Take a stand in support of ISRAEL, our Holy Land
Subject: J. Spencer: Israel Has Created a New Standard for Urban Warfare
There are certain empirical facts that are to be recognized regardless of one's political views; among those facts is that on October 7, 2024 Hamas and its associated terrorists brutally murdered hundreds of unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly including by burning families, beheading both children and adults, and cruelly raping women in the process of the rampage. ?
It is also a fact that Hamas operatives abducted over 200 people including babies, women, children and elderly people. ?
Another fact is that the terrorists themselves proudly filmed their depredations and videos of their sordid actions have been displayed to a large number of members of the media and governmental bodies. ?
Nevertheless, there are still those who deny or seek to justify the murderers; my own representative in the U.S. Congress, Jamaal Bowman, at a rally in White Plains NY, just over a month after the massacre, asserted that "there is still no evidence of beheaded babies or raped women, but they still keep using that lie," and called the reports of these atrocities "propaganda."
The Congressman also accused Israel of being an "Apartheid" state. ?
(He subsequently walked back part of his outrageious accusations of "no evidence"). ?It is also distressing to note that prior to his "public service" Bowman was the principal of a public middle school, the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action, responsible for educating children as an employee of New York City. ?Congressman Bowman has identified with the so-called "squad" comprised of Congresswomen Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar, Bush among others. ?
Instead of the "civilized community of nations" demanding that Hamas release its hostages, and pressuring Qatar and other Hamas supporters to isolate it, negotiations have been conducted for months as though Hamas is a legitimate rational member of the world community and is entitled to a "payoff" for release of hostages. ?Although President Biden's initial reactions to October 7 were a clear moral recognition of what he termed "pure unaderated evil" and traveling to Israel to demonstrate his support, pressures from "progressives" and certain others have resulted in U.S. actions that have slowed Israel's drive to uproot Hamas as a military and governing force at the cost of prolonging the war, increasing deaths of Israel's soldiers and Gaza civilians alike. ?
This pressure on Biden has resulted, among other things, in compelling Israel to restrain the use of its precision air power such as at present in al-Shifa hospital where it is known that hundreds of terrorists are firing from specific locations in portions of the sprawling hospital complex.?
In the following piece John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point Military Academy, concludes - based on personal observations in Gaza and various materials - that "Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history—above and beyond what international law requires and more than the U.S. did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan". ?He asks why this is not recognized; I have no answer except to refer to the phrase attributed to Lenin that the "progressive" forces have a large supply of 'useful idiots', people (including many in the media) who are generally ignorant of the basic facts, of the history, of the ideology and religious mission of the terrorists, who are unable to distinguish between Mecca and Medina or between Sufis and Alawites. ?Or perhaps these are people who lack a moral compass and whose sanctimonious outbursts about civilian casualties mask their ignorance and moral depravity. ?At this point it is hard to view such people as possessing a serious moral grounding.]
Israel Has Created a New Standard for Urban Warfare. Why Will No One Admit It?
By John Spencer, March 25, 2024
The Israel Defense Forces conducted an operation at al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip to root out Hamas terrorists recently, once again taking unique precautions as it entered the facility to protect the innocent; Israeli media reported that doctors accompanied the forces to help Palestinian patients if needed.
They were also reported to be carrying food, water and medical supplies for the civilians inside.
None of this meant anything to Israel's critics, of course, who immediately pounced. The critics, as usual, didn't call out Hamas for using protected facilities like hospitals for its military activity. Nor did they mention the efforts of the IDF to minimize civilian casualties.
In their criticism, Israel's opponents are erasing a remarkable, historic new standard Israel has set. In my long career studying and advising on urban warfare for the U.S. military, I've never known an army to take such measures to attend to the enemy's civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings. In fact, by my analysis, Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history—above and beyond what international law requires and more than the U.S. did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The international community, and increasingly the United States, barely acknowledges these measures while repeatedly excoriating the IDF for not doing enough to protect civilians—even as it confronts a ruthless terror organization holding its citizens hostage. Instead, the U.S. and its allies should be studying how they can apply the IDF's tactics for protecting civilians, despite the fact that these militaries would almost certainly be extremely reluctant to employ these techniques because of how it would disadvantage them in any fight with an urban terrorist army like Hamas.
The predominant Western theory of executing wars, called maneuver warfare, seeks to shatter an enemy morally and physically with surprising, overwhelming force and speed, striking at the political and military centers of gravity so that the enemy is destroyed or surrenders quickly.
This was the case in the invasions of Panama in 1989, Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2003 and the failed illegal attempt by Russia to take Ukraine in 2022.
In all these cases, no warning or time was given to evacuate cities.
In many ways, Israel has had to abandon this established playbook in order to prevent civilian harm. The IDF has telegraphed almost every move ahead of time so civilians can relocate, nearly always ceding the element of surprise.
This has allowed Hamas to reposition its senior leaders (and the Israel hostages) as needed through the dense urban terrain of Gaza and the miles of underground tunnels it's built.
Hamas fighters, who unlike the IDF don't wear uniforms, have also taken the opportunity to blend into civilian populations as they evacuate. The net effect is that Hamas succeeds in its strategy of creating Palestinian suffering and images of destruction to build international pressure on Israel to stop its operations, therefore ensuring Hamas' survival.
Israel gave warning, in some cases for weeks, for civilians to evacuate the major urban areas of northern Gaza before it launched its ground campaign in the fall. The IDF reported dropping over 7 million flyers, but it also deployed technologies never used anywhere in the world, as I witness firsthand on a recent trip to Gaza and southern Israel.
Israel has made over 70,000 direct phones calls, sent over 13 million text messages and left over 15 million pre-recorded voicemails to notify civilians that they should leave combat areas, where they should go, and what route they should take. They deployed drones with speakers and dropped giant speakers by parachute that began broadcasting for civilians to leave combat areas once they hit the ground. They announced and conducted daily pauses of all operations to allow any civilians left in combat areas to evacuate.
These measures were effective. Israel was able to evacuate upwards of 85% percent of the urban areas in northern Gaza before the heaviest fighting began. This is actually consistent with my research on urban warfare history that shows that no matter the effort, about 10% percent of populations stay.
As the war raged on, Israel began giving out its military maps to civilians so they could conduct localized evacuations. This, too, has never been done in war. During my recent visit to Khan Yunis, Gaza, and the IDF civilian harm mitigation unit in southern Israel, I observed as the army began using these maps to communicate each day where the IDF would be operating so civilians in other areas would stay out of harm's way.
I saw that the IDF even tracked the population in real time down to a few-block radius using drone and satellite imagery and cell phone presence and building damage assessments to avoid hitting civilians. The New York Times reported in January that the daily civilian death toll had more than halved in the previous month and was down almost two-thirds from its peak.
Of course, the true number of Gaza civilian deaths is unknown.
The current Hamas-supplied estimate of over 31,000 does not acknowledge a single combatant death (nor any deaths due to the misfiring of its own rockets or other friendly fire). The IDF estimates it has killed about 13,000 Hamas operatives, a number I believe credible partly because I believe the armed forces of a democratic American ally over a terrorist regime, but also because of the size of Hamas fighters assigned to areas that were cleared and having observed the weapons used, the state of Hamas' tunnels and other aspects of the combat.
That would mean some 18,000 civilians have died in Gaza, a ratio of roughly 1 combatant to 1.5 civilians. Given Hamas' likely inflation of the death count, the real figure could be closer to 1 to 1. Either way, the number would be historically low for modern urban warfare.
The United Nations, European Union and other sources estimate that civilians usually account for 80% percent to 90% percent of casualties, or a 1:9 ratio, in modern war (though this does mix all types of wars). In the 2016-2017 Battle of Mosul, a battle supervised by the U.S. that used the world's most powerful airpower resources, some 10,000 civilians were killed compared to roughly 4,000 ISIS terrorists.
And yet, analysts who should know better are still engaging in condemnation of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) based on the level of destruction that's still occurred—destruction that is unavoidable against an enemy that embeds in a vast tunnel system under civilian sites in dense urban terrain. This effects-based condemnation or criticism is not how the laws of war work, or violations determined. These and other analysts say the destruction and civilian causalities must either stop or be avoided in an alternative form of warfare.
Ironically, the careful approach Israel has taken may have actually led to more destruction; since the IDF giving warnings and conducting evacuations help Hamas survive, it ultimately prolongs the war and, with it, its devastation.
Israel has not created a gold standard in civilian harm mitigation in war.
That implies there is a standard in civilian casualties in war that is acceptable or not acceptable; that zero civilian deaths in war is remotely possible and should be the goal; that there is a set civilian-to-combatant ratio in war no matter the context or tactics of the enemy. But all available evidence shows that Israel has followed the laws of war, legal obligations, best practices in civilian harm mitigation and still found a way to reduce civilian casualties to historically low levels.
Those calling for Israel to find an alternative to inflicting civilian casualties to lower amounts (like zero) should be honest that this alternative would leave the Israeli hostages in captivity and allow Hamas to survive the war.
The alternative to a nation's survival cannot be a path to extinction.
John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point, codirector of MWI's Urban Warfare Project and host of the "Urban Warfare Project Podcast." He served for 25 years as an infantry soldier, which included two combat tours in Iraq. He is the author of the book "Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connection in Modern War" and co-author of "Understanding Urban Warfare."
Stanley Krieger shared the above Article(s)
Below: Debbie Robins asks that we sign the letter to The White House
领英推荐
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2024 8:34 AM Subject: PLEASE SIGN LETTER:
Resolution # 2728 was adopted with 14 votes in favor and one abstention (United States), it was adopted by the Security Council at its 9,586th meeting, on 25 March 2024. Full text:
The Security Council,
Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Recalling all of its relevant resolutions on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,
Reiterating its demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and in this regard deploring all attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as all violence and hostilities against civilians, and all acts of terrorism, and recalling that the taking of hostages is prohibited under international law,
Expressing deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,?
Acknowledging the ongoing diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, aimed at reaching a cessation of hostilities, releasing the hostages and increasing the provision and distribution of humanitarian aid,
Reaction to the U.S. Abstention at the UN
The US abstention of the UN ceasefire resolution that doesn’t make a single mention of Hamas undoubtedly fans the flames of Jew-hatred here in the US!
Our minority rights are at stake, and Jew-haters are undoubtedly emboldened when they see our own government not fighting against this resolution.
Please fill out the contact form and let President Biden hear from us en masse!!
Click on the link below, fill out the form letter by either copying the suggested text and paste it in. Share with everyone!! Put pressure on The White House! https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Wrote this instead of the pre-determined letter:
On the 7th Day of October 2023, the Jewish nation of Israel was concluding a month-long celebration of High Holy Days. It is a joyful occasion marked by singing and dancing, a Jewish holiday that celebrates the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle.
Two days after commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Arab attack on Israel, known as the Yom Kippur War, a horrific tragedy struck again.
Without warning, during peace time, an unprovoked animalistic savagery was unleashed upon Israeli civilians by the terrorist group Hamas.
An infamous rampage through the Re'im desert music festival.
3,000 terrorists and others infiltrated the Gaza-Israel border, leading coordinated attacks on 47 communities that are situated along the thin stretch of border.
The terrorists overran Kibbutzim, villages and the Town of Sderot, as well as an army base and the Sderot police station.
The media, the left, the progressive mob and Hamas terrorists have turned a shameful-unprovoked attack into a Palestine vs Israel issue, a deflective tactic to avoid consequences for the atrocities committed on a day that shall live in shame: 10-07-2023!
Let's honor the victims:
We are appalled!
The US VOTE enables Hamas murderers, terrorists and rapists to survive, regroup and ultimately perpetrate another 10/7 as they have promised.
The Holocaust lessons Learned by Manachem Begin seem to be forgotten, let's just mention the first three he enumerated:
HIGHLIGHTS
This betrayal of Israel and the Jewish people is happening at a time of sky-rocketing anti semitism in the US. Over the weekend, at Columbia University alone, a visiting “professor” from a recognized terror group lectured “What we learned from 10/7-Resistance 101.”
The future of the United States is tied inextricably to Israel.
Israel is the center of Faith, be it Islam, Judaism or Catholicism.
The vote is happening on Holy Week...
We write in support of Israel on the anniversary of the day when a good man was crucified... but resurrected after three days.
The vote attempts to crucify the people of Israel...
But... Jews have learned to defend themselves and are forever prepared for whenever threat looms.
Protect the Right to Existence / LIFE in Israel, our Holy Land!
We stand with Israel