Israel is still on the defensive against war crimes allegations for their conduct in Gaza and it doesn't seem that the pressure will be going away anytime soon. The United Kingdom has announced that it is going to review all its weapons exports to Israel due to the war in Gaza and Ehud Olmert Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak and seven
senior Israel Defense Forces officers may
face war crimes charges in Norway.
Israel has been trying to clear its name. It is doubtful that the IDF's own investigation, which found that "no civilians were purposefully harmed by IDF troops during Operation Cast Lead," will do much to assuage critics, but Israel is taking a multimedia approach. The Israeli Consulate in New York City posted the following video on their blog earlier today as part of the information campaign. It is a slick video game-like simulation of the Israeli military fighting in Gaza:
Many of the allegations in this video have been disproved elsewhere, such as UNRWA schools being used to fire missile attacks on Israel during the fighting. Others are clearly more complicated than come across in the video, like the tunnels. It is true, I'm sure, that some weapons have been brought into Gaza through the tunnels, but they are used much more often to bring in necessary food and supplies that Gazans are denied through the collective punishment of the siege on Gaza. But then again I guess video games aren't necessary known for their nuance. And neither is propaganda.
