Category: Hamas

By on

I generally support Israel. I want to continue to do so but the behavior of the Netanyahu government is troubling.

Here is what I am grappling with:

The Palestinians want to wipe Israel off the map. Or, at least, remove them from their present location. This is impossible. There are close to 10 million Israelis who don’t want to be moved. The Palestinians believe the 1948 partition of Palestine was wrong. The problem is it did happen. Israel is now a fact of life. Removing 10 million people isn’t going to be easy or peaceful so the Palestinians who oppose Israel are at choice here.

Sadly, they have chosen terribly. They are still trying to scare the Israelis out of the region. It isn’t working. Everything they have done has caused the Palestinians to loose more lives, to loose more land, and to loose more autonomy. They are worse off now than they were in 1948, 1967, 1971, and will you get the point. They keep coming out of each confrontation with Israel in worse shape. The definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Killing Israelis is clearly not working to change the dynamics in Palestine. The only thing that has occurred is a growing list of Palestinian martyrs to a seemingly hopeless cause.

Israel doesn’t care about world opinion. Or, at least, they care more about their own survival than world opinion. And the world doesn’t appear inclined to help the Palestinians much more than utter some rather meek criticisms of Israeli actions. Israel continues to bomb away while Palestinians continue to die. The world is standing by, waiting to see what happens but don’t count on much more.

The side getting the shit kicked out of them normally surrenders their army and their weapons in order to stop their children from being killed. Hamas isn’t willing to do this so Israelis continue to bomb the shit out of Gaza. The sad fact is Hamas is more than willing to let these children die rather than surrender. Killing children will not change anyone’s mind (see Sandy Hook shooting).

Why Israel continues their campaign is beyond me. The idea that they will eliminate every bit of Palestinian resistance is just as foolish as the Palestinians believing that sacrificing their children to Israeli will somehow change World Public opinion. It just isn’t going to happen. Adding extra Hamas hit men to an already high body count has reached a point of no return, Israel has won all that it can win and they continue to hold the upper hand in the region. Yes there is a danger of Hamas regrouping and staging another attack. But then that is always going to be a danger, given the animus Palestinians hold against Israel. They are as safe from Hamas as they possibly can be, why not see what diplomacy can do now.

By on

The situation in Israel and Gaza is mess. It is impossible to ignore because, at the very least, displaced refugees will exit a war zone and need new homes and, at worst, a wave of terrorism will be unleashed on the West. The options on how to handle the mess is depressing because there is nothing new here. Israel and Hamas will continue to do the same thing they have always done with the same depressing results.

It is difficult for me to take Hamas’ complaints about Gaza seriously because Hamas deliberately attacked Israel with the intention of provoking Israel. There was no other reason. They knew this would happen that is why they attacked.

Hamas is supposed to be the government in Gaza so their behavior on October 7 is unacceptable. If killing children, raping women and kidnapping grandmothers is what a Hamas government is about, then Hamas’ behavior is more than alarming. It is a war crime and the Israelis have every right to pursue these criminals. As a government, Hamas is responsible for their soldiers. They haven’t done anything to discipline the worst offenders of October 7, so I can only assume that they are a criminal government with criminal soldiers.

Also, a Hamas government has sadly neglected the people in Gaza. They knew they were going to attack Israel. Did they do anything to protect their own population against what was about to happen. Did they store food and medicine? Apparently not. They don’t mind hiding in heavily populated areas which puts their civilian population (read here women and children) at risk. Hamas is discouraging evacuations and blocking exits out of dangerous areas. This is good government? So you can spare me any arguments that Hamas cares about their civilian population. They want them massacred. They need bloody bodies so that the BBC and CNN can show them to a horrified public.

Finally, there is the argument that the people in Gaza are being held captive by Hamas so they shouldn’t be punished for Hamas’ actions. What? If Hamas is holding the people in Gaza hostage then we should be rescuing them. Right? Hamas is either the government there or not. If Hamas represents the people of Gaza, this means that the civilian population of the country is fair game. I know that this is true because Hamas and its supporters in the West tell me so. You see if it is all right for Hamas to attack the civilian population of Israel, how can it be wrong for Israel to do the same. If Gaza is being held hostage by Hamas, then let’s rescue the people in Gaza immediately because Hamas isn’t doing much to help them.

By on

Hamas isn’t interested in making the Palestinians lives any better, they want the destruction of Israel. These are two distinctly different goals. One might be done peacefully, the other will require a bloodbath. Hamas wants the bloodbath.

Since the Israelis have a strong military, and, where it matters, a unified population on how to battle Hamas, Israel has the distinct advantage. There is little to no evidence that it is even possible to drive the Israelis out and it certainly would cost many lives on both sides. Without some change in strategy, the only thing Hamas can do in the short term is make life miserable for the Israelis which, in turn, also means the Palestinians. And around and around she goes.

So for the foreseeable future, life in the Middle East will continue to be bloody. The Palestinians in Gaza are about to pay a high price for Hamas brutality which means the world is about to watch Israel go into the Gaza with both guns blazing. More dead women and children, more wounded and maimed, more cities in rubble, so more people without homes and more people who nobody wants searching the world for a place to live without fear of a missile flying through their roof. It is hopeless and depressing and I wish I had an answer. But I don’t and really it doesn’t appear that anyone else does either.

I do know that Hamas are evil fucks. I just can’t listen to their excuses nor their outrage over how the Israelis treat the people in Gaza. They knew what they were doing and how the Israelis would react that was, after all, the only purpose for the attack — a giant publicity stunt showing how relevant Hamas is. But they fucked that up when they gleefully started killing children. This wasn’t the publicity Hamas was after.

And it isn’t as if I believe the Israelis have been saints, they haven’t. But, seriously, I haven’t heard of any recent Israeli military actions where their soldiers intentionally killed children or, for that matter, a doped up audience. Attacking a rock concert at sunrise. How brave. Their victims were probably high as kite or coming down from being high as a kite — not quite equal combatants with the Hamas terrorists.

People are still responsible for what they do. No amount of suffering justifies raping hostages and killing babies. If Hamas represents the Palestinian nation, then their soldiers should behave like good soldiers when acting for the nation. Good soldiers only kill when it is necessary and not out of revenge for past wrongs. Killing should be the last resort. This isn’t what happened. Hamas exhibited a cruelty that was inexcusable for good soldiers in combat which means they are terrorists and not soldiers.

So, all that is left for now is for the Israelis to create a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and thus begins a new round of bloody recriminations.