peaceful, but we all know what was really happening, and it only further emphasizes the importance of the blockade in preventing the smuggling of weapons and weapon components. Israel is continually criticized for their heavy-handed tactics, and in my opinion, they have every right to use them. I can say that anyone would do the same. Try being as peaceful, calm, and reluctant to use lethal force when every bordering country wants you dead because you are Jewish. Israel should never have to defend the action of defending itself, and I hope that anyone who seeks to bring violence upon them learns the hard way not to mess with the IDF. If you don't know what i'm talking about, read up on the Six-day war.