The PA was far from perfect. It was ridden by corruption and Arafat was a coward who was afraid he would suffer the same fate as Rabin had. That said they were one of the few chances for peace and were undermined both by Hamas and the policy of collective punishment. Since Rabin there have been no moral or brave enough leaders for both people.
For how sick I am of what is happening in the Middle East I am more worried that the killing of the child in IL could be the beginning of things happening here in the US.
I'm getting real post-9/11 vibes nowadays when it comes to these types of stories. Its not quite at the same level yet but the tenor and tone of security discourse really harkens back to that era. Hopefully its just a temporary blip and not 15 year stretch again. To give some credit to the Israelis, both Barak and Olmert really tried to strike a deal. In both cases, Arafat and Abbas could've taken deals were intended to be the conclusion to Oslo. But it always fell apart because of quibbles over issues that frankly shouldn't have been issues. The interesting counterfactual is what happens if Sharon doesn't die in office. He had no interest in a deal but he also didn't like the settlers and was ready to dismantle most of the West Bank settlements. He was ready to unilaterally dismantle a pretty large number of West Bank settlements and enact a full prohibition on future ones. The man was a radical (for the time) but he also didn't like settlers and didn't see settlements as sustainable in any way. The other counterfactual is what would have happened if Bush doesn't condition aid to Palestinians on holding elections. Hamas winning that election was the beginning of the end. That led to the intra Palestinian civil war between Hamas and Fatah which was one of the main reasons why the negotiations between Olmert and Abbas collapsed. That whole democracy promotion bit from the 2000s was quite stupid in hindsight. None of it ever worked and in the case of the Palestinians, it actively elevated Hamas and led to the Gaza/West Bank divide. Netanyahu was all for it because I'm pretty sure he knew that Hamas would end up winning and it would sabotage Olmert's negotiations with Abbas
Elon Musk Is Shitposting His Way Through the Israel-Hamas War X’s Trust and Safety team says it’s working to remove false information related to the Israel-Hamas war. Meanwhile, Elon Musk is sharing conspiracies and chatting with QAnon promoters. Elon Musk Is Personally Undermining X’s Efforts to Curb Israel-Hamas War Disinformation | WIRED Yesterday evening, X’s Trust and Safety team, which is currently leaderless after Ella Irwin resigned in June, wrote on X that it had “removed newly created Hamas-affiliated accounts” and was working with the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), an industry body that helps coordinate content moderation across social media platforms, to “try and prevent terrorist content from being distributed online.” Since Musk took control of the platform just under a year ago, he has restructured it to encourage engagement over everything else. As a result, accounts that subscribe to X Premium now have a monetary incentive to post content that is engaging regardless of how truthful it is. This was highlighted clearly on yesterday night when, at the same time as the Safety team posted its update, a new viral piece of disinformation was spreading unchecked on X. Sulaiman Ahmed, a self-described investigative journalist, posted the false claim that the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, one of the oldest churches in the world, was destroyed by an Israeli bomb. The post received over 1 million views in the span of three hours. Ahmed is a subscriber to X Premium, which means his posts are given priority in search results and newsfeeds over other users, and he also allows followers to subscribe to his content directly through X, allowing him to profit from increased engagement with his content. Yesterday evening, the church posted an update on Facebook dismissing the claim, adding that it was taking in refugees left homeless following Israel’s bombing campaign in retaliation to the Hamas attack that began on Saturday morning. Despite the church’s rebuttal—and Ahmed himself subsequently admitting that the church was untouched—the disinformation spread far and wide on X. WIRED conducted a search for the “Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church” on X this morning and found that Ahmed’s original false post was the third result. Multiple other posts from verified users all repeating the lie were also promoted at the top of the results, none of which had Community Notes attached to them.
The killing of the child is very sad, but it looks more like one crazy individual going off the rails than anything that would be supported by a larger group of people. That's very much unlike what we are seeing with the widespread Muslim and leftist support for Hamas.
That's how a lot of stuff like this starts. One crazed individual. Unfortunately in this country one crazed individual can still kill a lot of people relatively easily.
Where did Israel not allow aid, they are not in control of the Southern border with Egypt....this sounds like a sham. DD
Ex army General thinks Israel is making a error of a lifetime. He thinks they're falling into a trap.
If I were planning the invasion for Israel.... I'd be acquiring a lot of trained Belgian Malinois and Dutch Sheperds for those tunnels, and the camera goggles and earphone systems for the dogs so they can work beyond line of site and sound of their handlers. That's going to be hell for the IDF.
Im sure it’s a trap. Hamas wants to lure the IDF into a protracted urban battle In Gaza. They want the battle of Iwo Jima where Japanese General Kiribashi knew he couldn’t stop the US from taking island but made it as costly as possible. He told his men before you can die you have to kill 10 Americans.
And they lost the war....same thing will happen here......they will lose. And die for nothing. No one will remember then 10 years from now. DD
BB's approval ratings has rightfully tanked as his support for Hamas and over prioritization of defending the West Bank made their security lapses around Gaza more egregious. This corrupt greasebag is part of the tangled web in the region. I don't know if Palestinian statehood would solve violence in the region, but he never tried in the first place and used it to support objectives for his extremist wing at the detriment of the Israeli people. [NYMag] Netanyahu Is Losing the War at Home Incompetence against Hamas and indifference to Israeli suffering has the public boiling over. A demonstrator holds a sign against Israel’s leader two weeks ago. Benjamin Netanyahu was already deeply unpopular before presiding over the greatest security debacle in the nation’s history. ... Shay was referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government’s minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a racist provocateur elevated to high office with several other extremists to cobble together a government after the last election. That government is facing a growing chorus of criticism from all corners of Israeli society since Hamas’s surprise attack with the military caught off guard and taking hours to reach towns where terrorists massacred over 1,200 people. “You,” Shay continued, “betrayed the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. You betrayed the residents of the Gaza border. You betrayed the State of Israel. You betrayed my beloved brother. I expect all of you to take responsibility and resign immediately at the war’s end.” Another siren interrupted before he finished. “I will not forget, and I will not forgive. I promise that I will pursue you till the ends of time.” About a foot behind him stood Economy Minister Nir Barkat — who hopes one day to replace Netanyahu as head of the Likud Party — unmoving, inscrutable as a sphynx. Later that day, he visited Tel Aviv’s Tel HaShomer hospital, where he encountered Shirel Hogeg, attending to a wounded relative. Three of Hogeg’s relatives are missing or dead. “You better learn to take some criticism,” he yelled at Barkat, shaking a finger into his face. “Because you dismantled this country! You as a businessman know what happens when you dismantle the corporate structure of a company! You’ve destroyed this country’s institutional structure!” Since Netanyahu returned to power ten months ago, Barkat, one of Israel’s first tech billionaires and the wealthiest man in politics, has been a loyal soldier of Netanyahu’s “judicial reform,” which would practically neuter the country’s courts. Israel was in fragile shape before the war erupted, beset by unrelenting massive protests against Netanyahu’s attempted coup against the rule of law. “You broke this country apart. Now,” Hogeg thundered, “I want to hear you take responsibility. I want to see how you rend your shirt and beg forgiveness from 2,000 people. Ten percent of all of Israel’s wartime losses were slaughtered on your watch.” Barkat: “I’ll talk to you after the war.” Hogeg: “Why after the war?!” Barkat: “Because right now I am occupied with the important thing: to come and look you in the eye.” Hogeg: “And maybe ask for forgiveness?” Barkat: “Certainly to ask for forgiveness.” Hogeg: “Where is the prime minister of Israel? Everyone should stand in line like you do to get your pictures taken and ask the Israeli people for forgiveness, get down on your knees, rend your shirt.” Barkat: “I have no doubt that we will all have to ask for forgiveness, everyone without exception —” “And resign,” another man in the hospital corridor growled. The prime minister’s approval rating hovered at about 27 percent before the bloodshed. Apparently aware that he does not have the public legitimacy to lead Israel into war, Netanyahu late on Wednesday night established an emergency war cabinet with Benny Gantz, a former IDF chief of staff who leads a center-right opposition party.
https://www.kswo.com/2023/10/16/gaz...breaking-point-israeli-ground-invasion-looms/ By The Associated Press and NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMYA KULLAB and JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press Published: Oct. 16, 2023 at 8:12 PM GMT+11|Updated: 1 hour ago RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hospitals in Gaza faced collapse Monday as water, power and medicine neared depletion, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians searched for dwindling food supplies while Israel maintained punishing airstrikes in retaliation for last week’s deadly rampage by Hamas. Thousands of patients’ lives were at risk, U.N. officials said, and mediators struggled for a cease-fire to let in aid waiting at the Egyptian border. More than a week after Israel stopped entry of any supplies, all eyes were on the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt, where trucks carrying aid have waited for days to pass through. Israel forced the crossing to shut down with airstrikes on the Gaza side last week and has not agreed to reopening it for aid. Egyptian state TV and Gaza media reported Israel struck the crossing again Monday.
This - and possibly spark "something", some sort of significant reaction from some country or group outside of Israel and Palestine. Maybe a Hezbollah attack or the USA is pulled into combat - or Iran does something........ It is a Hail Mary - but the truth is that Hamas IS the underdog and they believe they have to force something to happen. As silly as it seems - it can happen - look no further than 9-11.
I am worried about that as well. They will have put tons of mines there, etc. And Hamas basically doesn't care about its own civilians, while Israel does. It's asymmetrical warfare. Evil vs. Good. And if/when Israel tries to strike Hamas, and, because of Hamas' tactics, Palestinian civilians will be affected, the propaganda in the Muslim world, including the fake "United Nations", will use that to try and paint Israel as the bad guys.
