3/8/2026 at 7:56:47 PM
[flagged]by anakaine
3/8/2026 at 8:27:32 PM
> The regime hides next to schools, under hospitals, and in retirement homesThis is the type of excuse that people look for when they want to deflect responsibility. No matter how implausible or unevenly applied.
The fact is, everyone has civilian infrastructure close to military bases. Israel's IDF headquarters is famously located in central Tel Aviv. Do you use the verb "squeal" when the Israelis lament an attack?
In my hometown in Western Europe military barracks are scattered everywhere among houses, schools and hospitals. Is this a hideous plot to make the enemies (Russians, presumably) look bad when they nuke a hospital instead of a military installation?
by throw310822
3/8/2026 at 10:30:26 PM
> excuse that people look for when they want to deflect responsibilityIf it's used as an excuse, yes. We should be able to hit military compounds next to schools without hitting the schools as well.
If it's offered as a description, I don't think it's in bad faith. Putting barracks among hospitals and putting them underneath them are different. To my knowledge, Iran hasn't been directly doing the latter. But its proxies have, and we now have allegations rockets are being fired from residential buildings.
All of that combines to make it more likely schools will be bombed. Intentionally, because the other side's behaviour creates a convenient excuse for bombing just about anything. Or even accidentally, because intelligence thought they saw a commander go into the school and assumed it was a clandestine command post.
by JumpCrisscross
3/9/2026 at 1:06:13 AM
> if it's offered as a description, I don't think it's in bad faithIt was obviously in bad faith because it was used to paint one side as particularly evil for something that is perfectly normal.
> Putting barracks among hospitals and putting them underneath them are different. ... its proxies have
This, besides being of absolutely no relevance here (and therefore only brought in as a way to paint one side as particularly evil) is another unproven allegation by Israel, that used it repeatedly to strike hospital and destroy most civilian infrastructure in Gaza (even in the already conquered parts- demolished with explosives, exactly like the Nazis did in Warsaw).
by throw310822
3/9/2026 at 2:12:07 AM
> another unproven allegation by IsraelThere is substantial evidence Hamas stored munitions in hospitals and at schools. One hospital in particular has long been notorious for dual use issues [1].
We don't yet know if Iran is doing this. (There are allegations. But not yet substantiated.) But if a source is confused about whether Hamas waged war from hospitals and schools, it's not a reliable source for this war.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_military_use_of_al-Shi...
by JumpCrisscross
3/9/2026 at 3:04:06 AM
The Wikipedia page you linked is called "Alleged military use.." and the title has a reason: there is no proof whatsoever except for allegations from Israel and the US. Israel has been proven time and again to lie about pretty much everything and the US unfortunately base their "intelligence" on what they're fed by Israel.by throw310822
3/9/2026 at 8:31:08 PM
> there is no proof whatsoever except for allegations from Israel and the USFor the hospital in the current war, sources are broader than that. When I last looked, German, Indian and Chinese languages sources were concluding similarly to the U.S.
Go back to 2014 and it’s pretty much agreed across the board that hospitals were being used for military purposes. (And torture.) I suspect we’ll see similar clarity once the fog of war burns off, and I say that while acknowledging that it implicate Israel.
by JumpCrisscross
3/8/2026 at 8:08:27 PM
Who amongst us is not appalled that Iran would use any defenses against a preemptive invasion by countries it considers its sworn enemies, let alone all of those at its disposal?by treetalker
3/8/2026 at 8:12:24 PM
> is not appalled that Iran would use any defenses against a preemptive invasion by countries it considers its sworn enemies, let alone all of those at its disposal?Those of us who would prefer not to see schools get bombed.
Like, you have a point. Iran hasn't been playing by international law since basically its founding. America flirted with the idea of blowing off international law before fully committing to the bit in 2025, joining Russia, China and Israel. So we have a theatre where those limits don't apply.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't argue they should, or ask if Iran would have been better off playing by the rules.
by JumpCrisscross
3/8/2026 at 8:20:20 PM
I find it hard to give that argument (were it to come from the US) any weight when its head of state, who unilaterally started this conflict — and proudly so — recently went on record, along with his Secretary of State, to assert that there is no international law; certainly none that applies to him; and that the US is only bound by his "own morality". E.g., https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/08/trump-power-...by treetalker
3/8/2026 at 10:26:57 PM
> hard to give that argument (were it to come from the US) any weightIf Iran hadn't engaged in war crimes since the 1980s, including but not limited to restraining itself from supporting Hamas, before and after its October 7th attacks, chances are it wouldn't be at war right now.
That isn't a satisfying answer. But part of why we have these norms is to reduce the sort of cross-contamination of belligerence that occured in the lead-up to each of the Napoleonic Wars, WWI, WWII and then the Cold War.
by JumpCrisscross
3/8/2026 at 8:18:31 PM
I think probably the US shouldn't blow up schools full of kids regardless of who else is nearby.Wanting to kill one guy really, really bad is not really a justification for killing children.
by estimator7292
3/8/2026 at 10:24:46 PM
> Wanting to kill one guy really, really bad is not really a justification for killing childrenIt shouldn't be. But historically it has been.
The world tried, once after the Napoleonic Wars and again after WWII, to establish the norm that it isn't. But the norms were rejected first in parts and then wholesale in WWII. And then, again, in parts during and after the Cold War and then altogether with Russia into Ukraine, Israel being Israel, China going on about Taiwan and now America under this regime.
Put another way, if you choose to engage in war today, you're going wind up killing children.
by JumpCrisscross
3/9/2026 at 1:09:52 AM
> if you choose to engage in war today, you're going wind up killing children.I assume you're fine when those children are Israeli then. And Hamas or Iran are the killers.
by throw310822
3/8/2026 at 8:13:12 PM
> a result of basic urban warfareIt's guerilla tactics. Not what nation states are supposed to do.
by JumpCrisscross