Monday, March 11, 2024
Elder of Ziyon
The Independent reported:
The US State Department has denied responsibility for an airdrop that reportedly killed five civilians – including two young boys – in Gaza.A spokesperson for the department said that “every reasonable precaution” was taken with airdrops to ensure the safety of the public.The incident reportedly occurred on Friday in the Al Shati camp west of Gaza City, according to a journalist on the scene, per CNN. At least five people were killed and 10 others injured when airdropped aid packages fell on them.It is believed the chutes on the packages did not open properly. Muhammad Al-Sheikh, Head of Emergency Care Department at Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City confirmed to CNN that five people were killed in the incident.“We express our condolences to the families of those who were killed,” a spokesperson for the State Department said in a statement shared with media outlets. “Our understanding is that this was not a US airdrop.”The statement continued: “As we said earlier this week, these are complex and tough missions to do because so many parameters have to be exactly right. We always learn from these incidents and try to improve.“We take every reasonable precaution to avoid injuries, including limiting the weight of the pallets, identifying drop-zones in less-populated areas, and the sending of safety messages to the population prior to the air drop.”
There is a big difference between how this story was reported and how Israeli airstrikes that kill civilians are reported.
The basic assumption is that those dropping aid care about the lives of civilians, and Israel doesn't. Which is the fundamental blood libel of this war.
At the very least, this was a situation that showed gross negligence on the part of the aircraft that dropped the pallets. Yet no one is following up to find out who is responsible. No one is calling for an independent investigation.
There are no reporters trying to find out the names of the reported victims, or interviewing their survivors, or interviewing the injured, or interviewing witnesses. No one is asking whether the Ministry of Health is counting these people as being killed by Israel.
Interest in the story evaporated hours after it happened. The State Department statement on the difficulty of airdrops is not challenged.
No one cares when Palestinian kids are killed by anyone but Israel.
From the outset, the assumption is that Israel is acting maliciously towards civilians and everyone else is acting nobly.
Dropping bombs in populated areas and minimizing civilian damage is an order of magnitude more difficult than dropping food packages on sparsely populated areas. But unlike these airdrops, no one bothers asking the IDF to describe what they do in detail - their policies and procedures refined over years to determine the minimum payload to achieve a goal but minimize collateral damage, the skill involved in pinpoint operations, the reasons that larger bombs are sometimes used and the intended targets.
The irony goes deeper. This accident was obviously a mistake, so there should be no stigma for taking responsibility or announcing an investigation.
Yet unlike those doing the aid airdrops, Israel takes responsibility for its mistakes. Israel undertakes investigations under trying circumstances and reports back as soon as humanly possible.
Everyone assumes Israel is lying when they say they aren't responsible for an event in Gaza that killed civilians. Everyone also assumes Israel is lying even when they admit that they made a tragic mistake, because they think Israel maliciously attacks civilians.
The world should insist that whoever killed those people take responsibility and fix the mistakes that were made. No one cares. Let it happen again - so what?
Because dead Palestinians don't matter when Jews cannot be blamed. \
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