Israel: White Phosphorus Used in Gaza, Lebanon
Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, saying the use of such weapons puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injury.
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There is not a single sentence in the article that suggests that Israel is using phosphor as a weapon. As the article stated - it is routinely used as smokescreen or to mark areas.
Israel always says it uses it for that but there are numerous cases of them targeting civilians with it on purpose
It's good to look at the whole paragraph:
From December 27, 2008, to January 18, 2009, during Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military fired approximately 200 ground-launched white phosphorus munitions into populated areas of Gaza. Israeli forces relied particularly on 155mm M825E1 artillery projectiles, which send burning phosphorus wedges 125 meters in all directions, giving them a broad area effect. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Israeli military used the shells only to create smokescreens. Whatever their ostensible purpose, however, Human Rights Watch found dozens of civilian casualties in the six incidents it documented. The white phosphorus shells also damaged civilian structures, including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse, and a hospital.
Israel always "says" something then "does" something totally different with it.
Look - HRW is a biased against Israel on principle. Unless there is a second impartial confirmation, you shouldn’t take anything they claim as anything but speculation.
How is the HRW biased against Israel? Back up that claim first.
How is the HRW biased against Israel? Back up that claim first.
So you have read the Wikipedia Article I included with my last post and don’t find it sufficient?
I read it. David Bernstein the comic book writer has an agenda against HRW. Also the criticisms do not dispute the accuracy of the reporting from HRW. Instead they attack the HRW for not siding with Israel.
Also there are personal attacks on the HRW investigator who accurately reported on WP because he called some piece of Nazi paraphernalia "cool" once.
By using it in a heavy populated area, using it as a smokescreen will cause huge damage to civilians, and they can't be treated easily.
Not to mention that we can couple this with Israel cutting off water, electricity, fuel, and humanitarian aid off Gaza. What is the result?
So what is the practical Alternative to create a smokescreen or mark an area that does not involve the use of white phosphor?
Lots.
Like what? „Lots“ is not a practical alternative.
I went to Wikipedia, seems like you can do it without that in lots of ways.
WP is ugly stuff, and militaries the world round use the '"It's just a smokescreen" excuse.
In every case, it's blatant lies. WP is useful as a smokescreen, but much more useful as a means of flushing people from cover. Conveniently, the process for blinding an enemy entrenched position with smoke and burning them out with WP is pretty similar, and governments love plausible deniability.
The pictures alone tell the story. The shells are air bursting which is better for shrapnel distribution, not smoke distribution. It's basically a giant neon sign saying they're committing war crimes.
