Are there parallels between Israel's assault on Gaza and the American assault on North Vietnam during the Vietnam War?
Both conflicts involved asymmetrical warfare, with a technologically superior force (Israel and the United States, respectively) facing off against a determined guerrilla force (Hamas in Gaza and the Viet Cong in Vietnam). Both conflicts also saw significant civilian casualties and infrastructure damage.
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Both assaults were done because people in power used fear-mongering to stay in power. The Vietnamese weren't actually a threat to us, but the government manufactured the Red Scare. With Israel, Hamas is a threat, but the government is pretending all Palestinians are Hamas. Plus, Israel pretty much created Hamas through the apartheid.
@BohemianBabe Couldn't you say France created the Vietnamese Communists and the Vietcong through colonialism? Vietnam was fundamentally a colonial war, or a continuation of the earlier French colonial war in Indochina. There are those who say that Israel is promoting colonial ambitions in Gaza. There were elements of anti-colonial struggle on the part of the Vietnamese people who fought against U.S. foreign intervention.
@trollslayer While American involvement in the Indochina War was primarily driven by Cold War considerations, including containment of communism, it was also influenced by France's colonial interests in the region. The US supported France as part of its broader strategy to prevent the spread of communism and maintain stability in Southeast Asia, but French colonialism played a role in shaping the context of that support. And again, as far as the Vietnamese were comcerned, there were elements of anti-colonial struggle on the part of the Vietnamese people who fought against U.S. foreign intervention.
