Israel/Hamas
My wife's family is Jewish, so I have heard plenty of opinions, discussions, rants about the Israel/Hamas war. I try to keep my mouth shut and on the sidelines, as mostly what I hear are loud supports for Israel and broad antisemitism claims directed towards anyone that shows any sympathy for Palestinians.
After listening to all this, I have formed the following opinions:
1) This feels similar to the USA attacking Iraq after 9/11. Much of the world asked the USA to use restraint, but the USA went ahead almost as a "retaliation". There are MANY similar incidents in WWII, such as bombing Tokyo, British carpet bombing German cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and many incidents in the Vietnan war, and many other incidents in history. Hard to condemn Israel for retaliating with full force against civilian targets when they are simply doing what most countries have done at one time or another.
2) Logic says Israel is not intentionally targeting civilians or hospitals. They may not be using enough care to avoid civilians, and there may be individual soldiers or officers wanting to enact revenge, but that happens in any war. Why does logic tell me Israel is not intentionally targeting civilians? Because they have nothing to gain from it. What they need is international support, and targeting civilians would not get them support. Hamas targets civilians because they do gain from it. They gain attention. Israeli retaliation only helps their propaganda message toward their own people.
3) Hamas exists because the Palestinians are an oppressed people. Again, many examples in history of this kind of thing. Israel tries to control Hamas by further oppressing and controlling resources. It is a valid strategy, but also a strategy that is almost guaranteed not to work. Ever notice in school how the strictest teachers complained of the most discipline problems? It's a chicken/egg thing. Not sure what Israel is supposed to do here, but blockading Gaza for a couple of decades certainly did not stop the terrorism. I'm not saying Israel civilians deserved to be attacked or that Israel caused this, but I think this was inevitable given the atmosphere. Israel is in the position of power here, and unless they rethink their strategy this will continue. You can't expect Palestinians to willfully give up whatever power they feel they have left.
After listening to all this, I have formed the following opinions:
1) This feels similar to the USA attacking Iraq after 9/11. Much of the world asked the USA to use restraint, but the USA went ahead almost as a "retaliation". There are MANY similar incidents in WWII, such as bombing Tokyo, British carpet bombing German cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and many incidents in the Vietnan war, and many other incidents in history. Hard to condemn Israel for retaliating with full force against civilian targets when they are simply doing what most countries have done at one time or another.
2) Logic says Israel is not intentionally targeting civilians or hospitals. They may not be using enough care to avoid civilians, and there may be individual soldiers or officers wanting to enact revenge, but that happens in any war. Why does logic tell me Israel is not intentionally targeting civilians? Because they have nothing to gain from it. What they need is international support, and targeting civilians would not get them support. Hamas targets civilians because they do gain from it. They gain attention. Israeli retaliation only helps their propaganda message toward their own people.
3) Hamas exists because the Palestinians are an oppressed people. Again, many examples in history of this kind of thing. Israel tries to control Hamas by further oppressing and controlling resources. It is a valid strategy, but also a strategy that is almost guaranteed not to work. Ever notice in school how the strictest teachers complained of the most discipline problems? It's a chicken/egg thing. Not sure what Israel is supposed to do here, but blockading Gaza for a couple of decades certainly did not stop the terrorism. I'm not saying Israel civilians deserved to be attacked or that Israel caused this, but I think this was inevitable given the atmosphere. Israel is in the position of power here, and unless they rethink their strategy this will continue. You can't expect Palestinians to willfully give up whatever power they feel they have left.
46-50, M
