# airstrikes on Gaza **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 11, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856 "2014-07-11T14:55:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 59
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1161 "2014-08-06T17:15:49Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > I’d like a cite that there were riots and pogroms against jews before Zionism. Ati-Jewish pogroms etc. did occur in that part of the world prior to the rise of political Zionism. It was more traditional anti-minority actions based on “blood libels” and the like. For example, in Syria: > [@](#): > > During the nineteenth century the Jews of Damascus were several times made the victims of calumnies, the gravest being those of 1840 and 1860, in the reign of the sultan Abdülmecit I. That of 1840, commonly known as the Damascus affair, was an accusation of ritual murder brought against the Jews in connection with the death of Father Thomas. The second accusation brought against the Jews, in 1860, was that of having taken part in the massacre of the Christians by the Druze and the Muslims. Five hundred Muslims, who had been involved in the affair, were hanged by the grand vizier Fuad Pasha. Two hundred Jews were awaiting the same fate, in spite of their innocence, and the whole Jewish community had been fined 4,000,000 piastres[citation needed]. The condemned Jews were saved only by the official intervention of Fuad Pasha himself; that of the Prussian consul, Dr. Johann G. Wetzstein; of Sir Moses Montefiore of London, and of the bankers Abraham Salomon Camondo of Constantinople and Shemaya Angel of Damascus. From that time to the end of the nineteenth century, several further blood accusations were brought against the Jews; these, however, never provoked any great excitement. > **[History of the Jews in Syria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Syria#French_Mandate_and_independence_era)** > > The history of the Jews in Syria goes back to ancient times. They were joined by a Sephardim who fled after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal in 1492 CE. There were large Jewish communities in Aleppo, Damascus, and Qamishli for centuries. In the early 20th century, a large percentage of Syrian Jews immigrated to British Mandate-Palestine, the U.S. and Latin America. > Following the Syrian Civil War, some of the remaining Jews of Syria left the country. In 2022, it was estimated tha... In Palestine itself: > **[1834 looting of Safed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1834_Safed_pogrom)** > > Galilee, Mount Lebanon and Hauran > Palestine and Transjordan > The 1834 looting of Safed (Hebrew: ביזת צפת בשנת תקצ"ד, 5594 AM) was a month-long attack on the Jewish community of Safed in the Sidon Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire during the Peasants' revolt in Palestine. It began on Sunday, June 15 (7 Sivan), the day after the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, and lasted for 33 days. It has been described as a spontaneous attack on a defenseless population during the armed uprising against the rule of Ib... > [@](#): > > Other reports, which do not mention the individual involvement of a local Muslim clergyman, suggest the attack was more violent in nature. Isaac Farhi (d. 1853) described how several Jews were killed and raped in the attack. Men, women and children were robbed of their clothes and then beaten. Some fled into the surrounding fields and remained there naked “like wild animals” until the danger passed.[23] 12 year-old Jacob Saphir was among a number of refugees who found sanctuary in the adjacent village of Ein al-Zeitun assisted by a sympathetic Arab sheikh.[6] He describes how for the first three days they had nothing to eat and how they hid in fear of their lives for forty days. Afterwards they had found their homes completely ransacked and emptied, “not even small jugs, doors or windows had been left behind.”[24] Menachem Mendel Baum, a prominent member of the Ashkenazi community, published a book (Korot Ha-Eytim, 1839) vividly detailing his recollections. He describes an aggressive onslaught, including one incident in which a group of elderly Jews including pious rabbis were beaten mercilessly while hiding in a synagogue.[25] In May 1934, an article appearing in Haaretz by historian and journalist Eliezer Rivlin (1889-1942) described the event of 100 years earlier in detail. His article, based on similar first hand accounts, tells of how the head of the community, Rabbi Israel of Shklov, was threatened with his life and another rabbi who had fled to the hills seeking refuge in a cave was set upon and had his eye gouged out. Rivlin states many Jews were beaten to death and severely wounded. Thirteen synagogues along with an estimated 500 Torah scrolls were destroyed.[26] Valuable antique books belonging to the 14th-century rabbi Isaac Aboab I were also lost. Jewish homes were ransacked and set on fire as looters searched for hidden gold and silver.[27] > > Some Jews managed to escape to a nearby fortress and held out there for a few weeks. The mob unsuccessfully tried to break into the building to reach the fugitives.[6] The sources do not indicate how many Jews died.[28] It seems to have not been many, though hundreds were wounded.[28][29] > > British philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore furnished Israel Beck with a new printing press (pictured) after his original one was destroyed in the pogromThe sole Hebrew printing press in Palestine was destroyed along with many copies of the Bible. It was three years before the press started functioning again.[30] Israel Beck, who established the printing house in Safed, incurred a wound on his foot which left him with an enduring limp.[31] Among the distinguished men who gave their lives helping others were Rabbis Leib Cohen, Shalom Hayat and Mendel of Kamnitz, who wandered around the streets without fear of the attackers, to return little children to their mothers, rescuing the victims physically and emotionally, and burying the dead.[27][32] In short, prior to political Zionism the Jewish minority lived for the most part as it has always done - subject to the (occasional) blood libel and pogrom. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1162 "2014-08-06T17:19:54Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > Just to recap, a device that you originally described as: > > “a variety of rocket artillery…essentially “aimed” by positioning them - they are not sophisticated and lack internal guidance systems” > > is actually now comparable to one of the German V weapons? > > I’m going to guess you don’t mean the V2, seeing as it was the first true long range ballistic weapon and could reach the fringes of space, and assume you’re talking about the V1. > > Would that say this close resemblance is due to the aiming mechanism (gyrocompass based autopilot compared to none), the range (250km compared to 16) or the payload (850kg compared to 20)? I guess you missed the part in my post where I said: > [@](#): > > although considerably smaller and less sophisticated Which is odd, as you quote it in your reply. The only “resemblence” I claim in my post is that they are shot at cities, and not hand-held weapons fired at tanks or the like. In short, it is in the choice of target that the two resemble each other, not in the technology, which is quite different, or in the size. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1163 "2014-08-06T17:46:13Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > In short, it is in the choice of target that the two resemble each other, not in the technology, which is quite different, or in the size. So you use “vengeance weapon” as personal shorthand for “so inaccurate you need a target the size of a city to have a chance of a hit”. Personally I’d have gone for “couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo”, but I guess that doesn’t quite sound sinister enough for you. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1164 "2014-08-06T18:11:02Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Apparently they can hit Jerusalem from Gaza (or at least, some varieties can). . . . This is something I haven’t seen discussed. The rockets Hamas is using are getting better. They’re involved in an arms race, buying weapons with longer range, more accuracy, and heavier warheads. The status quo isn’t static. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1165 "2014-08-06T18:20:53Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > So you use “vengeance weapon” as personal shorthand for “so inaccurate you need a target the size of a city to have a chance of a hit”. Yes, if you are shooting at cities, rather than at military targets, it is fair to characterize your motives as ‘vengeful’. “Vengence weapons” isn’t my personal term for this, though. It is the term invented by the Germans. > [@](#): > > Personally I’d have gone for “couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo”, but I guess that doesn’t quite sound sinister enough for you. But it does sound belittling enough for you. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1166 "2014-08-06T18:24:02Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > I’d like a cite that there were riots and pogroms against jews before Zionism. DINGDINGDINGDING! Ladies and Gentlemen of the SDMB. We have a new award winner for the single stupidest “cite?” request in the ~15 year history of the SDMB. “Were there riots and pogroms against Jews before Zionism?” Really? Dumbest. Cite-Request. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1167 "2014-08-06T18:32:53Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > DINGDINGDINGDING! > > Ladies and Gentlemen of the SDMB. We have a new award winner for the single stupidest “cite?” request in the ~15 year history of the SDMB. > > “Were there riots and pogroms against Jews before Zionism?” Really? > > Dumbest. Cite-Request. Ever. To be fair, it was a request for cites about pogroms in the Middle East/Palestine. I don’t think anyone doubts the existence of pogroms in Europe prior to the 20th century (although I could be proved wrong - one never knows!). However, a whole modern mythology has built up about how Jews fared under Muslim rule pre-political Zionism - that they were so well off there. To the point were some express incredulity about claims that Jews suffered pogroms in the ME, as we have seen. It is based on partial fact - Jews _were_ in fact often _better_ off under Muslim rule than (say) under the Czars in Russia, or in places and times in Western Europe for that matter - but this is a relative matter. There were still pogroms in Muslim-ruled lands, and Jews were most definitely second class citizens (as were various other minorities). ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1168 "2014-08-06T19:55:37Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > In short, prior to political Zionism the Jewish minority lived for the most part as it has always done - subject to the (occasional) blood libel and pogrom. OK, was this persecution more prevalent in the middle east than it was elsewhere (for example in Europe)? After all that was the context in which this issue was being brought up. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1169 "2014-08-06T19:56:37Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > DINGDINGDINGDING! > > Ladies and Gentlemen of the SDMB. We have a new award winner for the single stupidest “cite?” request in the ~15 year history of the SDMB. > > “Were there riots and pogroms against Jews before Zionism?” Really? > > Dumbest. Cite-Request. Ever. Really!?!! Is this sort of thing really necessary in Great Debates? If you want to take it to the Pit, just link the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1170 "2014-08-06T20:05:47Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > OK, was this persecution more prevalent in the middle east than it was elsewhere (for example in Europe)? After all that was the context in which this issue was being brought up. No - the worst, by far, was Czarist Russia. In Western Europe matters varied a lot by time and place - in general, Jews fared well in the 19th century, particularly in the more “civilized” countries, with only the occasional issue such as the Dreyfuss Affair in France; in the UK, Jews reached the highest social levels, and they (in general) fared very well in Germany, despite a groundswell of anti-Semitism (to become dangerous in the 20th century, as you know). The Middle East was stuck with a premodern level of persecution and second-class citizenship, but it was mild and occasional compared with Russia. However, I would far rather be a Jew in England, France or Germany in the 19th century, than in the Ottoman Empire. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1171 "2014-08-06T20:16:42Z")
[Meanwhile, in Israel:](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/06/gaza-israel-movement-that-dare-not-speak-its-name) > [@](#): > > In his column in Haaretz, Levy has long since banged the drum for greater Israeli empathy towards the suffering of the Palestinians. He is a well known commentator on the left, and one of the few prepared to stick his head above the parapet. Consequently, he is no stranger to opposition from the right. But this time it is different. Yariv Levin, coalition chairman of the Likud-Beytenu faction in the Knesset, recently called for him to be put on trial for treason – a crime which, during wartime, is punishable by death. > > “It is time we stop regarding despicable phenomena like this with tolerance,” Levin said of Levy. Soon after that interview Eldad Yaniv, a former political adviser to ex-prime minister Ehud Barack, wrote on his Facebook page: “The late Gideon Levy. Get used to it.” > > Levy’s unpardonable crime is vocal opposition to the war and to the bombing of Gaza. According to recent polls support for the military operation in Gaza among the Jewish Israeli public stands somewhere between 87% (Channel 10 News) and 95% (Israel Democracy Institute). Even those who are secretly against the war are cautious about voicing their opinion openly. > > Thus public opinion went ballistic when Levy attacked those who were bombing Gaza by inverting the well known Hebrew phrase “Hatovim La tayyis” – which means: the best ones go to the air force – by writing “Haraim La tayyis”: the worst ones go to the air force. Even in a time of peace this would be seen as a provocative statement, a heresy against what Levy sees as Israel’s real religion: military security. But in its current mood, this is not the sort of thing that you can easily say out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1172 "2014-08-06T20:23:28Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Meanwhile, in Israel:](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/06/gaza-israel-movement-that-dare-not-speak-its-name) Gideon Levy is a far-left moron. Is that something new? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1173 "2014-08-06T20:29:05Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Meanwhile, in Israel:](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/06/gaza-israel-movement-that-dare-not-speak-its-name) This part of the article struck me as most interesting: > [@](#): > > Amos Oz, Israel’s great literary conscience, explains to me that the peace movement was dealt a harsh blow eight years ago when Ariel Sharon pulled the army and the settlers out of Gaza only for the situation to get worse. “Since then there have been 10,000 rockets fired from the Gaza strip.” Middle-of-the-road Israelis have lost faith in the idea that you could swap land for peace. For him, the current military operation is “excessive but justified” and he is scornful of the high-minded European reaction. “That’s the problem with Europeans. They launch a petition and then go and sleep and feel good about themselves,” something he explains with reference to European history. I feel he is having a go at me. And I know he is laid up in bed with a bad knee. So I don’t rise to the bait. The notion that Israelis do not tolerate dissent strikes me as bizzare - they are well known for having all sorts of dissenters. The calls for political enemies to be tried for treason are hot air - no-one takes them seriously; if it happened, and a conviction secured, I would be genuinely shocked. It is pure theatre. Israelis overwhelmingly support the army in this, not because they are “brainwashed” or “totally ignorant” as the author alleges, but because such support is natural when they have to live under attack themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1174 "2014-08-06T20:30:09Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > No - the worst, by far, was Czarist Russia. > > In Western Europe matters varied a lot by time and place - in general, Jews fared well in the 19th century, particularly in the more “civilized” countries, with only the occasional issue such as the Dreyfuss Affair in France; in the UK, Jews reached the highest social levels, and they (in general) fared very well in Germany, despite a groundswell of anti-Semitism (to become dangerous in the 20th century, as you know). > > The Middle East was stuck with a premodern level of persecution and second-class citizenship, but it was mild and occasional compared with Russia. However, I would far rather be a Jew in England, France or Germany in the 19th century, than in the Ottoman Empire. But can we say that the persecution of jews in the middle east was unremarkable in a historic and global context until the advent of Zionism? If we go one tangent back (and closer to the thread), the statement that XT so glibly dismissed as wrong was that Islamic radicalism didn’t promote zionism, while zionism promoted islamic radicalism. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1175 "2014-08-06T20:33:53Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > But can we say that the persecution of jews in the middle east was unremarkable in a historic and global context until the advent of Zionism? If we go one tangent back (and closer to the thread), the statement that XT so glibly dismissed as wrong was that Islamic radicalism didn’t promote zionism, while zionism promoted islamic radicalism. The persecution that Jews suffered in the ME was unremarkable by European standards (even then, the Americas were different). Political Zionism and Arab nationalism/islamicism had a synergistic effect - each tended to promote the other; they arose at much the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1176 "2014-08-06T20:34:18Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > This part of the article struck me as most interesting: > > The notion that Israelis do not tolerate dissent strikes me as bizzare - they are well known for having all sorts of dissenters. The calls for political enemies to be tried for treason are hot air - no-one takes them seriously; if it happened, and a conviction secured, I would be genuinely shocked. It is pure theatre. > > Israelis overwhelmingly support the army in this, not because they are “brainwashed” or “totally ignorant” as the author alleges, but because such support is natural when they have to live under attack themselves. I remember when people used to call critics of the invasion of Iraq “traitors” None of them were ever tried for treason, but after being called traitor a few times, they shut up about it until it became more fashionable to say that the invasion of Iraq was wrong. They don’t want to kill this guy, they want to shut him up. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1177 "2014-08-06T20:38:51Z")
[http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/08/gaza.jpg](http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/08/gaza.jpg) 280 rockets that Hamas fired from Gaza fell (and exploded, I should say) in Gaza. Again, looking at the areas they fell in, the population density and the fact that there were no sirens or bomb shelters, I would suspect that a few hundred of random Gazan civilians died from them. Because of Gaza demographics, 75% of them women and children. All of them, of course, included in the “Palestinians killed by the Israelis” count by the UN and others. Have you seen ONE report in the Western press about it? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1178 "2014-08-06T20:41:19Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > The persecution that Jews suffered in the ME was unremarkable by European standards (even then, the Americas were different). > > Political Zionism and Arab nationalism/islamicism had a synergistic effect - each tended to promote the other; they arose at much the same time. Of the two, which precipitated the vicious circle? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1179 "2014-08-06T20:44:27Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > I remember when people used to call critics of the invasion of Iraq “traitors” > > None of them were ever tried for treason, but after being called traitor a few times, they shut up about it until it became more fashionable to say that the invasion of Iraq was wrong. > > They don’t want to kill this guy, they want to shut him up. They don’t really want to shut him up (and they certainly won’t succeed in doing so) - they want to play to their audience, of people much like themselves; to make themselves more popular and significant. These guys are _politicians_. Not that voicing an unpopular view is ever going to be easy - it isn’t anywhere; however, Israelis, of all people, are known for doing just that. There is a plethora of articles, books, and interviews by Israelis of all sorts critical of nearly every aspect of the Israeli government, including (especially) Israeli dealings with Palestinians. See, for example, the documentary _The Gatekeepers_, in which the heads of the Israeli secret service are shown criticizing Israeli policy towards Palestinians! ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856/1180 "2014-08-06T20:44:55Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > it does sound belittling enough for you. Probably not quite belittling enough, considering the numbers fired, and the actual damage done. By the way, Vergeltungswaffen is actually translated as retalliation or reprisal weapons, supposedly launched as"retribution against the mass bombing of German cities" If the comparison is that they are hideously inaccurate weapons launched as reprisals to air strikes, then I’d have to agree, and we can both start calling them Reprisal weapons. Seem reasonable? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856.md?page=58) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airstrikes-on-gaza/692856.md?page=60)