A main courthouse in Gaza has been destroyed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), according to several Israel media outlets.

Footage, showing the demolition of the Palace of Justice, was published on 4 December by Israel media.

  • SilverserenOP
    link
    fedilink
    651 year ago

    And this wasn’t from bombing or shelling or anything like that. The IDF went in and set up physical explosive charges to demolish the building.

    What could even be the excuse for doing something like this?

    • @machinin@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      611 year ago

      For people committing genocide, it’s important to destroy the cultural fabric of their victims.

    • @filister@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 year ago

      Isn’t it already obvious what the end goal of Israel is? Israel wants to make Gaza inhabitable and get rid of all Palestinians there. They also want all of Jerusalem and all of the West Bank. And if you try to raise your voice you are immediately condemned as antisemite.

    • @Stamau123@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -6
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      It’s been stated since the start that ending hamas as a political force was a goal. Part of that is destroying any government infrastructure, including this.

      Even in the article it says > Israel has reportedly taken down dozens of Hamas government buildings since its ground operations began at the end of October.

      Edit: down voted for saying courthouses are government buildings? Please.

      • SilverserenOP
        link
        fedilink
        161 year ago

        But that just means any and all infrastructure, since Hamas is the group in control.

        It’s basically admitting to wanting to completely destroy any form of livelihood that exists for Palestinians as a people.

    • @Stovetop@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -71 year ago

      I mean, I get it. I don’t support it, but I get it. Hamas is the government of Gaza, and Israel is trying to overthrow Hamas. This is a Hamas building that they use to exert power, which is Israel’s justification for destroying it.

      • SilverserenOP
        link
        fedilink
        201 year ago

        The issue is then any and every building can be justified as being a “Hamas building” just because they were the group in charge.

          • SilverserenOP
            link
            fedilink
            41 year ago

            Government buildings would make up most of the major and largest buildings in Gaza.

          • @evranch@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -31 year ago

            Hamas is famous for brutal and public executions in the name of justice. I can definitely see the courthouse being a symbol of terror for the local population, and something you would tear down when attempting to remove a tyrannical government.

              • BraveSirZaphod
                link
                fedilink
                61 year ago

                Er, they absolutely did destroy the Bastille. The revolutionary leader Mirabeau started it himself.

                I mean we can disagree on the morality of things, but let’s at least keep the facts correct. You’ll find that you cannot visit the Bastille today. Because the Revolutionaries demolished it as a symbol of the monarchy.

                  • BraveSirZaphod
                    link
                    fedilink
                    51 year ago

                    On the contrary, it’s incredibly believable, because people generally care much more about their own personal emotional validation than anything annoying that might get in the way of that, like facts.

                    All while simultaneously circlejerking over how rational and logical we all are, as opposed to those idiot conservatives!

                    Snark aside, I’ve started to believed that, any time people get emotionally or socially attached to some issue - which includes their own identity as a “good person” - their brains simply shut off, and it takes a level of active work and elevation of truth over validation to overcome that on any platform like this.

      • livus
        link
        fedilink
        71 year ago

        @Stovetop it doesn’t make any sense.

        Buildings are inanimate parts of civil infrastructure. They don’t have allegience to whichever administration is currently using them.

          • livus
            link
            fedilink
            01 year ago

            @BraveSirZaphod unlike the person above I don’t think that’s a very good comparison.

            When citizens affect a regime change of their society themselves, they are in a position to decide which amenities to keep for their future use and which they can do without.

            When a hostile outside force is affecting a regime change, destroying civil infrastructure so that whoever is left can’t use it after the war, is a form of salting the earth.

        • @Stovetop@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          41 year ago

          Buildings are more than just the bricks they’re made of. They’re symbols which are associated with the regimes and social institutions that made them.

          For instance, the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 was not random choice, it was because the buildings stood for capitalistic greed and the way in which the United States wields capitalism as a weapon to exert dominance against other nations.

          I think it’s a waste, this whole war is an atrocity and Israel should have stopped at day 1, but it’s not like the destruction of this building is just a spite move against the common people. It’s a courthouse used to enforce laws from a regime that the invading force is trying to overthrow. It’s like the British burning down the White House in the War of 1812.

          • livus
            link
            fedilink
            2
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            @Stovetop which the British should not have done. But this is not an isolated incident; it’s in a wider context of civil architecture destruction:

            Among the buildings destroyed or partially destroyed are the main Palestinian court in Gaza, known as the Justice Palace, the Palestinian Legislative Council complex, 339 education facilities and 167 places of worship, while 26 of the territory’s 35 hospitals are not functioning.

            Hugh Lovatt, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, suggested Israel was “deliberately and methodically destroying the civil institutions and infrastructure that will be needed to govern and stabilise post-conflict Gaza”.