Did Israel deliberately target the aid workers?

José Andrés, the boss of World Kitchen finds it implausible that this could have been an accident.

"This was not just a bad luck situation where, 'Oops, we dropped a bomb in the wrong place,'" Andrés told the Reuters news agency, stressing that his team's vehicles were clearly marked and "it's very clear who we are and what we do."

"They were targeting us in a deconflicting zone, in an area controlled by IDF. They, knowing that it was our teams moving on that road... with three cars," he said, adding that he believed the seven aid workers killed by the strike in Gaza were targeted "systematically, car by car."

"The airstrikes on our convoy I don't think were an unfortunate mistake," he told Israel's Channel 12 in a separate interview. "It was really a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by everybody at the IDF."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-gaza-world-central-kitchen-strike-jose-andres-direct-attack-aid-workers/

But wait: this makes no sense, right? Israel is doing all of this to get Hamas. Israel is an ally and cares about human rights?

It would make no sense at all if those were actually the war aims. However, if you think (as I have since the start) that Israel's aim is the full depopulation of Gaza, then targeting aid workers is entirely consistent with that. The diplomatic pressure put in Egypt to take refugees, the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, the destruction of hospitals, the restriction on even the American military's relief efforts... It all points to one thing: making life in the Gaza Strip so intolerable that none of the two million people can live there.

Most people in Gaza are close to starvation and now less food is getting in because civilian aid workers are terrified of being taken out by and IDF missile strike. Sure, targeting people who are citizens of allied countries gives you a diplomatic hit but they have got away with everything else so far, so why not push things a little further? Some people will still believe them and Western politicians can go on pretending.

Our governments are still giving Israel, money, arms and diplomatic cover. How many more people will die before that changes?

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

Richard65 · M

Novara reported an IDF commander confirming that the troops were given specific orders NOT to target the convoy. However, in his words, they ignored the order and launched the strike of their own accord. The commander said it was disturbing (to him) that IDF troops on the ground choose to ignore direct orders from their superiors.

MethDozer · M

@Richard65 or you know, plausible deniability

Richard65 · M

@MethDozer true, but then those troops would have to face court martial and jail, plus it makes IDF Command look weak and out of control, so neither option does them any good.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@MethDozer The merest slither.

MethDozer · M

@Richard65 nah, this is exactly how plausible deniability works. It does them all the good in the world if the ultimate goal is eradication.

Richard65 · M

@MethDozer I don't disagree, but that means the troops go to jail, and are they going to give up their freedom and serve a jail sentence in order to furnish a fixed case of plausible denialability arranged by their superiors or Netanyahu?

MethDozer · M

@Richard65 sure. We see prosecutable actions being granted forgiveness all the time the entire world over. All governments do that.
Also plausible deniability is given reguardless if this statement is true or not and is just quoted on record.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@Richard65 It probably one or more junior officers will have to be punished to take the hit. Doing it for their county. Once the storm passes, they would be well looked after.

Richard65 · M

@Burnley123 again, I don't disagree, but in these escalating conflicts the truth is often just the truth, but we have now become so conditioned to imagine an insidious conspiracy behind absolutely everything, 100% of the time, when nobody really knows anything.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@Richard65 I'm not normally one for conspiracy theories. There are a lot of stupid ones on this website. And - to be fair- we don't yet have hard evidence. I just don't see how this could have been an accident.

MethDozer · M

@Richard65 I hear you on that and why I am slow to make an definitive judgement on exactly what happened or didn't. However there's not one scenario that the ultimate bottom line is Israel is killing indiscriminately with a intended goal of eradication or at the very best no concern what so ever for harming innocents and aid workers.

It's just entirely unreasonable to believe these were just rogue actions of two out of pocket soldiers. At the very least it shows a clear culture in the IDF. Even if it is,which is highly unlikely and improbable, it shows that the IDF has soldiers in their ranks that are indoctrinated to hate Palestinians and this giving air and that IDD soldiers have enough faith that get away with this sort of action.

None of these scenarios are really better than the the other and stand at equal levels.

Richard65 · M

@Burnley123 I don't think it was an accident. Possibly, drone operators ignored commands not to target the convoy and launched an attack on it on purpose. That it was a deliberate action by them to ignore orders. I agree it might be an organised act of plausible deniability, but it was definitely not accidental.

My point is whether it was rogue troops knowingly ignoring orders, or if the order to strike was given by command.

JSul3 · 70-79

@Richard65 Recall those situations where IDF shot and killed unarmed civilians?

Richard65 · M

@JSul3 yes, I do. I'm not saying it was an accident. My point was the release of a statement from IDF Command, saying the aid convoy WAS targeted on purpose by IDF soldiers, but those soldiers acted rogue and were not following official orders from their superiors.