Israel Preparing for Large Scale War

Subject: Israel Preparing for Large Scale War Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:46 am

Red Ant Liberation Army wrote:

OSLO (AFP) — Israel’s army chief told a US Congress delegation in late 2009 he was preparing for a large war in the Middle East, probably against Hamas or Hezbollah, leaked US diplomatic cables showed on Sunday.

“I am preparing the Israeli army for a large scale war, since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite,” Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi was quoted as saying in a cable from the US embassy in Tel Aviv.

The document, dated November 15, 2009, was quoted Sunday in Norwegian by Oslo-based daily Aftenposten, which said it had obtained WikiLeaks’ entire cache of 251,187 leaked US embassy cables.

“The rocket threat against Israel is more serious than ever. That is why Israel is putting such emphasis on rocket defence,” Ashkenazi told the US delegation led by Democrat Ike Skelton, the cable showed.

The army chief lamented that Iran has some 300 Shihab rockets that can reach Israel and stressed that Israel would have only between 10 and 12 minutes warning in case of an attack.

However, it was Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon that posed the most acute threat, he cautioned.

According to the quoted cable, Hezbollah is thought to have more than 40,000 rockets, many of which are believed capable of reaching deep into Israel.

US officials meanwhile reportedly estimate the militant group has acquired an arsenal of around 50,000 rockets.

A 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel killed 1,200 Lebanese, many of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

And in his comments made nearly a year after Israel on December 27, 2008 launched the deadly Gaza war, Ashkenazi said “Israel is on a collision course also with Hamas, which rules Gaza.”

“Hamas will have the possibility to bombard Tel Aviv, with Israel’s highest population concentration,” he was quoted as saying.

The Gaza war — a response to hundreds of rockets fired into Israel — killed some 1,400 mainly civilian Palestinians and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers. It ended on January 18, 2009.

Israel had been harshly criticized for putting civilians at risk during fighting in the densely populated Gaza Strip.

However, in the cable leaked Sunday Ashkenazi is quoted saying Israel next time will not accept “any restrictions on warfare in populated areas,” and insisted the army had never intentionally attacked civilian targets.

Posts: 6120 Join date: 2010-08-24 Age: 101

Was Cast Lead REALLY two years ago? Wow... I remember it like it was yesterday.
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Quote:

OSLO (AFP) — Israel’s army chief told a US Congress delegation in late 2009 he was preparing for a large war in the Middle East, probably against Hamas or Hezbollah, leaked US diplomatic cables showed on Sunday.

Large war? Any war against Hamas or Hezbollah would just be an operation and not a large scale war. It would have to be Iran, or less likely Syria.

Quote:

killed some 1,400 mainly civilian Palestinians and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers. It ended on January 18, 2009.

Flat out lie. Most of the Gazan deaths were Hamas fighters. Even Hamas admits that.

Quote:

However, in the cable leaked Sunday Ashkenazi is quoted saying Israel next time will not accept “any restrictions on warfare in populated areas,” and insisted the army had never intentionally attacked civilian targets.

Good. They shouldn't. International law clearly states any target that has weapons or fighters in it is fair game.

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Subject: Re: Israel Preparing for Large Scale War Mon Jan 03, 2011 2:18 pm

Quote:

Good. They shouldn't. International law clearly states any target that has weapons or fighters in it is fair game.

International law is set up to defend civilians from military attack. There's absolutely no justification for the wanton slaughter of civilians.

Posts: 6120 Join date: 2010-08-24 Age: 101

No, international law is explicit. Any target with enemy fighters or weapons is fair game.

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Posts: 3553 Join date: 2010-08-25

Rief wrote:

No, international law is explicit. Any target with enemy fighters or weapons is fair game.

Im sure someone in the WTC had a weapon......

Posts: 6120 Join date: 2010-08-24 Age: 101

Having a weapon isn't acceptable justification. If it was a US Military Installation or stockpile, it would be.

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Subject: Re: Israel Preparing for Large Scale War Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:25 pm

Rief wrote:

No, international law is explicit. Any target with enemy fighters or weapons is fair game.

First, I'd like to see the 'explicit' law(s).

Second, international law defines rather clearly who is and isn't a civilian.

Quote:

Article 50 in Chapter II: "Civilians and Civilian Population" of Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions defines that a civilian is not a legal combatant. Article 51 describes the protection that must be given to civilians (unless they are unlawful combatants) and civilian populations. Chapter III of Protocol I regulates the targeting of civilian objects. Article 8(2)(b)(i) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court also prohibits attacks directed against civilians.

International law is designed, for the most part, to protect civilians.

Posts: 6120 Join date: 2010-08-24 Age: 101

You don't seem to listen to what I'm saying, ever.

Quote:

ARTICLE XXVII

In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps should be taken to spare as far as possible edifices devoted to religion, art, science, and charity, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not used at the same time for military purposes.

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Subject: Re: Israel Preparing for Large Scale War Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:38 pm

Quote:

You don't seem to listen to what I'm saying, ever.

I'm listening, you just don't make yourself very clear.

>provided they are not used at the same time for military purposes.

If something is being used for military purposes, then it is fair game, as I've said. However,

>all necessary steps should be taken to spare as far as possible edifices devoted to religion, art, science, and charity, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected...

Subject: Re: Israel Preparing for Large Scale War Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:45 pm

Personally, in unconventional warfare, international military law should be a bit more looser. In conventional warfare, there should be not bending the rules however.

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Subject: Re: Israel Preparing for Large Scale War Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:46 pm

Quote:

Personally, in unconventional warfare, international military law should be a bit more looser. In conventional warfare, there should be not bending the rules however.

I can agree to this, but deliberate targeting of civilians should be illegal under all circumstances.

Posts: 6120 Join date: 2010-08-24 Age: 101

The first sentence protecting religion, art, science, etc. is negated by the second.

And no, you told me to quote the part of international law that said you could target civilian targets. I showed you it.

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Subject: Re: Israel Preparing for Large Scale War Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:52 pm

Rief wrote:

The first sentence protecting religion, art, science, etc. is negated by the second.

And no, you told me to quote the part of international law that said you could target civilian targets. I showed you it.

It's not saying you can deliberately target civilians, rather that you can target civilian structures housing military targets.

Subject: Re: Israel Preparing for Large Scale War Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:54 pm

Such as the Lusitania.

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Thor, Hlôdyn's son, protector of mankind, ride to meet your fate, Ragnarök awaits

Posts: 6120 Join date: 2010-08-24 Age: 101

Quote:

It's not saying you can deliberately target civilians, rather that you can target civilian structures housing military targets.

That's exactly what I've been saying, and you've been disagreeing.

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Israel Preparing for Large Scale War

Israel Preparing for Large Scale War

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