Unifil warns any attack on peacekeepers violates international law after two fall from observation tower under fire

Two UN peacekeepers in Lebanon have been wounded by Israeli fire, the mission said on Thursday, as Israel’s military ground operations in the country continued.

In a statement, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said two of its members were wounded after a Merkava tank fired towards an observation tower at Unifil headquarters in Naqoura, “directly hitting it and causing them to fall”.

“[Israeli] soldiers also fired on UN position (UNP) 1-31 in Labbouneh, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system,” said the peacekeeping mission.

“An IDF drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance.”

Israeli attacks in Lebanon over the past month, including a bombing campaign and ground invasion, have killed over 1,200 people and displaced one million.

  • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
    436·
    3 months ago

    Why are they even there?

    From a real news source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-peacekeepers-lebanon-say-we-are-staying-despite-israeli-attacks-2024-10-10/

    UNIFIL is mandated by the Security Council to help the Lebanese army keep the country’s south free of weapons and armed personnel other than those of the state. That has sparked friction with Hezbollah, which effectively controls the area.

    1. They’re supposed to be Peacekeepers not Peace Makers. There’s a war happening and usually Peacekeepers leave the area when it becomes an active war.

    2. Their mission was to find Hezbollah weapons… well it seems they weren’t all that effective at doing that mission. Anyway, the IDF will remove those weapons for them. So they no longer have a mission to be there to do.

    This is extremely incompetent on the part of the UN. It’s a struggle for the UN to get countries to volunteer soldiers to be UN Peacekeepers. The UN using Peacekeepers as human shields isn’t going to help in that. Peacekeepers serve an important function, and the UN putting them in unnecessary danger because it’s upset at Israel is completely irresponsible.

    • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      143·
      3 months ago

      Israel targeting Civilians and UN personnel/facilities with the justification of ‘human shields’ is nothing new.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
        322·
        3 months ago

        Is Al Jazeera still putting up casualty numbers like it’s scoreboard in a sport? Seems disgusting to me how they do that.

        So my question is, do you think Hamas keeping Israelis hostage (which is a war crime BTW) is worth having all of this death?

        • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          153·
          3 months ago

          If you find thousands dead to be casual, that’s on you. The IDF sure does if they’re Palestinian or Lebanese.

          Hamas was willing to do a full hostage exchange since Oct 8th. Israel has rejected any permanent ceasefire, that would release all the hostages, in favor of genocide. So maybe ask the Israeli Government that question instead.

        • sorval_the_eeter@lemmy.worldEnglish
          71·
          3 months ago

          Hamas tried immediately to trade the Israeli hostages for hostages the Israelis are holding, without charge, withour trail, indefinitely. israel said no. But no one ever wants to talk about the hostages the Israelis took before Oct 7. They want to pretend this started on Oct 7.

          • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
            25·
            3 months ago

            Yeah they traded for Yahya Sinwar in a previous deal. You know, the guy that planned October 7 and is now the leader of Hamas.

            Sure, it didn’t begin on October 7. And it also didn’t begin with the next time Israel does an air strike. Or the next time. Or the time after that.

            Palestinians are dying and you’re rooting for a continuation of violence indefinitely. You obviously don’t care about Palestinian lives because you don’t want the conflict to end even while Hamas and Hezbollah are losing badly and are only getting anyone that happens to be near them killed.

            • sorval_the_eeter@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              3 months ago

              you’re rooting for a continuation of violence indefinitely.

              and you’re making things up out of thin air and being utterly wrong about your fantasy conclusions. Its like arguing with a republican.

              • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
                12·
                3 months ago

                You’re no longer considering any facts that challenge the narratives you get directly from social media and dubious “news” sources. You probably hate Democrats, probably look the other way about any antisemitic remarks from your peers. Also look the other way about atrocities committed by the fascists that are “on your side”.

                The pro-Palestinian movement (really the anti-Israeli movement, if we’re being honest) is an alt-right movement if we’re being objective about comparing it to other political movements. Really how is this movement any different from any of the other alt-right movements? Only because you don’t call yourself alt-right?

                • sorval_the_eeter@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  2·
                  3 months ago

                  Spacecowboy@ You said: <Begin quote>

                  The pro-Palestinian movement (really the anti-Israeli movement, if we’re being honest) is an alt-right movement if we’re being objective about comparing it to other political movements. Really how is this movement any different from any of the other alt-right movements? Only because you don’t call yourself alt-right?

                  <End quote>

                  You do realize netenyahu aligns himself with far right leaders and Israel has a far right government. Dont you? And that Palestine protestors are almost uniformly progressives, on the far other end of the political extreme from the far right? https://www.timesofisrael.com/yair-netanyahu-exposes-israels-own-version-of-the-alt-right/

                  https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/02/24/why-benjamin-netanyahu-loves-the-european-far-right-orban-kaczynski-pis-fidesz-visegrad-likud-antisemitism-hungary-poland-illiberalism/

                  https://www.npr.org/2024/03/26/1241022402/a-look-into-the-rise-of-right-wing-israel

                  It seems that you dont understand what the term alt-right even means. Its a far right white nationalist movement.
                  And you make up a lot of “probablies” out of thin air, which sure looks like mental illness to me.

                  Blaming others for exactly what you are guilty of is a classic republican move. Again with this from you. It gets old.

                  Or do you really honestly think palestinians and their supporters are part of a white nationalist movement? How does that make any sense at all? The “white” people here are Israelis. Palestinians and Arabs dont consider themselves to be white. But part of the alt right you say, interesting. Are these nonwhite members of the alt-right… hating themselves? And by your reckoning, the far right Israels are the victims of the alt right? ?? really? So its alt-right human rights supporters vs the far right Israelis? Is this some kind of rightwing civil war? You’d think they could get along being so closely ideologically aligned.

                  Your assertions are all just so remarkably crazy that I dont even know what to say. But I think its past time for me to block your username.

                  • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
                    12·
                    3 months ago

                    You do realize netenyahu aligns himself with far right leaders and Israel has a far right government. Dont you?

                    You realize that Hamas is a fascist organization. Don’t you?

                    Or do you really honestly think palestinians and their supporters are part of a white nationalist movement?

                    Fascism isn’t actually about specific ethnicities. It isn’t even about being specifically antisemitic, though Hamas most definitely has that going on.

                    Fascism is about promoting strongman to protect people from the other, the other usually being of a different ethnicity and/or religious group. The other is paradoxically both strong and weak. It’s about promoting a return to a past ethnic makeup of a region to how it was in the history book, ie. blood and soil. It’s about using past humiliations to entice people into accepting the strongman as their leader. It’s about de-legitimizing democracy and the free press. It’s about using violence to achieve these goals, including the use of ethnic cleansing and genocide. It’s about maintaining a violent fervour and a hatred towards the enemy so people don’t question the strongman’s leadership.

                    Hamas fits this description. If you’re in the same movement as Hamas, you’re at best alt-right, or at worst a fascist. I know among your fringe group you don’t talk about yourselves that way and will put on blinders to avoid seeing Hamas for what it is. But people outside of your little group actually do see Hamas for what it is and see you for who you are.

                    If you could stop subjecting yourself to imagery meant to keep you in a violent fervour for even a few days you might begin to question the leadership of the strongman Yahya Sinwar which has resulted in the destruction of Gaza. But you probably won’t do that because you’re stuck in an endless emotional manipulation loop. And that’s exactly how fascism works.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
        24·
        3 months ago

        Yeah they’re soldiers, they follow orders. The UN leadership is abdicating it’s responsibility to ensure the safety of the soldiers that countries have generously provided them. So they’re having Peacekeepers that no longer have a missions stay in an obvious warzone because why? The leadership at the UN is acting like children here. They’re putting lives at risk for their own petty reasons.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
        15·
        3 months ago

        Because the UN obviously failed to disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah were planning to use the weapons the UN failed to take from to attack Israel in a similar way (but on a larger scale) to October 7.

        The Peacekeepers failed to keep the peace. Hezbollah has been firing rockets (which according to the UN, they shouldn’t have) at Israel for a year. Many times at civilian population centers.

        There is no reason for Peacekeepers to stay in a war zone.

          • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
            12·
            3 months ago

            That’s good for you to admit that Hamas, Hezbollahand the Houthis are attacking Israel. Making progress!

            So your main issue is that you want war to be fair, like it’s a sport? It’s not a sport, people die in wars. Making it fair just means it drags out longer causing more loss of life.

            That graph also indicated that Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are outmatched and should give up on trying to defeat Israel on a battle field. They should put down their weapons and sit down at a negotiating table. They aren’t going to get everything they want (that’s the nature of negotiation) but they’d get something and people don’t have to needlessly die in their futile wars. And the longer they fight the less they’ll get in any kind of peace.

            You’ve just proven the stupidity of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance”. But these are fascist strongman “blood and soil” type movements and those type of movements are known for their stupidity resulting in their destruction.

            • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
              21·
              3 months ago

              Yes, people under the violence of Occupation, Settler Colonialism, and Apartheid are bound to fight back by any means possible, regardless of the difference in military capability. Israel has been the one that has prevented peace for generations. Made all the more obvious when they assassinate the principal negotiator of peace talks.

              Settlements, Occupation, and Apartheid

              Israel justifies the settlements and military bases in the West Bank in the name of Security. However, the reality of the settlements on-the-ground has been the cause of violent resistance and a significant obstacle to peace, as it has been for decades.

              This type of settlement, where the native population gets ‘Transferred’ to make room for the settlers, is a long standing practice.

              The mass ethnic cleansing campaign of 1948:

              Further, declassified Israeli documents show that the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip were deliberately planned before being executed in 1967:

              While the peace process was exploited to continue de-facto annexation of the West Bank via Settlements

              The settlements are maintained through a violent apartheid that routinely employs violence towards Palestinians and denies human rights like water access, civil rights, etc. This kind of control gives rise to violent resistance to the Apartheid occupation, jeopardizing the safety of Israeli civilians.

              The apartheid regime is based on organized, systemic violence against Palestinians, which is carried out by numerous agents: the government, the military, the Civil Administration, the Supreme Court, the Israel Police, the Israel Security Agency, the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and others. Settlers are another item on this list, and the state incorporates their violence into its own official acts of violence. Settler violence sometimes precedes instances of official violence by Israeli authorities, and at other times is incorporated into them. Like state violence, settler violence is organized, institutionalized, well-equipped and implemented in order to achieve a defined strategic goal.

              Visualizing the Ethnic Cleansing

              Peace Process and Solution

              Both Hamas and Fatah have agreed to a Two-State solution based on the 1967 borders for decades. Oslo and Camp David were used by Israel to continue settlements in the West Bank and maintain an Apartheid, while preventing any actual Two-State solution

              How Avi Shlaim moved from two-state solution to one-state solution

              ‘One state is a game changer’: A conversation with Ilan Pappe

              One State Solution, Foreign Affairs

              Hamas proposed a full prisoner swap as early as Oct 8th, and agreed to the US proposed UN Permanent Ceasefire Resolution. Additionally, Hamas has already agreed to no longer govern the Gaza Strip, as long as Palestinians receive liberation and a unified government can take place.

              During the current war, Hamas officials have said that the group does not want to return to ruling Gaza and that it advocates for forming a government of technocrats to be agreed upon by the various Palestinian factions. That government would then prepare for elections in Gaza and the West Bank, with the intention of forming a unified government.

              • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
                12·
                3 months ago

                Yes, people under the violence of Occupation, Settler Colonialism, and Apartheid are bound to fight back by any means possible, regardless of the difference in military capability.

                If you engage in genocidal acts like what occurred on October 7, whatever justification for it is moot. The world cannot allow for genocide to be a successful tactic.

                Stop trying to rationalize genocide, ok? It’s an evil way to think about things. Hamas cannot be allowed to achieve any kind of success after what they did. Otherwise others will try the same. In fact Hezbollah was planning something similar to October 7 just from the propaganda successes Hamas achieved. Is that what you wanted?

    • shaserlark@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      You’re being downvoted on every post you do about this topic, you’ve been here for a year and you know that pretty much nobody agrees with you. I’m really wondering what’s your agenda.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
        16·
        3 months ago

        Thanks for noticing!

        Also the things I’m saying is consistent with what a majority of people outside of this little echo chamber think. This group you’re in is going descending in a downward spiral of hatred. People in the same hatred spiral you’re in have already committed violent acts, and more have attempted violence. This hatred of Israel will not lead to anything positive. Nothing good for the Palestinian people will come from this hatred.

        I see photos of Gaza and I see a lot of similarity with the photos of German cities at the end of WWII. Germans were so indoctrinated in the politics of hatred (the same politics people here are engaging in) that the refused to accept defeat even when it was obvious to anyone. So they fought to the bitter end for the politics they were too indoctrinated in to accept reality and it destroyed their country.

        Unlike the German people, I fear that because of outside pressure Palestinians may not be able to escape the politics of hatred even after they’ve experienced the destruction it lead to. Too much outside pressure on Palestinians (primarily from Iran, but you can see it even in the rhetoric here) to continue dying for the interests of others rather than negotiating with Israel to get as much as they can for themselves.

        The real tragedy of this is that even if there was a ceasefire agreement tomorrow, a conflict similar to this will probably happen again for the next generation. It won’t be because of people like me that call for Hamas to surrender. It’ll be because of the people like you that “disagree with me” who push for Arabs to continue dying to serve the interests of Iranians.

        Someone has to tell the truth around here, no matter how unpopular it may be.