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Civilian Casualties: Does U.S. Hold Itself to Same High Standards It Holds Israel?

(New York Post) Editorial - In August 2014, the State Department called Israel's shelling of a UN school in Gaza "disgraceful," adding: "The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians." This week AP reporter Matt Lee asked Deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner about U.S. policy in light of Saturday's U.S. bombing of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that left 22 patients and staff dead. While Toner apologized for the loss of life and stressed that the U.S. avoids civilian casualties, he told Lee to "give me a pass [while] we wait for the investigation to run its course." His response flies in the face of last year's instantaneous criticism of Israel - made long before any investigation had even begun. Enemies like the Taliban, Hamas and Hizbullah quite intentionally hide among civilians, using them as human shields. Israel has known that for a long time - and now the Obama administration is painfully coming to learn it, too.
2015-10-07 00:00:00
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