| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Reply | |
| Posted by: | Steven Rose | |
| Date/Time: | 12/07/25 09:30:00 |
| I am afraid, Ivonne, that I have to agree with John on this issue. What you wrote was that Hamas’ attack was ‘beyond horrific, despicable and reprehensible’ but that Israel ‘had its eye off the ball’ and ‘that was then and today is today’. Your comment from ‘but’ onwards was inappropriate. You are equating Israel’s incompetence with Hamas’ savagery, as if one somehow balances the other. That is exactly like saying that a woman was attacked in Tooting High St but on the other hand she shouldn’t have been walking alone. That is victim shaming. The comment ‘that was then’ also downplays, not the savagery of the attack, but the traumatic effect of the atrocity on Israel. Remember that Hamas vowed to repeat the attack ‘again and again’. Israel at that moment realised that it was no longer possible to live with Gaza ruled by Hamas, which had been the policy for twenty years. Hamas had to be eliminated. I am in favour of courteous debate but if you make provocative comments you must expect a robust response. It is not true that John is entirely one-sided in his approach. He has said, and I would agree, that Israel’s campaign has been excessive at times. I think the charge of genocide against Israel is a gross libel. I also don’t think that the IDF sets out to kill civilians. If that were true, why would they give warning of impending attacks (which is more than Coalition forces did in Iraq and Syria)? But the IDF in my opinion are reckless in their effort to eliminate Hamas militants. If their cameras pick up a couple of terrorists walking down the street, the IDF will often take them out regardless of who is around. That at least my interpretation of the latest tragedy reported by the BBC when children were killed. It’s not morally justifiable but it is hard to justify any war. Coalition forces did the same thing during the war in Iraq. I remember when the Americans destroyed the house of a senior Iraqi commander, killing his family. The Allied bombing campaign in the Second World War was even worse. The solution is for Hamas to lay down their arms, release the few hostages still alive and leave Gaza so that the Palestinian population can begin to rebuild their lives under a moderate leadership prepared to coexist with Israel rather than destroy it. |