what will the propagation of imagery of war crimes via the internet to countless viewers do to the populations of complicit nations? do you speculate it will break resistance by a kind of inoculation to despair and powerlessness or increase it?
What shooting-up an ambulance looks like:
https://video.nostr.build/fe6df79ee76ebcbaf1c6b45f49a501ae0f043f7e776032dfb78ea4f73059e714.mp4
War crimes are not crimes because they are cruel and brutal.
(All war is cruel and brutal.)
War crimes are crimes because they are, also, counterproductive for achieving normal State strategic goals.
Attacking undefended ambulances and hospitals, whether with guided missiles, 120mm HEAT, 40mm autocannon fire, or merely automatic rifles like this time, gains zero military advantage, but motivates the enemy to fight on against your side regardless of costs because you are clearly monsters.
This is why all the (mostly-evil) governments that signed the Geneva Conventions agreed not to do it. And don't. Unless they're already committing genocide and just want to impress their own people (and others) with their power.
Discussion
I haven’t read this yet, will put it here for later https://www.commentary.org/articles/susan-sontag/the-imagination-of-disaster/
Interesting, and the writer is very well researched in his subject material (B-movies!).
But I didn't find a meaningful criticism that is not also true of "The Epic of Gilgamesh", or the Mahabharata...
Israel is closer to being a democracy than Australia, or anything in the EU.
There are many Israelis out here right now, draft-dodging or just afraid. I don't doubt most support land theft and genocide (democracy), but they also don't want to pay any personal or even social price in return for the fruits.
By spreading awareness, we increase the social costs of voting for monsters. There are other, institutional, tracks we could and should pursue, but raised eyebrows and sharp questions are "permissionless".