DIME Weapons and Blood Libels

DIME Weapons and Blood Libels

There have been "accusations" that Israel are using dense inert metal explosive (DIME) weapons in Gaza. The accusations amount to blood libel, which sadly is a common tactic among opponents of Israel. The accusations' source is Mads Gilbert, who is arguably not an unbiased source, being politically on the far left and of course embedded in the Hamas machine currently. 

DIME weapons are not, contrary to the allegations, banned. DIME weapons are designed to minimise collateral casualties, so it would be strange to consider them an inappropriate weapon. Part of the blood libel is the assertion that DIME weapons "cause cancer", which is based on animal models which are notoriously unreliable. This accusation is coupled with the accusation that DIME weapons are particularly lethal, an odd combination. 

Any weapon used inappropriately can be a war crime, but there is nothing about DIME weapons which makes them worse than "conventional" weapons. The evidence DIME weapons are being used seems tenuous in any case, and seems to be a pretext for demonizing Israel - a classic blood libel.