[Uh-Oh]Israel and Gaza on the brink of all out WAR

It's a dilemma.

Maybe they would undercut support for Hamas.

But as long as Hamas is in power, who do you think would direct most resources to themselves once their economy picks up? Yup, Hamas.

And what do you think they would try to use it for? For their goal, which you stated above.

 

Who really gives a f**k about intent when it comes down to it? Hamas are scumbags and are trying to kill civilians, Israel is not trying to, but the fact remains that Israel, by virtue of the money America sends it, still kills about 10 Palestinian civilians for each Israeli dead (last time it was about 100).

Do you really think that a grieving father will think---"Hey, Israel didn't do that on purpose, they're just deploying weapons that will massively kill civilians even if well-aimed 100% of the time, that makes it a-alright." Hell no. This is why nations like Israel and America should hold themselves to a higher standard of responsibility in warfare, because they have little toys that, intent or not, can kill hundreds of times more civilians even if "non-intentional".

Anyways, that's even if you think Israel's intentions were so pure---which I wouldn't count on at all given the history of Israel saying one thing about Palestinian civilian life and acting a whole other way.

 

Certainly possible. But if the ultimate goal is peace, the current path has no real avenue that leads there. Weapons progressively get more and more powerful and more and more accessible by the decade - unless Israel is willing to wipe out the entire Palestinian population, oppressing millions of people and having a terror group fester within your borders is eventually going to lead to disaster. *Something* different has to be tried.

At the very least, when there was split leadership between Hamas and Fatah (maybe there still is? not really sure), you push to build the economy of the ones that work with you to create a split and undercut Hamas support that way.

 

I agree with you, Major.

 

OK, so what? Why, exactly, should we care if an apartheid state continues to exist?

There will be no peace without a two state solution.

 

Not only the state would cease to exist.

 

Jihad Misharawi carries his son’s body at a Gaza hospital. (AP)
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/gaza-baby-killed-photo-163958315.html

Jihad Misharawi, a BBC Arabic correspondent who lives in Gaza, tragically became part of the story he's been covering on Wednesday, when an Israeli airstrike killed his 11-month-old son.

A chilling photo showing Misharawi carrying his son's body through al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City was published by the Associated Press and printed on the front page of Thursday's Washington Post.

According to Paul Danahar, the BBC's Middle East bureau chief, Misharawi's sister-in-law was also killed in the the airstrike that hit his home in Gaza. Misharawi's brother was also seriously wounded, Danahar said.

"This is a particularly difficult moment for the whole bureau in Gaza," BBC World editor Jon Williams wrote in a memo to colleagues. "We're fortunate to have such a committed and courageous team there. It's a sobering reminder of the challenges facing many of our colleagues."

At least 10 Palestinians, including Hamas military chief Ahmed al-Jabari, were killed during the Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday, Palestinians officials said.
Israel launched the operation targeting militants in response to successive days of rocket fire coming out of Gaza. Hamas, meanwhile, warned Jabari's assassination "had opened the gates of hell."

 

Israel is in tough spot because they stole that land. I don't care what Israel tries to kill, they've killed innocents for decades. They destroyed Lebanon. They operate tanks in civilian areas. They embargo these areas, they restrict freedom of movement in these areas, they put an economic stranglehold on these areas, they restrict the flow of water to Palestinian areas. Hell I read a piece about them trying limit the calories of Palestinians. The Israelis are every bit the scumbags they believe Hamas to be. They want to have their war then go ahead and have it. Don't ask for our help and don't give me his we have the right to defend ourselves bull. Thieves don't have a right to defend their criminal acts with air strikes on apartment buildings.

 

Didn't stop the 50%ish death rate for civilians in the last Gaza conflict (one where 1,400 Palestinians and thirteen Israelis died).

Aiming intelligently doesn't stop your terrible toys from killing a disproportionate amount of people. Israel knows what it's doing every time it unleashes one of those. It can hide behind a wall of "intent", but that doesn't stop the fact that hundreds of civilians die on one side, while only a dozen die on the other, intentional or not.

 

Anything that happens here seems to make international news, which only seems to increase the notion to Israelis that they are the center of the universe.

As far as I understand Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the initial heave of a lot of rockets and artillery into Israel. Israel holds Hamas responsible for any attack and responded by taking out their #2 guy.

Since then, everyone is getting called up and I expect armor and infantry to take out all the missile sites, which are located near civillians and I would expect the body count of civilians to be rather high.

Last night I did a broadcast on the radio to promote my album. The studio is in Rishon L'Zion, where a missile hit earlier that day. Everyone was tense and talking about it since it was unprecedented for anything to get that far out of the South. It was also a bummer because no one was listening to the radio last night...everyone was watching the TV to find out what was going on.

Today I heard the first "code red" in 8 years in Israel this afternoon. Alarms never go off in Tel Aviv, but it happened today while I was working at home in my underwear. It was a bit surreal. I ran and put on my jeans, put my dog on a leash, and went out to the stairwell to keep working on my laptop (no safe room in this 1930s building).

Then I heard a loud bang, some girls screamed and it got really quiet. I waited a few more minutes and came back inside and kept working. I found out the missile hit Holon, a poor suburb maybe 3 miles from here maybe 20 minutes later on the Washington Post, of all places.

In any case, the new missiles are capable of hitting Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, or the airport (75 km if I'm not mistaken). US consular staff are staying at home and the embassy is working on minimal staff. I also can't remember that ever happening.


But to answer the many comments made:
--Yes the leadership benefits from this. Barak and Bibi love war. It kills all conversations about the economy and rent prices and always gets a bump in the polls. And as soon as elections were announced, people cynically asked "When is the next war?" Although to be fair, Israel didn't start this one and had to respond to all the missiles coming out of Gaza.

--The leadership here has no reason to take out Hamas. I doubt they will. They help keep the status quo, which is a state of manageable insecurity.

--Islamic Jihad keeps taking credit for everything. Whether it's with wink wink Hamas approval or completely independent of them, they still started a war.

--Bibi is blaming the Iranians for supplying the missiles (and impressive when you realize the only way they made it to Gaza was my dismantling, smuggling through tunnels and rebuilding them). I suspect this will be a new talking point in a new drive to bomb Iran.

--There's a rumor that Hamas has people monitoring social media to correct their aiming. I kind of doubt it's true, but people are being told by viral Facebook wall posts not to leave comments about where they hear sirens or hear blasts.

 

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

Israel has been guilty of intentionally killing civilians, not taking precautions to protect innocent life, and taking Palestinian youths and forcing them into combat situations where they act as shields for Israeli military personnel.

Israel has aright to defend itself and it should defend itself.

Israel should not steal more land from Palestinians, make laws that discriminate against Palestinians simply because of their ethnicity etc. But Israel is guilty of doing all of that.

 

delete. heart-breaking picture already posted

 

Muslim countries all over the world support/sponsor terrorist groups. Are they all doing it because of this Israeli oppression you speak of?

 

Iron Dome, 12 interceptions, awesome

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