Did Israel intentionally murder four UN observers?

Question

The UN has stated that they contacted the IDF ten times leading up to the bombing of the UN outpost warning them that the bombing was dangerously close. Why were these calls ignored and how can a laser guided missle be so inaccurate?

Answer 1

if you were israel and wanted more time to bomb hezbollah targets, knowing that the world is trying to put 'cease fire' expectations on you as soon as they (about 10 or 15 countries can all get on the same page) can get their act together, knowing that the US shipment of smart bombs is still a few days away, and knowing that the (militarily premature?) ceasefire would mean the deployment of international troops into the war zone between you and your enemy, wouldn't you be tempted to stall the 'world triying to get its act together' plan with a little persona reminder that people are actually shooting at each other and that your troops and loved ones will be going into the fog of war if they dare. who knows if it was premeditated, but the timing and the temptation are surely interesting. isreal then would be showing its hand in wanting the world to give it some 'substantial amount of extra' time. there is a rumor that the US might try to break syria off from its alliance with iran and hezbollah by throwing money (and other incentives) to bashir al asad. the time it takes to negotiate with asad may closely resemble the time it takes for the US to allow world opinion to stop israeli assaults. once syria decides whether or not it will 'come back from the dark side' then the situation will likely move quickly one way or the other, into all out isreali ripping out hezbollah roots with bunker busting smart bombs or into cease fire cessation of violence with the US and Israel participating in the international peacekeeping force which opens up the path for the national lebanes army to come in and displace hezbollah fighters.

Answer 2

First of all, that UN outpost was extremely close to a Hezbolla base. This was the same outpost that videotaped the attack on Israel where 8 soldiers were killed and 2 kidnapped, then Kofi lied about the existance of the tape. Then when it came out Kofi monkey manan had no choice but to admit it. All this besides the fact that the UN pussy soldiers were helping unload rockets. Of course nobody mentions that. Second of all, what the hell were these UN observers doing in a war zone if they are not one of the combatants???? Any sane person with a brain asks that question. It's unfortunate that it happened, and Israel did not deliberately do it because they know what would happen if that were the case because Israel is held to a higher standard than everybody else. Or should I say a double standard.

Answer 3

First of all, UN observers don't necessarily have the option to relocate. First and foremost, they are soldiers. They are ordered to hold a position, and so they will. And really, where would they have gone? With the IDF targetting just about anything they feel like, they were practically safer where they were than if they high-tailed it.

Israel has so far showed a blatant disregard for everything that is part of the Laws of Armed Conflicts. The use of WP rounds to actively target inhabited buildings is against the Hague Accords; the indiscriminate bombardments violate the Geneva Convention in regards to protecting civilians from the effects of war; the invasion of a sovereign country in order to deal with a domestic problem is against International Law. I mean, I don't see the US invading Canada or the UK because of local terrorist groups, or Mexico because of the drug cartels, do I?

As for those who say that it's just too damned bad, well, I have friends in Lebannon right now, and until I read an article that stated the name of the Canadian who has been killed/presumed dead, I was praying hard that it wasn't my buddy, and fellow soldier, who got wasted. Make no mistake, losing one of our own is always a hard one to take, and there will be drinks raised at my unit in his name, even if none of us ever met him. Those observers did their duty, and the fact that a precision weapon is what hit them, there si a clear sign of intent. If it had been an iron bomb, I might be a little more understanding though not much as the IDF knew they were there in the first place. But the fact that a PGM blew them up, that is a display of intent to strike that target, not just a miss.

Answer 4

If I had to guess, I'd say it was a pretty stupid error for the so called, best trained military in the world. Heh...

Or, crooked soldiers out of control.

Basically, while I can conceive of it being deliberate, I don't really think that that is the most likely reason. They've hit all kinds of crap, civilians, and CRS. Someone just royally screwed up this time, and will probably have something bad happen...

Isn't that the most likely reason?

If you're not convinced:

Ok, so you're assuming that the secretary or Israeli official contacted actually knew how to respond and understood everything. The gears moved and then a decision followed through on to destroy the UN forces.

But why?

International Humiliation
A need to discharge ammunition
To weaken the world veiw of Israels plight
Because they actually precieved a threat
Desire to court marshal someone and possibly fire and official

Um, I don't think so. Really.

Answer 5

I don't know if it was deliberate or not, but I think it merits an investigation.
During the 6 Day War in 1967, Israel sunk a US observation ship (USS Liberty) in international waters. This incident was never properly explained by the Israeli government, but it seems that the IDF doesn't like international observers around during their military operations.

Answer 6

They learned from George W. Botch(I mean Bush) The ends justify the means. They intended to do it the same way they blasted those 2 ambulances. Maybe the thought they could do it and blame Hezbollah to get the tide of public opinion on their side.

Answer 7

I doubt it, but I bet that Hezbollah intentionally positioned their arms near them with the hopes that just this sort of thing would happen. Which begs the question, what are UN peacekeepers doing in a hostile battle area anyway?

Answer 8

It is very doubtful that they did.

And precision munitions have a 90-95% 'hit' rate. Some of them till miss.

BTW - why did this UN outpost allow Hezbollah to establish positions that close to them anyway?

Answer 9

"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN observer post in southern Lebanon"
"The co-ordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long established and clearly marked UN post ... occurred despite personal assurances given to me by (Israeli) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would be spared Israeli fire."

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan 7/25/06

"But you need to look at the events of yesterday,” he urged. “The shelling of the UN position, which is long-established and clearly marked, started in the morning and went on till after 7:00 p.m., when we lost contact.”

“You can imagine the anguish of the soldiers and the men and women – unarmed military observers – who were down there in the service of peace,” he said, stressing that the peacekeepers were in frequent touch with the Israeli army, pleading with them to avoid striking their location"
Kofi Annan, 7/26/06, Rome

Answer 10

correct me if im wrong...but if your stupid butt is hanging out in a war zone observing...isnt that just inviting disaster? Israel might have done it just to prove a point and i dont blame them...The UN is going to make an area around the post safe for militants or trying to interfere in the fighting...take them out...what is it a blackflag operation? place someone in an area and dare someone to hit them? as a pretense to somthing? jeesh. It was probably an accident but either way the "UN observers" better be using their brain instead of daring Israel to attack where they are...i would have targeted them to with that attitude.