While I would not disagree that Hamas have committed the more heinous war crimes, I think it naive and incorrect to believe that the Israeli military are blameless. This is aside from all the anti-peace activity undertaken, such as building of Israeli settlements in occupied territories in violation of international law.
I would suggest reading this article. There is too much to quote, but there are credible claims against the Israeli military of many things, including collective punishment, disproportionate use of force, IDF use of human shields, and misconduct by IDF soldiers.
Not to hijack, but even counting only the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, who represent only a fraction of the total number of civilians murdered by Nazis and Imperial Japanese, the US would have had to have killed 600 million civilians for that to be true.
Yes, I agree, I’m certain babale agrees, and I haven’t seen anyone on this board claim that the IDF is “blameless”. There are many credible allegations of war crimes against the IDF. What puzzles me is that you act as though you think this is likely to be new information for anyone here.
The Israeli military is about to launch a major ground offensive into a heavily populated area, and you think this isn’t an appropriate time to express concern about the well-being of the civilians in that area? When may we begin doing so, after the war?
Hmmmm I don’t think I said that. I apologize if I was not clear.
I think now is not the time to defend Hamas by pointing out past injustices. Even if true. Especially using highly charged language and emotions. Now is the time to point out concern for the well being of all civilians in the area.
I agree. It’s critical that we be able to say, “Hold on, a siege is not the right answer right now.” It’s much less critical that we say, “Israel treated Palestinians terribly for decades, and these massacres were predictable” or whatever.
There’s time for that conversation. I don’t know that the time for the second conversation is now.
Of course I meant in combat against each other. Imperial Japan also killed many civilians in China and elsewhere. But when America went to war with them, the disparity in casualties was very high, and Japanese civilian casualties were massive. Japan was still in the wrong.
Speaking of tone-deafness…really, you couldn’t have linked to an article quoting, say, UN or Red Cross/Crescent spokespeople calling for an end to the blockade, rather than to an anti-Semitic fascist doing so?
But nobody here is even coming remotely close to doing that. Unless you think that any mention of historical context at all equates to “defending Hamas”, which would be a dumb position.
Since Hamas craves mass deaths of Gaza civilians in order to further its objectives and change the dynamic in the region, it’s bizarre that Israel even considers actions likely to bring that about.
Yes, you said that, but I certainly had the impression that you were trying to paint both sides as equivalent. If that’s not what you were going for, then maybe rethink your postings.