| Topic: | Re:What do the Palestinians and their supporters actually want ? | |
| Posted by: | Steven Rose | |
| Date/Time: | 15/05/24 15:37:00 |
| Dismissing as unreasonable a question you either cant’t or won’t answer is rather convenient. In this case the question is entirely reasonable. If you are going to criticise Israel’s conduct of the war, I think you need at least to indicate what the Israelis should do instead. It is easy to say that it is up to the Israeli military to find a way of eradicating Hamas without harming civilians. What if there is no way of neutralising Hamas without causing civilian casualties given that Hamas have deliberately embedded themselves in the civilian population? The answer which John Kettlekey has provided is that Israel should ‘scale back its attacks’. I presume this is not a call for a ceasefire, only for a reduction in the force used by the Israeli military. This would certainly suit Hamas, whose aim now is to hold out for as long as possible in the hope that eventually public pressure in the West, particularly America, will force Israel to give up. This would leave Hamas in control of Gaza, ready to regroup and strike again. Why would Israel, why would any country in the same circumstances, allow that to happen? The war is awful and tragically many civilians have died. But the Israelis have tried as far as possible to avoid civilian casualties. I don’t think any army in history has ever sent out leaflets and text messages or made phone calls warning civilians of impending attacks. And contrary to the unjustified accusations of ‘genocide’ and ‘carpet bombing’ made on this Forum, the ratio of civilian to military casualties is near to 1 : 1, compared to the normal ratio of 10 : 1 when militants are embedded in the civilian population. |