In recent months, the Biden administration has blocked the sales of thousands of precision weapons to Israel, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ironically, the delay of the shipment  — 6,500 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits that turn bombs into “smart” bombs, enabling the execution of precise bomb strikes — is putting the “innocent” Gazan civilians, whom the Biden administration purports to want to protect, in greater danger.

The Biden administration has also failed to advance the transfer to Israel of billions of dollars of tank ammunition, armored vehicles, and artillery rockets since March.

Additionally, the US State Department is scheduled to report to Congress this week about Israel’s compliance with international law in its use of US military aid. The White House has admitted that the report was compiled due to pressure from progressive politicians.

Meanwhile, as John Spencer, an internationally recognized expert and advisor on urban warfare, has stated: “Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any military in history — above and beyond what international law requires and more than the US did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — setting a standard that will be both hard & potentially problematic to repeat.”

Spencer continued: Here (again for all the not so expert ‘experts’) are many of the measures and steps the IDF have taken:

1- Evacuated civilians out of cities to a high % (70-90%) before beginning a
full ground invasion in conventional attacks that seek to destroy enemy
defenders. The U.S. did not do this in the invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan,
Panama, Vietnam Tet Counter offensive (Hue), Korean War…

2 – Provided safe routes and a humanitarian zone for evacuating civilians.
Despite the reports of the IDF conducting operations near the routes and
zone, they emplaced IDF soldiers along the route to protect civilians while
Hamas prevented civilians from using the routes….

3- Used more than just flyers to notify, locate, encourage civilians to
temporarily evacuate main combat areas. Israel has dropped more than 7.2
million flyers, but also made over 79,000 direct phones calls, sent over 13.7
million text messages, and left over 15 million…

4- Conducted daily multi-hour pauses of all combat operations during
battles to allow civilians to evacuate. Leaving IDF in direct threat of attack
to allow civilians to pass through friendly lines during the battles. The IDF
have done this daily for months, starting as far back…
…
5-Handed out their military maps. The IDF (first time in the history of war)
handed out their military maps to civilians and used their maps to
communicated directly to civilians not only for localized evacuation, but to
notify civilians where the IDF would be operating on a…

6 – Conducted “roof knocks.” At the beginning of the war the IDF employed
their practice of calling and texting ahead of an air strike as well as roof-
knocking, where they drop small munitions on the roof of a building
notifying everyone to evacuate the building before a strike….

7 – Developed a methodology to track civilian presence in real time and
used that methodology to drive operations. The IDF Civilian Harm
Mitigation Cell (commanded by a 1 Star General) can now track the
presence of civilians in real time using cell phone presence, satellite, and…

8 – Emplaced legal advisors at low levels (lower than standard U.S.
operations) and directly in the targeting process. The IDF has legal advisers
incorporated into the targeting process, a deliberate step, and present at
brigade and division levels…

9- Imposed restrictions on the use of force. This includes altering rules of
engagements and release authority for strikes and operations during a
battle. Implemented controls measures such as restricted fire lines and
zones, no fire areas (on protected objects/building and…

10- Conducted large call out operations where the IDF encircle a location,
such as the Al-Nasser Hospital, but also entire neighborhoods (10s of
thousands of people) in Khan Yunis that are encircled and then told to
evacuate through IDF positions (increasing the risk to the IDF)…

Rather than argue that the IDF did not do all the above measures , or
provide a military how has done more in war, critics & pundits either cherry
pick from the practices or say it does not matter because the IDF measures
have not been effective based on a kabuki dance of…

The IDF did successfully evacuate over 850,000 civilians out of a 1 million
(85 to 90%) in Northern Gaza before the heaviest fighting began. This is
actually consistent with many urban battles of both WWII and modern
encirclements in urban warfare history that shows that no…

The IDF 1 to 1.5 if not 1 to 1 combatant to civilian ratio (something uniquely
focused on by the world and people how do not know the history of war or
urban warfare) is better than any battles, past or modern, in urban warfare
with even remotely similar context…

The Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry estimate of over 34,000 civilian
deaths does not acknowledge a single Hamas fighter death (nor any deaths
due to the misfiring of thousands (20%) of Hamas or other terrorists’
rockets that have landed inside Gaza or Hamas friendly fire, Hamas…

The IDF estimates it has killed about 13,000 Hamas operatives. Common
sense would subtract the IDF estimate of Hamas fighters (13,000) from the
Hamas Gaza Health Ministry total deaths in Gaza (34,000) to get 21,000
civilian deaths according to Hamas. That is a 1 to 1.5 or 1.6…

In the 2016-2017 Battle of Mosul, the biggest urban battles since WWII, the
U.S. led Iraqi Security Force killed 10,000 civilians to destroy 4,000 ISIS in
the city. That is a 1 to 2.5 combatant to civilian death ratio. In the 1945
Battle of Manila (which did have some variables…

But the IDF also did reduce an already low combatant to civilian casualty
ratio in the war. The New York Times reported in January that the daily
civilian death toll had more than halved in the December and was down
almost two-thirds from its peak by January. 

The real truth is that no one knows how many civilians have died in Gaza,
especially not Hamas. There has never been a war/battle, especially an
urban battle, where anyone could track the civilian deaths on a day-to-day
basis and especially not down to the single digit. 

Israel has not created a gold standard in civilian harm mitigation in war.
That implies there is a standard in civilian casualties in war that is
acceptable or not acceptable; that zero civilian deaths in war is remotely
possible and should be the goal…”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)