In a stunning new piece, New York Times reporter Lauren Leatherby sheds light on the insanely high number of Palestinian civilians who have perished as a result of Israel's military campaign in Gaza. That campaign has included intense aerial bombardment of north Gaza and airstrikes [00:00:19] targeting hospitals, refugee camps, UN buildings, mosques and churches. And while Palestinians in northern Gaza have been displaced by forced evacuations to the south, that region of the strip has also been suffering airstrikes [00:00:34] by the Israeli Defense Forces. Now, in this new New York Times article, Leatherby notes that civilians are being killed at a historic pace. In fact, people are being killed in Gaza more quickly than in the deadliest moments [00:00:50] of the US led attacks in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Now, keep in mind that those US led attacks were widely criticized both by us and by human rights groups, but those also happen to be the same attacks invoked [00:01:07] by the Israeli government in an effort to justify the IDF's brutality in Gaza. Now, if you take the Israelis at face value, you'd think you'd believe they're being tactical, careful and mindful of civilians [00:01:22] to prevent the high volume of casualties. The times notes that Israeli forces say they use the smallest available ordnance to achieve their strategic objectives, in order to cause the minimal adverse effect on civilians. [00:01:37] In fact, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, who serves as an IDF spokesperson, emphasizes this claim repeatedly in cable news appearances and in print journalist interviews. Now we do a lot in order to prevent and where possible, minimize the killing [00:01:56] or wounding of civilians. We focus on Hamas, he says. But the numbers make it pretty clear that his statement isn't really rooted in reality. Women and children account for nearly 70% of all deaths reported in Gaza, [00:02:11] even though most combatants are men. An extraordinary statistic Rick Brennan, the regional emergency director for the World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean office, said at an event this month. According to estimates from the independent British research group [00:02:30] known as Iraq Body Count, more women and children have been reported killed in Gaza in less than two months than the roughly 7700 civilians documented as killed by US forces and their international allies in the entire first [00:02:48] year of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I'm just really going to ask you to let that information sink in, because that is unbelievable. That is stunning. And guess what? A similar theme plays out when you compare the death toll in Gaza to the number [00:03:05] of civilians the United States killed in Afghanistan, but the numbers are even more insane when you consider the length of time in which these civilians were killed. The number of women and children reported killed in Gaza has already started to approach the roughly 12,400 civilians documented to have been killed [00:03:25] by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan during nearly 20 years of war. And that's according to Neta Crawford, a University of Oxford professor who is co-director of Brown University's Cost of War project. [00:03:41] Now, in its analysis, The Times chose to use the most conservative estimates of Palestinian casualties. Now, The Washington Post, by contrast, recently noted that more than 14,000 Palestinians have been killed. Now, with that in mind, in the nine month battle of Mosul, [00:03:59] which Israeli officials have cited as a comparison, an estimated total of 9000 to 11,000 civilians were killed by all sides in the conflict, including many thousands killed by the Islamic State. And that's according to the Associated Press. [00:04:15] A similar number of women and children have already been reported killed in Gaza in less than two months. Clearly, this comparative analysis provided by The Times really helps to put Israel's brutal war in Gaza in perspective. [00:04:32] For example, we've been reading and watching pundit after pundit condemn Vladimir Putin as an evil butcher following his invasion into Ukraine. And look, to be clear, Putin absolutely should be condemned, no question about it. [00:04:47] But one should ask why the same condemnations aren't being uttered about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's far right government. More than twice as many women and children have already been reported killed in Gaza [00:05:03] than have been confirmed killed in Ukraine, according to United Nations figures, after almost two years of Russian attacks. More children have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli assault began, then in the world's major conflict zones, combined across two dozen countries [00:05:23] during all of last year. Even with the war in Ukraine, according to UN tallies of verified child deaths in armed conflict. Now, Israel said it had engaged more than 15,000 targets before reaching [00:05:38] a brief ceasefire in recent days. And of course, that's all about the hostage exchanges. But it is not just the scale of the strikes. It's also the high civilian death toll having a lot to do with the weaponry provided to them by the United States. [00:05:56] And that includes us made 200 0 pound bombs that can flatten apartment buildings. In one documented case, for instance, Israel used at least two 2,000 pound bombs during an October 31st airstrike on Jabalia, a densely populated area just [00:06:14] north of Gaza City, flattening buildings and creating impact craters 40ft wide, according to an analysis of satellite images, photos and videos by The New York Times, Airwars independently confirmed that at least 126 civilians were killed, [00:06:30] more than half of them children. Experts say that Israel's use of these weapons in a region as densely populated as Gaza is shocking. Marc Garlasco, a military adviser for the Dutch organization Pax [00:06:46] and a former senior intelligence analyst at the Pentagon, said of Israel's use of these bombs, quote, it's beyond anything that I've ever seen in my career. And to find a historical comparison for so many large bombs in such a small area. [00:07:04] He also said that you may have to go back to Vietnam or the Second World War in fighting during this century, by contrast. US military officials have believed that the most common American aerial bomb, a 500 pound weapon, was far too large for most targets [00:07:21] when battling the Islamic State in urban areas like Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria. And after initially questioning the death toll in Gaza, the Biden administration now concedes that the true figures for civilian casualties may be even worse. [00:07:40] Barbara Leaf, the assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, told a House committee this month that American officials thought the civilian casualties were very high, frankly, and it could be that they're even higher than are being cited. [00:07:56] So what exactly does Netanyahu have to say for himself? I mean, he points to atrocities committed by other nation states in the past, right? I mean, he cited the accidental bombing of a children's hospital by Britain's Royal Air Force when it was targeting the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen [00:08:14] in 1945, during visits to Israel by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Israeli officials privately invoked the 1945 US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which together tragically killed more than 100,000 people. [00:08:31] In other words, Netanyahu and members of his coalition government have been engaging in endless. What aboutism. So let me do the same. What about the modern international laws of war that were developed in response to the very atrocities committed during World War Two? [00:08:49] You know, the atrocities that he likes to point to as an excuse for what Israel is currently carrying out. In 1949, the Geneva Conventions codified protections for civilians during wartime, making clear that militaries must not target civilians directly [00:09:04] or indiscriminately bombed civilian areas. The Geneva Conventions also state that accidental harm and the killing of civilians must not exceed the direct military advantage to be gained. And guess what? [00:09:20] On July 6th, 1951, the newly formed State of Israel ratified the Geneva Conventions, making it one of 196 countries to do so at the time. But Netanyahu certainly doesn't act like that ratification ever occurred, [00:09:36] since he insists on using atrocities committed before the Geneva Conventions as an excuse to brutalize and slaughter Palestinian civilians. But one thing is clear in an era where all we would get is one side of the story [00:09:53] that tended to justify the actions of the Israeli government and the IDF, it is a breath of fresh air to see analysis like this a sobering look at the number of civilian deaths, a comparative analysis showing just the unusual high volume of [00:10:11] civilian casualties compared to other wars that have taken place in recent years. This is important reporting. And when you know, when legacy media outlets like the New York Times put out reports like this, they should get positive reinforcement. [00:10:27] They should be applauded for it. Obviously, The New York Times isn't perfect. Obviously the Washington Post isn't perfect. Obviously CNN isn't perfect, but there are these little breakthroughs in their reporting that really give you a realistic look at what's happening on the ground in Gaza. [00:10:43] And I will thank them for doing that, because I know the kind of attacks that they might receive for doing so. Right. Allegations of anti-Semitism, allegations that they don't believe in Israel's right to exist. Absolute, complete, utter nonsense. That's only meant to silence people, including journalists, [00:11:00] of which, by the way, 67 have been killed as a result of this war and the IDF's aerial bombardment of Gaza. So a lot of this stuff you should keep in mind as you hear propaganda, to be clear from both sides, you need to look at the civilian casualties. [00:11:17] You need to question whether or not the actions taken by the IDF are going to lead to peace for the Israeli people in the long run, or whether what they're engaging in only serves to breed more extremist ideology. [00:11:33] And I would venture to say that is what's happening right now. And it's a damn shame because innocent lives are being lost. And in the end, no one is likely to be safer as a result of it. If you enjoyed this video, that's because of our members. They make us independent. They make us strong, and they make us honest. [00:11:50] Become a member today by hitting the join button below.