Target Civilians

The wooden Israeli response after unfortunate civilian deaths, particularly children, is that the state does not target civilians. With sufficient repetition people confine their thoughts to whether or not it is true; no attention is given to whether it is the proper question, and whether it is the only one. From the state’s point of view, since no one can ever prove that they do target civilians, the absence of any other question yields rather good results for them, public diplomacy wise.