Israel deploys robo-snipers on Gaza border

Reinventing British Rule

"Nobody has any business approaching our border fence," an unnamed Israeli official told Opall-Rome. "It's well-understood that this area is off-limits..."

"All in all, the Israeli gun-bot..." Gun-bot diplomacy reinventing British Gun Boat diplomacy. Progress marches on.

Robot Executioner

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1751369,00.html

"The attorney general was last night called on to seek war crimes charges against five Israeli officers after an inquest jury found that a soldier under their command intentionally killed a British peace activist in Gaza. Tom Hurndall, 22, died after being shot in broad daylight by an Israeli soldier who later said his commanders had issued orders allowing him to shoot even unarmed civilians. "

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1126/p07s01-wome.html

"The killing of Iman al-Homs, 13, was graphically brought into living rooms Tuesday night on Israel's Channel Two television, complete with a recording of internal communications as a group of soldiers identified her as a child, shot her, and their commanding officer "verified" her killing with more shots. Iman, a short, slight girl wearing a school uniform and carrying a schoolbag, had entered an off-limits area and was spotted about 100 yards away from an Israeli position during the Oct. 5 incident in Rafah, Gaza Strip.

After the "verification," the company commander, identified only as Captain R., sums up by telling his soldiers: "Anyone that moves in the zone, even if it is a 3-year-old boy, should be killed."

I'll bet...

that they don't run Windoze.....

Civilians

"We don't want to risk making tragic and politically costly mistakes with such a lethal system."

The Israeli army don't seem to mind this either as they shot two 13 year olds last week in Gaza.

how long before they're hacked?

by people sympathetic to the Palestinian's cause, and start shooting israelis instead?

What they call a mistake is...

when they shoot their own civilians. The system is capable of a 360 angle fire and on one side of the border they have their own civilians. The idf needs the operators to make sure they only shoot non israeli children, not their own. Currently this is the only accident that would be considered a mistake. Current machine vision systems can only recognise targets by their size and movement speed and not their nationality or intentions.

13yo carry bombs too

Sad, but I see their point. Anyone recall Vietnam, where they tied grenades to children and sent them running at the soldiers?

Testing?

Any new system needs testing. I can see this 'interesting' piece of technology going horribly wrong. It simply sounds like a modern alternative to a mine field. Defend yourself by all means but deploying mindless killing machines is going to potentially kill the people being protected or fail when you need them the most.

In the meanwhile building a tunnel starts to become a viable option for those determined to get in. Suicidal possibly but then that is probably their idea.

Not without precedent?

Much as I deplore the killing of children, can anyone who's decrying it here tell me that young teenage children have never been used as bombers in the Israel/Palestine conflict?

As I seem to remember that they have been the following applies: If I'm an Isaeli soldier (my job being to protect myself and my follow citizens) and I have knowledge of "a short, slight (child)...............carrying a (bag)" in the past being a bomber, you're damned right I'm going to shoot - particularly if that "short, slight" child (who, presumably, can read warning signs) is wandering in a prohibited area.

Rather than endless rounds of "my side good, your side bad" and given that Isael and Palestine have each acted atrociously over the many years of this conflict, I'd much rather see "a plague on both your houses" arguments being made to isolate each of these countries until they can find a way to make peace.

I've seen "Aliens...

...The Director's Cut"

This can only end badly.

Look out the Vietcong are behind you

"Anyone recall Vietnam, where they tied grenades to children and sent them running at the soldiers?"

This is robo-sniper 5000, lay down your weapons and step away from the wall.

Ga ga goo goo ga ga.

Second warning, lay down your weapons and step away from the wall.

Ma ma

Bang bang bang bang bang bang. Threat neutralized. Due process observed. baby suspected of being Vietcong.

-----

The IDF officer that shot the little girl was in a big concrete tower, she was 100 yards away, he didn't fire a single warning shot, she was a child, this isn't Vietnam, it was cold blooded murder.

The IDF soldier that shot the peace protester explained he was given order to shoot UNARMED civilians. That's a war crime, even his officer didn't see them as a threat.

It's not specific to Israel, if Israeli's were in Gaza and Palestinians were shooting their children from towers, with or without robot sniper assistance I'd be calling them murdering monsters too.

"make peace"

"Rather than endless rounds of "my side good, your side bad" and given that Isael and Palestine have each acted atrociously over the many years of this conflict, I'd much rather see "a plague on both your houses" arguments being made to isolate each of these countries until they can find a way to make peace."

Or bomb each other to oblivion, which, lets face it, is far more likley.

Mr Blackey

You're a credit to the Daily Mail readership, sir. Keep up the good work.

I want one!

We need these on the US/Mexican border.

And I could use one too, with some Jehovah's Witnesses recognition software. Should be easy to code something up that keys on "two old ladies and a pram" or "two guys in dress shirt & tie with smarmy expressions"

Do they take credit cards or Paypal?

Seriously though, after watching the crap that people pull in Iraq, I'm sure it's not any different in the Gaza strip. I'd have my finger on the trigger too with that many people wanting to kill me. EVERYBODY would be considered a threat unless I knew them personally.

Here's a clue: don't go into protected military areas guarded by Israeli soldiers with itchy trigger fingers. There's always some idiot willing to push things until he gets shot, just to see if they're serious.

That's the way Jim

We all remember how many times the Israelis have blown up the London Tube.

Make sure we never forget they're evil no matter who the suicide bombers are.

Whereas in the UK

nothing like that ever happens, and no-one has ever been shot for carrying a table leg down the highstreet, or getting on a tube train looking foreign, or sitting in a car with someone who might be the girlfriend of an escaped convict.

Here, let us help you with that mote in your eye...

Hmmm.

I wonder how well it will stand up to the much cheaper ammo-depleting silhouette-waving bot.

Firepower upgrades

No matter how much automated firepower the Israelis set up to defend their illegally stolen land, and how many people they kill - it's nice to know that the British government will sit back and do nothing because America is giving the thumbs up.

How long do we have to follow along before we join Israel and US as the world's most hated nations (BBC global poll)?

Yeah, Precedent

John A Blackley - Israel has conscription. Every child will join the army. Therefore you'd agree using your logic, every Israeli child is a viable target as they'll grow up to be a soldier?

You can never justify murdering a child.

Not Long

Though I'd love an explanation of exactly how it serves either the UK or US national interest to support Israel. We could be doing a roaring trade with the Middle East if they didn't hate us so much.

It really doesn't matter whether or not you support Isreal, they will still hate you.

Under Islamic Law.

1) Convert from Islam, they kill you.

2) Attempt to convert someone from Islam, they kill you.

3) Marry an Islamic woman when you are not, they kill you.

4) Say something bad about Mohammed or his wives, they kill you.

5) Kill someone defending Islam, but it was a "mistake", pay a fine of $40,000.

Not a follower of Islam, but live among them?

You can stay, provided you live as a 3rd class citizen and pay additional

taxes.

I do believe the way Isreal was formed was a mistake. Have you ever seen

the maps for the original territory? Looks like swiss cheese.

They should have made Jerusalem an international "world" city that was

neutral with everyone have the right to visit their holy places in peace.

Of course you still have to deal with the fact that some holy places have

been built on top of different religions holy places, but still it would be one

less rallyng point. This was in fact the orginal plan, but the Arabs fought

it. It just shows the UN as being toothless to begin with.

re: Firepower Upgrades

"Israel and US as the world's most hated nations"

Let them hate, as long as they fear.

Hmm!

Hmm! , will these new gun bots be made by Cyberdyne Systems by any chance?

Can one buy shares in Cyberdyne Systems, for think of the short term gain , although the long term prospects could lead to one's assets being incinerated in a fire sale , so as to speak!

But then again , just what the US Army requires in Iraq to put these babies every 500 metres on the main northern Iraq oil supply line to the Ceyhan Oil terminus in Turkey , given how often the rebellious local testy inhabitants blow up numerous pipeline section strings every day of the week including on Sunday's as well!

Sounds very much like the Israeli Army , are in very desperate need of the Cyberdyne T800 model 101's as tireless inflexible border guards!

old hat?

So it was my impression that the no mans land between the fences that separated the the former east germany from the former west germany also had "automated machine gun systems" that fired without requiring human intervention. Granted they were likely given a fixed field of fire and fairly rudimentary triggers (light beams or passire IR perhaps) and as I recall there was a fair bit of shooting up passing wildlife...

If it comes to that, as I understood it, the Phalanx gun used to protect modern warships against anti-ship missiles tracks and engages incoming missiles without needing (too slow) human interaction. The last thing the human does is arms it and after that it just shoots down anything that behaves like a target (flying straight at the ship at high speed at an altitude of a few meters will likely qualify you we can presume...).

So how are these different? Automated weapons systems would seem to me to be not new at all...

"Let them hate, as long as they fear."

And are you perhaps wondering WHY they hate?

Conflating for dummies

> We all remember how many times the Israelis have blown up the London Tube.

>Make sure we never forget they're evil no matter who the suicide bombers are.

Who is "they" in the "they're evil"? I seem to remember that the London Tube bombers were largely British citizens of Pakistani origin, who undertook their attack on fanatic religeous grounds.

The Isreali-Palistinian conflict may have religeous aspects, but it's fundamentally a territorial dispute, with Isreal illegally and brutally occupying land seized in violation of UN resolutions, and enforcing outrageously harsh security measures on adjoining Palestinian territories. It's a struggle typified by stunning over-reaction by Isreali forces (you throw a stone, we open fire with automatic weapons, you shoot a clumsy and inefective rocket, we send in F16s with cluster bombs), where Palestinian casualties are scores or hundreds-fold more than Isreali, and heavily biased toward civilians. And where Isreal constantly shelters behind a thin "but they're the aggressors trying to destroy us" line.

Reminds me of a joke...

A French, a German, and an Israeli go on a safari and are trapped by cannibals. They are brought to the chief, who says, "We are going to eat you right now. But I am a civilized man, I studied human rights at the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, so I'll grant each of you a last request." The German asks for a mug of beer and a bratwurst. He gets it, and cannibals eat him. The French asks for three girls. He has crazy sex with them, and then follows the German onto the dining table. The Israeli asks: "Hit me hard, right on my nose." The chief is surprised, but hits him. The Israeli pulls out a Galil assualt rifle and shoots all the cannibals. The mortally wounded chief asks him: "Why didn't you do this before we ate the German?", the Israeli proudly replies: "Israelis are not aggressors!"

RE: re: Firepower Upgrades

"Let them hate, as long as they fear."

Ghaze, I would bet a pound to a peice of shit that you are an slow-brained, half-wit, gun-toting redneck American.

Moron.

Borders and other thoughts.

How many nations in the past have surrendered territory to the losers once

the conflict is over? If you look at history, you will see in the past this was

a fairly rare event. After all, the purpose of war WAS to gain something,

or to protect something. It comes down to power and who has power over

who.

After Isreal was created ,what happened?

Well, a few things.

1) Jews were expelled from most of the arab nations and their property seized

on the basis that they now had a place to go, so they were no longer

"welcome" there.

2) After exporting their jews, they then decided to push them into the sea.

3) Since the Arabs really don't trust each other, and did not fight as a single

force, the Isrealies were able to exploit weaknesses in the arab attack to

destroy them, push them back, and create more defensable borders.

Isreal has given back more territory than their entire nation now consists of.

The Arab nations tend to remind me of the way school boys often act.

When you are at the top, they praise you, when you are at the bottom,

they spit on you. Whatever the crowd is doing, they do. Or, as I once read,

"They are either at your feet or at your throat."

The United States has given more money ot the Palestinians than all of the

Arab nations combined. The Arab nations could easily absorb their "brothers",

but then they would have to deal with situations like the 1970 attempt to

over throw Jordan. Isreal is used as scape goat as to why the common

people of the Arab nations have so little, despite the Trillions of dollars that

have flowed over the years for the oil extracted from their deserts.