{"id":2127707,"date":"2023-12-18T04:05:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T09:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-should-rules-of-war-be-applied-to-the-israel-hamas-conflict\/"},"modified":"2023-12-18T04:11:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T09:11:34","slug":"how-should-rules-of-war-be-applied-to-the-israel-hamas-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-should-rules-of-war-be-applied-to-the-israel-hamas-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"Applying &#8216;Rules of War&#8217; to Israel-Hamas Conflict: How?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-should-rules-of-war-be-applied-to-the-israel-hamas-conflict%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2127707&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Biden administration has begun to waver in its support for Israel\u2019s war against \u2062Hamas. President Biden warned this week that Israel was losing global support because\u2063 of its \u201cindiscriminate bombing.\u201d A few \u2062days earlier, Vice President Harris said in Dubai\u200d that \u201ctoo many\u2064 innocent \u200cPalestinians have been killed\u201d and admonished Israel to \u2063\u201cdo more to protect innocent civilians.\u201d Secretary \u2062of State\u2062 Antony Blinken and\u200c his British counterpart Lord Cameron \u2062have repeatedly\u2063 warned that Israel must pursue its \u2064military campaign \u201cconsistently with international law.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Israel, however, would strike a \u200dvictory for the West and \u200bits values by\u2063 ignoring \u200dthese\u200d vague demands \u200bto <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flight-disrupted-to-and-from-tel-aviv-us-may-restrict-use-of-israeli-airspace\/\" title=\"Flights disrupted to\/from Tel Aviv; US may limit Israeli airspace usage.\">follow international law<\/a>. Jerusalem would strike a victory for the Western democracies not \u200djust in \u2063defeating Hamas on the \u2063battlefield and driving it out of Gaza. It would\u200d also achieve success in rejecting the cynical\u2063 legal and political campaign of terrorist \u2063groups, their\u200b nation-state backers, and the \u201cuseful idiots\u201d who sympathize with them. These groups, aided and abetted by a \u200bbroad network of non-governmental\u2064 organizations, seek \u2063to turn the West\u2019s\u200c moral and legal\u2063 principles against itself to make effective self-defense impossible.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2030974353\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-abc494fb1ef5a2a2496d7526114f0500 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-abc494fb1ef5a2a2496d7526114f0500\"><\/div>\n<p>The Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, is now confronting the most difficult challenge in \u2064its campaign as it enters Khan Younis,\u2063 a dense \u200ccity in\u2063 the \u2062southern Gaza Strip\u200b that \u200bis home to Hamas\u2019 leadership. After\u200c urging\u2064 Palestinians to evacuate \u2063northern Gaza and clearing its\u200d major cities of terrorists, Israeli units must now\u200b root\u2062 out Hamas in the\u2062 south, where most of the 2.3 million \u2063Gazans have fled. Casualties among civilians and combatants will rise still higher\u2063 as Hamas continues to\u2063 use \u2062Palestinians \u2064as human shields\u200b to protect its network of underground tunnels and its above-ground facilities, often hidden inside \u200bschools, mosques, and\u200d hospitals.<\/p>\n<h2>International Law and Civilian\u200b Casualties<\/h2>\n<p>But what international law actually \u200brequires is very much \u2063in dispute.\u200b It\u2019s one of the urgent questions raised \u200dby\u2064 the conflict\u200b in\u2064 Gaza: Does international law impose such severe restrictions that a terror force, by hiding behind civilians, can \u2064prevent a Western army from defeating it?<\/p>\n<p>Western strategists \u200cwere not always so\u200d sensitive to civilian casualties. In the weeks \u2064before \u200cand \u2063after the Normandy landings in 1944, Allied bombers\u200c attacked infrastructure\u2063 across northern France to obstruct\u200c German troop\u2062 movements \u2014 and to fool the Germans about the ultimate location of the main Allied invasion. Some 50,000 French civilians\u2063 were killed in these \u200bair attacks. But the French accepted these unintended \u2063(though foreseeable) losses \u200cas part of the price \u2064for driving the German army from\u200b France.<\/p>\n<p>Modern \u200cweapons allow for \u200bmore precise targeting.\u200d But modern \u200dconflicts have also seen enemies resort to hiding fighters and weapons in\u200c places where civilians are concentrated, such \u200das hospitals, schools, and mosques. When ISIS took over the Iraqi \u2062city of Mosul in 2016, the U.S.\u2063 gave extensive air support to Iraqi efforts to liberate the city. After \u2062months\u2064 of fighting and bombing, more \u2064than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/ap-mosul-isis-civilian-death-toll-10-times-higher-us-iraq-acknowledge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3,000 \u200dcivilians<\/a> had\u200b been killed in air and \u2062artillery attacks (according to a 2017 \u2064study by\u2063 the Associated Press). The civilian population in Mosul was about half that of \u2063Gaza,\u2064 and large numbers of civilians were able to flee (while \u2062Egypt has refused to accept any substantial number of Gazan refugees). \u200cIn proportion\u200b to the\u2063 number of\u200c civilians at\u2064 risk, the relief of \u2062Mosul certainly\u2063 unleashed\u200d harm to\u2062 civilians on a scale\u2062 somewhat comparable to that in \u200cGaza.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5a48853b7d041db50dfd562c27bdf69b fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5a48853b7d041db50dfd562c27bdf69b\"><\/div>\n<p>Of course, one could say Iraq\u2063 was only reclaiming its own \u200ccountry. Much \u200bof the world sees Israel as a\u2064 Western implant in the Middle East, suppressing the rightful claims of Palestinians. U.N. delegations \u200bhave had \u200byears\u2062 of practice voting routine\u2062 resolutions of \u200bcondemnation against Israel, long before the current land war in Gaza. Even in Western countries, many people acknowledge that Israel has a right to defend itself\u2064 against terror \u200dattacks, but worry that the\u200b cost \u2062in \u2062Palestinian lives is \u200bout \u2064of \u2064proportion to the\u2062 goal of Israel\u2019s \u2064full security. We cannot be sure how much peace or security the\u200c destruction of the current Hamas authority will bring\u2064 in the future. These difficult \u2064moral questions are an inherent feature of war, both in \u2063legitimacy and conduct.<\/p>\n<p>Israel\u2019s critics would rather ignore the moral challenges and claim that its campaign in Gaza violates international law. But\u200d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/australia-building-new-sub-base-for-nuclear-attack-sub-fleet\/\" title=\"Australia Building New Sub Base for Nuclear Attack Sub Fleet\">relevant international law<\/a> is much disputed. Imagine that \u2064today\u2019s U.N.\u200c General \u200dAssembly, which just called for a ceasefire by 153-10, \u2064and in the past\u200c declared Zionism \u200bto be racist, were asked to \u2062draw up standards for \u200barmed conflict. That is, \u2063in fact, what \u2062happened.<\/p>\n<p>After the Second World War, the \u2064victorious Allies had \u2063no intention of condemning their\u2064 own practices. The 1949 Geneva Conventions merely elaborated \u201chumanitarian\u201d protections for prisoners of war, wounded \u2062and\u200c shipwrecked combatants, and civilians in occupied territories. The Geneva Conventions \u200bdid little \u2063to regulate the conduct of hostilities, which \u200cfor the most part have long followed a set of unwritten \u201ccustomary\u201d principles.<\/p>\n<p>During the Vietnam War, communist and Third \u2063World \u200dcountries urged that the U.N. condemn what were depicted as U.S. war crimes. Western states, \u200dseeking to avoid \u2062the confrontational \u2062political \u2064atmosphere at the U.N., persuaded the Red Cross to convene a new drafting conference in\u200d Geneva. But all the members of \u2062the General Assembly participated \u2063in the deliberations, along with \u201cobservers\u201d from\u2063 the \u200cPalestine Liberation \u200cOrganization and the\u2063 African National Congress (then a terrorist organization \u200bfighting the apartheid government\u2063 of\u200d South Africa).<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0264ca62daef7015116917c9d3630a0a fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0264ca62daef7015116917c9d3630a0a\"><\/div>\n<p>The resulting\u2062 treaty \u2062\u2014 Additional Protocol I\u200c to the Geneva\u200c Conventions (1977) \u2014 provided new protections for guerilla forces. The traditional\u2062 understanding, codified in the Hague Convention \u200bof 1899, protected civilians \u2064by\u200d requiring soldiers to identify themselves with uniforms and\u200b insignia and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/army-vet-plans-to-appeal-ninth-circuit-ruling-against-gun-carry\/\" title=\"Army Vet Plans to Appeal Ninth Circuit Ruling Against Gun Carry\">carry arms openly<\/a>, so enemy forces could\u200b limit their attacks to \u2064actual combatants. AP I \u2062treated guerilla fighters as lawful \u200dcombatants so long as they showed their weapons just before they attacked, allowing them to disguise \u200bthemselves\u2062 as\u200b civilians\u200b and \u2063hide among innocent populations to confuse\u2063 the regular troops fighting them.<\/p>\n<p>AP I further sought to constrain advanced\u2062 military forces by limiting legitimate targets. It declared that attacks even on \u200dlegitimate military targets must not\u2063 cause\u2063 incidental harm to civilians that would be\u200b \u201cexcessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated\u201d from\u200d the attack. The same provision (Art. 51) cautions that belligerents \u201cshall not \u2063direct the movement \u200dof the civilian population \u2026 in\u200c order to attempt to shield military \u2062objectives from \u200cattack \u2026\u201d (Par. 7) But \u2063AP I immediately \u200bfollows\u2063 this caution with the admonition that violations \u2062of this prohibition do not \u201crelease the\u200c parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with \u200crespect to the civilian population \u2026.\u201d \u2014 thereby assuring that the\u2062 ostensibly\u200c prohibited tactic of\u2062 hiding behind civilian shields will still work. AP I declares that \u200cstates have a duty to punish \u201cgrave breaches\u201d of the convention, \u200damong \u200dwhich it lists attacks that yield excessive harm to civilians \u2014 but not maneuvers to deploy civilians as human shields.<\/p>\n<p>Britain and France\u2064 declined to ratify AP I for more than two decades \u2014 that \u2064is, until well after the \u2064end of\u200c the Cold War. The United States, Israel, and a number of other countries still have \u200bnot ratified. \u200cBut language from AP I was \u200cadapted\u200c for the criminal tribunal established \u200cby the U.N. to restrain \u200dcombatants in the \u2064conflicts arising\u2062 from the break-up of Yugoslavia (ICTY, 1991) \u2063and then again\u200c in the\u200c more ambitious International Criminal Court (ICC, 1998).<\/p>\n<p>The \u2064ICC embraces the same priorities as AP I: The ICC can prosecute states that incur \u201cexcessive\u201d civilian\u200d casualties in their attacks but \u200ccannot \u200dpunish the deployment of weapons or fighters behind human shields. It does, on the \u200dother \u2063hand, include, among \u201cwar \u200bcrimes\u201d that\u2062 can be prosecuted, \u201cthe \u200ctransfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population \u200dinto the territory it occupies \u2026 \u200c\u201d \u2014\u200b to allow the \u200dICC to prosecute Israeli officials for allowing their citizens\u200b to build\u2063 homes in disputed territory\u200d in East Jerusalem or elsewhere in the West Bank \u200c(or at the time,\u2063 in Gaza).<\/p>\n<p>Both the United States and Israel \u200dinsist that their\u200b armies are bound\u200b by restraints recognized in \u2063the \u201ccustomary law\u201d of armed conflict, which\u2064 overlaps \u200dwith\u2064 provisions in AP I\u200c and earlier treaties. But this still leaves much room for disagreement.<\/p>\n<p>The International \u200dCommittee of the Red Cross published a commentary in the mid-1980s that insists that \u200cAP I leaves no \u201cjustification\u200d for attacks which cause extensive civilian losses and damages. Incidental losses and \u2062damages\u2062 should\u2062 never be extensive.\u201d By\u200c contrast, the Law of War \u2062Manual issued by \u2062the U.S.\u200c Department of\u200b Defense \u2063in 2015\u2064 holds that \u201ca very \u2062significant \u2062military\u2062 advantage would be necessary to justify the collateral death or injury to thousands of civilians.\u201d Still, it regards\u2063 this sad outcome as potentially\u2062 quite lawful: Determination of compensating\u2062 \u201cmilitary advantage,\u201d it cautions, is \u201ca highly open-ended legal inquiry \u200band the answer may be subjective and imprecise.\u201d The manual \u200dexplains that \u201cmilitary advantage\u201d need not be \u201cimmediate\u201d \u200dand must be judged in the context\u200b of\u200b an entire campaign \u201crather than\u2062 only from isolated or particular \u2064parts \u200dof\u200c the attack.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Military Advantage vs. Incidental Civilian Damage<\/h2>\n<p>There are so many\u2064 uncertainties packed \u2064into the AP I formula that no international tribunal (neither the ICC \u200bnor its predecessor criminal \u200dtribunal for \u200bformer Yugoslavia) has \u200dever attempted a prosecution for\u200c violating \u201cexcessive\u201d harm in relation\u200d to \u201cthe\u200b military advantage \u2064anticipated.\u201d The formula\u200d is particularly hard to apply here, when casualty reports \u2063are based \u200bon\u200d notoriously unreliable claims\u2063 by the Hamas-controlled public health \u200bauthorities in Gaza,\u200b which \u200bhad falsely claimed\u2062 that Israel had bombed the Al Shifra \u200dhospital \u2062in the opening days of the war. Those \u200bwho do not fight wars cannot reliably judge, \u2064after the fact, the balancing\u200b of military advantage against incidental civilian\u2064 damage that Israeli commanders on the ground\u2064 had to \u2062act\u2064 on in \u2063the heat of battle.<\/p>\n<p>Demands that Israel, and, \u200bby extension, the United States, obey impractical\u2062 rules \u2064of warfare constitute a form of politico-legal attack on the West. Such standards\u200c would invite\u200d terrorists \u200d\u2014 and hostile nations like Russia,\u2062 China, and Iran \u2014 to fight \u200cby targeting civilians\u200b while handicapping the ability of Western \u200dnations to respond effectively.<\/p>\n<p>Consider\u2062 Hamas, \u200cwhich succeeds by blatantly violating the rules of war. Its fighters neither\u200d wear clear uniforms nor \u200boperate in open, clear\u200c military formations. Hamas\u200c instead hides its personnel and assets \u200damong\u200d and behind civilians. It broke the fundamental principle \u2063of\u2062 the laws of war by attacking a large music festival and undefended villages on Oct. 7.\u200d Hamas succeeds precisely by blurring \u200dthe line between combatants and\u2063 non-combatants, both on its own\u200d part and\u2062 that\u200d of its \u200bvictims. Extending legal\u200c protections to Hamas only multiplies its incentive to continue violating the basic principles of \u2062humane combat.<\/p>\n<p>Hamas\u2019 \u2064conduct \u200cmakes its threats to civilized warfare especially\u200d dangerous. Not only \u2063does it target the \u200dinnocent and use civilians as shields,\u200b but it deliberately invites attacks on its\u2063 own population.\u200d Hamas\u2062 sought to prevent Gazans from \u2064complying with\u200c the\u2063 Israeli warnings to evacuate north Gaza. Video of civilian deaths\u2063 raises Hamas\u2019 standing\u200c within \u200dthe Arab world and increases the \u2064political pressure on the United States to \u200drestrain Israel. Humane\u2063 limitations \u2063on \u2062the conduct of war cannot apply perfectly\u2063 to wars\u2063 with \u200dan irregular enemy that deliberately uses its\u200c own civilian population as a human shield. To restrain Israel from succeeding in its war means incentivizing terrorists to adopt the same practice\u200d in \u2062future \u2062conflicts.<\/p>\n<p>Harm\u200b to\u200c Palestinians is tragic, but it is a \u2064tragedy authored\u2063 by Hamas\u2063 in violation \u200bof the civilized rules of war. Leaving Hamas in power may open the\u2064 door\u200b to greater \u2064tragedies \u2014\u2062 and not only in Gaza.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-51222e46db6dfdd5471e457af44a1f6b fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-51222e46db6dfdd5471e457af44a1f6b\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> Are international law restrictions \u200dhindering Israel&#8217;s efforts to protect innocent Palestinians in its conflict with Hamas?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Are International Law Restrictions Hindering Israel&#8217;s Efforts Against Hamas?<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration&#8217;s recent statements questioning Israel&#8217;s actions in \u2063its conflict with Hamas \u200bhave raised concerns among supporters of the Jewish state. President Biden warned\u200c that Israel&#8217;s &#8220;indiscriminate bombing&#8221; was causing it to lose global \u2063support, while Vice President Harris called on Israel to do more to protect innocent Palestinians. These statements, along\u2062 with warnings\u2062 from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British counterpart Lord Cameron, have led to doubts about the Biden administration&#8217;s\u2064 support for Israel&#8217;s military \u2062campaign.<\/p>\n<p>However, \u2064it is \u200cargued that Israel should ignore these demands to follow international law and instead focus on the victory it could achieve \u200bfor the West \u200band its values. By defeating\u2062 Hamas and driving it out of Gaza, Israel would \u2062not \u2064only\u2063 secure its own safety but also undermine the legal and political campaign of terrorist groups and their nation-state supporters. These groups,\u2064 often aided \u2064by \u2062non-governmental organizations, seek \u2064to exploit the West&#8217;s moral and legal principles to make effective self-defense impossible.<\/p>\n<p>One of the \u2064main\u2063 challenges\u2062 facing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is\u2062 the presence of Hamas&#8217; leadership in Khan Younis, a densely populated \u200bcity in the southern Gaza Strip. As Israeli units enter this area, they must root out Hamas\u200c while also minimizing civilian casualties. Hamas&#8217; tactic\u2063 of using Palestinians as human shields, hiding its network of tunnels and facilities in\u2062 schools, mosques, and \u200dhospitals, further complicates the situation.<\/p>\n<p>The question of whether international law imposes severe restrictions that allow terrorist forces to\u2062 prevent\u200b a Western \u200carmy \u200dfrom defeating them is\u200c a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/my-wife-told-me-if-i-supported-it-shed-campaign-against-me-chip-roy-pans-womens-draft-bill\/\" title=\"\u2018My Wife Told Me If I Supported It She\u2019d Campaign Against Me\u2019: Chip Roy Pans Women\u2019s Draft Bill\">hotly debated issue<\/a>. \u200cWhile Western strategists were \u2064not always as sensitive to civilian casualties in the past, today&#8217;s conflicts often see enemies hiding among civilians \u200bto confuse the opposing forces. \u200cFor example, during the liberation \u2062of the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS in 2016, more than 3,000 civilians were killed in air and \u200bartillery attacks. The civilian population in Mosul was about half that of Gaza, \u2064yet similar proportions of civilian casualties were recorded.<\/p>\n<p>The perception that Israel is a Western implant in the Middle \u2063East has led to widespread condemnation of its actions. While \u200cmany acknowledge Israel&#8217;s right to self-defense, there are concerns that the cost in Palestinian lives is disproportionate to its goal of security. However, the moral dilemmas raised by\u2062 war, including questions of legitimacy and conduct, are inherent and difficult\u200c to address.<\/p>\n<p>Critics of\u200c Israel often claim that its actions violate international law. However, the interpretation of \u2064international \u2062law is highly disputed, and \u200binternational bodies such\u2062 as the United Nations General\u2063 Assembly, which has a long history\u200c of\u2062 condemning Israel, may not be the\u200c most \u2062objective sources. \u2063The Geneva Conventions, which regulate the conduct of armed \u200cconflicts, primarily focus on humanitarian protections for prisoners of war, wounded combatants, and civilians in occupied territories. They do little to address the conduct of hostilities, which are mainly guided by customary principles.<\/p>\n<p>Additional Protocol I to the Geneva\u2064 Conventions, adopted in 1977, \u2062aimed to \u2064provide new protections for guerilla forces. It\u200d recognized guerilla fighters as lawful combatants as long as they\u2062 showed their weapons \u200bbefore\u2064 attacking, allowing them to blend in with \u200dcivilians. The protocol also\u2063 sought to limit attacks on legitimate military targets if they would cause excessive \u2062harm to civilians. However, the \u2062protocol does\u200c not explicitly address the use \u200dof \u2062civilians as human shields.<\/p>\n<p>The International Criminal Court (ICC) shares similar priorities as Additional Protocol I, allowing prosecution for excessive civilian casualties but failing to punish the deployment of weapons or fighters behind human shields. The ICC&#8217;s jurisdiction has \u2064been a subject of controversy, as some countries, including the\u2062 United States \u2064and Israel, have not\u2062 ratified the Rome Statute establishing the Court.<\/p>\n<p>The interpretation and application of international law\u200d are still subjects of intense debate. The International \u200bCommittee of the \u200bRed\u2063 Cross emphasizes the need to avoid attacks that \u200dcause extensive civilian harm, while \u2063the U.S. Department of Defense acknowledges that collateral civilian \u200dcasualties may be justified if there is a significant military advantage. The determination\u2063 of what constitutes a military advantage is often subjective and depends on \u200bthe context of the entire\u2064 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Given the uncertainties and complexities\u200b of applying international law in conflicts, demanding that Israel and the United States adhere strictly to impractical rules and standards only serves to hinder their efforts. Such demands \u200ccan be seen as a political and legal attack on the West and its\u200b values. Israel must find a balance between minimizing civilian casualties and ensuring its own security, while also taking\u200d into\u200b account the challenges posed by terrorist groups who exploit international law \u200bto their advantage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Biden administration&#8217;s backing for Israel&#8217;s fight against Hamas is faltering. President Biden cautioned that Israel&#8217;s &#8220;indiscriminate bombing&#8221; was eroding global support. Vice President Harris, during her Dubai visit, urged Israel to &#8220;do more&#8221; and expressed concern over the loss of innocent Palestinian lives. A shift in their stance is evident<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2609,"featured_media":2127708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2127707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2127707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2609"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2127707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2127707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2127708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2127707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2127707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2127707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}