July 05, 2007
Palestinian Body Armor
Very brave, don't you think?
Is it simply a defect in the character of Palestinian militants that they use a wall of civilian youths to discourage Israeli soldiers from returning fire?
In most other parts of the world, I'd expect "freedom fighters" to attempt to protect their own civilians, encouraging to leave the area of hostilities, perhaps even endangering themselves to protect the people for which they claim to be fighting.
This thought is perhaps merely a western notion, as this kind of civilian abuse—can it really be called anything else?—is well-documented and frequently observed in Gaza.
All too often, this abuse leads to the headlines and photos the militants so obviously crave:
The journalists covering the conflict (here, Ibraheem Abu Mustafa of Reuters) refuse to provide the context of how a child could have been injured in a clash against Israeli forces, nor do they ever chide the Palestinian militants for endangering children and other civilians for using them as nothing less than body armor.
It is perhaps something approaching a miracle that in this engagement stretching back to yesterday, that nearly all of the dead on the Palestinian side have been Hamas and allied militants, including the Hamas field commander in central Gaza.
Israel, of course, gets little to no credit for their very selective use of force by the world media, perhaps due to the fact that most of those reporting for the Associated Press, Reuters, and other news agencies comes from men with names like Irbahim Barzak, Ibraheem Abu Mustafa, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Mohammed Abed, and others that might be culturally less inclined to see such restraint.
Nope, no inherent bias on display, at all.
Bet the first pic is a scam photo. Like pallywood. If the gunman was crouched slightly and leaning against the wall while actually shooting at someone, those kids would be much more frightened than curious, as they seem to be.
But I've become jaded on palestinian reporting.
Posted by: Kevin at July 5, 2007 02:04 PMhose kids would be much more frightened than curious, as they seem to be.
Why be frightened when you KNOW there won't be any return fire?
Posted by: Purple Avenger at July 5, 2007 05:41 PMColor me similarly baffled. I see a bunch of fellows hanginging around a wall, with only one fellow armed. Nobody looks younger than a teenager (as far as I can tell from the back), nobody looks like they are being held against their will, and nobody even looks scared.
I don't think this photo shows what you think it shows.
Posted by: Shochu John at July 5, 2007 06:53 PMFrench resistance body armor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Member_of_the_FFI.jpg
Very brave, don't you think?
This is actually LESS lame than your attempt at a point because this picture clearly has children in it.
Posted by: Shochu John at July 5, 2007 07:14 PMOh yea, the frog is clearly in a more likely pose to be firing than the pali. Very compelling "evidence" you got there.
Rolling with it though, many of the French were commies. Commies have never been averse to using kids as bullet sinks and land mine detectors.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at July 5, 2007 07:23 PMIt's not "evidence", Avenger. It's completely unfounded conjecture about events I couldn't possibly know of based on a photo I found on the internet. If I concluded my commentary with a condemnation of the MSM's failure to reach the same bizarre conclusions I do, I could probably guest blog here without anybody noticing the difference.
Posted by: Shochu John at July 5, 2007 08:42 PMPalestinian are so crazy even Arabs will not deal with them. How crazy does noe have to be to get to the point where even Arabs are going "Hey man, these guys are nuts, I want none of this"?
I like my Gaza Strip and eggs sunny side down and burnt to a crisp.
Anyway, I would consider it an honor and a privilege if you would add my blog "The Tygrrrr Express" www.blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com if you feel the quality is high.
I learned of your website through the Rottweiler's website, since I like his humor.
Happy 4th!
eric
P.S. If I already asked you, my bad in advance.
Posted by: eric at July 6, 2007 12:17 AMI've seen something first-hand that's on topic, and I probably wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself. I was in Mahmudiyah in late '04 on the west side of town, in a cluster of identical multi-story apartment buildings that we called "the ghetto". That day we were recovering a stolen ambulance, that we didn't want to end up as a VBIED. There was a 6-8 round burst of AK fire, and as I was scanning the windows, I saw a woman on the second floor stand her baby up in the window as she watched.
Imagine what steps you'd take to protect your children, then compare and contrast.
Upon hearing a string of automatic fire, her first reaction was to put. her. baby. in. the. window.
Awesome.
(btw, the fire was the ING doing their Yosemite Sam routine that they love so much...which was also awesome.)
Posted by: brando at July 6, 2007 12:49 AMSo Israel is exonerated for being the world leader in killing children? Ahhhhh, I feel so much better as an American knowing that. My tax dollars are only funding the killing of children who WANT to be killed! And so, if the Jews preemptively declared war on Germany in 1933, then.....Germany is exonerated for WINNING that war! Sure, the holocaust probably happened, but it feels good not to have to keep BLAMING the Nazis for it.
Posted by: BannedChatter at July 6, 2007 05:20 AMI love the smell of crazy in the morning!
Posted by: daleyrocks at July 6, 2007 09:43 AMCommies have never been averse to using kids as bullet sinks and land mine detectors.
YES!!! also they EAT children when there larder runs low
commies are SUBHUMAN
Posted by: Karl at July 6, 2007 02:40 PMUpon hearing a string of automatic fire, her first reaction was to put. her. baby. in. the. window.
YES!!! a shot baby is a PR VICTORY
thats the VALUES the jihadis have
Posted by: Karl at July 6, 2007 02:46 PM
