In recent years most of humanity has become more tolerant of groups who once seemed to be on the margins of society. But until now it’s still been acceptable to be offensive about one minority: the child murdering community.
At last it seems the mood is changing, and finally we’re beginning to hear the child murderers’ point of view.
For example one brave soul, prepared to speak out, is spokesman Uri Dromi, who explained on Radio 4 yesterday that although the Israeli government bombed a school that several children died in, the deaths are clearly the fault of the people who live in the areas being bombed.
What a refreshing change from that tired old thinking that always blames murder on the murderer. Mister Drome, once a spokesman for the Israeli government, said the Israelis were “lured into a trap, now Hamas sheds crocodile tears about the dead”.
If only more of us understood bombed schools in this way. We always rush to judge some poor kid in an American town who mows down his classmates, without even pausing to consider the dead kids probably tricked him into it, and now to make it worse their parents are all pretending to cry.
Even more imaginative was Michael Oren, ex-Israeli ambassador to the US, on Channel 4 News. He explained that Hamas was to blame for all this death, because “toasters and refrigerators have been booby-trapped”.
It goes to show you should never make up your mind too quickly. Many of us see pictures of buildings reduced to rubble with a bomb sticking out, and hastily conclude the bomb had something to do with the explosion. But look carefully and it becomes obvious it was caused by the silly sods blowing themselves up with a toaster.
I bet if we went back to Hiroshima and checked what happened more thoroughly, we’d discover the blast was nothing to do with an atom bomb, and was caused by a booby-trapped kettle. I hope consumer programmes in Gaza cover this issue, to warn people of the dangers. The Gaza edition of Watchdog this week should start: “We’ve received several complaints from those of you who bought one of these toasters from Hamas, and were surprised when it caused your entire street to explode.”
Benjamin Netanyahu spoke out for child murderers’ civil rights by informing us the Palestinians deliberately arrange the “telegenically dead” to be filmed, to attract sympathy. So it seems Hamas stroll round bomb sites, placing the prettiest corpses on view for film crews, otherwise we’d all think “it doesn’t matter that the Israelis killed that kid, he was an ugly little bastard anyway”.
In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict
In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict
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A Palestinian boy peaks from behind Palestinian militants of the Ezzedine al-Qassam brigade, the armed wing of Hamas, during a rally to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the Islamist movement's creation
AFP
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A Palestinian man carries the body of his daughter, who was killed during Israeli shelling, outside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City
AFP/Getty
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Palestinian girls play inside their school which was destroyed during the 50 days of conflict between Israel and Hamas last summer, in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City
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Members of Hamas security forces march during their graduation ceremony at the fisherman's port in Gaza City
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An Israeli soldier gestures in relief as he walks with comrades near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip after returning from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian coastal enclave
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An Israeli Merkava tank moves along a road near the border with the Gaza Strip, Southern Israel
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Palestinians attend Friday noon prayers next to a destroyed mosque was hit by Israeli strikes in Gaza City
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Palestinians attend Friday noon prayers in a destroyed mosque that was hit by Israeli strikes, in Gaza City, as Israel and Gaza militants resumed cross-border attacks after a three-day truce expired and Egyptian-brokered talks on a new border deal for blockaded Gaza hit a deadlock
AP Photo
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Palestinians attend Friday noon prayers in the shadow of a toppled minaret at a mosque that was hit by Israeli strikes in Gaza City, as Israel and Gaza militants resumed cross-border attacks after a three-day truce expired and Egyptian-brokered talks on a new border deal for blockaded Gaza hit a deadlock
AP
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Relatives mourn during the funeral of 10-year old Ibraheem al-Dawawsa. According to medics the child died in an Israeli airstrike on a mosque which is under construction. The boy is the first dead in Gaza after a 72-hours ceasefire
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A relative of Palestinian boy Ibrahim Al-Dawawsa, 12, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, grieves during his funeral in Gaza City
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Palestinians attend Friday noon prayers in a destroyed mosque that was hit by Israeli strikes, in Gaza City
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Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes in northern Gaza City. The Israeli army hit targets in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, after a three-day ceasefire ended and Egypt-mediated indirect talks failed to secure a longer truce
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A Palestinian man stands on the rubble of a home destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Rafah
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Israeli soldiers embrace each other as they sing at a staging area at an unspecified location near the Gaza border
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A shell lies on the ground at the heavily damaged Sobhi Abu Karsh school in Gaza City
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A shrapnel-holed wall in the Sobhi Abu Karsh school in Gaza City’s al-Shejaea neighbourhood
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Israeli soldiers celebrate after returning to Israel from Gaza
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Palestinian men ride a donkey cart past destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian inspects destroyed houses and the area where the Al-Wafaa hospital used to stand
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A Palestinian man holds his child in his destroyed home in Beit Hanoun
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Palestinian brothers sit on the rubble of their house in front of an apartment block in part of the northern Beit Hanun district of the Gaza Strip after a 72-hour truce accepted by Israel and Hamas came into effect
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A general view shows destruction in part of the northern Beit Hanun district of Gaza Strip at the beginning of a 72-hour truce accepted by Israel and Hamas
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A Palestinian carries his belongings from rubble of his destroyed house in Khoza-a neighbourhood in the east of Khanyounis town in the southern Gaza Strip
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Backdropped by the damaged minaret of the Al-Azba mosque, Palestinians inspect the damage to the Nada Towers residential neighborhood in the town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip
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Palestinians used pieces of cardboard as protection from the sun while queuing up in front of a bakery in Gaza City. A seven-hour humanitarian ceasefire called by Israel went into effect in most of the Gaza Strip, after an attack that killed 10 people at a UN-run school
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Palestinians carry bags as they return to check on what is left of their homes and businesses following the Israeli military offensive, close to the Rafah refugee camp, in southern Gaza Strip
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Civil defence workers and medics are searching the neighborhood looking for victims of the ongoing Israeli military operation which has killed some 1,829 Palestinians, mainly civilians in nearly one month
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A Palestinian man picks through rubble in a classroom inside a UN school that was hit by shelling
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A Palestinian man inspects the damage at a UN school at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip
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Palestinian civilians wounded during Israeli shelling in a UN school wait at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia
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Damage inside a classroom caused by Israeli shelling of the Abu Hussein UN school
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Palestinians walk next to the collapsed minaret of a destroyed mosque in Gaza City. It was destroyed in an overnight Israeli airstrike on Tuesday
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Palestinians who lost relatives in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a UN school in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, mourn outside the Kamal Edwin hospital in Beit Lahia where victims from the attack were brought
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Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City amid Israel's heaviest air and artillery assault in more than three weeks of Israel-Hamas fighting
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Palestinians who lost relatives in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a UN school in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, mourn outside the Kamal Edwin hospital in Beit Lahia
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Flames engulf the fuel tanks of the only power plant supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip after it was hit by overnight Israeli shelling, in the south of Gaza City
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Palestinians from a damaged apartment building inspect the damage to a neighboring building, the offices of the Hamas movement's Al-Aqsa satellite TV station, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, destroyed by an Israeli strike
AP
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An Israeli soldier prays on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip as smoke billows from a power plant following overnight Israeli shelling in the coastal Palestinian enclave. The only power plant supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip was knocked out of commission by Israeli shelling, deputy director of the energy authority in the Palestinian territory said
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A building within the Gaza port is seen on fire after several strikes
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The rubble of the house of the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, – pictured in the poster, hit by a pre-dawn Israeli strike, in Gaza City
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Smoke rises from Tuffah neighbourhood after Israeli air strikes in the east of Gaza City. Relentless bombardment has crippled the city’s infrastructure
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A woman wounded in an Israeli strike is taken to hospital in Beit Lahia, Gaza
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A Palestinian man walks in front of a fire raging at the Gaza's main power plant following an overnight Israeli airstrike, south of Gaza City
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Horses belonging to internally displaced Palestinians look for eatable things in the rubbish outside a UN school, which was transformed into a shelter in the Jabalia district, northern Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian girl poses while playing during the first day of Eid al-Fitr in a United Nations school.Muslims usually start the day by visiting cemeteries, to pay their respects to the dead, and then exchange family visits
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Palestinian Abir Shamaleh, left, sits next to the grave of her son Saher, a civilian according to the family, who was killed in an Israeli strike during the war, as members of the family visit a cemetery in Gaza City. Monday marked the beginning of the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, which caps the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan
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An Israeli army Merkava tank rolls along the border between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The UN Security Council joined US President Barack Obama in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel and Hamas ignored calls for a truce despite mounting civilian casualties
AFP
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A wounded Palestinian woman runs in the street after Israeli airstrikes in Al Tufah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City
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A Palestinian man cries after identifying the body of his loved one, killed in an Israeli strike, inside the morgue of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip
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Palestinian Ahmed Jadallah, center, 75, prepares a body for burial at the morgue of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian mother mourns over the body of her son, Abd al-Karim al-Shibari, who was killed after a UN school in the northern Beit Hanun district of the Gaza Strip was hit by an Israeli shell, at the morgue of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya
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Palestinian medics run carrying children, wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, into the emergency room of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya
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A Palestinian wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a UN school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, flashes the V-sign for "Victory" as he arrives on a stretcher at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City
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A Palestinian helps a relative, wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza City
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed house after Israeli airstrikes in Al Tufah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City
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Members of the El Ajramy family salvage some of their belongings from their house, which was destroyed by an overnight Israeli strike in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip
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Palestinians inspect the wreckage of a car following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
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A Palestinian helps his son who got injured when a UN school for refugees was allegedly hit by an Israeli tank shell in the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian man carries a child, wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, into the emergency room of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya
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Palestinian girls cry after their father was killed in a UN-operated school after an alleged Israeli attack in Beit Hanun town, northern Gaza strip
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Palestinian children, wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, cry as they lay on the floor at the emergency room of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya
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A Palestinian man cries over the body of his son who died when a UN school for refugees was, according to medics, hit by an Israeli tank shell in the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian youth carries a child, wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, into the emergency room of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya
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A pool of blood in a UN-operated school after an Israeli air strikes in Beit Hanun town, northern Gaza strip
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A Palestinian medic carries a wounded injured to a treatment room of Nasser hospital, following an Israeli airstrike at their family house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip
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A relative of two-year old Palestinian Salma Radiya killed by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell in the north of the Gaza Strip holds her body at the morgue of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia
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A Palestinian man carries his father as he and others run to take cover during an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip
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Palestinians paramedics run for cover from Israeli air strike during their search for injured people in the damaged area in Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood, during an Israeli military operation in the east Gaza City
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Palestinians flee during a two hour temporary ceasefire in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood
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A Palestinian man holds a copy of the Koran, Islam's holy book, near a heavily damaged mosque following an Israeli military strike in Gaza city
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Palestinian relatives of Tawfiq al -Aga, who medics said was killed in Israeli shelling, mourn during his funeral in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip
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Red cross staff arrive to the damaged area in Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood, during an Israeli military operation in the east Gaza City
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A Palestinian mother lies on the ground as she mourns the death of her son, who medics said was killed by Israeli shelling, at a hospital in Gaza City
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A relative of two-year old Palestinian Salma Radiya who was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell in the north of the Gaza Strip holds her body in the street outside the morgue of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia
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A mourner touches a wreath placed on the grave of fallen Israeli soldier Natan Cohen, killed during fighting in Gaza, during his funeral in the town of Modi'in, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
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A mourner reacts during the funeral for Israeli soldier Natan Cohen, killed during fighting in Gaza on Tuesday, in the town of Modi'in, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
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Soldiers carry the coffin of Sergeant Max Steinberg during his funeral in Jerusalem, Israel
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The parents of Sergeant Max Steinberg grieve at his coffin during his funeral in Jerusalem, Israel
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A Jewish worshipper takes part in a special prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City for the well-being of Israeli soldiers in Gaza
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A banner depicting the names of Palestinians killed in Israel's ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip hangs on the landmark Pigeon Rock in Beirut's Rawshe seafront
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An Israel officer with a bird on his shoulder speaks to his soldiers after they returned from a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, at an army deployment area near Israel's border with the besieged Palestinian territory, as the conflict entered its third week with neither side showing any sign of willingness to pull back
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Palestinian families who fled their homes from east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip ride on a car in their way to the city of Khan Younis
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Smoke from an Israeli strike rises over Gaza City
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An Israeli 155mm self-propelled howitzer fires from southern Israeli into the Gaza Strip
EPA
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The morgue attendant hands over the body to a relative of two-year-old Palestinian Lamar Radiya killed by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell in the north of the Gaza Strip
Getty Images
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A Palestinian man, in clothes stained with the blood of his father, who medics said was killed by Israeli shelling, mourns as he disembarks an ambulance transporting his father's body, at a hospital in Khan Younis
Reuters
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Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of Sgt. Max Steinberg, during his funeral at the Mount Herzel military cemetery in Jerusalem. Steinberg, a 24-year-old American citizen who grew up in Southern California's San Fernando Valley, was killed while fighting in Gaza
AP
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89/123 Southern Gaza Strip
Palestinian paramedics carry a six-month-old baby into the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia after he was injured in an Israeli strike in the norhtern Gaza Strip
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90/123 Southern Gaza Strip
A relative of Shahed Qishtah, a nine-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in an Israeli strike while playing, left the Kamal Adwan hospital where he brought her in Beit Lahia in the norhtern Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian child screams in pain at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip after she was hit by shrapnel during an Israeli military strike near her family house
Getty
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The father of a nine-year-old girl, Shahed Qishtah, leads a relative carrying her to hospital in Beit Lahia, Gaza; she died of her injuries
AFP/Getty Images
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An injured Palestinian at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah
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Mourning relatives of the Kelani family cry as they attend the funeral in Beit Lahiya, Gaza
EPA
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Brothers and family members of Ibrahim al-Kelani, the father and husband of a family of seven with dual Palestinian-German citizenship, attend his funeral in Beit Lahiya town in the northern Gaza Strip
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Relatives of Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant Abduallah El-Buhasi, who medics said was killed in an Israeli air strike, mourn during his funeral in Deir El-Balah in the central Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian woman runs to seek cover from tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers during clashes at a protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip, at Howwara checkpoint near the west bank city of Nablus
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Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood during a military operation in eastern Gaza City
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A member of Palestinian Selam family is rescued under the wreckage of their house, destroyed by an Israeli airstrike within the 'Operation Protective Edge'
Getty Images
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Firemen cut Palestinians free from the wreckage of the building, in which 11 Palestinians died and others injured following an Israel assault in Rimal, in Gaza City
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One member of Palestinian Selam family is is killed and 8 others get wounded after an Israeli airstrike, hit their hose and destroyed it within the 'Operation Protective Edge'
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A Palestinian man is helped to flee Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood, after an Israeli strike in the area
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of the destroyed Al Aqsa Martyrs' mosque in Gaza City
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Palestinian rescuers inspect the damage of Al-Shalam (Peace) tower, destroyed by an Israeli strike
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A Palestinian inspects the damage of the Al-Shalam (Peace) tower, destroyed by an Israeli strike
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A Palestinian walks inside the Al Aqsa Martyrs mosque destroyed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City
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Palestinians look at the remains of a mosque, which police said was hit in an Israeli air strike, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
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Palestinian firefighters extinguish fire at a house destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
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A Palestinian man stands on the wreckage of a car as he searches the rubble of his destroyed apartment for belongings following an Israeli air strike in the center of Gaza City
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Smoke rises as flames spread across buildings after Israeli strikes in the Shijaiyah neighborhood in Gaza City
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111/123 Northern city of Nazareth
Israeli riot police arrest an Arab Israeli man during clashes that followed a protest against Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip, in the northern city of Nazareth
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Israeli riot police keep watch during clashes that followed a protest against Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip, in the northern city of Nazareth
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Palestinians inspect a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in the Gaza City
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Palestinian medics tend to a boy who they said was wounded in an Israeli shelling, at a hospital, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
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Palestinian medics from Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital react while body bags with the remain of ten children arrive after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
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116/123 Sderot, Israel
Israeli soldiers stand near their tank while smoke due to airstrikes and shelling rises from Gaza near Sderot
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Israeli soldiers of the 155mm artillery cannons unit fire towards the Gaza Strip from their position near Israel's border with the coastal Palestinian enclave
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An Israeli tank manoeuvres outside the northern Gaza Strip
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Israeli cannon fires artillery shells from an artillery unit near the Israeli border with Gaza
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The parents of 32-year-old Israeli army captain Tzafrir Bar-Or, a commander of the Golani Brigade killed the previous day fighting a group of Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, mourn over his coffin during his funeral in the central town of Holon, near Tel Aviv
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121/123 Holon, near Tel Aviv
An Israeli female soldier mourns during the funeral of 32-year-old Israeli army captain Tzafrir Bar-Or, a commander of the Golani Brigade killed the previous day fighting a group of Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, in the central town of Holon, near Tel Aviv
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Family members of Major Tsafrir Bar-Or mourn and cry during his funeral in Holon. Major Tsafrir was killed during the operation 'Protective Edge'
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An Israeli soldier inspects an Israeli home allegedly hit by a Hamas rocket in Sderot
Other spokesmen have repeated this line, and maybe soon they’ll take it to the next stage, claiming that the Palestinians we see howling with anguish about their dead children have been trained at a special Hamas acting school. Directors yell, “One more rehearsal everyone, now as soon as we’ve blown up our toaster we want all the cast kneeling and sobbing, give it everything loves, everything, then we’ll go for a take.”
As the bombing continues I expect we’ll hear more reasons why the Palestinians are to blame for being bombed. An Israeli minister will say, “These people in Gaza are always complaining that they live in a densely populated area, so we’re trying to help them out by reducing the population as much as we can to give them more space. But they’re still not happy. Some people are never satisfied.”
The Israelis insist they give warnings before bombing somewhere, and in general we all forgive someone bombing a school as long as they let you know they’re doing it five minutes in advance. Given how crowded the area is, and the scale of the bombing, any warning might seem fairly useless unless it gives you instructions on how to fly or escape into another dimension like Doctor Who, but at least the intention is there.
Now they’re calling up another 16,000 reservists, but if they don’t think they’re managing to do enough damage already, a better strategy might be to scrap their F16 bombers that clearly aren’t up to the job, and replace them with some booby-trapped toasters as apparently they’re more effective.
In less enlightened times, those responsible for such murder would be snarled at in the street and their pictures displayed on newspapers under inflammatory headlines. But thankfully we’re growing more liberal, and can only regret that more thought wasn’t given to treating murderers kindly in the past.
Poor Fred West, for example, instead of barely being given a chance to make his case, could have sat in televison studios saying, “Of course I regret the deaths of civilians. But you have to understand these people I murdered could be a bloody nuisance. I was lured into killing them, and I’m not even sure I did kill them until I’ve carried out my own investigation. Some of them kill themselves to get sympathy by booby-trapping their ironing boards, you know.”
As times change, maybe Netanyahu and his spokesmen will become more forthright, and organise “Child Murderer Pride” in which child murderers can get together for a procession and carnival, where they can at last feel safe, and no longer feel looked down on for carrying out their basic human right to bomb a school to bits.
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