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Collective Punishment

...Destroying orchards -- thousand year old olive groves, in some cases -- is a standard form of collective punishment in the West Bank and Gaza. But the IDF always has a cover story ready, usually about attacks launched on passing vehicles from just that very orchard, making its demolition an urgent security necessity.

Actually telling the locals they're being punished for supporting (or at least not informing on) the guerrillas is bad form, since it runs headlong into the Geneva Convention's ban on all forms of collective punishment.

Clearly, the Americans still have a lot to learn about being war criminals....