Israel kills dozens, possibly hundreds, bombing a refugee camp. Little doubt who was responsible this time. Is this self defence or revenge? Meanwhile a senior Tory is sacked for calling for a ceasefire and a senior Labour figure is sacked for saying that all, Israelis and Palestinians alike, should be able to live in peace 'from the river to the sea'. Israel must be free to do as it pleases it seems.
Yeah, it's all about picking sides. Don't know how many times I've said it, but there are NO good guys in a war. As despicable as the Hamas attack was, the Israeli response is truly over the top. I get it, and from a strategic point it's exactly the right manouever, but the humanitarian cost is incalculable and the destruction of Gaza won't see the end of Hamas. Flattening Gaza is the Israeli version of what happened in Allepo to see off ISIS, but I think the end result this time will just mean more enemies of Israel, and then we go back around in a circle again a never ending bloody war that the whole world should be ashamed of.
The problem now is that Israel are committed in their tactic of wiping out Hamas, which is strategically the only way they can do it. Unfortunately, innocent civilians get killed in war and Hamas hiding amongst the population and using them as human shields only adds to the death toll. Don't start a war if you don't want these consequences. Obviously Hamas didn't give a **** about the people of Palestine.
This. The spilled blood stains so many hands forever - the guilty and the innocent. The disgrace of these wars goes so much deeper than the human death. The loss of a child, parent or loved one; the lifetime injuries suffered. The mental destruction of humans who suffer loss, injury or experience the destruction around them and many who inflict destruction on the many at the behest of the few. The loss of homes, communities, towns/cities, even lifetime personal possessions all destroyed. There are NO winners in war. As you say, there are NO good guys in war. Sadly, it seems, there are NO solutions either.
Killing thousands of innocent people won't destroy Hamas, it will create a whole new generation of extremists. There need to be new elections in Gaza but you can't have that until the bombing stops and aid gets in.
That presupposes that Gaza residents would now vote Hamas out of power. Though support for Hamas in Gaza was waning before its recent barbaric attacks on Israeli citizens, it is now rising in view of Israel's retaliaratory strikes. That's how Hamas keeps itself alive, unless it is defeated militarily like ISIS.
Would you then have Israel kill everyone in Gaza to make sure that they have eliminated all Hamas terrorists?
As the right of self-defence, Israel can legally track down and capture or kill Hamas militants. In doing so, they must take all reasonable steps to avoid harming innocent civilians in Gaza. In that respect, they have given unequivocal advice to Gaza residents in the North to leave for safety's sake. Hamas insurgents deliberately hide behind innocent civilians. They are responsible for civilian deaths in Gaza, including the misfiring missile that came down on a hospital
Do you really believe that Israel is taking all reasonable steps to avoid harming civilians? What use is a warning to homeless people in a refugee camp? Where can they go? Blockading 2 million people - nearly half of whom are children - and thereby depriving them of food supplies, water, power and fuel doesn't seem to me to be taking all reasonable steps to avoid harming civilians. Hamas has 200 hostages, Israel has 2 million.
Egypt has claimed Israel is impeding supplies because it insists on truck inspection. Given Hamas's savagery and duplicity, who can blame Israel? Hamas must not receive arms through that route and Hamas militants should not be able to escape by pretending to be refugees. In the vast majority of cases, collateral damage is down to Hamas, that was voted in by Gaza inhabitants in 2006.
The Covid enquiry is proving to be great fun. I'm actually getting to almost like Dominic Cummings. Not much fun though for those who lost loved ones due to the utter incompetence of Johnson and his government.
The British and the UN gave birth to this problem in the first place by the illegal creation of Israel on land which was over 90% Palestinian Arab - they must now balance that mistake by creating Palestine, if necessary with the use of UN forces and protection.
Before the UN can even try to create a Palestinian state, you have to get Palestinian leaders, not least from Hamas and Hezbollah, to agree. They couldn't even agree on what to have for breakfast.
That is a line Hamas uses for the eradication of the Jewish State, no matter how you intended it. We have previously discussed how Hamas uses civilians as shields. The IDF confirmed that the camp was a underground Hamas training ground/base prior to the strike. Reports out of Gaza are that Hamas has intimidated Gaza residents to stay put, despite the prior Israeli warnings to evacuate the area. Hamas is evil for that and can't be trusted by either side to negotiate any lasting peace. Their stated purpose is to eject the Jews from the land 'from the river to the sea'. The answer to the Palestinian State question is not this bifurcated setup that exists now. The neighboring Arab countries have to set aside a place for them to go to build infrastructure and live free of Hamas rule.
I find it odd that the government and other institutions use WhatsApp. I appreciate its encrypted, which I suppose makes it secure, but it’s American. I’m surprised we haven’t developed something ourselves to give maximum assurance over security.
