How Israel Pulled Off a High-Risk Hostage Rescue

[thucythucy]

33. I agree. But I'm curious to know:

what would you suggest as an alternative, given the current situation?

If the IDF learns there are hostages being held in a particular location, and that location is embedded in a civilian area, should they simply do nothing? If not, what other option would you suggest?

In roughly two weeks of urban warfare, in Berlin in April 1945, roughly a quarter of a million German civilians were killed as the Soviets fought to take the city and end WWII. A horrific loss of life, but what was the alternative? Truly, I'd love to know.

We have just "celebrated"--and what an odd word that is in this context--the Normandy invasion of June 6. I've read that more French civilians died that day than Allied soldiers. The majority--probably the vast majority--were killed by the Allied bombing and naval bombardment. The majority--perhaps the vast majority--were women, children, and the elderly, since the Germans had conscripted many of the able-bodied men to do war work in other areas. Here too: what would you have done differently to minimize those deaths?

Every innocent life lost is an incalculable loss, an unending tragedy. Every person injured, indeed every witness to the carnage must bear that trauma for the rest of their lives.

Which is why those who start wars need always to consider the consequences.