james ♥︎ viva palestina

Your regular reminder that Gaza is just a normal urban war. That doesn’t make it pleasant, or anything but appalling. The big difference between Gaza and other recent urban warfare is the unprecedented levels of civilian protection taken by the IDF. Whether you like it or not, shifting millions of people out of harm’s way has saved tens of thousands of lives. That doesn’t mean that the distribution of aid in a war zone isn’t an eternal problem. It doesn’t mean that innocent Palestinians aren’t homeless and suffering. The difference between this and other recent Middle Eastern urban battles is that in any other conflict, they wouldn’t be hungry and suffering: they’d be dead. Has the IDF made fuck ups? Of course. Show me an army in any war, ever, that hasn’t. In living memory, god knows the USA, UK and Australia as a minimum have. It’s part and parcel of warfare, as much as armies do and should try to avoid them. It’s not a genocide. It’s not deliberate starvation. It’s just urban war in cities where Hamas has turned civilian infrastructure into military targets and has a strategy of maximising civilian casualties. Just for reference, here are Grozny, Homs, Raqqa and Kharkiv. All 21st century urban wars. Ignore the disinformation. This is what urban war looks like.

Oklahoma orders all public schools to teach the Bible, effectively immediately. Any teacher who refuses could lose their license.