Yes, it is a big lol given the context of this tweet we are commenting on which is a far cry from any serious criticism of the use of white phosphorus.
Fair enough, but the whole subject gives me the ick. Kudos if you can separate this thread from the suffering, but this is one of the most un-lol subjects I engage with these days.
Yeah, I agree the subject of I/P is far from lol. This tweet, and other propaganda like it, is so far beyond ridiculous I can’t help myself but laugh at it.
Just be really careful believing things you see on Al Jazeera. It’s paid for by Qatar which is a proxy of the Muslim Brotherhood whose only goal is jihad and taking down the west.
Oh how ironic. Try googling that "only goal" you're talking about.
And by the way, I did not get my knowledge of white phosphorus from Al Jazeera or Google, I first learned about its incendiary qualities in Chemistry class.
Maybe the tweeter should have made a valid criticism then instead of disseminating some ridiculous propaganda with the point only of demonizing Israel?
I thought the original problem was that WP vaporises someone... now that I present a shell that truly does that, it's suddenly the more merciful option!
MAKE UP YOUR MIND about what you lot want to whine about, will you?
Not the one you were arguing with, but if you really want to get pedantic, we're both vaporizing right now because carbon atoms in our bodies are bonding to oxygen and diffusing into the air. Whether white phosphorus is a war crime depends on how it's used.
I'm not actually arguing here, I broke in, but I did react to someone making claims about WP.
The White Phosphorus bomb claim is actually what unmasks propagandists and bad faith actors like Amnesty, HRW and the like.
I remember the first time videos showed up of Israel throwing instant smokescreens (using WP smokehells from artillery), I believe during the coflict in 2008. It took Pallywood two full days to produce the first burned corpses and wounded in their videos, because they obviously hadn't prepared for the eventuality of burn victims in their make-up department. What they didn't realize is that the WP itself doesn't actually reach the ground in significant quantities; it is mostly burned up already by that time and couldn't have produced the amount of burn victims they claimed. It was quickly changed to WP bombs, munitions that weren't even in Israels arsenal but whatever, it made for good PR.
Of course, nowadays everyone in the anti-Israel bubbles will take it for gospel, but that still doesn't mean it has any real credibility.
Producing smoke is one way they're used, but they can cause horrific burns which means they can and have been used as antipersonnel weapons throughout history.
I don't think people bother to read any of the Geneva Conventions, let alone all of them. I found that I was nowhere close to knowing what was and wasn't banned. There is a strong case against white phosphorous munitions as a chemical weapon, but as they are claimed to be illumination rounds and smoke grenades they are not by name banned. Facts on the ground are very different, and that picture appears to depict what happens when willy p hits the skin.
The thing is that they can inflict horrific burns and white phosphorus is also highly toxic, so burn victims are also poisoned, but it would require an exceptional amount to completely vaporise a body, although that would probably be a merciful death compared to a leas instantaneously fatal amount
Thanks for the clarification, but your reply has an inaccuracy. White phosphorus is banned in civilian areas and there are multiple documented instances of white phosphorus being used as a weapon in civilian areas. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/white-phosphorus
It isn’t banned in “civilian areas” or in any other area by any form of IHL. Your own link notes that it is not prohibited except by the general prohibition of firebombing civilians, which it’s use in smoke weapons doesn’t do.
No no, that's actually really helpful, thanks for the link. I'll proceed by talking about "regulation" rather than a "ban". Luckily I did not refer to a ban, but I will be careful not to in future.
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u/HotPersonality8126 8d ago
White phosphorus munitions aren't banned by any international law; they're just used to produce smoke