It is horrifying.

This is another civilian in plain view of the Israeli snipers and they shot him point blank.



Salem Khaleel Shamaly, 23 years old, was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper on Sunday, July 20, 2014, while he was looking for his relatives in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood. He was shot multiple times while on the ground amid the rubble. His family learned of his death through a video that was released.
“In footage filmed by a Palestinian TV crew and released by the International Solidarity Movement, Salem Khaleel Shamaly searches through the rubble created by Israeli air strikes in hope of finding his family in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood.”
According to Salem’s cousin Mohammad Al-Qattawi, Salem’s decomposed body was brought to his father on July 26, 2014, and his family was unable to say goodbye to him. Salem’s father waited 11 years to receive his first son. He worked as a grocer with his father in Gaza City’s old market and leaves behind his 7 sisters and his parents.

It doesn't deter future aggression. It does the exact opposite. Haven't we all learned that by now?

There may have been a time when disproportionate response seemed logical. But by now it should be clear that it just creates more hatred and more violence from the other side -- a truly wicked spiral.

I am bumping this to show what the Dahiya Doctrine looks like in video form:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I'm just saying that this is not a new tactic to support the strategy of destroying your enemies resolve.

Whether the strategy is new is not really the point. We are constantly told that Israel uses pin point strikes carefully aimed at military targets and any civilian casualties are a result of Hamas using human shields. The Dahiya Doctrine suggests that civilian casualties are not a bug but a feature.

that's a fair point.

You will get civilian casualities if you target civilian infrastructure as a means of compelling them to submit or exert enough internal pressure on hamas.

Anonymous wrote: I'm just saying that this is not a new tactic to support the strategy of destroying your enemies resolve.

Whether the strategy is new is not really the point. We are constantly told that Israel uses pin point strikes carefully aimed at military targets and any civilian casualties are a result of Hamas using human shields. The Dahiya Doctrine suggests that civilian casualties are not a bug but a feature.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:William T sherman destroyed the south to get them the submit - his tactics went far and beyond just beating the enemy army.

This isn't something new.

Really? Sherman dropped bombs from the sky on the children of Richmond and Atlanta? Take your Israeli propoganda elsewhere, please.

You are kidding right?

Dropped bombs is a means- the underlying strategy is the same - to crush the will of your enemies by crushing the morale and infrastructure of the civilians. That's waht sherman's 'total war' march to the sea did.

If he had aerial artillery he would've run sorties over cities all over the south and firebombed them.

I don't think the dahiya doctrine or any israeli doctrines are special or new strategies - they've always existed.

THe difference is the power of public opinion and media - sherman and prior total war wagers never had to deal with the blowback of that.

I'm not jewish nor israeli nor republican nor christian - to be honest i don't like israelis or israel all that much. I'm just saying that this is not a new tactic to support the strategy of destroying your enemies resolve.

Anonymous wrote:William T sherman destroyed the south to get them the submit - his tactics went far and beyond just beating the enemy army.

This isn't something new.

Really? Sherman dropped bombs from the sky on the children of Richmond and Atlanta? Take your Israeli propoganda elsewhere, please.

William T sherman destroyed the south to get them the submit - his tactics went far and beyond just beating the enemy army.

This isn't something new.

It seems completely nihilistic to me. I can't imagine living in Israel and not knowing that this is the future of Tel Aviv as well. Nothing they do to make themselves feel more secure ever succeeds or ever is enough.

There is I think a deeper issue with Israeli defense strategy. The country has a doctrine of "disproportionate response". It was originally formulated by Moshe Dayan and David Ben Gurion in the 50's. The goal is that any threat to Israel, even small, must be met with such an overwhelming response that it would deter future aggression.

In the early days this meant taking out military and political targets in third party arab countries. But in Palestine, there is not an army to bomb. So they take it out on the population. Thus the bulldozers and the mass arrests without trial, the blockades and so on. And when war does happen, as it predictably will when they do these crackdowns, they will blow up neighborhoods and schools. Because surely there is someone with a rocket or a gun in the vicinity.

Its like as if a tsunami has hit Shujae'ya; The geographical looks of the neighbourhood have changed; No houses are left; everything is destroyed! Most people didn't distinguish their homes, They didn't know where they used to live because everything for them looks the same; There were lots of burt and decomposed bodies, people looking for the rest of their families, everyone is on a rush before they change their minds about the ceasefire and start shooting again.. Shujaeya has turned into nothing; nothing , just empty! nothing
Watch Shujaeya on TVs. its totaly tragic, the biggest neigbourhood in Gaza doesn't exist any more; Shujaeya is totaly wiped out..
Shujaeya was in Gaza.

I can totally believe this.1000+ souls have been plucked in Gaza by the israeli killing machines within 20 days of the continuous aggression against civilian Gazans...! This is so incredibly sad. During the first 4 hours of the ceasefire, more than 40 bodies were found in khuzaa, and the medics are still searching for more..Unbelievable destruction in Alshojaeya and Biet-Hanoon, houses burnt and destroyed and bodies were found in the streets.. Khuzaa isn't included in the truce; medics and civil services crews aren't allowed to get inside the area.. But nobody is reporting this, people just think there is a ceasefire so all is calm now. It doesn't work that way in Palestine People are killed in an inhumane way .. then they ask for a humanitarian truce ..

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahiya_doctrine

"The Dahiya doctrine is a military strategy put forth by the Israeli general Gadi Eizenkot that pertains to asymmetric warfare in an urban setting, in which the army deliberately targets civilian infrastructure, as a means of inducing suffering for the civilian population, thereby establishing deterrence.[1] The doctrine is named after a southern suburb in Beirut with large apartment buildings which were flattened by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 2006 Lebanon War.[2] Israel has been accused of implementing the strategy during the Gaza War."

https://twitter.com/RichardEngel/status/493085960138010624

Richard Engel
?@RichardEngel
Entire blocks devastated in #gaza. Increasingly hearing calls for hamas to accept ceasefire.


https://twitter.com/sharifkouddous/status/493072466575900672

Sharif Kouddous
?@sharifkouddous
In Beit Hanoun a man walks through the rubble and says aloud to himself, "This is a town of ghosts, not people" #Gaza


https://twitter.com/sheeraf/status/492927280151142400

Sheera Frenkel
?@sheeraf
Insane photos from EPA photographer @OliverWeiken, showing the destruction in Beit hanoun, Gaza.