Elder of Ziyon explores the rules imposed on Israel, and on no other combatant in the history of war. I discuss the first part here, and there is more: “Yet another new rule for Israel and Israel alone (courtesy @TheGuardian and @972mag),” Elder of Ziyon, August 25, 2025:
5. An NGO with known terror ties must be allowed to be considered legitimate.
Just one example: Addameer, an NGO with ties to the PFLP, is still being considered legitimate by the “international community.”
6. Reporters must be allowed into active war zones even if their presence would jeopardize operations.
Israel prevents foreign journalists from entering Gaza where they are in an active war zone and therefore in danger. Were they to be allowed in, that would severely constrain IDF’s operations in order to keep those journalists safe.
7. The professional army statements must be considered false unless verified true, the statements from the terror group are considered true unless proven false.
The international media reports as fact Hamas-supplied statistics on numbers of dead and wounded, and on the makeup — adults, women, children — of those casualties, without questioning them. On the other hand, when the IDF releases its own data on casualties, those numbers are reported as if they are not to be believed. How is it that Hamas came to be regarded as a truth-teller, after decades of its lies, while the IDF, that has an unbroken record of telling the truth, is now to be disbelieved?
8. Unconditional ceasefire is demanded without demanding release of all hostages by the other side.
Israel is expected by most of the world, though not by the United States, to agree to an “unconditional ceasefire” with Hamas, but without the latter being expected to release all of the remaining hostages. Why?
9. Territory that has not been conquered or is still being fought over is considered “occupied.”
Gaza is routinely described as “occupied.” But every last Israeli was pulled out of Gaza in 2005. Given that, how can the Strip be described as “occupied”? It is a “war zone.” That is a different thing.
10. A war is considered “genocide” by default without using any accepted definition of genocide.
No one has yet provided a definition of “genocide” that is agreed upon by all nations. We do know that of the 2.2 million people in Gaza, less than 20,000 were civilians who died from combat-related causes. That is less than 1% of the Gazan population. Would that constitute “genocide”? No one has yet provided a widely accepted definition of “genocide.” The word is simply flung at Israel and by dint of repetition, too much of the world mindlessly accepts it.
11. Using human shields is legal, and the presence of civilians means the enemy can never be attacked.
The entire civilian population of Gaza is being used by Hamas as human shields. This has always been regarded as a violation of the laws of war, but now special rules are being applied that make Hamas’ practice legal, and the IDF is widely criticized for any operations in which civilians in Gaza die, which is the unavoidable result of Hamas embedding its fighters and weapons in and among those civilians.
12. Hospitals, schools and mosques must not be attacked even when militants use them for military purposes.
How often do we hear the IDF being criticized because it “struck a hospital” or “struck a school”? But a school full of fighters and their weapons cannot be called a “school.” Nor can a hospital be considered “only” a hospital if it, too, contains hundreds of fighters, weapons, and hiding places from which Hamas can launch attacks. For example, 900 Hamas fighters inside the Al Shifa Hospital either surrendered to, or were killed by, the IDF. Was Al-Shifa still to be considered a “hospital”? It is not the original function of these buildings — schools, hospitals, mosques — but what they are now used for, that determines whether they are legitimate targets.
As Elder of Ziyon states, “The Laws of Armed Conflict now carry a glaring asterisk: ‘Except for Israel.'”
James Lincoln says
According to the feature article:
“The international media reports as fact Hamas-supplied statistics on numbers of dead and wounded, and on the makeup — adults, women, children — of those casualties, without questioning them.”
Yes.
That’s what international leftist propaganda outlets like the Associated Press, Reuters, etc., use for references.
tgusa says
The modern laws of armed conflict guarantee that nobody wins. Those laws are mostly applied to civilized Western countries and such. I’m old school which is why I wont get involved until those rules are ignored. Besides, if I did get involved I would just ignore those rules. I have my own code and my number one rule is Win.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Nothing that Israel has done in Gaza comes close to anything that Russia has done in Ukraine
Daniel Bielak says
Off-Topic in a superficial way, but on-topic in an essential way:
Francisco Gil-White has noted that the CIA was created in 1947 by importing tens of thousands of Nazis into it, organized by Reinhard Gehlen.
Francisco Gil-White has also noted that the CIA has an almost unlimited amount of money, and, therefore, resources, available to it and is unaccountable to the ordinary citizens of the U.S.
Francisco Gil-White has expressed that the CIA is the U.S. Deep State.
Francisco Gil-White has stated that U.S. foreign policy is created by the CIA.
Here is a recent interview in which Francisco Gil-White describes the CIA’s intendedly genocidal anti-Jewish war on Israel:
Arutz Tov: Moshe Feiglin interviews Francisco Gil-White [Posted Aug 27, 2025]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzE9mvmlB-8
——
By the way:
“Blowback: The First Full Account of America’s Recruitment of Nazis and Its Disastrous Effect on Our Domestic and Foreign Policy (America’s Recruitment of Nazis and Its Effects on the Cold War),” by Christopher Simpson
https://amazon.com/Blowback-Americas-Recruitment-Nazis-Effects/dp/1555841066/ref=sr_1_1
tgusa says
The CIA is an impediment to the US military winning wars. They may have usefulness in things such as intelligence gathering but aside from that calling the shots in war that you want to win is not one of their useful skills. Who would trust that ugly fathead John Brennan to lead us to victory? The bastard committed sedition against our President Trump. There are probably good CIA agents but history shows that their leadership are block headed jackasses.
Cynthia says
The “journalists” that operate in Gaza are Hamas approved and mostly Hamas operatives. The NGO’s allowed there are virulently anti Israel. Our MSM has been trained in western universities that teach hatred to Israel and the US and are funded bu Qatar.
Mike 2 says
7. ” verified true “. Tautology.
OLD GUY says
You can’t win wars with your hands tied behind your back. The harder you hit the enemy the quicker the conflict will end and the fewer number of deaths to yourself and enemy civilians will take place. And I’m not talking about the use of nukes, thats a whole different ball game.
Yeshayahu says
Let whoever wants to go into the strip go in with the understanding you’re on your own if you get caught in crossfire that’s your problem figure it out.
sean edwards says
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.