# Reply to Babale re: Hamas and Israel **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** israel-hamas-war\ **Created:** [October 12, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-to-babale-re-hamas-and-israel/991469 "2023-10-12T17:51:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-to-babale-re-hamas-and-israel/991469/1 "2023-10-12T17:51:47Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > The false equivalence between the actions of Israel, which admittedly have not always been in the best interest of a long-term peaceful solution to this problem, and the actions of Hamas, which have always reveled in their atrocities, is absolutely disgusting. > > … > > On the other hand, when you slaughter people in cold blood, that’s something else entirely. Equivocation between the two is sickening. > > … > > How about instead of dropping snarky half-hearted bOtH sIdEs in every thread about this issue you go ahead and let me know what it is that Israel has done that even remotely approaches what Hamas does on a daily basis? I never once supported what Hamas did. You ascribed that to me, because you’re a piece of shit. I just pointed out that a lot of Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israel - over 21 times as many than have Israeli civilians been killed by Palestinians since 2008. I described what Hamas did as “heinous acts of evil”, while you described the many thousands of Palestinian civilians killed as “collateral damage”. Here’s a Newsweek piece discussing the editorial by Haaretz, the third-largest circulation newspaper in Israel. According to the Center for Research Libraries, among Israel’s daily newspapers, “Haaretz is considered the most influential and respected for both its news coverage and its commentary.” > [@](#): > > Benjamin Netanyahu “bears responsibility” for the deadliest raid into Israeli territory in 50 years, newspaper Haaretz has said. > > The left-leaning publication blamed intelligence failures and the Israeli prime minister’s policy towards Palestinians for the attack by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip that has so far killed hundreds of Israelis. > > … > > As the consequences of the deadliest raid into Israeli territory since Egypt and Syria’s attacks in the 1973 Yom Kippur War continue to unravel, the editorial board of Israel’s third-biggest newspaper said that the conflict “is the clear responsibility of one person: Benjamin Netanyahu.” > > The op-ed said that the prime minister had “completely failed to identify the dangers he was consciously leading Israel into” when he established a government of “annexation and dispossession” and by appointing Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir to key positions. > > Smotrich, a right-wing politician appointed minister of finance in 2022, has caused controversy by expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and opposing Palestinian statehood. Ben-Gvir is the security minister, who has faced charges of hate speech against Arabs. > > The paper said that Netanyahu’s foreign policy “openly ignored the existence and rights of Palestinians” and expected the Israeli prime minister to "certainly try to evade his responsibility and cast the blame on the heads of the army, Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet security service. > > “However, the military and intelligence failure does not absolve Netanyahu of his overall responsibility for the crisis as he is the ultimate arbiter of Israeli foreign and security affairs.” > > The piece said that Netanyahu, who has faced repeated criticism from Haaretz during his time in office, had shaped the policy of the government led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, which aimed “to crush the Palestinian national movement in both its wings, in Gaza and the West Bank.” > > The newspaper said that after winning in the last election, his “fully-right government” had taken steps to to annex the West Bank and to carry out ethnic cleansing in parts of the Oslo-defined Area C, including the Hebron Hills and the Jordan Valley." > > The piece criticized Netanyahu for a “massive expansion” of settlements and increasing the Jewish presence on Temple Mount near the Al Aqsa Mosque, as well as a peace deal with Saudi Arabia “in which the Palestinians get nothing.” > > “Signs of an outbreak of hostilities began in the West Bank, where Palestinians started feeling the heavier hand of the Israeli occupier,” Haaretz said. “Hamas exploited the opportunity in order to launch its surprise attack.” > > The newspaper said Netanyahu’s indictment in three corruption cases left him unable to look after state affairs and was behind his establishment of a “horrific coalition” and the “the enfeeblement of top army and intelligence officers.” > > “The price was paid by the victims of the invasion in the Western Negev,” it said. > **[Benjamin Netanyahu blamed by top Israel newspaper in scathing attack](https://www.newsweek.com/netanyahu-haaretz-israel-gaza-blame-attack-1832963)** > > Haaretz condemned the Israeli prime minister, describing his government as one of "annexation and dispossession." I stand with moderates like these, those who are capable of the self-reflection and humanity that is needed to resolve a generations-long intercommunal conflict, and something that you are incapable of. You dumb schmuck. It’s a blinkered ultra-partisan mindset like yours that will lead to generations more conflict and thousands more deaths of innocent people, from both sides. Fuck you, asshole. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-to-babale-re-hamas-and-israel/991469)._