No it doesn't. IMHO: The figure is made up BS from Hamas sources. The UN names a population of app 4.5 Mio people for palestine (Westbank and Gaza), of which app. 720 k are kids under 5y. So, if you roughly split it by the population amount 50:50 Israel must have killed ALL kids in Gaza under 5y (and imported some thousands to kill them too)
I don't understand why you don't answer. Ofc I have never said that, I despise zionism and I obviously condemn everything related to what Israel is doing in Gaza, West Bank, Syria etc.
That doesn't mean you are allowed to make up stuff.
Your comment is a clear example on how to shift the conversation towards something that wasn't the subject because you're clearly wrong.
Scotch whiskey, single malt, perhaps? My choice ... the only really decent whiskey-based choice. However, if you really want to get snockered, a good slug of gin will do you nicely. Beware of that gin hangover though ... the worse hangover I had ever experienced when I was in the U.S. Navy (luckily for me, I was a young man at the time).****
**** Dripping with sarcasm only because the subject matter is so HORRIBLE to contemplate.
Journalist Piers Morgan, in an interview with Israeli settler leader Daniela Weiss on September 14, 2025, estimated the death toll of Palestinian children in Gaza since October 7, 2023 at over 20,000.
It’s mind‑boggling how loud the world gets over a UAV strike crossing Poland’s border, yet somehow far more egregious loss of life in Gaza barely registers the same outrage. If we really believe in humanity, justice, and dignity, then it’s not enough to protest when politics make it clear and stay silent when suffering does. Selective empathy is still empathy denied; every life deserves the same alarm, the same grief, the same demand for accountability
If someone thinks north Americans and Western Europeans societies which have normalized and even cheer on the systematic annihilation of a 2.3 millions souls metropolis will take arms and die for what they see as a god forsaken villages in Estonia or Poland, that person is not just genocidal racist but also very stupid.
I reject being genocidal, but I am willing to be viewed as stupid. I do prefer optimistic though. I think that European NATO will defend those villages, if for no other reason than self interest. We are pretty fed up with imperialist Russian.
There is no pure objective self interest. Self interest are only perceived through values. And when the values dictate that the strong can annihilated 2.3 Millions people with 2.7 Millions more to follow, it is an hard sell to suggest you should commit sacrifice for a mere 1.3 Millions of Estonians.
You might suggest that in the West, killing perceived dark skins sub-humans is ok killing white people is not. After all we see it daily with our media who are outraged about the handful of Ukrainian civilians killed by Russian nightly air raids while either keeping silence or justifying the +100 Palestinians exterminated daily by Zionist.
But the reality is when push comes to shove, our societies will find plenty of reason to not act. Being slighter higher on the racial hierarchy wont means you will be perceived as worth the sacrifice.
Lebanese Maronites found it the hard way : we like them only when they can serve as proxies against the Muslim mass but when their aggressors became Zionists again, we once again considered fair target and nobody acted to protect their cities nor their church.
We see it daily with Ukrainians as Western leaders repeatedly state that they are ready to send troops ... only if the war ends before. While Trumps multiplies the colonial styled looting deals and Zelensky sign them like the corrupted idiot he is.
We had a taste of it early in the war when some missiles crashed into Polish lands. They turned out to be Ukrainian AA but we did not knew it immediately. What did happened immediately was that every French ex diplomats rushed to our media to explain that NATO article 5 absolutely not require us to go to war but merely for members to gather in a summit to discuss the event. We French were simply not ready to rush to the defence of a 36 Millions "allied" nation. It is bold to assume we would rush for a few cities instead.
Last but not least, Westerners love to forget the fact that most of NATO is waging war on ... a NATO member through its support to the PKK group in Syria. Those goal is no less that seizing half of a NATO state territory. And it has doing so for most of the decade in coordination with the big bad Russians.
Now maybe if absolute objective self-interest was a thing, most NATO members would be absolutely terrified by that betrayal against Turkey. As well as the recent US+UK aggression on Qatar, an official ally to both of them and one that is a thousand time more valuable for US power projection than any European country.
That none of this is happening tells you everything about that thing we commonly misname "self interest".
You are obviously right that there is no thing as objective self interest. And your criticism against the lack of support for the Palestinians. If we only count number of people killed then we could ignore Russias killing in Ukraine. Which I cannot and will not do. And you are right that our society is good at finding excuses. Still, we are preparing for that war in the Baltics and in Poland now I think it will be fought if need be. Because we are also good at setting ourselves up. But I honestly hope we don’t get to see it.
While I don’t think the loss of life in Gaza gets the attention it deserves it gets attention. And criticism, and I think a slow change of politics. (Tom feel free to be sarcastic here, we might after all be talking about a change much more gradual than glacier movement) Still Europe is distancing itself from Israel. And given Nethanyauhs speed of insulting opponents (no matter how slight) with the term antisemitism he increases that distance. Europe is distancing itself from Israel, but slowly and inefficiently and hypocritically (since we don’t do it proper). And more to the point I am afraid selective empathy is the only empathy we are capable of doing. It’s still better than no empathy.
and re: Gaza strip, I am increasingly convinced its all down to "keep the war eternal" for Netanyahu to avoid losing PM post and possibly getting to jail. The last strike on Doha is literally sabotaging getting hostages back...
Even Nazis pacifying Warsaw uprising had enough common sense to grant insurgents lawful combatants and POW status to induce surrender.
If you kill enemy diplomats even in neutral countries, how do you intend to negotiate surrender?
stating that the decline as of the end of 2024 was 6% or 160,000 people, of which 100,00 have left Gaza. As per the Palestinian Statistics Bureau. The numbers you cite are extrapolations but looking at Gaza population pyramid (in Wikipedia) will imply the murdering of all kids under 5 in Gaza, etc.
100,000 have left Gaza? For what destination(s)? The open news sources in the U.S. don't say much of anything about this. No surprise. The American major MSM are worthless. It was my impression--open to constructive critical correction--that the good Muslim nations of the Near East don't want Palestinian refugees, or at least refugees in large numbers. The modern world's lepers.
Poland has a big population and the economy is not that small. They should sort it themselves first (and the earlier they start, the better) and then rely on “NATO”. If Ukraine can shoot down 50-60% (conservative guesstimate while officially they shoot more than 80%) of Shaheds, Poland should be able to do better than 4-5 out of 19.
This is the time when anyone can say anything, and nobody cares. He also claims that Japan used the Panama Canal to attack Pearl Harbor, which is why the US has to have it!
Hah hah hah hah hah! I was born in Panama. My paternal grandparents were plank owners of the Panama Canal. My Irish Catholic grandfather, almost fresh from Ireland, was among the first telegraphers. My 1st generation German American grandmother was a secretary working for the Panama Canal Zone Commission. I am an amateur radio operator (a ham) and I wished that I had inherited my paternal grandfather's CW skills. Mine suck! (mostly because I am lazy). iL Douche (bag) must have been right about Japan using the Panama Canal to attack Pearl Harbor (by taking the long way around the globe of course). In 1995 when I last visited Panama, Panama City was replete with automobile sales agencies. The only ones I saw were Japanese vehicle agencies, not Americano ones. **LOL**
If someone slightly modernises the S-60 gun, he will get a good anti-UAV weapon. Add a fire control module, a radar module, and servos to control the gun. The old gun will be transformed into a modern weapon. The 57mm has enough energy to destroy any flying target.
But who needs it? Cheap, reliable and time-tested is not a modern approach to solving problems; you need to spend a lot of money and time to create an expensive weapon with expensive consumables.
The post said the S-60 was effective. Machine guns are effective against drones at low levels. The Gepard has also been effective against drones and cruise missiles.
Perhaps I didn't express myself clearly. I don't doubt that the S-60 is effective. The gun was specially designed for the fight against air targets, but the S-60 has a number of disadvantages. The gun has manual guidance. Also, aiming has a human factor. 80 years ago, it was acceptable, but today computers help us make precise and effective manipulations. The crew spend 4 rounds against every target, I think they will spend 1-2 rounds with the computer.
The Gepard of course is effective, but its effective range is only 1000-1500 meters because its calibre is only 35mm. One S-60 can replace a few Gepards without reducing effectiveness.
I was just including other older weapons that are effective, as well. Ukraine's need for air defenses means additional weapons and capabilities should be used in addition to any existing weapons instead of replacing them. Even as a point defense weapon, the Gepard is needed.
Hi Don. It's now becoming clear that even European funding of American weapons for itself and Ukraine isn't a guarantee of receiving them. The Pentagon is currently blocking the sale of Patriots.
This could affect any American weapons in the future. The most obvious conclusion is that the US cannot be counted on as a reliable ally, a trading partner, or an arms supplier. The consequences for America are their own problem, but for Ukraine, it will result in increased casualties and destruction.
"Israel mass-murdered at least 680,000 people in the Gaza Strip"
I'm sorry but this is the second time you posted a crazy and not-backed by serious study number of casualties of the gaza genocide.
Of course, 680k is completely non real, especially because it claims that 380k children under the age of 5 are dead. That's bullshit, since before 7/10 there were something like 340k children under 5. Honestly, I find it baffling that so many people, even "experts" such as you keep on posting this number, made out of the blue and clearly not real. It is not serious.
Needless to say, I'm not denying the genocide and me personally I don't even believe the 'Hamas' numbers: 60k is too low, I think it's at least three times as that (close to the studies from The Lancet). But pease, stop spreading obvious false facts without a serious scientific procedure.
«In other ‘news’…. it turned out that since October 2023, Israel mass-murdered at least 680,000 people in the Gaza Strip: 478,000 of them children. 380,000 under 5-years-old…» — The population of Gaza is approximately 2,141,643 people. Children under 14 years old - 42.75% (410,599 men, 388,473 women); youth aged 15-24 - 20.34% (194,798 men, 185,295 women. Direct deaths - this part of the data is relatively reliable and roughly confirmed by several sources. If we look just at fights, explosions, strikes - tens of thousands. Indirect deaths - they certainly exist, and can be large, but are not as well documented; their exact number is subject to great uncertainty. The assumption of 680,000 deaths, if taken as a scenario with the most pessimistic approach, can be useful for understanding the scale of the potential crisis. But as a fact, it is a very weak position: there is a lack of direct evidence that exactly that many people died due to “indirect” causes (hunger, lack of medical care, infections, etc.) by a given date. Arena’s article is informative and makes strong arguments — that official figures do not reflect the real situation on the ground, that there are “undetected” deaths, and that the methodology needs to be looked at carefully. But the claim that “680,000 dead” is an exact unverified figure and does not stand up to scrutiny as fact at this point, and is more of a model/value judgment. To arrive at the number 680,000, the authors made very strong assumptions about the ratio of direct to indirect deaths — 4 to 1 (i.e. four indirect deaths for every direct death). But this is not a fact, it is a hypothesis based on data from other conflicts. The total figure of hundreds of thousands (for example, 680,000) is currently an “upper” scenario, but not confirmed data. Usually, official statistics are always incomplete and constantly lie. If these figures of 680,000 are confirmed, then this will be a real genocide. 30% of the population is a huge number of murders.
It’s genocide already due to Israel’s effective blockade on food and medicine, destruction of hospitals, etc. Hamas is a convenient scapegoat allowing Netanyahu to kill as many Palestinians as possible. I believe he considers them to be subhuman and a nuisance.
As cynical as it may sound on my part, I don't care how many Palestinians die. Even if Netanyahu kills them all. Those who have good relations with our enemies are also my enemies. I am not obligated to support these Palestinian bastards, nor is Israel. I understand perfectly well that all these Palestinian leaders have always done business on the blood of their people, receiving money from everyone in a row, cultivating hatred and raising religious fanatics in their mosques who hate the whole world. And then we see a picture where the children of all these leaders who hate the West and Western culture are vacationing in Europe or the USA with money that the West has allocated to them. Moreover, I will say that in Lviv and Kyiv, left-wing neo-communist scum are trying to hold rallies for grant money in support of BLM and in support of Palestine. If this happens, we will break all their bones.
I feel like its crying about "why there is no defensive solution to rifle rounds".
Physics is brutal. Making drones is cheap.
Intercepting them is more difficult.
Closest thing to economic is barrel artillery coupled with proximity fuses.
But this will work only as point defences. Still beats having your power plant or factory destroyed...
68.000, not 680.000??
Reading the linked article helps. And removes any doubts.
This one doesn't pass the sniff test for me.
Ha, it's time to take Marxists journals seriously.
Shall I prefer those by MAGA, Ku-Klux-Clan, various Nazis, AfD, FPÖ and Zionists?
Well, you may start to read leftist journals when it comes to Kurdish question, PYD etc. E.g. from your favourite site:
https://arena.org.au/the-kurds-and-turkish-australian-complicity-by-john-tully/
https://arena.org.au/turkey-in-syria-by-christopher-houston/
Aha. And what 'leftist journals' do I read?
No it doesn't. IMHO: The figure is made up BS from Hamas sources. The UN names a population of app 4.5 Mio people for palestine (Westbank and Gaza), of which app. 720 k are kids under 5y. So, if you roughly split it by the population amount 50:50 Israel must have killed ALL kids in Gaza under 5y (and imported some thousands to kill them too)
https://population.un.org/wpp/
So, Israel has turned out to be using 'Hamas sources', but it's wrong to use 'Hamas sources'.
And while it turned out that Israel also lied about the UN and the UNRWA (not only about Hamas), it's wrong to use 'UN sources'.
...while a wild guestimate by an anonymous online source - leaning on 'UN sources' - is right...?
Please, somebody, bring me a tripple whisky now... 🙄
Doesn't change the fact that the estimate of 380k children dead under 5 is made up.
Everything, everything about Palestinians is made up.
Only Zionism is truth.
Have I got it right this time - or is that made up, too? 🙄
I don't understand why you don't answer. Ofc I have never said that, I despise zionism and I obviously condemn everything related to what Israel is doing in Gaza, West Bank, Syria etc.
That doesn't mean you are allowed to make up stuff.
Your comment is a clear example on how to shift the conversation towards something that wasn't the subject because you're clearly wrong.
Scotch whiskey, single malt, perhaps? My choice ... the only really decent whiskey-based choice. However, if you really want to get snockered, a good slug of gin will do you nicely. Beware of that gin hangover though ... the worse hangover I had ever experienced when I was in the U.S. Navy (luckily for me, I was a young man at the time).****
**** Dripping with sarcasm only because the subject matter is so HORRIBLE to contemplate.
Journalist Piers Morgan, in an interview with Israeli settler leader Daniela Weiss on September 14, 2025, estimated the death toll of Palestinian children in Gaza since October 7, 2023 at over 20,000.
Oh yes, thank you so much: Piers Morgan is a journalist - and the ultimate authority in regards of all the issues related to Palestine... 🙄
It’s mind‑boggling how loud the world gets over a UAV strike crossing Poland’s border, yet somehow far more egregious loss of life in Gaza barely registers the same outrage. If we really believe in humanity, justice, and dignity, then it’s not enough to protest when politics make it clear and stay silent when suffering does. Selective empathy is still empathy denied; every life deserves the same alarm, the same grief, the same demand for accountability
This barbarity means the end of EU and NATO.
If someone thinks north Americans and Western Europeans societies which have normalized and even cheer on the systematic annihilation of a 2.3 millions souls metropolis will take arms and die for what they see as a god forsaken villages in Estonia or Poland, that person is not just genocidal racist but also very stupid.
I reject being genocidal, but I am willing to be viewed as stupid. I do prefer optimistic though. I think that European NATO will defend those villages, if for no other reason than self interest. We are pretty fed up with imperialist Russian.
There is no pure objective self interest. Self interest are only perceived through values. And when the values dictate that the strong can annihilated 2.3 Millions people with 2.7 Millions more to follow, it is an hard sell to suggest you should commit sacrifice for a mere 1.3 Millions of Estonians.
You might suggest that in the West, killing perceived dark skins sub-humans is ok killing white people is not. After all we see it daily with our media who are outraged about the handful of Ukrainian civilians killed by Russian nightly air raids while either keeping silence or justifying the +100 Palestinians exterminated daily by Zionist.
But the reality is when push comes to shove, our societies will find plenty of reason to not act. Being slighter higher on the racial hierarchy wont means you will be perceived as worth the sacrifice.
Lebanese Maronites found it the hard way : we like them only when they can serve as proxies against the Muslim mass but when their aggressors became Zionists again, we once again considered fair target and nobody acted to protect their cities nor their church.
We see it daily with Ukrainians as Western leaders repeatedly state that they are ready to send troops ... only if the war ends before. While Trumps multiplies the colonial styled looting deals and Zelensky sign them like the corrupted idiot he is.
We had a taste of it early in the war when some missiles crashed into Polish lands. They turned out to be Ukrainian AA but we did not knew it immediately. What did happened immediately was that every French ex diplomats rushed to our media to explain that NATO article 5 absolutely not require us to go to war but merely for members to gather in a summit to discuss the event. We French were simply not ready to rush to the defence of a 36 Millions "allied" nation. It is bold to assume we would rush for a few cities instead.
Last but not least, Westerners love to forget the fact that most of NATO is waging war on ... a NATO member through its support to the PKK group in Syria. Those goal is no less that seizing half of a NATO state territory. And it has doing so for most of the decade in coordination with the big bad Russians.
Now maybe if absolute objective self-interest was a thing, most NATO members would be absolutely terrified by that betrayal against Turkey. As well as the recent US+UK aggression on Qatar, an official ally to both of them and one that is a thousand time more valuable for US power projection than any European country.
That none of this is happening tells you everything about that thing we commonly misname "self interest".
You are obviously right that there is no thing as objective self interest. And your criticism against the lack of support for the Palestinians. If we only count number of people killed then we could ignore Russias killing in Ukraine. Which I cannot and will not do. And you are right that our society is good at finding excuses. Still, we are preparing for that war in the Baltics and in Poland now I think it will be fought if need be. Because we are also good at setting ourselves up. But I honestly hope we don’t get to see it.
While I don’t think the loss of life in Gaza gets the attention it deserves it gets attention. And criticism, and I think a slow change of politics. (Tom feel free to be sarcastic here, we might after all be talking about a change much more gradual than glacier movement) Still Europe is distancing itself from Israel. And given Nethanyauhs speed of insulting opponents (no matter how slight) with the term antisemitism he increases that distance. Europe is distancing itself from Israel, but slowly and inefficiently and hypocritically (since we don’t do it proper). And more to the point I am afraid selective empathy is the only empathy we are capable of doing. It’s still better than no empathy.
and re: Gaza strip, I am increasingly convinced its all down to "keep the war eternal" for Netanyahu to avoid losing PM post and possibly getting to jail. The last strike on Doha is literally sabotaging getting hostages back...
Even Nazis pacifying Warsaw uprising had enough common sense to grant insurgents lawful combatants and POW status to induce surrender.
If you kill enemy diplomats even in neutral countries, how do you intend to negotiate surrender?
The population of Gaza strip was just 2.2m before the war.
Yup. And, where is it now - exactly, please?
You can find articles
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-population-down-by-6-since-start-war-palestinian-statistics-bureau-2025-01-01/
stating that the decline as of the end of 2024 was 6% or 160,000 people, of which 100,00 have left Gaza. As per the Palestinian Statistics Bureau. The numbers you cite are extrapolations but looking at Gaza population pyramid (in Wikipedia) will imply the murdering of all kids under 5 in Gaza, etc.
100,000 have left Gaza? For what destination(s)? The open news sources in the U.S. don't say much of anything about this. No surprise. The American major MSM are worthless. It was my impression--open to constructive critical correction--that the good Muslim nations of the Near East don't want Palestinian refugees, or at least refugees in large numbers. The modern world's lepers.
Poland has a big population and the economy is not that small. They should sort it themselves first (and the earlier they start, the better) and then rely on “NATO”. If Ukraine can shoot down 50-60% (conservative guesstimate while officially they shoot more than 80%) of Shaheds, Poland should be able to do better than 4-5 out of 19.
it takes some expertise and practice first for this, not only money
Ukraine and UK, and others are looking for cost effective ways to deal with Shaheds.
I don't know if they will work, but the article seems optimistic.
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/09/11/uk-to-produce-ukraine-designed-interceptor-drones-supply-thousands/
Again, can’t thank Don and Tom enough for their insights into the subject matter. You guys do an awesome job week in and week out.
I did see an explanation for Drump’s statement that 300 million Americans died from drugs last year. “It’s true, and we are all in Hell.”
Thanks for all your reporting.
This is the time when anyone can say anything, and nobody cares. He also claims that Japan used the Panama Canal to attack Pearl Harbor, which is why the US has to have it!
Hah hah hah hah hah! I was born in Panama. My paternal grandparents were plank owners of the Panama Canal. My Irish Catholic grandfather, almost fresh from Ireland, was among the first telegraphers. My 1st generation German American grandmother was a secretary working for the Panama Canal Zone Commission. I am an amateur radio operator (a ham) and I wished that I had inherited my paternal grandfather's CW skills. Mine suck! (mostly because I am lazy). iL Douche (bag) must have been right about Japan using the Panama Canal to attack Pearl Harbor (by taking the long way around the globe of course). In 1995 when I last visited Panama, Panama City was replete with automobile sales agencies. The only ones I saw were Japanese vehicle agencies, not Americano ones. **LOL**
If someone slightly modernises the S-60 gun, he will get a good anti-UAV weapon. Add a fire control module, a radar module, and servos to control the gun. The old gun will be transformed into a modern weapon. The 57mm has enough energy to destroy any flying target.
But who needs it? Cheap, reliable and time-tested is not a modern approach to solving problems; you need to spend a lot of money and time to create an expensive weapon with expensive consumables.
The post said the S-60 was effective. Machine guns are effective against drones at low levels. The Gepard has also been effective against drones and cruise missiles.
Perhaps I didn't express myself clearly. I don't doubt that the S-60 is effective. The gun was specially designed for the fight against air targets, but the S-60 has a number of disadvantages. The gun has manual guidance. Also, aiming has a human factor. 80 years ago, it was acceptable, but today computers help us make precise and effective manipulations. The crew spend 4 rounds against every target, I think they will spend 1-2 rounds with the computer.
https://militaryarms.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/p57-2.jpg
The Gepard of course is effective, but its effective range is only 1000-1500 meters because its calibre is only 35mm. One S-60 can replace a few Gepards without reducing effectiveness.
I was just including other older weapons that are effective, as well. Ukraine's need for air defenses means additional weapons and capabilities should be used in addition to any existing weapons instead of replacing them. Even as a point defense weapon, the Gepard is needed.
Hi Don. It's now becoming clear that even European funding of American weapons for itself and Ukraine isn't a guarantee of receiving them. The Pentagon is currently blocking the sale of Patriots.
https://24tv.ua/geopolitics/zbroya-ssha-dlya-yevropi-cherez-defitsit-obmezhili-prodazh-novini_n2918464
This could affect any American weapons in the future. The most obvious conclusion is that the US cannot be counted on as a reliable ally, a trading partner, or an arms supplier. The consequences for America are their own problem, but for Ukraine, it will result in increased casualties and destruction.
Yes, they've done this before under Trump and sent 20k air defense missiles to Israel.
Right now America is an unreliable partner and ally to both foreign nations and its own citizens, and everyone will suffer for it.
Official information from Ukraine on the number of interceptor drones to destroy one Shahed.
https://armiya.novyny.live/kostenko-nazvav-skilki-perekhopliuvachiv-treba-na-zbittia-shakheda-281155.html
"Israel mass-murdered at least 680,000 people in the Gaza Strip"
I'm sorry but this is the second time you posted a crazy and not-backed by serious study number of casualties of the gaza genocide.
Of course, 680k is completely non real, especially because it claims that 380k children under the age of 5 are dead. That's bullshit, since before 7/10 there were something like 340k children under 5. Honestly, I find it baffling that so many people, even "experts" such as you keep on posting this number, made out of the blue and clearly not real. It is not serious.
Needless to say, I'm not denying the genocide and me personally I don't even believe the 'Hamas' numbers: 60k is too low, I think it's at least three times as that (close to the studies from The Lancet). But pease, stop spreading obvious false facts without a serious scientific procedure.
«In other ‘news’…. it turned out that since October 2023, Israel mass-murdered at least 680,000 people in the Gaza Strip: 478,000 of them children. 380,000 under 5-years-old…» — The population of Gaza is approximately 2,141,643 people. Children under 14 years old - 42.75% (410,599 men, 388,473 women); youth aged 15-24 - 20.34% (194,798 men, 185,295 women. Direct deaths - this part of the data is relatively reliable and roughly confirmed by several sources. If we look just at fights, explosions, strikes - tens of thousands. Indirect deaths - they certainly exist, and can be large, but are not as well documented; their exact number is subject to great uncertainty. The assumption of 680,000 deaths, if taken as a scenario with the most pessimistic approach, can be useful for understanding the scale of the potential crisis. But as a fact, it is a very weak position: there is a lack of direct evidence that exactly that many people died due to “indirect” causes (hunger, lack of medical care, infections, etc.) by a given date. Arena’s article is informative and makes strong arguments — that official figures do not reflect the real situation on the ground, that there are “undetected” deaths, and that the methodology needs to be looked at carefully. But the claim that “680,000 dead” is an exact unverified figure and does not stand up to scrutiny as fact at this point, and is more of a model/value judgment. To arrive at the number 680,000, the authors made very strong assumptions about the ratio of direct to indirect deaths — 4 to 1 (i.e. four indirect deaths for every direct death). But this is not a fact, it is a hypothesis based on data from other conflicts. The total figure of hundreds of thousands (for example, 680,000) is currently an “upper” scenario, but not confirmed data. Usually, official statistics are always incomplete and constantly lie. If these figures of 680,000 are confirmed, then this will be a real genocide. 30% of the population is a huge number of murders.
It’s genocide already due to Israel’s effective blockade on food and medicine, destruction of hospitals, etc. Hamas is a convenient scapegoat allowing Netanyahu to kill as many Palestinians as possible. I believe he considers them to be subhuman and a nuisance.
In Palestine, there has long been a street of Putin and Medvedev.
https://ipress.ua/news/u_palestyni_na_chest_putina_nazvaly_vulytsyu_3672.html
Palestinian leaders are welcomed with joy in Moscow.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/russian/articles/c06rmz0dj1po.amp
Hamas and Palestinian leaders receive financial support from time to time from the Kremlin.
https://ru.trend.az/world/arab/2154846.html
Russia will allocate 10 million dollars to help Palestinian refugees
https://nsn.fm/policy/rossiya-vydelit-10-mln-dollarov-na-pomosch-palestinskim-bezhentsam
Russian-language schools are opening in Palestine.
https://ipne.ws/politics/politika/62na-ulitse-imeni-vladimira-putina-v-vifleeme-otkroyut-russkuyu-shkolu/
As cynical as it may sound on my part, I don't care how many Palestinians die. Even if Netanyahu kills them all. Those who have good relations with our enemies are also my enemies. I am not obligated to support these Palestinian bastards, nor is Israel. I understand perfectly well that all these Palestinian leaders have always done business on the blood of their people, receiving money from everyone in a row, cultivating hatred and raising religious fanatics in their mosques who hate the whole world. And then we see a picture where the children of all these leaders who hate the West and Western culture are vacationing in Europe or the USA with money that the West has allocated to them. Moreover, I will say that in Lviv and Kyiv, left-wing neo-communist scum are trying to hold rallies for grant money in support of BLM and in support of Palestine. If this happens, we will break all their bones.
https://unn.ua/news/rzeczpospolita-u-polshchi-pid-chas-nalotu-rosiiskykh-bezpilotnykiv-budynok-urazyla-raketa-z-f-16-a-ne-dronhttps://
zn.ua/ukr/europe/budinok-u-polshchi-10-veresnja-poshkodila-polska-raketa-a-ne-rosijskij-dron-zmi.html
As it turns out, the only damage during the Russian drone raid on Poland was caused by a missile from an F-16 fighter!
The genocide in Gaza is heartbreaking.
Then what is the solution to counter swarm attacks by drones . Patriots are too costly to be employed at scale.