Tag: Israel

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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.

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Imagine being caught smuggling Fruit Roll Ups

Would you even go to prison for this? I assuming the smuggling is the issue but throwing the book at someone caught selling fruit roll ups for such a penny-ante crime seems a bit harsh. And if you did manage to send these smugglers to prison, what would the other prisoners think? Is there any cache to be a fruit roll up smuggler?

Why are fruit roll ups so expensive in Israel? This a pretty bizarre shortage. I mean can’t some candy store just import more fruit roll ups if there is a shortage? And how many fruit roll ups can you bring into Israel before it is smuggling. I imagine a family of four going to Israel with a hundred fruit roll ups each for a 2-week trip. That doesn’t seem like a lot of fruit roll ups really but what would Israeli customs say?

Finally this seems to me to have the makings of a great television crime drama with rival gangs vying for control of the fruit roll up territories of Tel Aviv.