and they lie and they lie and they lie
Col. John Spencer Joins JCFA as Fellow
Col. John Spencer has been appointed aresearch fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and ForeignAffairs (JCFA).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Spencer_(military_officer)Opinions on Israeli invasion of Gaza
See also: Israeliinvasion of the Gaza Strip (2023–present)
John Spencer has stated that the Israeli military has created a "newstandard" consisting of a multitude of novel precautionarymeasures it has implemented during its invasion of the Gaza Strip,including mass calling and texting of Gazan civilians, giving themdays or weeks to evacuate, as well as Israel's roofknocking before airstrikes.[13][14]He has stated that these are practices that no military has everimplemented before.[15]Although a foreign policy advisor of Netanyahu has claimed thatSpencer said "Israel sets the gold standard in terms ofpreserving civilian lives",[16]Spencer has refuted this, pointing out that "Israel has notcreated a gold standard in civilian harm mitigation in war. That[would imply] there is a standard in civilian casualties in war thatis acceptable or not acceptable".[13]Nevertheless, many commentators have used this "gold standard"phrase and Spencer's name in several critiques of Israel in relationto civilian casualties in Gaza.[3]
John Spencer praised Israel's ratio of civilian casualties in Gaza as"historically low for modern warfare," citing IDF claimsthat 50-60% of Gazans killed were civilians and previous estimates of80-90% of casualties in modern conflicts being civilians.[17]While these claims were later picked up by Netanyahu, ProfessorMichael Spagatof the Universityof London writes that the statistics Spencer cites, and hisconclusions, are both false.[18]The myth that 80-90% of casualties in war are civilians was popularamong government officials in the 1990s, but by 2010 it had beendebunked by the RedCross, WorldHealth Organization and others.[19]Spagat points out that the UppsalaConflict Data Program database of wars (1989-2017) shows 42–55%of casualties are civilians in modern warfare; in urban warfare,40–70% of casualties are civilians.[18]Spagat also estimates that 80% of Gaza casualties are civilians,concluding that civilian casualties in Gaza are higher than theaverage for both urban warfare and modern warfare.[18]
Larry Lewis of Centerfor Naval Analyses has criticized Spencer's positions.[3]He argues that IDF's order for 1 million Gazans to evacuate fromnorthern Gaza to southern Gaza in 24 hour was deemed practicallyimpossible by experts,[20]and that Israel attackedcivilians while they were evacuating and then again once thecivilians were in southern Gaza. Lewis also questions theeffectiveness of communication with cell phones, given widespreaddestruction of Gaza's infrastructure; and that interviews with Gazansafter the 2014war showed that the effectiveness of roof knocking was mixed dueto confusion among civilians caused by Israel's tactics.[3]
