You're absolutely right. Of course it's possible to debate the legality of the pager attack under humanitarian law, but there is an enormous gap in the way this is scrutinized. Now the UN and NGO folks are falling all over themselves to come up with reasons the pager attack should be illegal, and frankly just making assumptions or ignoring evidence that doesn't go in that direction. Meanwhile no one ever asks how Hezbollah knows for sure that no children will be standing where the unguided missiles it launches at Israeli cities will land or what justification Hezbollah has for attacking Israel to begin with.
What's your take on the speculation in some Israeli media that this attack was authorized prematurely, either because the plan was about to be discovered or - worse - because Netanyahu wanted to score domestic political points and pushed the button now on something that was supposed to be done later, as the opening salvo in a future major offensive against Hezbollah? Those favoring the latter explanation believe that the story about imminent disclosure is nothing but spin from Netanyahu's PR machine. There seems to be a lot of concern that Israel threw away a very important tool by pushing the button this week.
You're absolutely right. Of course it's possible to debate the legality of the pager attack under humanitarian law, but there is an enormous gap in the way this is scrutinized. Now the UN and NGO folks are falling all over themselves to come up with reasons the pager attack should be illegal, and frankly just making assumptions or ignoring evidence that doesn't go in that direction. Meanwhile no one ever asks how Hezbollah knows for sure that no children will be standing where the unguided missiles it launches at Israeli cities will land or what justification Hezbollah has for attacking Israel to begin with.
Gary, great article, but the UN and the Palestinian MURDERERS WILL NEVER CHANGE their warped, predjudice minds.
What's your take on the speculation in some Israeli media that this attack was authorized prematurely, either because the plan was about to be discovered or - worse - because Netanyahu wanted to score domestic political points and pushed the button now on something that was supposed to be done later, as the opening salvo in a future major offensive against Hezbollah? Those favoring the latter explanation believe that the story about imminent disclosure is nothing but spin from Netanyahu's PR machine. There seems to be a lot of concern that Israel threw away a very important tool by pushing the button this week.