The IDF will be deploying robotic machine guns to guard the Gaza border. My forecast: Expect a lot more reports about 65-year-old men killed while tending their farms, no matter how many terrorists get killed.
First report: A new system deployed by the IDF in the Gaza-region enables soldiers stationed in the operations room to fire at Palestinian terrorists near the Gaza fence, Ynet has learned.
The systems, which are equipped with a camera and a machine gun, enable soldiers to watch any activity that takes place near the fence and if necessary to fire at the push of a button. The new system will soon be officially declared “operational.”
Do you think they’re going to call it Skynet? But wait, here’s more about the bloodthirsty Zionists, who want only to destroy the Palestinians:
“The system is not supposed to replace soldiers on the ground, and it won’t replace the need to charge at terrorists when necessary,” an IDF official said.
“We will be able to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians,” another military official said. “We won’t fire needlessly, yet at the same time we are responsible for protecting IDF soldiers.”
Damn ruthless Zionists. Pure evil, I tell you. Evil!
Not bad, but when will they install the Phalanx system to shoot down the Qassam’s? That would be much more valuable.
Ugh. As a former military officer, I am somewhat uncomfortable with this. Part of the responsibility of discharging ordnance is positive identification of the target. I know we already have remote systems that give as good or better ID than a human on site (Predator, etc.), but it all just seems too creepy to me. Too removed. Too much like a video game.
There was a guy several months ago that offered virtual hunting over the internet. Users would target animals in an enclosure via webcam and fire the weapon remotely. The antlers and meat were shipped to them FedEx. There was outrage over this, not because the animals deserved a better chance, but because it somehow insulated the shooter from direct moral responsibility. This seems similar.
The full Gregg Easterbrook post is no longer available, but Noah Schachtman references it.
This is horrible. High tech is really dangeous when one thinks about it, and certainly there will be innocents killed. Seems if its a machine, they can brush off easier as an accident. But, people need to beware, as Governments could use these forces on anybody, and who is to know, when they may use such devices on their own people. I truly don’t trust them.
Anything that makes Israeli responses less and less “proportional” is OK in my book… unless this will be used to justify further withdrawals.