askchapo

Here's the idea behind "human shield".

-Person A wants to do violence against Person B.

-Person B hides behind Person C, assuming that Person A respects the life and well being of Person C MORE than wanting to do violence to Person B.

So, cop goes after a robber and says, "Freeze or I'll shoot!" The robber grabs a customer, expecting that the cop won't shoot because the bullet will likely hit the customer instead of the robber. Cop refuses to pull the trigger because its their responsibility to not harm the customer MORE than shooting the robber. This is an example of human shielding.

If the robber expected the cop to not worry about harming the customer and fire, the robber isn't using the customer as a human shield.

So the question becomes... what about Israel's actions toward Palestinian civilians matches the idea of a "human shield?" The answer is nothing.

Hamas builds a command post underneath a hospital full of Palestinian civilians? Israel will not hesitate to attack the hospital, damaging its ability to function as a hospital as well as killing the patients.

A Hamas political/military leader is positively ID'd but is at home with their family or out buying groceries? Israel will drop a bomb or fire a missile at that location, without hesitation, maiming or killing everybody.

A Palestinian resistance operation launches a salvo of rockets from some blasted out building in the north of a city? Israel will drop bombs on Palestinian refugees in the south of the city.

There are videos photos of Israeli troops bringing Palestinian prisoners to an unsecured location and ordering them to walk around checking the doors and rooms for traps or resistance fighters.

Peaceful demonstrations by Palestinians have been met with sniper fire that has killed people in wheel chairs and walking on crutches, killed medics and others trying to render aid to those shot, and maimed other demonstrators by shooting them in the legs.

Zionism requires an ethno state of a Jewish majority. By its very nature, ALL Palestinians are unworthy of existence as equals with Israelis. So it doesn't make sense to use the human shielding argument against Hamas as the state of Israel doesn't actually put a priority on ANY Palestinian life. Israeli occupation forces will kill any Palestinian whether they are a member of a militant resistance faction or just some old man trying to get a loaf of bread to eat for the day.