Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The BBC Sets Conditions

The BBC has published it's interpretation of when a violent act becomes a "terror act":-

Israeli police called it a "terror attack", although there was no immediate claim of responsibility by any Palestinian militant organisation.


So, like we used to say, if it looks like it, smells like it and even tastes like, it isn't - until someone says it is.

4 comments:

Peter Drubetskoy said...

It’s all bullshit semantics. Most reasonable people will agree that “terror attack” signifies deliberate targeting of civilians as opposed to fighters. In that respect the recent Jeruslem attack was a terror attack even though perpetrated by a loner, while most Hizballah attacks in the years of Security Zone we predominantly not, which never prevented Israel from calling Hizballah fighters “terrorists”. Similarly, all deliberate IDF attacks on Palestinian and Lebanese civilians should really be classified as terror attacks (and here I include attacks which carry a certainty of collateral damage).

YMedad said...

You write "all deliberate IDF attacks on Palestinian and Lebanese civilians should really be classified as terror attacks (and here I include attacks which carry a certainty of collateral damage)."

Well, it depends. As for collateral which means they were standing near a terror target, that's covered by international law and there's no guilt there. And I don't think, as policy, that Israel looks for a civilian who is sitting around milking his goat or weeding his garden or sewing a dress and pops them off for fun. You've got to be sick to try to get that in to the discussion.

Peter Drubetskoy said...

I don't know whether there is a distorted interpretation of international law that would allow killing civilians for standing "near a terror target", but the fact that you believe such outrageous thing speaks volumes. Just put yourself in the place of such a civilian, or, better yet, your dear ones, and I would like to know whether you honestly can justify such a killing.

YMedad said...

Peter, Peter, Arab propaganda eater: if Arabs are using my schoolyard to fire off rockets, either I take my kids out of that school, or try to chase away the terrorists, or complain to the school board or the supervising administration (like UNRWA in Gaza). If I continue to send my kids there or applaud the rockets firers, etc., I am not only stupid and irresponsible but I support terror and I can't blame Israel if one afternoon a missile hits the rocket team while they are getting ready to fire off another round and my kid was watching nearby and is wounded or worse.

Stop grovelling.