Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Another Relative Term

Yesterday I used the term “weapons of mass destruction” to refer to Israel’s use of unguided 2k lb. bombs in densely populated areas of Gaza. Also, Israel’s use of such bombs on Israeli designated “safe zones” into which terrified Arabs were driven. Nobody questioned my use of that term, but I want to briefly explain it nevertheless. It’s a relative term, but it’s justified in this context because of the enormous scale of destruction such bombs cause—especially when used against densely packed civilian centers. Examples:

Megatron @Megatron_ron

The American Washington Post: "The war on Gaza is one of the most destructive campaigns of the twenty-first century." Israel destroyed much more buildings and in much less time than those destroyed by the Syrian regime, with the help of Russia in the city of Aleppo between 2013 and 2016. And also among those destroyed by the international coalition forces led by the United States against ISIS in the cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria in 2017.

4:15 AM · Dec 25, 2023

Now, from a Zerohedge article dated on Christmas Eve. Zerohedge’s account is largely based on NYT reporting:. The operative word here is “routinely.” These enormously powerful bombs are not being used to hit special targets—deeply dug in command centers, as an example. They are being routinely used against civilians. Eagerly used against civilians. These are, again, unguided area bombs, with a “hazardous blast radius” of 3,280 feet. That’s why I call this pattern of use “weapons of mass destruction”, and the photos confirm that. Israel has used up to 500 of these bombs to date—200 in so-called “safe zones”. The US has supplied Israel with 5,400 of these bombs since October 7.

Israel Routinely Dropping US-Supplied 2,000-lb Bombs In Dense Civilian Areas

As civilian casualties in the Israel-Hamas war continue to mount -- surpassing 20,000 from a population of just 2 million -- alarm is growing over Israel's all-too-eager use of a particularly devastating weapon: the 2,000-pound MK-84 bomb.  

Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on Earth. For most other militaries, that would be cause for restraint, particularly where the MK-84 is concerned, given its 3,280-foot hazardous blast radius. However, as the IDF presses its campaign against the militant group Hamas and its elaborate tunnel system, it's exhibiting an unusually high tolerance for civilian harm.

Scenes like this have sparked accusations of an Israeli intent to not only destroy Hamas, but to render Gaza uninhabitable (screen shot from New York Times video) 

For perspective, consider that the US military used only one MK-84 bomb during its entire fight with ISIS. However, it's poured an astounding 5,400 of them into Israel's arsenal since the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel.

Defying IDF assurances that it seeks to minimize civilian casualties, a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery suggests that Israel has even dropped more than 200 MK-84 bombs in the area of South Gaza where it told Palestinians to flee for safety. 

The IDF has brushed aside inquiries about its use of the extraordinarily destructive bombs. "Questions of this kind will be looked into at a later stage," a spokesman told the Times, adding that the IDF “takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.”

Israel routinely used one of its biggest and most destructive bombs in areas it designated as safe for civilians in Gaza during the first six weeks of the war, a visual analysis by The New York Times found. See the full visual investigation here. https://t.co/0qPLwaT7td pic.twitter.com/Vm24DnViGn

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 22, 2023

Unfortunately I can’t embed tweets here, but it’s worth following this link:

AHMED | أحمد @ASE

"We are a country with a nuclear bomb... No one should live in this land except the Jewish people."

This Israeli-French psychopath is the mother of a naturalized French settler, who served in #Israel's military in #Gaza.

How the hell can she openly and plainly argue for "pressing the button” and walk free after spewing this genocidal vitriol on Israeli TV (on Christmas Day)?

Nevermind that European governments and the US and UK are arresting people calling for equality from the river to the sea.

Are genocidal calls using nuclear weapons now also par for the course at this point?

Has the world succeeded in dehumanizing Palestinians to the point where it is already normalized to amplify these deranged and diabolical demands?

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3:56 PM · Dec 26, 2023

Is this a common attitude among Israelis? Well, it is all too common. Alastair Crooke recounts David Ignatius’ take on that, and seconds it from his own experience nearly 20 years ago:

An American Chimaera — ‘Peace Requires US Confrontation with Israel’

David Ignatius records in the Washington Post his visit to the West Bank and how he saw that “Peace Will Require Confrontation With Israel”:

[His visit] was a reality check about what’s possible ‘the day after’ the Gaza war ends. President Biden and other world leaders speak hopefully about creating a Palestinian state once Hamas is defeated (sic). I’d love to see that happen, too. But people need to get real about it … A Palestinian State may seem soothing to hear, but is a version of magical thinking. Standing in the way are the Israeli settlements and outposts laid across the hilltops of the West Bank, their high fences and concrete walls symbolizing their apparent immovability.

“The [illegal] settlements were put there to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state”, Ignatius is frankly told — and apparently he ‘gets it’. It would require confrontation ‘to unblock it’.

This is so – the settlements have been a block to stop any Palestinian state from emerging. Precisely so. Many years ago, when I was seconded as ‘link’ between President Arafat and the Israeli government, I received an unexpected invitation:

I was asked to tour the most radical West Bank settlements as a ‘guest of Ariel Sharon’, the then-PM.

I was taken by one of the Prime Minister’s closest friends on ‘my’ settlement tour. The latter said to the settler leaders — on each occasion and very explicitly — to treat me as Sharon’s personal guest. They were to speak openly, and to hold nothing back in terms of feelings and opinions.

That, they did not. Out it all poured; ‘radical’ would be to understate matters. They were ‘crazy’; fanatics in fact. The neighbouring Palestinian villages, towards whom a pure stream of contempt and hatred was evinced, were in their sights; it was to be a matter of time until they would be swept away and their land appropriated.

On return to Jerusalem [Al-Quds], my guide looked at me sternly, and said simply, “Do you understand? Do you understand why you were sent on this mission?”

“I do”. No way will those zealots be removed. Even if it were attempted by the Israeli military, it would be a bloodbath, I replied. They have their claws sunk deep into the settlement earth.

“Yes”. That was all that was said.

And now, some decades later and in the softest of tones, Ignatius hints at the elephant in the room: “Peace [indeed] would require confrontation with Israel”. “Biden’s is the latest Administration to confront this reality,” Ignatius concludes.

That’s the mentality that thinks nothing of openly calling for nuking Arabs because Palestine is “Jewish land”. That’s the mentality that thinks nothing of herding hapless, terrorized Arabs into “safe zones,” then dropping unguided area bombs on them.

Last night I was listening to a Netanyahu interview from years ago in which he enunciated his strategy—I can’t locate it this morning, but it was the one that includes his statement that America is a country that can be easily “maneuvered.” His strategy, he said, was to hit the Arabs hard and repeatedly until they reacted. Then, when they inevitably reacted, claim that it was unprovoked and unleash exactly the kind of genocidal attack we’re now seeing, to force the Arabs out of Palestine. He then went on to state that America is a country that is easily maneuvered and would readily buy into his lies. Just as so many have bought into Israeli atrocity porn, like the 40 beheaded babies, etc.

Here we are.