This is a war that people around the world are concerned about, on all sides of the conflict, which potentially could escalate beyond Israel and Palestine.
That said, I hope the moderators will work hard to remove posts that are found to be hate speech(any posts advocating to kill all Jews or all Muslims, raze all of Palestine or wipe Israel off the map should be blocked), as should false, or unsubstantiated propaganda from either side.
Hospital bombing in Gaza is a case in point. Reputable media outlets like the BBC and Reuters are reporting that we cannot be sure who fired the missile(s) at this point.
Hamas claims it was Israel and Al Jazeera initially ran this unchallenged, fueling rage in the Arab world. Israel has struck other civilian targets during its bombardment of Gaza after the Hamas attacks in Israel.
However Israel claims that a "barrage" of missiles were fired from Islamic Jihad and damaged the hospital site; that;'s a militant group inside Gaza that often allies with Hamas. An Israeli TV station has released video from the station's own camera which appears to confirm Israel's version. Israel claims to have intercepted phone calls of Hamas leaders saying Islamic Jihad fired missiles that misfired, but has not publicly released that call. They have however released video of their own which they claim confirms this.
President Biden said today that he believes Israel's version, and that this is based on intelligence he received from the US Defense Dept.
The BBC showed videos to several weapons experts; some said the damaged appeared more likely to be from rocket fuel exploding,ie no crater that one would expect from Israeli's larger missiles. But others would no venture an opinion. A BBC reporter oo scene confirms no larger crater and says itwas the parking lot,not the hospital itself, that was struck though fire caused damage. Sadly 1,000 Palestinian refugees were in the parking lot of the hospital, which is run by Episcopal Christians from England, also raising a third possibility that Jihadists could have targeted Christians.
However the hospital folks say their cancer ward was previously struck by a missile which they presumed to be Israeli.So who knows.
Now for the misinformation--posts on social media claiming the entire hospital was destroyed, or on the opposite extreme, that there were very few injuries. BBC confirms hundreds. There are photos of Gaza bombings found to date back to prior years.
I would hope DU could be a place for frank discussion, shared opinions, and debunking misinformation anytime there is a wartime situation. And of note, the US has sent aircraft carriers and am amphibious force to the region, putting our troops potentially in harm's way, so this is clearly an issue that all of us should stay informed on.
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