Saturday 2 August 2014

How does Gaza in 2014 compare to Dublin City in the Easter Week 1916 Rising - or to Normandy after D-Day 1944 ?

MOST of the dead in 1916 in Dublin City were CIVILIANS.

In a war started by Connolly and Pearse.

Were both therefore *war-criminals* ?
And the 1,200 Dubliners in the Irish Volunteers ?
And the other Dubliners fighting them in the RDF  -Royal Dublin Fusiliers ?

And in 1944 in Nazi-Occupied Normandy, in the Liberation by the Allies from D-Day, the official French estimate is that just 20,000 French civilian were killed - because [ as in Gaza with Hamas ] the Nazis fought in the midst  of civilians.
Were the Allies *war-criminals* ?

In 1916, with 224 civilians killed in 6 days of fighting, in a city of 400,000, that is 9.33 civilians killed per 100,000 per day.

In Gaza, with 4.5 times as many people [ 1.8 M ] and with 24 days fighting up to and including July 31, that 1916 rate in Dublin equals 4,031 civilians killed.

4,031 innocent bystanders killed.

Over 2.5 times the very highest possible claim.

The worst claims I heard suggested that  up to 75-80% of the dead might be civilian, or that up to 1400-1500 might have been killed overall [ no breakdown as to how many were Hamas, PIJ etc ]  - EVEN if all  that were true, it still amounts to a rate of  2.78 per 100,000 people per day - truly tragic,  but 1916 [ at 9.33 per 100,000 per day ]  was over THREE times [ in fact 3.356 times  ] WORSE.

Are the IDF = Israeli Defence Forces  *war-criminals* ?
 Then Pearse and Connolly in 1916 were - but  3 times worse.

And the Allies in 1944.

OR else, is it simply the tragic historical truth NO modern Army has ever been able to avoid civilian casualties when forced to  engage in  FIBUA [ fighting in built-up areas ] ?

Not in 1916.
Not in 1944.
And not in 2014.

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