Per Reuters: Palestinian women killed in Gaza mosque clash

Two Palestinian women acting as human shields between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen were killed on Friday during a stand-off at a Gaza mosque, before the 60 gunmen managed to escape.

…

More than 280 Palestinians have been killed in the four-month-old offensive, about half of them civilians. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed.

Yes, they were acting as human shields. Yes, they put themselves in harms way. Yet the Israelis were wrong to fire into the crowd.

The whole idea of the nation state, of being civilized, of being part of the community of nations is that you are to hold yourself to a higher standard. When a nation becomes a terrorist it has sunk into a paradigm that makes brute force and anarchy its operating principal.

So what were the alternatives?

• Wait it out (from protected positions with massive firepower)?
• Prevent the women from entering the area in the first place (they knew they were coming and followed the call-out for these women, and they saw them approaching)?

Perhaps this is part of the new strategy precipitated by the far-right’s entry into Israel’s ruling coalition. As Mr. Lieberman has said, bomb the population centers.

As the Jerusalem Post reports:

Lieberman accused the Times editorial board of “old thinking” and said it was time to “go back to the drawing board” to reevaluate the goals of the peace process.

Yep, we’re re-evaluated peace, go kill those women.