Israel says, "During War There Are No Civilians"

Yes, my friends, you read it correctly.

The civil trial regarding the death of US citizen Rachel Corrie resumed yesterday in the Jaffa District Court, in occupied Palestine. The trial is resuming for the first time since March, when the lawyers representing Craig and Cindy Corrie, Rachel's parents, called their witnesses to testify. One might wonder precisely why the Israeli court system took 6 months to re-convene on this issue, but none the less, the state side was finally ready to call their witnesses and present their defense.

Under Israeli law, witnesses are often not fully identified, and the military unit trainer called by the state was named only as "Yossi". And that trainer spoke the words quoted above, "During War there are no civilians. When you write a [protocol] manual, that manual is for war."

The article at Al Jazeera English makes the point that this is the same Israeli military that killed over 1300 Palestinian civilians in the latest War on Gaza. The same Israeli military whose actions were so starkly condemned in the Goldstone Report. The same...ah, well, you don't need to hear the whole 60-year long litany of abuse again, do you?

The infuriating part is that Israel is propped up by massive infusions of US money, (money stolen from the US taxpayer), and shielded from the consequences of its actions by American political power. Power that is wielded in our names. Our government does this, and tells the world that we support this action. That is the part that makes your favorite beady-eyed varmint angry beyond coherent description.