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dead kids on our TV news every day for another year, or two years, or ten years
If famine is allowed to take hold, it won’t take 10 years to leave Palestine child-free.
Hamas is trying to achieve that. They didn't commit the Oct 7 rape and slaughter just to expiate their anger. They planned and prepared for many years. They're not terrorists, they're an army with a military strategy. That strategy is the controlling factor in current events. It dictates what the Israeli military does. It has to be the logical starting point for how we think about all aspects of the problem, from starving children to a future solution.
Last I checked, enemy barbarism wasn’t a defence against war crimes or genocide under the Geneva Conventions. Hamas’ strategy may be to infuriate Israel and hide behind civilians, but that doesn’t justify carte blanche retribution where civilians are likely to be affected (it doesn’t justify carte blanche anyway but let’s focus on the civilians, fuck Hamas). If anything, Hamas’ cynicism should motivate Israel to go to additional lengths to prove to the world that its attacks are, at least, specifically targeting legitimate enemy targets; as it stands, Israel is being deliberately obscure in explaining its actions resulting in civilian deaths, to the point that they aren’t even acknowledging collateral damage. That isn’t forced upon them by Hamas, it’s a strategic choice (imo, mistake) the Israeli govt is freely making.
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Leshaches
nick_h.
No. The Balfour declaration is 107 years old, and I did go to a school at which history was taught.
I'm perplexed that so much of the noise on social media and from demonstrators is from people who talk as if any of the crimes heaped upon the Palestinians before Oct 7 are new news. They don't see the big picture.
Israel is a half-baked idea, disastrously executed, and it justifies intense, righteous Palestinian anger and desperation. That's a given. Educated Jews agree.
But we are where we are. How do we solve the problem? Hamas is trying to achieve that. They didn't commit the Oct 7 rape and slaughter just to expiate their anger. They planned and prepared for many years. They're not terrorists, they're an army with a military strategy. That strategy is the controlling factor in current events. It dictates what the Israeli military does. It has to be the logical starting point for how we think about all aspects of the problem, from starving children to a future solution.
The Hamas strategy is what framed Krishan Guru-Murthy's questions. He said "you decided to sacrifice your own women and children for a political gamble". The Hamas guy doesn't disagree. He says Hamas has already won a victory, because public opinion of Israel has suffered around the world. He suggests that eventually the international community will bow to the will of the masses and implement justice for Palestine.
In other words, more women and children will be sacrificed until....what? Can anyone think of a credible scenario, or is the Hamas guy lying or delusional?
What if ten times more women and children die....dead kids on our TV news every day for another year, or two years, or ten years...I'm sure Hamas could and would arrange it. Would there be such a backlash that the US public would rise up and the US would force Israel to implement UN resolution 194?