Israeli spokesperson admits to targeting journalists in Gaza

Israeli spokesperson admits to targeting journalists in Gaza

12160.info

As is now widely known, in the early morning hours of 18 November during Israel’s continued escalation of its military assault on Gaza, the army targeted two buildings in Gaza City that housed international and Palestinian media outlets. The attacks left at least eight journalists injured. Twenty-year old cameraman Khader al-Zahhar had his right leg blown off when a rocket shot through the roof. At the time of writing, Israel has killed 72 Palestinians — 26 just today — since Wednesday. By the

(visit the link for the full news article)

12160.info...

Also I've had feeds from Israel and Gaza running for a while. Just heard heavy naval shelling in Gaza from Israeli Navy.
www.ustream.tv...

Thought I heard some kind of explosion in a Tel Aviv feed but not too sure and it would have been rather distant.


12160.info
(visit the link for the full news article)

From your source:

By the Israeli army’s own admission, they knew journalists were in the building at which they fired: “We obviously knew there were journalists in the building, so we did not attack other floors in the building. But my advice to journalists visiting Gaza is to stay away from any Hamas position, site or post for their own safety,” army spokesperson Avital Leibovich told the press today (BBC Middle East Bureau Chief Paul Danahar recorded her admission).

This isn't targeting the journalists. Even the author of the article (which doesn't appear to be a news article, but an opinion piece) says "in the building at which they fired." Saying that it was the building they wanted to get rid of, not the journalists.

reply to post by charles1952


Either way there were innocent journalists in there and the IDF knew it.
If I blew your house up and I knew you were in it I think it could be said that even if I just wanted to take down you building I still targeted you.

Still, always sad when innocent people die and it's a great loss when it's people on the ground that are trying to document what is around them.
RT's building has been bombed and a BBC employee's baby killed too.

Originally posted by b14warrior
reply to post by charles1952

 

Either way there were innocent journalists in there and the IDF knew it.

That is WHY Hamas was there too.......

On a more heart strengthening side this shows the power of will in the human spirit:

electronicintifada.net...

and:

electronicintifada.net...

reply to post by charles1952

The Israeli army’s tumblr site states: “The IDF surgically targeted Hamas’ operational communications capabilities on the roof of a civilian building in the Gaza Strip. The IDF did not target any other parts of the building.”

The antennas were the "intended" target. [ start sarcasm ]"Oh gee, the Journalist Tower has communication infrastructure on it, Hamas must have put it there, no reason whatsoever for journalists to have communication infrastructure. It's a legitimate target. If someone gets hurt, well, they shouldn't have been there." [ /end sarcasm ]

The Israeli army’s tumblr site states: “The IDF surgically targeted Hamas’ operational communications capabilities on the roof of a civilian building in the Gaza Strip. The IDF did not target any other parts of the building.”

and then she blame it on Hamas antenna

Israel Bombs Media Center in Gaza, Blames Hamas

reply to post by b14warrior

Dear b14warrior,

If this is off-topic feel free to notify the Mods or just ignore it.

From where we are, no looking back, where do we go from here? It's pretty clear that if Hamas keeps firing, Israel will too, and a ground invasion is likely. What happens if Hamas stops shooting? For that matter, why don't they stop shooting? Israel is pretty much blowing up anything they want to and Hamas can't stop it. Hamas' missiles aren't doing them any good. And in the propaganda war Hamas has been caught at least a couple of times showing fake casualties to the press.

What is Hamas getting out of this besides the death of it's own people? Are they trying to earn some kind of street cred with the Muslim world? How can they think that what they are doing is either smart or right?

With respect,
Charles1952

the journalists were trying to cover the conflict
you are going to get pretty biased reporting if all you are getting is the israeli side of the story (saying journalists should stay away from anything hamas is dangerous in that you would have no way of understanding their point of view regardless of if they are in the right or not)
journalists are harmed all the time in conflicts but it is a moral imperative that combatants avoid taking action that would harm said journalists unless absolutely necessary

was this so necessary that it involved the deaths of noncombatants? (and on top of that journalists who are risking their lives to help inform the public of all aspects of the conflict)

reply to post by b14warrior


Here's a discussion of this very news right here in this thread, www.abovetopsecret.com... but no worries for it was posted in the Middle East forum, I just figured you all would like to read as many opinions on it as possible.

reply to post by charles1952


Yes, a bit off topic.

But in most part I agree with you but have always held that opinion. Why fight the losing battle.
They would win the hearts and minds war far more if they didn't fight with weapons and there is almost no point anyway.

I do wonder however what I would do had I been born in an occupied territory. Whether logic or reason would have any weight with me.

www.jpost.com...

Why do our citizens have to live with rocket fire from Gaza while we fight with our hands tied? Why are the citizens of Gaza immune? If the Syrians were to open fire on our towns, would we not attack Damascus? If the Cubans were to fire at Miami, wouldn’t Havana suffer the consequences? That’s what’s called “deterrence” – if you shoot at me, I’ll shoot at you. There is no justification for the State of Gaza being able to shoot at our towns with impunity. We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn’t stop with Hiroshima – the Japanese weren’t surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too.

There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing. Then they’d really call for a ceasefire.

Were this to happen, the images from Gaza might be unpleasant – but victory would be swift, and the lives of our soldiers and civilians spared.

IF THE government isn’t prepared to go all the way on this, it will mean reoccupying the entire Gaza Strip. Not a few neighborhoods in the suburbs, as with Cast Lead, but the entire Strip, like in Defensive Shield, so that rockets can no longer be fired.

There is no middle path here – either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip. Otherwise there will be no decisive victory. And we’re running out of time – we must achieve victory quickly. The Netanyahu government is on a short international leash. Soon the pressure will start – and a million civilians can’t live under fire for long. This needs to end quickly – with a bang, not a whimper.

And that is the Ex Prime minister of Israels son.

A decisive conclusion is necessary By GILAD SHARON11/18/2012 22:43There is no middle path here – either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip.

Originally posted by sirhumperdink
journalists are harmed all the time in conflicts but it is a moral imperative that combatants avoid taking action that would harm said journalists unless absolutely necessary

And Israel did that when they gave several hours notice before bombing the building. That's how not a single foreign journalist was injured (It also makes the article title claim that Israel targeted journalists ridiculous).

was this so necessary that it involved the deaths of noncombatants? (and on top of that journalists who are risking their lives to help inform the public of all aspects of the conflict)

The guy who lost a leg (to my knowledge noone died in this incident) was a member of Al-Quds TV. Here's who Al-Quds is: en.wikipedia.org...

He wasn't exactly working for the Gaza version of the New York Post and he had every opportunity to leave like the others after the warnings.

reply to post by b14warrior


Good lord, a baby was killed? Ugh, when I heard the news of this I thought they just attacked the damn roof and no one was killed but this is unacceptable! Damn it to hell! Curse Hamas for continuing to use innocents as shields and the IDF for attacking knowing they are using civilians as shields.

Originally posted by Swills
reply to post by b14warrior

 

Good lord, a baby was killed? Ugh, when I heard the news of this I thought they just attacked the damn roof and no one was killed but this is unacceptable! Damn it to hell! Curse Hamas for continuing to use innocents as shields and the IDF for attacking knowing they are using civilians as shields.

a familly of 12 with 4 young kids and many woman were killed in their house this sunday night
their house was completely destroyed .. everybody knew them in the neightborhood

so you were saying ?
and please dont tell me hamas was using them has a human shield

An Israeli air attack has killed 12 members of one family in the Gaza Strip, just hours after Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, said his country was ready to "significantly expand" its operation against Palestinian fighters in the territory

Link

reply to post by Ben81


Let's not pretend Hamas doesn't use civilians as shields but the fact Israel is still killing innocents is absolutely deplorable. Lemme guess, that house strike was because they were after a Hamas target? The IDF will take out innocent civilians in hopes of making a strike on a target and that's disgusting. America does this too and I'm sure other Gov't/Military do as well and this crap has got to stop! These constant wars, conflicts, battles, attacks, when is enough enough?

reply to post by b14warrior

Why fight the losing battle.
They would win the hearts and minds war far more if they didn't fight with weapons and there is almost no point anyway.

Very simple really, would you just simply lay down and die because someone wanted your land, water, other natural resources? If they never fired another rocket, would their land stop being taken?

Remember, there are no rockets coming out of the West Bank. Yet the illegal Israeli occupation there continues and so does the ethnic cleansing, the land theft, the illegal settlements, the colonization, the demolition of Palestinian homes, the throttling of the economy, the abduction and 'administrative detention' of civilians and the massive interference with freedom of movement. Nothing has changed for West Bank Palestinians who DO NOT FIRE ROCKETS. And there is no sign of an end to their torment.
Does anyone seriously think it’s about rockets?

Originally posted by JBA2848
www.jpost.com...

Why do our citizens have to live with rocket fire from Gaza while we fight with our hands tied? Why are the citizens of Gaza immune? If the Syrians were to open fire on our towns, would we not attack Damascus? If the Cubans were to fire at Miami, wouldn’t Havana suffer the consequences? That’s what’s called “deterrence” – if you shoot at me, I’ll shoot at you. There is no justification for the State of Gaza being able to shoot at our towns with impunity. We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn’t stop with Hiroshima – the Japanese weren’t surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too.

There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing. Then they’d really call for a ceasefire.

Were this to happen, the images from Gaza might be unpleasant – but victory would be swift, and the lives of our soldiers and civilians spared.

IF THE government isn’t prepared to go all the way on this, it will mean reoccupying the entire Gaza Strip. Not a few neighborhoods in the suburbs, as with Cast Lead, but the entire Strip, like in Defensive Shield, so that rockets can no longer be fired.

There is no middle path here – either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip. Otherwise there will be no decisive victory. And we’re running out of time – we must achieve victory quickly. The Netanyahu government is on a short international leash. Soon the pressure will start – and a million civilians can’t live under fire for long. This needs to end quickly – with a bang, not a whimper.

And that is the Ex Prime minister of Israels son.

A decisive conclusion is necessary By GILAD SHARON11/18/2012 22:43There is no middle path here – either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip.

It's easy for you to scrutinize his point of view from your vantage point, but if you were living in a country wherein your family faced a constant barrage of missile attacks over the span of SEVERAL YEARS, you would want your government to take swift, decisive action as well.

reply to post by Swills



Sorry, perhaps I should have constructed that part differently.
I was talking about journalists and their families in general losing their lives.
The baby that was killed was the child of a BBC journalist but it was not in the attack on the building discussed in the OP.

And I'm not going to assume that every innocent civilian death is as a result of Hamas using human shields.
I can't assume that the pregnant women that die two days ago was used as a human shield. And quite frankly it still doesn't exonerate the IDF if she was.