The UN is Using the "Dresden Defense" Against Israel.

Einsatzgruppen D Commander Otto Ohlendorf

In the aftermath of World War II, numerous Nazi War Criminals were brought to trial for their crimes against humanity during the war.  Among those brought to trial were members of the infamous Einsatzgruppen, the death squads personally selected by Hitler to carry out the mass murder of Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and other "Enemies of the Reich" as the Nazi War machine stormed their way into the Soviet Union in June of 1941.  These death squads immediately began their gruesome work, killing thousands of men, women, & children without distinction.  As the horrors of the Final Solution became exposed to the world, the Fight for Justice began.  

Numerous Nazi War Criminals were brought to justice for decades, among them was the leader of Einsatzgruppen D, Otto Ohlendorf.  Otto was put on trial along with 22 other members of the Einsatzgruppen from 1947-1948.  During the trial, Otto was accused of being personally responsible for the deaths of 90,000 men, women, & children, the majority of which were Jewish.  Otto Ohlendorf never denied his involvement.  When questioned if he willingly carried out the execution of children, he confessed that he did so, much like members of Hamas sent back videos to friends and family in Gaza boasting about how many Jews they had killed.  Otto Ohlendorf invoked numerous arguments to defend his actions.  He justified the killing of children by stating that they would one day grow up and pose a threat to Germany, making their deaths necessary for the long-term security of the nation.  This was similar to the mentality exhibited by the Hutu militias who killed Tutsi children.  Rwanda genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza testified in her memoir how when she was hiding from the killers, she could hear them chanting "A Baby Snake is still a Snake."  

In another act of defense, Otto Ohlendrof invoked what has been dubbed the "Dresden Defense."  In it he citied the bombing of German and Japanese cities, which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands.  He thus concluded that in Total War both sides set aside humanitarian rules, which lead to civilians being killed, and therefore, he cannot be held accountable for what he himself did.  Interestingly enough, the UN is using a this argument in their ongoing criticism of Israel.

UN Called out for "Dresden Defense"

Throughout the war that has been going on between Israel and Hamas since Oct. 7th, the UN while denouncing the slaughter of 1400 Israeli men, women, & children by Hamas has repeatedly come out in condemnation against Israel for the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians in the campaign against Gaza following the Hamas attack.  However, the UN is forgetting that this defense was wholly rejected by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal who decreed that in war, civilians do tragically get killed in the crossfire of the conflict.  

During the Nuremberg Trials, the Tribunal admitted that thousands of German civilians died from Allied bombing.  However, they stated that the goal of this bombing was to end Germany's ability to wage aggressive attacks against their neighboring European countries, and that the death of German civilians was an unfortunate consequence.  One must also consider how during 1944 Normandy Campaign in France that between 25,000-40,000 French Civilians died in the crossfire of the Allied and German forces.  The Tribunal ruled that "Collateral Damage" was an unfortunate reality of war, but that this cannot be held in equivalence to storming across borders and deliberately murdering thousands of unarmed men, women, & children without mercy or distinction.  

This is exactly what the Otto Ohlendrof and his fellow Einsatzgruppen did in the 1940's, and it's exactly what Hamas did on Oct. 7th.  Both groups deliberately singled out civilians for murder, and it is the duty of civilized nations to distinguish the difference between civilians who are killed in the crossfire of battle to those who are deliberately singled out for murder.  Moreover, the UN is obligated to disclose that many of the Gazan civilians who are being killed are being killed as a result of misfired Hamas rockets and are being deliberately used by Hamas militants as human shields despite repeated Israeli warnings to Gazan civilians to leave areas targeted by the IDF for attack.  Unlike Hamas and the Einsatzgruppen, Israel is not going into Gaza and deliberately killing every Gazan in sight.  The Nuremberg Tribunal saw the deception behind the Dresden argument, and its high time that the UN stops using it as it is as wrong then as it is now.