I don’t really blame the Israelis in being somewhat paranoid. As soon as the state was founded a coalition of Arab states tried to wipe it out. At the same time though in recent decades it has gotten more radical With Jewish settler and religious extremist groups playing a much larger role in government. Conversely the Palestinian cause has become more radicalized with groups like Hamas. On both sides it has become far more associated with religion. For those who don’t know the history in the 80’s and 70’s Israel was more secular and so were the Palestinians. The PLO wasn’t focused on religion and even had Christian members. They were far more tied with international Marxist liberation movement and that is one reason why there is a lot of sympathy for the PLO in Northern Ireland among those who supported the IRA. Since this conflict has become more aligned holy causes it’s become harder to find solutions.
I was like... am I really gonna read some column written by a (potentially insane) member of the GOP House caucus? But... that is well-written and fairly intelligently argued. I'm not saying I agree, but he makes an interesting argument and one I've already been concerned with. Why is he still in the GOP though? LOL. Maybe he used a jedi mind trick on me.
Go Israel. Don't listen to people like @FranchiseBlade - unclear if delusional and incredibly naive or actually aligning himself with Hamas. Hanas must be eradicated now. There is no stopping halfway.
We agree that Hamas must be eliminated. I am 100% on board with that. I would rather do that smartly, and in a way that will help Israel have a more secure future rather than simply sating blood lust. As far as the figures that were linked, you are free to point out why you believe the independent statistics from the UN aren't accurate. But right now, it looks like you and @basso are unable to deal with the death of children at the hands of Israel and rather than advocate for a different path of eliminating Hamas, you simply refuse to believe anything that is inconvenient for you. Very MAGA Trump-like of you.
Hamas to Hezbollah: Son, they shook 'Cause ain't no such things as halfway crooks Scared to death, scared to look, they shook 'Cause ain't no such things as halfway crooks Scared to death, scared to look Livin' the life that of diamonds and guns There's numerous ways you can choose to earn funds So some get shot, locked down, and turn nuns Cowardly hearts and straight up shook ones, shook ones He ain't a crook, son, he's just a shook one
It’s hard not to judge for bias when you’re already so one-sided. Anyhow, the UN is independent, but Hamas and Israel are not.
There's a lot of truth in what you've written here (although you are also generalizing). I think if two states had been carved out back in the late 90's - there could have been peace - it was very close. Arafat wanted peace at the end. But I don't think Israel actually did because the far right still had ambitions for a greater Israel and worked to derail the peace process as much as groups like Hamas
Damn, the great reporter from Fox News almost got taken out by a rocket in Southern Israel just before he took the air. The iron dome isn't perfect.
Well, he wears a helmet but shrapnel can do some damage. He took cover seconds before the kindergarten building was struck.
I’ll say it again you don’t have to believe Hamas, the UN or BBC to know that a lot of civilians have died. You can’t blow up an apartment building in a dense urban area without killing a lot of civilians. I don’t think we know the exact numbers of people who have died in a Gaza recently but I think it is easily in the thousands.
I've seen estimates that 10% of the buildings in Gaza City are destroyed. But not sure how to substantiate that until everything is over or all the buildings have been destroyed. I would be interested in how the destruction compares to Dresden or even Hiroshima, but those conflicts were much bigger in scale compared to this one.
