Silly Little Country

Unintended Consequences and a Catch-22

The Israeli policy of mass phoning in advance of attacks to inform local residents, in order to allow them to leave an area which has become a target, appears to allow for unintended consequences, consequences I, undoubtedly like the Israelis, could simply not have imagined.

Arutz Sheva reports that a study by the Terror and Intelligence Information Center shows that when the IDF warns Arab civilians of an impending attack in their neighborhood, Hamas uses the information in order to organize the civilians into human shields in the hope of protecting the targets from the IDF's wrath.

Of course, had I reflected on some of what I know, and had I known some of what is in the article linked to above, this would not surprise me at all.

Why should Hamas' use of this tactic surprise anyone? Well, it shouldn't, and it probably hasn't surprised the IDF although it apparently surprises the world media if they believe it's happening at all. As mentioned above, Hamas used the same tactic in a Gaza mosque full of terrorists in November 2006. And it was documented at length by an earlier report by the Center in March 2008.

So maybe it should not surprise me. It certainly appalls me.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 8:45 AM