Reply #2: You seem convinced that it is Israeli policy to target civilians.

[Shaktimaan]

I'm not sure why though. You recognize the difference between targeting civilians and collateral damage, right?

I mean, how do you think this works? That Israel has a secret policy of targeting civilians that no one has spoken out about? I know for a fact that Israel has pretty strict rules of engagement. There will always be soldiers who break these rules, but that is criminal. It doesn't reflect Israeli policy any more than it is American policy to target Iraqi civilians. Yet the amount of Iraqis killed in just a few years exponentially outnumbers deaths due to collateral damage in the OPT.

You seem to be looking at the numbers and then just deciding for yourself that it is unreasonable instead of comparing it to casualty rates in other conflicts.

In terms of fault, we have a set of rules that govern such things. If Palestinian militants launch attacks from populated areas then it is reasonable to expect increased civilian casualties when Israel tries to stop them. In that case the fault rests with the militants; using civilians as shields is what places them at risk. Despite this, Israel routinely calls off attacks when the civilian casualty probability would be too great. If their policy was to disregard, let alone target, civilians then it seems unlikely that this would happen at all.

Israel is unable to defend itself without incurring civilian casualties. So what makes you so certain that they actively target civilians on purpose?