Aizenberg Profile picture
Nov 1, 2023 15 tweets 5 min read Read on X
THREAD: Was bombing in Jabalia in line with international law (IHL)? Or a war crime? Does the loss of civilians, even if high automatically mean war crimes? Let’s look at what IHL actually says not the media, UN or NGOs. This same analysis applies to future strikes as well. 1/
First is Geneva Protocol I Article 48 which is Basic Rule: “distinction” between civilians & military. IDF must “direct their operations only against military objectives.” Israel targeted a key Hamas base with commander many fighters weapons tunnels etc. So IDF complied here. 2/ Image
But wait, civilians died? Israel probably even KNEW some would die. Isn’t that a war crime? No. Geneva allows civilian deaths even if known. It does not reward human shields & immunize Hamas per Article 28. Military targets are legal even knowing that civilians will die. 3/ Image
Geneva Protocol I Article 51.7 emphasizes concept again. Civilians do not immunize military points “particularly in attempts to shield… from attacks.” Hamas’ base within/under Jabalia is itself a war crime under this article and the target was legal to strike under IHL. 4/ Image
Protocol I Article 57.2.c requires Israel to give advance warning if "circumstances" "permit". Israel has warned civilians for weeks to move south away from battle zone ~90% have done so. IDF complied. Civilians staying still does not immunize military target from attack. 5/ Image
Now the tougher subjective rule of war Article 51.5b the so-called “proportionality” doctrine even though the word itself does not appear in IHL. Was Jabalia strike excessive in relation in relation to military advantage? Here is the language and analysis next. 6/ Image
Same concept found in Article 57.2b. Was Jabalia attack according to IDF knowledge “expected to cause” loss to civilians “excessive” to military advantage “anticipated”? Note that after the fact damage is less important to assessing war crime than what was “expected” upfront. 7/ Image
This concept of "expected" harm means mistakes (like errant bombs) or not knowing in advance how many civilians were present does not mean war crime. When UK killed 86 children in error during WWII attack on Gestapo HQ it is not considered a war crime. 8/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation…
Proportionality is subjective. There are no civilian/combatant ratios as guidelines. Every situation is totally different & must take in all factors. Hamas leader promises "million" October 7 massacres so military need to kill Hamas terrorists is high. 9/
We also know that is Israel has robust legal experts embedded within IDF that reviews key strikes if not all. This is from The Economist. Those charging war crimes are not credible without detailed facts & analysis of each strike. 10/ Image
So was civilian loss in Jabalia strike “excessive” relative to the “military advantage” Again without knowing precisely the loss of civilian life vs Hamas losses & importance of target, threat to IDF & Israel from this position it’s all speculation. 11/
One also needs to know what IDF “anticipated” would be civilian loss. Tunnel collapse brought down buildings they were not directly struck (see video). Was this anticipated? Did IDF know how many civilians were there? All this factors into assessment. 12/
Given this was a senior Hamas commander with ~50 terrorists also killed, several rocket launch posts, weapons production & tunnel shafts NOT destroying it could result in large IDF & Israel deaths. This certainly appears to be a legal strike, NOT a war crime. However… 13/ Image
I/we should admit that to be 100% certain requires ALL the exact facts like casualty figures of each kind that NO ONE knows & may only be possible when IDF shares details & what it knew at the time. So when media & NGOs cry war crimes they have ZERO basis for claiming this. END
UN condemns Israel's strike in Jabalia but when official is asked about IHL that allows such strikes, all he says is "I don’t have the courage or the intellectual capacity to engage in a legal debate with you." !!

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Aizenberg

Aizenberg Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Aizenberg55

Sep 20
🧵Israel DID NOT kill 31 journalists in Yemen. It killed “Yemeni army staff" as article admits—specifically Houthi media operatives at Houthi sites. Houthis are a US-designated terrorist group. Geneva & US War Manual are clear: media personnel in the military are COMBATANTS. 1/ Image
Houthis are a US-designated terrorist group. These were not independent journalists—they were part of the Houthi propaganda arm. No one called ISIS or Al-Qaeda media operatives “journalists.” But with Israel, different rules apply. 2/ Image
Geneva Article 79 commentary makes clear that members of armed forces that are “connected with information"— like “staff of the Yemeni army’s official news outlet” (i.e. Houthi terrorists) are NOT protected as journalists. US War Manual agrees, see both key sections below: 3/ Image
Read 4 tweets
Sep 18
🧵Reuters photo of Al-Basma IVF clinic reveals UN fabricated “evidence” to accuse Israel of striking it to “prevent births." UN argues IDF must have intentionally targeted it since nearby buildings were less damaged—but buried photo showing the opposite. UN lied. More detail: 1/ Image
Reuters photo shows there was active combat here—perhaps a Hamas RPG cell in high rise. UN’s entire thesis collapses with this photo. There is no evidence clinic was hit by IDF. Media reports only cite clinic director who says it was an IDF shell but he was not even there! 2/ Image
Here is a closeup of clinic. Other photos show damage inside. Bullet holes and high rise damage proves there was active combat in area. Clinic building is intact thus “targeted strike” claim is false. High rise blast indicates THAT was the likely target. UN knowingly ignores. 3/ Image
Read 5 tweets
Sep 17
🧵UN's fake "genocide report" accuses Israel of intentionally striking Gaza Al-Basma IVF clinic to destroy embryos to “prevent births” and "destroy future of Palestinians." This claimed attack is a key aspect of the claim. But there is ZERO evidence for any of it. Analysis: 1/ Image
The entire evidence comes from ABC News media report from Apr 2024 regarding this incident that apparently happened in December 2023—4 months earlier. Clinic director said an Israeli shell hit the clinic but he was not there and does not even know the exact date of incident. 2/ Image
The UN Report does not have any more information than this yet make sweeping claims! They say they looked at photos (shown in the ABC report) and claim it “most probably” was an IDF tank shell. They cite the ABC report that the IDF said it was unaware of this incident. 3/ Image
Read 7 tweets
Sep 16
🧵I wrote a rebuttal of UN's new "report" accusing Israel of genocide for @UNWatch It is filled with fake data, fake intent, fake evidence. It erases Hamas. 10/7 is presented as something Israel did—including taking hostages (really!). See more below 1/ unwatch.org/un-watch-rebut…
10/7 is erased. Entire incident is presented as an Israeli attack, the reader won't know what happened. Hamas is erased too. They do not exist in the report. They are only even mentioned first 8 pages deep, and only and always in the context of Israeli claims & statements. 2/ Image
Even more evil: there is no mention that Hamas took hostages. The report deliberately erases the event and weaponizes the word to accuse ISRAEL of taking the Palestinians people "hostage." The first mention of the word is buried 27 pages deep. This is Orwellian inversion. 3/ Image
Read 6 tweets
Sep 14
🧵MSF survey of Gaza fatalities inadvertently reveals key data: 24% of all fatalities (~11,000) are natural, not war caused. Total deaths of 46,000 at Mar 2025 vs Hamas’ claim of 50,000. This shatters “studies” claiming far higher tolls; confirms inclusion of natural deaths. 1/ Image
MSF reports a death rate of 0.41 per 10,000 per day in Gaza as of 3/26/25, thus totaling 46,000 fatalities since 10/7. And 76% are due to war injuries (~35,000), leaving 11,000 natural deaths—matching expected mortality (natural and infant) for this period. 2/
As of survey date, Hamas claims 50,144 deaths (see below from UN), not far off from MSF survey result. But Hamas has always claimed these were ALL war deaths, but yet in 2 years has never produced another list of “natural deaths” which based on history should be about 12,000. 3/ Image
Read 6 tweets
Sep 12
🧵IPC declared famine in Gaza 3 weeks ago. By their metrics we should have 4,300 starvation deaths since then and endless images of emaciated people. Instead Hamas/UN report just 135 such deaths in 21 days (also exaggerated). A 97% difference! IPC report was deliberate fraud. 1/ Image
Most if not all "malnutrition deaths" in Gaza are people with serious other conditions, like cancer and children with cerebral palsy. They are not dying because there is literally no food available to give them. Like this man listed as a "malnutrition death." 2/ Image
It’s crucial to distinguish deaths from literal lack of food vs deaths from diseases classified as malnutrition even when food is available. In the USA, 23,000 died of “malnutrition” in 2023, yet no one claims they were starved to death. See thread: 3/
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(