Thread by @_ZachFoster

Israel’s Core Military Doctrine, Explained.

In 17 days, Israel has killed ~6,000+ Palestinians in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7th massacre in which it killed ~1,300 people.

Israel has killed an order of magnitude more Palestinians (adj. for pop.)

This is Israel's core military doctrine: disproportionality

Case #1: The 1948 War.

In the 1948 War, Zionist forces massacred 800 Palestinians, Palestinians forces massacred 200 Jews.

Zionist forces made 750K Palestinian refugees by not letting them return home after the war, while Arab armies made 10K Zionists refugees.

Case #2:
After 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees tried returning to their homes to tend to their crops, reclaim their property & possessions, see family, engage in business or trade currencies. Most were unarmed, especially in '48-'49. Source:

The Israeli army order was shoot to kill. This radicalized some Palestinian refugees who began to arm themselves & fight.

From '48-67, Israeli soldiers killed 3-5K Palestinians, mostly unarmed civilians, while Palestinian refugees killed ~200-250 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

“Unless we show the Arabs that there is a high price to pay for murdering Jews, we won’t survive.”

So said then Prime Minister of Israel Ben Gurion in 1953.

He was advising Ariel Sharon after the Qibya Massacre of October 1953, exactly 70 years ago, during which... source:

Israeli forces massacred 69 Palestinians in Qibya (WB), 2/3rds women & children. Israel framed the attack as a response to a Palestinian attack 2 days prior, where 3 Israeli Jewish civilians were killed

Israel's military strategy seemed to be, kill lots of innocent Palestinians:

Case #3:
By 1967, the pattern was clear. When Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, they expelled another 280,000 to 325,000 Palestinians.

Did Palestinians expel any Israelis? I think 0, as far as I can tell.

From late 1987-1988, Palestinians in Gaza rose up in a series of non-violent demonstrations, strikes, boycotts & protests. They killed 0 Israelis. They were unarmed.

In response, Israel killed 142 Palestinians in Gaza.

Source: Jean-Pierre Filiu, Gaza: A History (2014), 206.

Case #4: during the 1st Intifada, Israel killed ~1,200 Palestinians, while Palestinians killed ~160 Israelis.

Case #5: During the 2nd Intifada, Israel killed ~3,200 Palestinians, while Palestinians killed ~1,000 Israelis.

Now, during the past wars in Gaza (Cases 6-10)

For Cases, 6-10, see this thread:

https://twitter.com/_ZachFoster/status/1712067359798706440

There is a false belief repeated & regurgitated by pundits that there is no moral equivalency b/w Hamas & Israel, since Hamas openly embraces war crimes as a military strategy.

But Israel also embraces a war crime -- disproportionality -- as fundamental to its military strategy.

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