There are lots of good discussions on htis on the net (not just they vitriolic ones). Speking as a U.S. military officer that's done his research and looked at the case studies and relevant international law, there are two main points to be made:

(1) Arguments can be made that Israel has potentially committed war crimes, but the extent of their actions to mitigate civilain losses (yes, they did indeed call the residents of a building they were about to attack to warn them, even though they knew the bad guys would be able to get away... Hamas then brought in hundreds of civilians to act as human shields -- a war crime in itself). Whether these actions and their legal and targeting procedures mitigate potential war crimes charges is a matter of debate and law which I am not qualified to conclusively answer (although in my opinion, they do).

(2) Hamas actions throughout the conflict are conclusively war crimes (using ambulances for military purposes, Shalit, using child soldiers, terroris bombings, etc.). It is important to note that when civilians are harmed, legal responsibility resides with those that exposed them to harm, not necessarily those that performed an attack. Hence, launching rockets, storing weapons, etc. in a civilian area is itself a war crime, and those perpetrators bear the legal responsibility from any resulting civilian deaths (look it up).

I know Amy is particular about copyright violations, so I'll attach links to two short summaries that are a good overview:

http://globallawforum.org/ViewPublication.aspx?ArticleId=87

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231866576202&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

One interesting note: many elements of international law REQUIRE Israel to act against Hamas (as a designated terrories/criminal organization and because of their actions), and even to take steps to ensure that aid and other non-military supplies to not go to buttress or benefit the organization (for those who try to bring up the checkpoints and border controls ("the siege of Gaza")).

"Time and time again, I'm stunned by the Israeli restraint -- "

No shit. has any of these morons in any of these groups ever thought how easy it would be for Israel in this case or the US in other cases to commit acts of terror in Muslim countries and blame it on them? Or claim it ourselves and tell them to cry louder, the louder the better, we love the sound of their grief? People in glass bunkers.........

What is it with these clowns and ambulances?

http://www.zombietime.com/fraud/ambulance/

The title of the blog post seems a little off-kilter.

Yeah, if it was almost any other civilized, well-connected regional power in history other than Israel, then yes, their belligerent neighbors would have been well-pummeled by now.

But one reason they're facing this problem is that in the last 60 years these neighbors have grown from essentially medieval poverty to something visible from modernity. They're still poor and stupid, but they've grown into the nooks and crannies that their sophisticated, powerful nemesis has left available to them.

It's not that Hamas is lucky it's Israel, it's that Hamas' form is a metaphysical complement to Israel, as it was formed entirely in reaction to Israel. That culture has nothing to do but hate people who do things better.

If human civilization continues to improve, this will happen again and again.

Crid - "formed entirely in reaction to Israel" - I thought Hamas was just a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which predates modern Israel.

You're right, I made it up. Without Israel, would they be up the same shenanigans? It's not enough to say 'they wouldn't have to be...'

I think without Israel, they would for the most part be blowing up other Muslims. You know, the wrong kind of Muslim. I think I read recently that the Arab states (eg Egypt, ) are thoroughly pissed off with the MB because they cause so much domestic trouble. They would use democratic methods to get power, then disband the democracy for everyone else - rather as Hamas has done. It is difficult to declare a political party illegal in a democracy, because such a party will claim they are being unfairly treated and that the electorate should have the final say.

In the UK we have had a terrible time getting things calmed down in Northern Ireland, where the IRA and Sinn Fein played this card. From my perspective, Sinn Fein was just the political arm of the IRA. When there were elections, how could they be free and fair if one party had a private army? Yet, in the typical British way, we just fudged through by ignoring the contradictions (one benefit of not having a written constitution) and I *think* it is getting better. We don't have the violence like we used to. But I still shout at the TV when these guys come on. A main breeding ground for the divisions, is faith-based schools. But I digress.

Democracy is indeed the worst system, apart from all the others.

I dunno, Norman, my da just sent me this little gem, via email (it's really long, but relevant to what the Israel, and the rest of the world is up against):

A must read for every American!

I found this very thought provoking and certainly gave me something to consider.
Guess it's time to put together a plan!

Juval Aviv was the Israeli Agent upon whom the movie 'Munich' was based. He was Golda Meir's bodyguard -- she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games.

In a lecture in New York City a few weeks ago, he shared information that EVERY American needs to know -- but that our government has not yet shared with us.

He predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week. At the time, O'Reilly laughed and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show. But, unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack had occurred.

Juval Aviv gave intelligence (via what he had gathered in Israel and the Middle East) to the Bush Administration about 9/11 a month before it occurred. His report specifically said they would use planes as bombs and target high profile buildings and monuments. Congress has since hired him as a security consultant.

Now for his future predictions. He predicts the next terrorist attack on the U.S. will occur within the next few months.

Forget hijacking airplanes, because he says terrorists will NEVER try and hijack a plane again as they know the people onboard will never go down quietly again. Aviv believes our airport security is a joke -- that we have been reactionary rather than proactive in developing strategies that are truly effective.

For example:

1) Our airport technology is outdated. We look for metal, and the new explosives are made of plastic.

2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire. Because of that, now everyone has to take off their shoes. A group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives. Now we can't bring liquids on board. He says he's waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on his underwear; at which point, security will have us all traveling naked! Every strategy we have is 'reactionary.'

3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates.

Aviv says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times on the front end of the airport when/where people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink, and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved. In Israel, security checks bags BEFORE people can even ENTER the airport.

Aviv says the next terrorist attack here in America is imminent and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers in places where large groups of people congregate. (i. e., Disneyland, Las Vegas casinos, big cities (New York, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.) and that it will also include shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, etc., as well as rural America this time (Wyoming, Montana, etc.).

The attack will be characterized by simultaneous detonations around the country (terrorists like big impact), involving at least 5-8 cities, including rural areas.

Aviv says terrorists won't need to use suicide bombers in many of the larger cities, because at places like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, they can simply valet park a car loaded with explosives and walk away.
Aviv says all of the above is well known in intelligence circles, but that our U. S. government does not want to 'alarm American citizens' with the facts.
The world is quickly going to become 'a different place', and issues like 'global warming' and political correctness will become totally irrelevant.

On an encouraging note, he says that Americans don't have to be concerned about being nuked. Aviv says the terrorists who want to destroy America will not use sophisticated weapons. They like to use suicide as a front-line approach. It's cheap, it's easy, it's effective; and they have an infinite abundance of young militants more than willing to 'meet their destiny'.

He also says the next level of terrorists, over which America should be most concerned, will not be coming from abroad. But will be, instead, 'homegrown' -- having attended and been educated in our own schools and universities right here in the U. S. He says to look for 'students' who frequently travel back and forth to the Middle East. These young terrorists will be most dangerous because they will know our language and will fully understand the habits of Americans; but that we Americans won't know/understand a thing about them.

Aviv says that, as a people, Americans are unaware and uneducated about the terroristic threats we will, inevitably, face. America still has only have a handful of Arabic and Farsi speaking people in our intelligence networks, and Aviv says it is critical that we change that fact SOON.

So, what can America do to protect itself?
From an intelligence perspective, Aviv says the U.S. needs to stop relying on satellites and technology for intelligence. We need to, instead, follow Israel's, Ireland's and England's hands-on examples of human intelligence, both from an infiltration perspective as well as to trust 'aware' citizens to help. We need to engage and educate ourselves as citizens; however, our U. S. government continues to treat us, its citizens, 'like babies'. Our government thinks we 'can't handle the truth' and are concerned that we'll panic if we understand the realities of terrorism. Aviv says this is a deadly mistake.

Aviv recently created/executed a security test for our Congress, by placing an empty briefcase in five well-traveled spots in five major cities. The results? Not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago, someone tried to steal the briefcase!
In comparison, Aviv says that citizens of Israel are so well 'trained' that an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds by citizen(s) who know to publicly shout, 'Unattended Bag!' The area would be quickly & calmly cleared by the citizens themselves. But, unfortunately, America hasn't been yet 'hurt enough' by terrorism for their government to fully understand the need to educate its citizens or for the government to understand that it's their citizens who are, inevitably, the best first-line of defense against terrorism.

Aviv also was concerned about the high number of children here in America who were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11, who were 'lost' without parents being able to pick them up, and about ours schools that had no plan in place to best care for the students until parents could get there. (In New York City, this was days, in some cases!)

He stresses the importance of having a plan, that's agreed upon within your family, to respond to in the event of a terroristic emergency. He urges parents to contact their children's schools and demand that the schools, too, develop plans of actions, as they do in Israel.

Does your family know what to do if you can't contact one another by phone? Where would you gather in an emergency? He says we should all have a plan that is easy enough for even our youngest children to remember and follow.

Aviv says that the U. S. government has in force a plan that, in the event of another terrorist attack, will immediately cut-off EVERYONE's ability to use cell phones, blackberries, etc., as this is the preferred communication source used by terrorists and is often the way that their bombs are detonated.

How will you communicate with your loved ones in the event you cannot speak? You need to have a plan.

Flynne - Snopes has that email down as "False."

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/soapbox/juvalaviv.asp

Colby - I don't think you've posted here before. Welcome aboard.

Wow, Norman, spanks! I should have looked that up but it seemed so, I dunno, reasonable, I guess, to not be true. o.O

Ihave a cousin named Colby, I always thought it was kinda rare, But I've run into 5 different colbys this week

I'm off to Milan, Venice and Paris for a few days (gloat, gloat) and may be out of email, depending on the accommodation.

It occurs to me that the "automatic ticket to heaven by dying in a holy war" thing isn't just a great way to recruit jihadis. It's a great way for jihadi commanders to rationalize putting civilians in danger or sending your troops on a suicide mission.

If the civilians you stockpiled around your weapons emplacements die when Israeli fighter jets drop a few bombs on them, you just shrug your shoulders, say "Allah will it," and round up some more. After all, they're going to heaven now.

No guilty feelings for you. No wallowing in self-pity. No trying to explain yourself to your superior officer. He's not guilty either, so he doesn't care that your human shields are gone...as long as you got good pictures of the carnage for the Western media to show on CNN.