Tag: Israel

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What is happening in Gaza is horrible and, with no possible solution that both sides will agree to, it will continue to be horrible.

The idea that defunding Israel will somehow stop it is absurd. Donald Trump is an idiot and no competition for the evil genius of Benjamin Netanyahu. So you are more than welcome to dream on with that but be prepared to be disappointed.

The only device left in Hamas’ arsenal is pictures of dying children which tells you everything. When all else fails, dying children will do the trick. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. There are dying children everywhere, why this particular subset of dying children should get more attention than the other dying children in the world is debatable. Why are the dying children in South Sudan any less worthy of our attention than the dying children in Gaza?

Dying children always occur during war. It is a terrible awful fact. Children died when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. So when pro-Palestinians try to guilt the West into supporting their side because of all the dying children. I find it difficult to take their complaints seriously when Hamas has the blood of children on their hands.

But Israel is eliminating the Palestinians in Gaza. Probably but how has October 7 made this situation better. Indeed, it has made the Palestinians situation in Gaza a good deal worse and Hamas, instead of surrendering which would save their civilian population, continue this losing strategy in the hopes that the world changes their mind and turn on Israel.

The problem for the Palestinians is what is the world willing to do about it. Israel has an overwhelming military force, advanced technology and atomic weapons. Gaza has dying children, bombed out building and Hamas. What can change this dynamic? More attacks like October 7? Pictures of dying children? Good luck with that.

It’s not as if Israel’s stance is above reproach. It most certainly is. Israel has definitely pursued policies that have robbed Palestinians of their land. On the other hand, the leadership of the Palestinians have pursued a strategy that is even more alienating to the West than Israel’s. What advantage have they gained since October 7? They probably will lose control over Gaza. Since 1948, all that the Palestinian leadership has been able to achieve is less and less territory and lots and lots of dead children.

So, by all means, continue to show pictures of dead children as the Israelis take over Gaza. All those martyrs were worth another crushing defeat.

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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.

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I am so confused. I thought the Israelis took care of Iran’s nuclear capabilities last week. So why is Trump bombing the burnt out facilities again? Last week everyone was saying that Israel had crippled Iran’s nuclear capabilities for the foreseeable future.

Trump was making sure that Iran’s nuclear capabilities are destroyed for good. Is anything for good? I mean building a nuclear bomb isn’t all that difficult. The science is readily available. The infrastructure and materials are the hard part and we were assured that Israel had taken care of that part. Since Israel had already delayed it, what was the point of the extra bombing? A few extra months, a few extra years? Trump’s additional bombing seems unnecessary and a waste of money and effort.

Also since Israel had just bombed the shit out of Iran’s nuclear facilities, where was the urgency in doing it again so quickly. This is the excuse for failing to consult Congress. Trump needed to act quickly to ensure that Iran’s nuclear capability was destroyed. It wasn’t likely that Iran could hobble together a nuclear bomb in the next few days, so there was no danger in waiting for Congressional approval. The only problem with waiting was that Congress might no approve of the bombing.

Well, Democrat Presidents have bombed without consulting Congress, why can’t Trump? This is true and Democrat presidents were wrong to do it. On the other hand, this is hardly a defense of Trump’s action here — particularly for people who claim to be strict Constitutionalists. As every mother in the world has ever said to their children if everyone jumped off the Empire State Building, would you do it too? You are saying I should be able to do a wrong thing because everyone else is doing the wrong thing and getting away with it. It isn’t fair that I can’t do the wrong thing too is hardly a credible defense.

So in review: Trump bombed, without the consent of Congress, an already neutralized weapons sites because Iran could maybe revive their nuclear weapons capability in a couple of years. Go Team.

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I don’t know why Hamas thought attacking Israel on October 7 was a good idea but they were wrong. What a disaster. It has failed utterly to do anything of value for the Palestinian people. All they are getting from it is more martyrs. A whole population ruined again by this ill thought out attack.

And I don’t blame the Israelis for kicking the shit out of the Palestinians. Hamas attacked the civilian population of Israel — killing men, women and children. Did they really expect the Israelis to do nothing? Anyone watching the Middle East for the past 70 years knew they were going to retaliate. Unsurprisingly they did with the full might of their military.

Maybe Hamas thought that they could change world opinion which might have worked if October 7 had not been so vicious. But it was so much so that whenever I try to get mad at the Israelis, I remember October 7 and I no longer can muster the requisite anger to actually change my mind.

The modern world doesn’t work in a way that matches the Hamas’ strategy. The news is everywhere. What you do is seen and once it has been seen, it can’t be unseen. Terrorism still scares the shit out people. The more repellant the terrorism, the less likely that any positive message you have will be heard. October 7 was truly repellant.

What about the Israeli merciless attack on Gaza. Yes it was bad but, again, I keep coming back to Hamas. Israel wanted the perpetrators of the October 7 attack. They were hiding in Gaza. If Hamas truly wanted to stop the Israeli counter attack, they could do what any losing army does when their civilian population is getting the shit kicked out them — they can surrender. They refused to do it, so then who is responsible for the long bloody war in Gaza? To my mind, Hamas.

Unfortunately for the Palestinians, it looks like the world agrees or, at least, they aren’t willing to do much to save them outside of street demonstrations. So, Hamas allowed its civilian population to take the brunt of Israelis justified anger after a pointless, but savage, attack of Israeli citizens. How has it helped the Palestinians in any way? I mean fucking Donald Trump wants to take over Gaza, kick out the Palestinians and put up resort hotels.

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I was more sympathetic to Palestinian arguments regarding Israel before October 7. They got a raw deal in 1948. Jewish, Muslim and Christians all lived in the same area. To carve out a country which was wholly one religion would be impossible. Divvying up this land was going to leave some Muslims in the new Jewish state. This should have put a pause on the creation of Israel and, by pause I mean, come up with a better solution than the one proposed.

That did not happen. Some people will argue that it was a fair settlement. Others will say it was unfair. It doesn’t really matter because the result has been 76 years of war with intermittent periods of an uneasy peace. The Palestinians have been on the losing side of all of these wars. Despite these humiliating losses and the attendant carnage these wars cause, the Palestinians cling to a violent strategy that has brought them absolutely nothing but misery.

On October 7, Hamas launched an attack on Israel. A questionable move given that Israel has the best and most successful military in the region. Hamas had a day of victorious celebrations and then the hammer went down.

Why Hamas attacked is unclear. They wanted hostages to exchange for Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails. They managed to get some but they also angered the Israelis into a counter attack which, to my mind, was the real reason for the attack. To make the Israelis look bad. If I am correct, Hamas has succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Here in lies the problem for me and why I have lost sympathy for the Palestinian position. When an army is getting the shit kicked out of them and there is no hope of winning, the losing side usually surrenders to the stronger power. Most losing armies do this because they want to protect their civilian population from further bloodshed. Hamas is apparently happy to sacrifice their civilian population to a losing cause. So the bloodshed continues.

But this is collective punishment. The children in Palestine have nothing to do with Hamas. Why should they be paying the price for Hamas. Hamas has chosen to hide in Gaza among children. It is a terrible situation. But no more terrible than the October 7 attack. They attacked a rock concert. They raped women. Children died in their incursion into Israel. Hamas has no trouble hurting civilian populations when they are the aggressor. It may not have been their intention to do this but it did happen. How can they complain about the Israelis doing the same?

Well, then the Israeli counter attack is disproportionately excessive to the Hamas attack. Again, yes, it is. But why shouldn’t it be if a country wants to protect itself against future aggression/ Why wouldn’t the Israelis put their focus on destroying Hamas and making sure that Hamas is unable to attack Israel again? Hamas is more interested in attacking Israel again than protecting its own civilian population. Hamas wants Israel to stop the war, a war Hamas is losing, without actually surrendering their troops. What winning army would accept that?

I do not know how to right the wrongs of the 1948 settlement but the present Hamas strategy has done little to help the Palestinian people. Israel keeps winning, and as is the wont of winners in war, taking more and more Palestinian land. I think it is time for Hamas and all the leaders in Palestine to take a realistic look at what they can get. Ask for the moon, by all means, but settle for what you can get. Tomorrow is another day and you can continue to work, hopefully peacefully, to get a better deal.

Blaming the Israelis for the present spat of violence is disingenuous. Hamas knew what they were doing, knew how the Israelis would respond and attacked any way. They did this all without worrying about the horrors their actions would unleash on the people in Gaza. They can end the war today simply by surrendering like any other losing army.


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Sen. Vance, Republican Ohio, made a speech about the difference between funding Israel’s wars and funding the Ukraine’s wars. The key take away here is he said ”  I do not think that it is in America’s interest to continue to fund an effectively never-ending war in Ukraine.” I think the never-ending war in Israel has been going on a bit longer than the never-ending war in the Ukraine. If you are going to talk about never-ending wars then it is best not to compare the shortest never-ending war to the longest never-ending war in the world.

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There are times when there are only bad options on the table. That doesn’t mean you can opt out of the choice. Bad options still require a decision.

I this is where we are with Israel and Gaza. What exactly will a ceasefire do? There was a ceasefire in place before Hamas attacked on October 7. Hamas eventually broke that ceasefire. So, 2 weeks, months, years, decades from now the ceasefire will be broken. In the interim, is there any possible peace plan that both sides will accept? I am not hearing any.

Everything I hear is more war without anyone actually saying the word war. Palestinians want the river to the sea or all of Israel. How is that going to happen peacefully? There are 9 million Israelis. They are just going to pack up their things and move. Is that the idea? Where? The West, particularly North America and Europe, is already antagonistic towards immigration. It isn’t likely that pushing even more migrants onto the Western World is going to make them more receptive to mass immigration on this large a scale. With no place to go, and everything they have in Israel, it is a pretty safe bet the Israelis will fight.

Some say a truce would allow for the evacuation of women and children in Gaza. This would be good if somebody would take them but nobody wants them. What country has said that they would take Palestinian refugees? Particularly when many of these refugees are committed to waging war with Israel. What country wants to become a target for Israel’s revenge against the Palestinians?Let’s face it, the Palestinians aren’t going anywhere. So, then, there is no place to evacuate them to. A ceasefire is only delaying the next war not stopping it.

What Hamas gained from their attack on Israel is a mystery. Surely an aggressive military response from Israel must have occurred to them. Yet, they still went ahead with an attack of a superior military force with no plan to protect the civilian population of Gaza. Indeed, it looks very much like they wanted an Israeli counter attack of Hamas which, of course, would include civilians. Well, Hamas got what they wanted. For their efforts, Hamas got one day of unseemly celebrations for killing Israelis and then the relentless hammer of the Israeli military. This hardly seems worth the beating that the people of Gaza are experiencing presently.

The Israelis are getting bad publicity but then this doesn’t seem to bother the Israelis. They expect it. The Israelis, however, are united in their commitment for the survival of Israel. If this calls for bombing Gaza into submission, so be it. It is a horrible thing to happen, but then we used similar tactics during World War II. German and Japanese civilians suffered terribly during the Allied bombing of their cities. But then war is terrible.

So who gets the nod.

Hamas is antagonistic towards women’s rights and gay rights. They also stopped having elections in Gaza once they took control, so not particularly committed to democratic institutions. The atrocities that Hamas committed on October 7 further undermined their reputation as a civilized fighting force. The leaders of Hamas either don’t want to control their fighters or can’t control them. None of this speaks well of their ability to govern reasonably.

Netanyahu, on the other hand, is corrupt and dangerously self-serving. He wants to bend Israeli law in such a way that he can retain power. He also leads a government that is hostile to any Palestinian grievances. He opposes the two state solution which is the only peaceful solution even remotely considered as possible by both sides. Not much hope for peace while Netanyahu is in power. The Israelis do continue to have elections so there is some possibility that Netanyahu will be dismissed at some future date.

So two really bad options. But, it doesn’t take much thinking on my part, I would much rather take my chances with a government led by Netanyahu than one led by Hamas.

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Anti-Israel Protesters blocked the Golden Gate Bridge causing a traffic snarl in the Bay area. Google employees who disagreed with their company’s contracts with Israel stormed and occupied the suites of top executives. Other than bringing publicity to their cause, these demonstrations seem largely ineffective at changing minds. The major sentiment for people on the other side of the protest is irritation. Why are these people fucking with my day?

There is this notion, particularly on the left, that these brave souls are sacrificing themselves for the greater good. Take it to the streets and when the people see this massive show of popular sentiment, they will join the fight. That this rarely happens is beside the point. There is always the dream that this time it will work.

Demonstrations, contrary to popular thinking, are anti-democratic. Just because I can get 100,000 people marching for my cause, everyone else who isn’t marching must agree and you must do whatever I ask. The problem is that there was million or more people who failed to show up. What exactly is their position? At best, they might agree but don’t think it is important enough to take it to the streets or, at worst, they disagree and find you an irritation. Their opinion is unknown. The only way, at least in a country with democratic processes, is an election. Until then,why should any government change their position based on a couple thousand people stopping traffic.

The underlying fear in large demonstrations is the threat of violence. There are many people in the streets, some of them might be willing to resort to violence, governments might then decide to pacify the crowd by changing their position. This is an incredibly dangerous precedent for any government, left or right, to take.

For example, January 6. A small number of angry demonstrators occupied the congress because they were disappointed in how the democratic processes turned out. They too felt that their numbers had to be acknowledged, that by showing their numbers to legislators that the government will change its position and give the protesters what they want because if you don’t, there are millions of other Americans just waiting for the word from these patriots and this could mean violence all over the country. Indeed, I think the January 6 rioters actually thought they were going to ignite a revolution and were genuinely surprised when nothing happened. Instead, the vast majority of Americans decided to stay home.

Demonstrations are also exercises in moral superiority. You bastards aren’t listening to me so I am going to annoy you until you change your mind. Yelling at people, I have found, rarely gets people to change their minds. In fact, I would bet, it makes a lot of people stand firm on whatever position they have, particularly if that opinion differs from the demonstrators.

Take to the streets if you like. It is your right but I think a better way to spend your time, energy and money is peacefully changing people’s minds and winning elections. I know it isn’t as satisfying as storming the barricades and being joined by the masses you have inspired but, let’s face it, is much more likely to happen through elections than demonstrations.

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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.

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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.