Experience\u00a0should have proved that one has to be credulous in the extreme \u2013 or brainwashed by Zionism \u2013 to\u00a0take seriously\u00a0“rebuttals”\u00a0by the Israeli army of evidence of its\u00a0abuses and war crimes. But for any who still harbour suspicions that claims by the Israeli army aren’t simply self-serving deceptions, take a look at its latest report into last year’s attack on Gaza.<\/p>\n
The number of Palestinian civilians killed during Operation Protective Edge, says the Israeli army, was 761 \u2013 or 36 per cent of the total of 2,125 fatalities it registered. The UN has\u00a0recorded 95 more Palestinian deaths and has\u00a0twice as many\u00a0civilians killed by Israel: 1,483, or 67 per cent of the total.\u00a0Both can’t be right.<\/p>\n
Let’s break down the Israeli numbers. According to the army, of those killed, 369 were children under the age of 15 (Israel’s redefinition of childhood for Palestinians) and 284 were women. That’s a total of 653.<\/p>\n
That means of the 1,364 boys\u00a0and men aged between 15 and 100 who were killed according to Israel’s estimates, only 108 are accorded the status of “civilian”. In other words, only 8 per cent of all males\u00a0over the age of 15 who were killed in\u00a0Israeli attacks were not suspected by Israel of being actively engaged in combat at the time of their death.<\/p>\n
Comfortingly\u00a0for Israelis, that means that, if you were Palestinian and male and a missile or bomb hit\u00a0you, or a targeted building collapsed on you, you were almost certainly a combatant.<\/p>\n
And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.<\/p>\n