this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2023
397 points (90.9% liked)

World News

38255 readers
2352 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

The Israeli army fired artillery shells containing white phosphorus, an incendiary weapon, in military operations along Lebanon’s southern border between 10 and 16 October 2023.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 54 points 9 months ago (63 children)

And the US and UK give unconditional support.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 9 months ago (12 children)

I'm ashamed of my country and it only grows for each day that passes.

load more comments (12 replies)
load more comments (62 replies)
[–] [email protected] 47 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think it also depends on how it’s used. Like if it’s used to create a smokescreen or to light up a battle field, it’s not a war crime. If it’s used as an offensive weapon, especially in an area with civilians, it almost certainly is a war crime since, regardless of whether it’s a chemical weapon, there’s no real way to aim it at military targets without it raining down on civilians. At that point, it becomes a Geneva Conventions violation and every country has ratified the core of the Geneva Conventions.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Indeed. And per the above article,

One attack on the town of Dhayra on 16 October must be investigated as a war crime because it was an indiscriminate attack that injured at least nine civilians and damaged civilian objects, and was therefore unlawful

It does sounds like they just fired it at civilian locations to bolster their military actions.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 36 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Well gosh what with Russia throwing white phosphorous at Ukraine and no consequence then with Israel also appearing to do so it's as if international law only applies to countries that aren't nuclear states

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Isreal has never acknowledged its nuclear forces, nor are they party to the NPT 🤷‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Yeah but nobody's stupid enough to risk it. Even if there's no chance they have nukes, our (US) government is big enough, "Christian" enough, anti-Muslim enough, and bat-shit crazy violent enough to not want to FA&FO.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Or international politics is a bit complicated.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Israeli authorities denied that they used white phosphorus in their military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

Seems like they're lying. All of that taken together seems like pretty damning evidence that they do use white phosphorous shells.

White phosphorus is not considered a chemical weapon because it operates primarily by heat and flame rather than toxicity, making it an incendiary weapon. Its use is governed by Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). Lebanon acceded to the protocol in 2017, but Israel has not.

Oh. So they're not bound by the treaty not to use it.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Lebanon is. Israel didn't sign on

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That certainly makes Lebanon look better than Israel on the subject.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Even better since Lebanon isn't involved here. It's the terrorist organization Hezbollah that is. Since they're terrorists rather than a country, they're not signed on to this either.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Hezbollah have 15 ministers in parliament and are literally in the caretaker government coalition.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (6 children)

yeah ... but if we place all of the brown people in a open air prison... cut off their water and electricity maybe a bomb or 10000... that will fix the problem

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

If you can't tell the difference between middle eastern locations, maybe you shouldn't be talking about it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The fuck you talking about? The article is about Lebanon. You don't even distinguish between countries because they are all the same to you? That's ignorant if not racist.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›