They were still streaming live right after the building blew up... it doesn't take much equipment to do it nowadays... here for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-upyPouRrB8
This article and the linked article with more details don't mention the name: it was Jala Tower. It also had residential apartments in it, which this statement doesn't mention either.
If the United States wanted to bring this conflict to an end this would be the perfect pretext to use, because the AP is an American non-profit and it's easy to argue that Israel crossed a line with this completely unprovoked attack on a noble American institution.
Of course in truth blowing up a building isn't a big crime compared to the killing of innocent Palestinians, including children, the narrative is what really matters. And I hope this attack is used to put pressure on Israel to stop their attacks.
I suspect that something else was co-located in the building and AP was just there. So the USA would also need to agree that the co-located thing was not a target.
There have been recent reports that Iran and Saudi Arabia are in talks. It's more likely that the U.S. wants the conflict to escalate to try and draw Iran into intervening and drive a wedge with SA.
They're not perfect but Israel is a lot more ethical than Hamas. They definitely don't deserve the label of "baby killers."
Look at this situation of the past week: Hamas is fires unguided rockets at Israel. Israel intercepts them with the Iron Dome. Israel retaliates with precision strikes after giving warnings to reduce casualties. In the case of the AP building, nobody died. How is Israel the baby killer here?
By the logic of that tweet, the CIA was hiding behind and deliberately using the civilians working in the WTC complex as human shields to hide from the Saudi 9/11 militants looking to remove US military bases from Saudi Arabia.
No evidence was provided for that claim, and I don't think it's a coincidence they decided to blow up a building that had the offices of journalists critical of Israeli foreign policy.
Hamas is the locally elected government. Gaza not allowed to have any military to defend themselves? Isreal free to inflict as much collateral damage as they want upon anyone, but anyone else following the same rules is a terrorist?
Now, sure, I know the reply will be that Hamas also violates the Geneva convention routinely. And then everyone will dive in to scream about how the other side did it first.
And nothing will get better, because the sad truth is that Hamas, the IDF and the right wing Israeli coalition are in effect allies in a coordinated struggle against moderates on both sides who'd (amazing, I know) prefer not blowing people up. Politics on the Paletstinian side are harder to analyze, but for sure Likud needs an active Hamas adversary to stay in power. They're barely hanging on every election.
Someone please educate me: What is the significance of this? Why would Israel bomb this building and tell people to evacuate? I'm not familiar. Is it normal for them to announce evacuation?
There is none. Just more noise in press than usual because AP was sitting in the building.
>Why would Israel bomb this building and tell people to evacuate?
Because Israel interested in taking out whatever Hamas physical assets there are in the building and not in killing civilians
> Is it normal for them to announce evacuation?
Yeap. Usually whoever occupies building get phone calls and SMSes hour or two upfront. This is usually followed by a "roof knocking" with specially developed munition that makes a lot of noise. Only after this bombing commences
They have to pretend to have some humanitarian concerns. As for why they did it, the notice pretty much sums it up. To prevent media coverage. They also bomb schools, hospitals, and apartment buildings because a member of the locally elected government might have stopped by one time five years ago.
Terrorist organizations ("elected" or not) don't usually contain themselves to just their evil bases and well defined areas.
Given that Israel believes this is a legitimate target against Hammas (whether it contains intelligence, weapon caches or weapon manufacturing), the target itself are not the people occupying it. That's why, in order to minimize casualties while still operating a war effort, they notify and allow ample time to evacuate the building
APs vague "we were notified" and "narrowly evacuated" is an exaggeration, they were notified by the Israelis themselves and given time to evacuate (that's why they don't mention any casualties in that story, since they probably don't exist).
You could argue that no (primarily or not) civilian targets should be attacked ever but that's another subject
It's common for them to announce evacuation, yeah.
The government in Gaza has been firing rockets at Israel for the past few days; Israel says that this attack is a direct military response to the rockets, although (as you can see upthread) others dispute that story.
It is standard operating procedure for Hamas to operate communication, command and control centers inside tall residential buildings. For example to synchronize 100 rocket launches to overwhelm iron done protection.
Since 500+ missiles are still being launched daily at Israeli civilian cities, Israel is slowly but methodically destroying any means necessary to launch those missiles.
Israel is the only country in the world bought with money. so they don't know what it means to use disproportionate force. however, they have suffered the greatest pain in the world in the past. Most of all, they should understand how great pain and death hurt.
In simple terms, this is a situation where you have two sides full of people willing to launch missiles at children. Until that dynamic changes, this is never getting resolved.
Imagine Nazis arguing during the Holocaust arguing that Jewish “terrorists” were also killing Nazis and that both sides were in the wrong, and nothing could really be done until the Jewish people stopped fighting their oppressors.
I'm pretty much aligned with the Israeli side on almost everything, and I 100% agree with Israel's right to defend itself. But this argument of "we announced the bombing of that building in advance" is utter bullshit. By the same logic, Hamas also warned before launching the rockets, does that make it any less wrong?
All the Isrealies need to do for lasting peace is stop forcing families out of thieir homes. Its unfortunate the world does not pressure them to do so.
[+] [-] catbuttes|4 years ago|reply
I get the impression this was part of the intention...
[+] [-] booblik|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Black101|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sp332|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gizmo|4 years ago|reply
Of course in truth blowing up a building isn't a big crime compared to the killing of innocent Palestinians, including children, the narrative is what really matters. And I hope this attack is used to put pressure on Israel to stop their attacks.
[+] [-] SpaceRaccoon|4 years ago|reply
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_bombing_of_the_Radio_Te...
[+] [-] MattGaiser|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] encryptluks2|4 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2zto3UmNIE
[+] [-] AndrewBissell|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoeyBananas|4 years ago|reply
Look at this situation of the past week: Hamas is fires unguided rockets at Israel. Israel intercepts them with the Iron Dome. Israel retaliates with precision strikes after giving warnings to reduce casualties. In the case of the AP building, nobody died. How is Israel the baby killer here?
[+] [-] gargarplex|4 years ago|reply
https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1393565656621137920?s=20
[+] [-] Context_free|4 years ago|reply
By the logic of that tweet, the CIA was hiding behind and deliberately using the civilians working in the WTC complex as human shields to hide from the Saudi 9/11 militants looking to remove US military bases from Saudi Arabia.
[+] [-] gizmo|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bigth|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] newacct583|4 years ago|reply
Still, blowing up civilian assets deliberately to get at nearby targets is supposed to be a war crime. There's like a whole treaty about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Geneva_Convention
Now, sure, I know the reply will be that Hamas also violates the Geneva convention routinely. And then everyone will dive in to scream about how the other side did it first.
And nothing will get better, because the sad truth is that Hamas, the IDF and the right wing Israeli coalition are in effect allies in a coordinated struggle against moderates on both sides who'd (amazing, I know) prefer not blowing people up. Politics on the Paletstinian side are harder to analyze, but for sure Likud needs an active Hamas adversary to stay in power. They're barely hanging on every election.
[+] [-] Denvercoder9|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Afforess|4 years ago|reply
https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1392197029355470848
> Our goal is only to strike terror.
[+] [-] totalZero|4 years ago|reply
That's part of the rationale for listening to journalists.
[+] [-] bob_theslob646|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tguvot|4 years ago|reply
There is none. Just more noise in press than usual because AP was sitting in the building.
>Why would Israel bomb this building and tell people to evacuate?
Because Israel interested in taking out whatever Hamas physical assets there are in the building and not in killing civilians
> Is it normal for them to announce evacuation?
Yeap. Usually whoever occupies building get phone calls and SMSes hour or two upfront. This is usually followed by a "roof knocking" with specially developed munition that makes a lot of noise. Only after this bombing commences
[+] [-] bigth|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Thristle|4 years ago|reply
Terrorist organizations ("elected" or not) don't usually contain themselves to just their evil bases and well defined areas.
Given that Israel believes this is a legitimate target against Hammas (whether it contains intelligence, weapon caches or weapon manufacturing), the target itself are not the people occupying it. That's why, in order to minimize casualties while still operating a war effort, they notify and allow ample time to evacuate the building
APs vague "we were notified" and "narrowly evacuated" is an exaggeration, they were notified by the Israelis themselves and given time to evacuate (that's why they don't mention any casualties in that story, since they probably don't exist). You could argue that no (primarily or not) civilian targets should be attacked ever but that's another subject
[+] [-] SpicyLemonZest|4 years ago|reply
The government in Gaza has been firing rockets at Israel for the past few days; Israel says that this attack is a direct military response to the rockets, although (as you can see upthread) others dispute that story.
[+] [-] MattGaiser|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] carmen67|4 years ago|reply
Since 500+ missiles are still being launched daily at Israeli civilian cities, Israel is slowly but methodically destroying any means necessary to launch those missiles.
[+] [-] threesmegiste|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ConcernedCoder|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yehosef|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bufferout|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] boublepop|4 years ago|reply
Imagine Nazis arguing during the Holocaust arguing that Jewish “terrorists” were also killing Nazis and that both sides were in the wrong, and nothing could really be done until the Jewish people stopped fighting their oppressors.
[+] [-] space_rock|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Fordec|4 years ago|reply
They were still terrorists, regardless of if they phoned it in beforehand.
[+] [-] enriquto|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Afforess|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] orisho|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] williamtwild|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] moogly|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jules-jules|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanAtC|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]