Human shields double standard, Israeli leaders in underground bases in populated areas which Israel condemned Gaza for

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

Israel attacking Iran and Iran attacking back has driven Israeli leaders underground and required US media to gingerly note the IDF maintains underground bases in “populated areas”. I wrote about this awkward fact and US media’s racist and cheesy “human shields” double standard.

https://www.columnblog.com/p/israeli-leaders-hiding-in-tunnels

Israel attacking Iran and Iran attacking back has driven Israeli leaders underground and required US media to gingerly note the IDF maintains underground bases in “populated areas”. I wrote about this awkward fact and US media’s racist and cheesy “human shields” double standard.

— Adam H Johnson (@ahjohnson.bsky.social) 2025-06-16T20:27:47.254Z

Israeli Leaders Hiding in Tunnels, Underground IDF Bases in ‘Populated Areas’: US Media’s Human Shields Double Standard

Why is Jake Tapper not lamenting the IDF doing the exact same things he accuses Hamas of doing?

ADAM JOHNSON
JUN 16, 2025

Human Shields discourse has always been a brainless, dehumanizing talking point—a way for liberals to hand-wave away the endless slaughter in Gaza and, better yet, pin the obscene death toll of Palestinians on “Hamas” or other militants. Hamas, the argument goes, “embeds itself among the civilian population” and thus takes moral responsibility for any carnage Israel’s jet fighters, snipers, and shelling visit upon a largely defenseless and besieged Gaza population. It’s a convenient talking point, to say the least. It feels superficially true, appeals to people’s racist reptile brains, and gives Israel license to kill as many civilians as possible because, we are constantly reminded by US media, virtually all of Gaza is over tunnels and thus contains 2 million human shields. It’s cheap, it's easy, and—most important of all—gets Western leaders funneling bombs to Israel off the hook, which is always the place everyone must end up.

Israel’s unprovoked attack on Iran last week, and Iran’s subsequent attack on Israel, however, has exposed just how hollow this talking point is. Let us examine a recent throw-away line in a New York Times article explaining the latest escalation. It’s noteworthy because reporter Isabel Kershner casually admits that Israel, based on US media’s criteria for Hamas, is engaging in textbook human shielding:

“the [Israeli] military maintains bases and camps in many populated areas, as well as in more remote parts of the country. A residential tower block that suffered a direct hit early Saturday is part of a popular entertainment district, filled with cafes and restaurants. It is also close to the main military and government headquarters in Tel Aviv, which was most likely the intended target.”


In response to the Times report, former head of Human Rights Watch Ken Roth tweeted out, “Israel's close intermingling of military and civilian sites makes it difficult to know what Iran is aiming its missiles at. When Hamas does this in the tiny Gaza Strip, Israel accuses it of using human shields.”


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