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Yep. I completely get why the Israelis feel that way. Many of their neighbors really are out to wipe them out entirely.I now understand better what is fueling Israel. This is not tit-for-tat. They are fueled by the deepest fears of genocide because those fears are real.
Yep. I completely get why the Israelis feel that way. Many of their neighbors really are out to wipe them out entirely.
this is a surprising and honest opinion by Chris Cuomo who watched 47 mins of the brutality of Hamas on Oct 7
"If an enemy wanted to make sure that Israel would come for them, the message would be to take children, women, innocents and more, tie them up and burn them alive. Just like the Holocaust. The ultimate fear of what the world can bring the Jews’ way when a decision is made that Jews are less than human and treated that way in words and deeds.
I now know that is exactly the message Hamas sent, on purpose, at scale. I was not aware of that before. They did it methodically. You hear it in the voices, the commands, the ease and excitement of finding and mutilating victims. Being told, “Let them play with it.”
[...]
The 47 minutes show a small fraction of the dead, but it makes it very clear that Hamas wanted war. This was not the irrepressible angst of the desperate who want freedom, who want better, nor certainly want anything approximating peace. They wanted the Jews to know that they want them to burn — again.
I now understand better what is fueling Israel. This is not tit-for-tat. They are fueled by the deepest fears of genocide because those fears are real.
vid worth watching
I think that is the point.They paying dearly for it and won't be able to do anything near for a long time.
I agree with that too. Not sure how going back that far makes you excuse Israel and hold Palestine guilty. I would think it would lead you to believe the situation is much more complicated with blame on both sides.
I think that is the point.
I view the Palestinians a little (but not entirely) like I view Native Americans. They have some legitimate complaints. They never had a nation in the area, but some were expelled from land they lived on (even if they didn't own it). However, they frequently engage in violence against a people with greater historic ties to the land and not against their military but against civilians. That's just not defensible, and a pretty ferocious response to stop them from doing it again is justifiable.
As an American, I'm for helping Israel entirely for pragmatic reasons. They are a largely pro-Western nation under attack by a bunch of Islamic savages who would sever our heads if they had their way. Very easy call.
Mona?
You posted "Otherwise you are saying only one group has a right to defense."
So Hamas while under a cease fire viciously attacked and murdered innocent Israeli civilians, women and babies.
THAT is NOT defense.
Fair
So what is Hamas's "self defense"?
It was Woodrow Wilson who pushed so hard to get the world away from the ancient and accepted concept of the Right of Conquest.Some thoughts on the Right of Conquest, and modifications thereof via the League of Nations/UN, are in the article below. This may relate more to the Russia vs. Ukraine situation than the situations in Israel.
How war became a crime
There is no " no prisoners approach "policy
Did you read your article?
I don't know what anyone else would do but I wouldn't let terrorists walk out of a building with guns in their hands. First, thing they do is put the weapons on the ground. Then we march them out under very careful supervision and I definitely wouldn't let them carry out all the weapons and dump them outside. They are going straight to jail or some other detention area. These pictures are very strange to say the least.
I agree that the situations are similar.
What I don't agree with is that Palestinians or Indians never owned the land. Land ownership happens when an individual mixes his labor with previously unused land (homesteading) to create things he needs to support his life or his family's life. This is the Lockean model. Based on that model some of the land Americans settled was stolen and some of the land Israel has settled is stolen. Both groups haven't had a state but they were a nation as a nation is simply a group of people with a common language, culture, and family ties.
If you someone forces you off land that you rightly own according to the Lockean model you have a right to defend yourself and your property. You also have the right to fight to win it back because the aggressor has gained the land illegitimately from an ethical perspective.
I also disagree that Indians (in the 19th century) and Palestinians have less historic ties to the land. I don't believe they have a right of return in every case for several reasons. But I don't see how European Jews moving in and kicking Palestinians off of land their family has homesteaded for generations is legitimate. It is theft on a grand scale. I don't support returning Gazans to their families land right now because it would be hard to determine who really owned what land. But it is a recorded fact that those people are descended from 750,000 Palestinians who were removed from their family's land and moved into the Gaza strip.
I also agree that Hamas attacking civilians is horrendous. It shouldn't be tolerated. Those involved in the crimes should be brought to justice. But you continue to ignore that Palestinian civilians are also being attacked by Israel. People can claim they are collateral damage or human shields but it doesn't change the fact that tens of thousands are being killed right now and Israel doesn't really know how much effect they are having on Hamas. Do Palestinians have any right to defend themselves? Obviously 10/7 had nothing to do with defense.
I am fine with being allies with Israel in general. But they aren't the best partner. I see the US doing lots and lots of things to help Israel. I don't see anything that Israel is doing to help the US and most especially Americans. I agree that Hamas are savages but I don't think most of the Palestinians are. Most of them are trying to make a living and raise families like everybody else. I don't see Palestinians posing any threat to Americans in any way. My daughters have gone to high school with many Muslims. They are under no threat from them and are in fact friends.
It was Woodrow Wilson who pushed so hard to get the world away from the ancient and accepted concept of the Right of Conquest.
View attachment 9059
The Divine Right to ownership of certain land is another viewpoint.
Our Civilization, in these United States and really all of Western Civilization, has, as one of its main foundations, the Christian/Jewish Biblical Scripture. A bas relief of Moses and the 10 Commandments is featured prominently over the entrance of the United States Supreme Court for crying out loud. And that Scripture puts the land of Israel (plus quite a bit of nearby land) squarely, and unabashedly, in the ownership of the Jews. And very, very bad things tend to happen to those who try to uproot and destroy them.
G_dless atheists may scoff at this idea all they want, but it should not be ignored.