I didn’t want to direct this question to Americans specifically because, at this point, other countries have shown support to Israel in one or the other way. If my country was financing this, I would be taking the streets. Shit, I’m right now in the hospital but all I can think about is protesting anyway just to feel I did something to stop this madness.
Are you doing something about this? Are you feeling unsettled? How do you feel about all this mess?
EDIT: So, buying Chinese stuff takes the USS Gerald Ford to Gaza’s coast. Also, TIL that that chocolate my cousin gave me when she was 20 and I was 5, (delicious stuff!) made me a slavist-ish. The fact remains, this genocide is being paid and supported by taxpayers money; of course, I was hoping that most of us didn’t pay taxes wishing for this. Thank you all for your responses, some of them were hard to swallow.
If you were in power in Israel, and care for its citizens, what would your steps be as reaction to what happened? Please imagine both short and long term consequences.
If the Israeli government cared about the people it (supposedly) represents it wouldn’t be turning them into violent colonialist goons to do the west’s bidding in the middle-east, would it?
You might just as well ask how to fix the Apartheid-regime without upsetting white people or fix the Nazi regime without discomforting Nazis.
Ending the illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank would be a good start
So, a terrorist organization which also is Gaza government enters your territory from Gaza, kills barbarically 1000+ civilians, captures 100+ civilians and as response to that from the person who supposed to provide Israel security and prosperity, you end West Bank occupation?? (Gaza is not occupied). Really?
So a Polish-Jewish student shoots a diplomat in Paris and as a response you expect us to not allow pogroms?? Really?
You analogy is so wrong, that it does not warrant serious response.
it’s not 1/1, but it makes the point just fine. There’s never a justified excuse to commit reprisal attacks on civilian populations. There is no moral ambiguity there no matter how you frame it. What happened to Israel was wrong. It does not give them a license to commit the same senseless murder. A war crime is a war crime. A genocide is a genocide. End of story.
Ok, I give you benefit of a doubt that you did not think through this analogy. Let’s go in details. Step by step.
Suppose that a person X of some nationality makes some demands, like remove government and release all prisoners, and while doing that, kills somebody and hides in the city while being armed threatening to kill more if police comes for him or the demands are not met. What normal civilized response of the state would be and would not be?
It definitely would not release prisoners, nor remove the government. And it would not be “do nothing” because in the city there are other civilians who might suffer when the person X is apprehended. It would neither be let’s kill people of the same nationality.
So, instead the police would hunt and try to apprehend or kill him while minimizing civilian casualties. But civilian casualties are quite possible.
This is exactly what Israel is doing. It goes after Hamas. It does not go after Arabs because they are Arabs (in sharp contrast to what Hamas did - killing Jews because they are Jews). And Israel does minimize casualties, but it is just not possible not to have casualties at all (this is where analogy breaks, sometimes criminals are apprehended without any inconvenience to public).
Yielding to Hamas demands would be mistake for the same reason why it would be mistake in analogy. Doing nothing would be also a mistake, also, for the same reason as in analogy. The guilty should be apprehended/killed if resists while minimizing civilian casualties - true in both cases.
I will say even more. When Hamas was planing this, it perfectly understood, that it can not win war with Israel, and that Israel will retaliate with many civilian casualties in Gaza. While Israel essentially does not have a choice in its action, Hamas did. And yet it decided to kill 1000+ civilians inviting death of civilians in Gaza precisely for the reason of many posts appearing on internet “ah, poor civilians, look, Israel is bad”. This is Hamas making, not Israeli.
Zealotry has warped your mind. The validity of my message and analogy stand. I find it truly sad how little you value human life, to the point of mocking the murder of civilians. Hope that you come to terms with the utterly vile nature of what you’ve said some day.
Emotions have closed your mind, and overwhelmed your ability to think clearly. The loss of life is for sure tragic, but you refuse to see that the responsibility lies on Hamas. It is the criminal in your analogy.
Over the years I criticized Israel for its policies in West Bank and sector Gaza. But when finally Israel started to warm up and negotiate with Hamas, thinking that “death to Israel” is just political slogan meant for campaigning, when Israel started to increase working permits, Hamas was planing to do what it is done with full knowledge about what happened next. And you manage somehow blame Israel for that.
I just hope that one day you will understand which side is on the side of dignity of free human life, and which side are religious zealots.