Hm, when were the last elections in occupied West Bank? Why at the beginning did Israel promote the rise of Hamas? (Hint: There was once a guy named Arafat and his Fatah)
Organizations and their leaders come and go, but it is still how decision makers act, what decides how bloody and murderous the 'show' gets.
Look into the history of the Ismail assassins to get a glimpse of how far things can get or if you prefer older events simply into the old testament about that historical land grab.
For your information: yes, Hamas - which was co-created by Israel and supported (financially) by Israel and the USA for decades (as a religious opponent to the 'atheist' PLO) - came to power through winning free elections. That's why Israel then began blockading and bombing the Gaza Strip, and violated every single cease-fire (including those containing Hamas' agreement to accept the 'right of Israel to exist', in exchange for a de-blockade of the Gaza Strip).
Israel's aggressions have made new elections impossible.
Now, while the ideology of Hamas is (at least) as religiously-motivated and extremist as that of Zionism - which is why I consider both of them terrorist organisations - the Palestinian armed resistance against an illegal occupation and a colonial project - named 'Israel' - is a legitimate right. Between others because Palestinians are the native population of the area: people living there for 14,000 years. Contrary to the mass of Zionist settlers from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, USA or wherever else, who stand in absolutely no relation to the territory in question (even their language and religion are no 'originals', and ever less so 'native' to Palestine).
Therefore, Palestinian armed resistance is 'OK', and that whether you like that or not.
Actually, the mass of people argumenting the way you do are precisely those that would, if finding themselves facing exactly the same situation, be the first to grow fed up, grab a fire-arm and go fighting any invaders and occupiers.
You are fooling no one by talking as if Hamas members (or PIJ, or PFLP, or DFLP) arent Palestinians themselves.
Also, Spare us your concern of pro genocidal maniacs for Palestinians. We all understand you want every single one of them murdered. It is enough pain to have to endure your existence on earth.
Also that double speaking is not doing you any service. Just look at that idiot who got himself shot at Utah after spending his decade long political career cheering on political violence.
Surrender, return all the hostages and then trust nice Uncle Benjamin to be kind and let you have a lovely peaceful prosperous life in Gaza and the West Bank. Trust that he is so peaceful he will be very very cross at all the settlers who shoot civilians and destroy their homes and plaster your land with fortified illegal settlements. Trust that he will send them away with a smack on the bottom and give you your homes back and make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.
Me too (apart from reading this article which is the only news item that puts a real perspective on it). I try to pretend it can't get any worse, although I know it can and will.
Your commentary channels righteous fury at the staggering human cost of the war in Gaza and the global hypocrisy surrounding it, from Western powers enabling Israel’s actions, to Arab regimes too compromised or cowardly to intervene, to the grim normalisation of mass civilian death. But amid the outrage, satire, and despair, the core truth remains: a people are being starved, bombed, and erased, while the world either looks away or debates semantics. That silence, institutional, political, moral, is complicity. And the question you pose echoes louder each day, with whom, exactly, is there left to make peace?
Speaking as a Brit, it's nice to see we are doing our bit to help: "New British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has admitted to receiving at least £210,000 from pro-Israeli lobbyist Gary Lubner"
Their current government isn't looking for a peace deal. They simple want to kill everyone who is in their way. Historically that led to their final downfall against the Romans. It is the Russian way to handle things, a choice between obedience or death.
What is the Israel endgame here ? Finish all Palestinians for eternal peace like what USA had done with Red Indians. It seems West is convinced with above argument.
I expect nothing more than continued chaos. The notion that humanity operates on a rational basis - even in respect of self-interest - is completely false. We're moving into an era of unprecedented chaos. So far as the Middle East is concerned, nothing is more certain than that before too long it will generate enormous demand for Geiger counters and Iodine pills.
Yes it is a bitter rant, but it is also a logical conclusion of what happened behind the curtain. For that a big thank you to Tom. About the final conclusion (Israel is going to win in...) I have a different opinion. I wouldn't bet that Israel will still exists in 190 years and if mankind continues on this path there won't be any mankind at all in 19.000 years.
No they won't. It is just the question, when their final downfall and how bloddy it will, be.
Why, one may ask?
Look into the dark pages of history. It is simply a question of how big a population is in relation to how big the other populations are, which are treated as hostile.
Hostility backfires and produces hostility. History doesn't repeat itself, only human stupidity does and that stupidity is very, very expensive in terms of lives.
Spot on Tom, the hypocrisy and evil of the West not even hidden well anymore. Idiocracy, oligarchy, and genocide seems all the West now has to offer. :-(
Need to say that it is very difficult to follow the flow of your mind, Tom, because of the excessive sarcasm and irony. Of course, you may say that it is meant for an intelligent enough reader who can keep up… but there are few who are more comfortable with a straightforward approach (a spade is a spade
Как по мне, то написано довольно прямо - как это ещё можно интерпретировать? Спасибо Тому, но люди в большинстве своём глупые, и с этим ничего не поделать - такой вот вид....
"…and so, the leadership of Qatar is limited to express its hope (quote) ‘for a collective response' - from regional allies..."
I suspect this being the same story like in Lebanon, where Hezbollah was likely sold out and Israel went by target data supplied by local authorities.
Arab League gave Israel a hunting permit for Iranian sockpuppets/assets. And they are so happy to use it, and Arabian authorities do oblige => nothing real will happen.
Maybe let Iran get some nukes to blow off the genocidal government of Israel not sound so weird now.
Maybe if that were going to. happen, maybe, some new ideas will appear, like embargo them by the genocidal they are doing, bomba the IDF bases to hell to destroy the runways or planes, wait... Where I saw this? Lybia? Yugoslavia?
Israel is the perfect example you can find to explain why the post 1945 order fails.
In 1945 4 countries where above the resto and not sccounting to anyone: USA, URSS, the Brits and France. The europeans had to dismantle rheir colonials empires and bow in front of rheir protector, the US. Then China joined the club.
Israel tricked the system, then India, Pakistan, North Korea.
The system don't works whenvthe guarantors are proven bullies. All of them 5.
I think that Iran has no real intention to destroy Israel. As any authoritarian regime, they are corrupt and addicted to the luxury power offers. They have enough fission products to poison israel for centuries, even without the nukes. they don't do it, they won't do it.
That's one of silly things: first Khomeini, and then Khamenei, have both permitted a nuclear program, but prohibited the making (and especially the assembly) of nuclear warheads.
No matter what has happened ever since, Khamenei's Nuclear Fatwa of 2003 stands until this very day.
And now mind: at the same time, nobody minded Pakistan developing nukes, even when its Dr. Khan was selling nuclear stuff all over the world, and Pakistani nuclear scientists were meeting OBL in Afghanistan.
And yet: everybody is daydreaming about Iran's bomb, and this nuking Iran...?!?
Bristling? Don’t know., didn’t mean it that way. My comment was focusing on the last sentence: you urged us to get serious. But you have always pointed out our idiocy, so if we got serious it would invalidate your previous analysis. But I guess I missed some sarcasm. Not an important comment anyhow.
Right, the Hamas are brave freedom fighters just struggling against all odds to liberate the Gaza strip from the Israeli occupation, and the Israelis are mass murderers and zionists. Wait, the Gaza occupation was ended 20 years ago (just look in wikipedia for: Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip). Israeli attacked the peaceful palestinians in Gaza. No, wait, the brave Palestinians freedom fighters attacked Israel. European hypocrisy is so frustrating. Wait until you live next to 2 milion arab muslims, 25% of which are armed to the teeth religious fanatics who won't accept nothing short of complete mass execution of your entire civilian population. They attack in surprise, commit really unspeakable atrocities, and when the wheel turns, act the victim. I am not saying there is no innocent population in Gaza, and their suffering is real, but calling the Israeli army mass murders and gang rapists is simply not the truth. This untruth serves the Hamas well, and incentivizes it to cause as much suffering and losses in it's civilian population as possible. Radical islam is on the rise in europe and you will suffer. But it is nothing compared to the suffering of Israel. The radical islamist civilians in europe can cause only so much damage. Not so an organized trained army of fanatic muslim terrorists like the Hamas who are consuming murder drugs before fights to make them even more bestial than they already are. I am sorry if this causes discomfort for some readers. The truth in this case is extremely unpleasant (and also not politically correct), but it is the unpopular truth nontheless.
- where Zionists have ethnically cleansed the population of Palestine;
- and conquered more than 51% of Palestine assigned to them by the UN;
- then eradicated over 400 towns and villages of the native population and 'replaced' these by own settlements constructed on the territory not belonging to them;
- then conquered the rest of Palestine and constructed settlements on newly conquered territories (like the Gaza Striip and the West Bank);
- then withdrew from the Gaza Strip but intensified the land grab in the West Bank;
- and then re-conquered the Gaza Strip again...?
...and all that while co-creating several terrorist organisations including Hamas, to disunite the Palestinians through establishing a religious extremist organisation - to counter the atheist PLO?
I'm sorry for you. Sincerely. I'm a hypocrite, while you're none. You're just a sincere man without any kind of agendas. A nice and fine person that never fell for any kind of religion-based mythology - but is forced to ignore all of the above listed, and come here to correct such hypocrites like me.
I apologize, this will be a little long, as it requires some background to be laid.
The issue can be complicated (i.e. clouded) by mixing in the west bank, but this is largely irrelevant to the current war in Gaza, and I will explain.
Hamas controls Gaza, after having massacred the Fatah representatives there (shooting said representatives in their knee caps before throwing them from the rooftops, ring a bell ?).
But up to the time these lines are written, was not able to do the same in the west bank, largely due to IDF presence there.
It could claimed the Hamas attack at Oct7 was a way of trying to free the West bank, but that would be extremely naive, and would ignore the statement of the Hamas spokespersons themselves, who in all earnestness declared the attack to be the first step in the Holy War and the killing of all the Israeli population.
Israel quit the Gaza strip 20 years ago, and since then had no claim on the place, and only wished to live peacefully side by side, hoping for this to be a model on which peace with the west bank would also be achieved.
All of these are facts.
Now, some Europeans truthfully say that Israel re-conquered the Gaza strip, while at the same time completely ignoring the reason it was forced to do so, which is the frustrating part.
It's only 'complicated' IF one is refusing to inform. The reason doesn't matter: the mass of people finding excuses for the Zionist genocide on Palestinians have masses of reasons.
Read, inform yourself. PLEASE. This is no patronising: just a reminder that in your hand - or on your desk - you really hold the approach to all the knowledge of the humanity. It's on you to use it - or continue refusing to use it.
Obviously, I did not read all the list yet, only the post itself.
And yes, Israel today is larger than what was originally allocated by the UN in 1947.
Still, being one sided is unfair, and worse: it distorts the view of events, and then wrong conclusions are reached.
For example, showing the single Israeli massacre in deir Yasin, while ignoring dozens of massacres done by the Arabs in the same war.
To be sure the massacre in Deir Yasin was horrible, and should not have happened, but it was a singular event and it occurred 75 years ago, and all those involved are long dead, and there is nothing that can be done about it.
The post further conveniently ignores, that today's Israelis are raised from childhood on the ethos of "Tohar Haneshek" (i.e. purity of arms), meaning that the weapon is only to be used against combatants !
An Israeli soldier is proud to serve his country, and proud in Tohar Haneshek, and proud to be part of the most moral army in the world (this is arguable, but the point is that the IDF strives to be the most moral army in the world, and is a strong candidate for the title).
Compare this to Hamas, or any of the Israel's enemies all of whom will gladly kill women and children and boast of it.
Nor did I see in the post the "hakesh bagag" procedure of the IDF, the only army in the world that has such a procedure (where before bombing an enemy building, a small grenade or missile is sent to warn the inhabitants of the danger, and to signal them to clear the building).
Israel is fighting inhumane enemies, and does a good (yes, yes, not perfect) job of remaining moral and ethical.
Compared to things we see in the war in Ukraine (which is why I contribute so heavily to ZSU units collections), Israel does not torture prisoners of war, does not mutilate them, does not starve them, allows visits of relatives and the red cross, and so on and so on, the facts are all there, just need to want to see them.
I will not even mention the double standard Israel and especially the IDF are held to.
And I do agree that your coverage of the war in Ukraine is excellent :)
Oh now you moved into the fairy tale section. You really want to make us believe that the IDF use magic bullets, which only hit combatants, but never civilians.
And so the pilots of the AH-64 and the gunners of the tanks on the 7th of October did only hit the Arabs but no one of the Israeli hostages.
Must be a relatively new development. A former member of the IDF told me a different story. The same for the Oath ceremony of the armed forces of the IDF, as seen in a video of it in Latrun in 1994.
Magic bullets and magic mushrooms work only in the mind of people, but not in reality.
The current government of Israel is diligently sowing the roots of Israel's downfall, it is only a matter of time.
Everything will come back including dividends and the bill will be paid as usual by mostly innocent civilian bystanders.
Coming back to your claim it was only Deir Yasin. So neither Abu Shusha, nor Tantura, nor Lydda, nor Saliha, nor Al-Dawayima........... ever happened.
Weapons are never pure in a moral sense, they are just tools, built to kill.
No ceremony will EVER change that. This is merely a moral hypocrisy from the realm of propaganda, like as the consecration of the cannon barrels by priests in 1914.
To paraphrase Nietzsche, "Nothing new under the sun, it is just the constant return of the same."
I hesitated if to merit this with an answer, as the questions are so biased as to suggest that there is no point in seriously answering.
Obviously, the IDF does not have magic bullets, and I didn't say it did, so your comment is out of line.
I did say, and have given some examples (and there are more), that the IDF does it's best not to hurt innocents !
Since Hamas benefits from every civilian casualty and suffering, and since it has no morality to hinder it, obviously, the greater drive for causing civilian casualties comes from Hamas, and news reports to the contrary are usually biased intentionally or unintentionally.
Hamas numbers on civilian vs terrorist casualty numbers in Gaza are just a lie.
By the same token, you should have understood, that even disregarding Israel's western ideology of the worth of human lives, since civilian casualties directly play into Hamas's advantage, the IDF would be strongly motivated to avoid them.
My last point is that fighting in these conditions makes it impossible to avoid civilian casualties altogether, and that even the vaunted IDF cannot avoid those completely. The best serious estimate I got was 1:1 ratio, which, in these conditions, is actually really like magic.
Following the Oct 7 attack, It is not like Israel had many alternatives, is was either to quit and leave victory to Hamas, or go to war in these conditions.
We know what you would have it choose, and we know what it did choose.
The West Bank is not and cannot be seen as isolated from Gaza. Israel just found it opportune to divide and conquer focusing on West Bank first. Its not like the Palestinians in those two areas doesn’t talk together, share experiences, are not affected by Israel on all and everything. Regarding withdrawing from Gaza, yes Israel did. But Gaza isn’t a state. Which Israel is very clear on. If it was a state it would be allowed to control its own borders, it would be allowed its own currency, control over coastal resources and so on. Israel just let Hamas be the prison guards.
That's a whole lot of words to not address the core of the issue - those "freedom fighters" signed their own death warrant when they decided to go on a torture/rape/murder/kidnapping safari on Oct 7th. Any rational citizen would want their government to do exactly what Israel did - try really hard to kill everyone involved in the attack.
And before you all start yelling about operations in Gaza, that's a completely separate and much more difficult topic from killing those "freedom fighters" in Quatar. The morality of the Quatar operation is black and white like a bus full of nuns.
Not with the completely mindless (just quoting contemporary diplomats who had a clue about Sykes-Picot negotiations) decision to start settling Zionists in Palestine, so around 1915-1916... nor with the decision to ignore Zionist ethnic cleansing of the native population, starting with 1947, and all the decades of terror ever since?
Sir, just because you feel very strongly about something, its unacceptable to shout rudely and loudly about your views all over someone's personal blog, where you and me are invited (tolerated?) guests.
And meanwhile the zombie experten drone on about a Two State Final Solution! This will never happen, and the killing will continue until the Israelis realize this is unsustainable, or the Arab oil states make it stop. But this won’t happen soon. Fun fact: the original British Zionists had a plan to have Texas be the homeland of European Jews because New York was too crowded. The little corporal wasn’t the only one who loved westerns.
Don't put words in my mouth please, it's unseemly. The war didn't start on Oct 7th, and it wont end with the next ceasefire. However, the murder/torture/rape/kidnapping safari did happen on October 7th, and there is only one acceptable response to an event like that. Kill everyone who participated to the extent possible. It won't solve the conflict, or move the world to a better place, or result in anything good long term, but it's something you have to do as a country when things like this happen.
This conflict will carry on for a long time precisely because both sides citizens are human, and want bloody justice, so their leaderships are operating in an ever narrowing decision space. There's no place in that decision space for an eduring peace settlement acceptable to both peoples.
The AIM-7R is still very much in arsenals - of Israel and the USA, just for example.
In low-threat scenarios, like the mass of what is the IASF doing nowadays, it's an 'excellent counterweight' to balance jets with irregular warloads, too.
...and it's cheaper to waste for downing UAVs than AIM-120C-7s, Python IV/Vs and similar stuff.
If you're convinced that 'might makes right', please let me know about your home address.
Got a few claims on some real estate there. From 2,000 years ago, or so...
Yeah! And, why don't the USA or the UK capitulate to Russia or the PRC?
Surrender and wave the white flag - and it's over. So, why not?
Yup. And I'm stunned now.
...by your superior skills in understanding something called armed resistance of a popular uprising against a colonial occupation... 🙄
Hm, when were the last elections in occupied West Bank? Why at the beginning did Israel promote the rise of Hamas? (Hint: There was once a guy named Arafat and his Fatah)
Organizations and their leaders come and go, but it is still how decision makers act, what decides how bloody and murderous the 'show' gets.
Look into the history of the Ismail assassins to get a glimpse of how far things can get or if you prefer older events simply into the old testament about that historical land grab.
For your information: yes, Hamas - which was co-created by Israel and supported (financially) by Israel and the USA for decades (as a religious opponent to the 'atheist' PLO) - came to power through winning free elections. That's why Israel then began blockading and bombing the Gaza Strip, and violated every single cease-fire (including those containing Hamas' agreement to accept the 'right of Israel to exist', in exchange for a de-blockade of the Gaza Strip).
Israel's aggressions have made new elections impossible.
Now, while the ideology of Hamas is (at least) as religiously-motivated and extremist as that of Zionism - which is why I consider both of them terrorist organisations - the Palestinian armed resistance against an illegal occupation and a colonial project - named 'Israel' - is a legitimate right. Between others because Palestinians are the native population of the area: people living there for 14,000 years. Contrary to the mass of Zionist settlers from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, USA or wherever else, who stand in absolutely no relation to the territory in question (even their language and religion are no 'originals', and ever less so 'native' to Palestine).
Therefore, Palestinian armed resistance is 'OK', and that whether you like that or not.
Actually, the mass of people argumenting the way you do are precisely those that would, if finding themselves facing exactly the same situation, be the first to grow fed up, grab a fire-arm and go fighting any invaders and occupiers.
That's what's called a popular armed uprising.
You are fooling no one by talking as if Hamas members (or PIJ, or PFLP, or DFLP) arent Palestinians themselves.
Also, Spare us your concern of pro genocidal maniacs for Palestinians. We all understand you want every single one of them murdered. It is enough pain to have to endure your existence on earth.
Also that double speaking is not doing you any service. Just look at that idiot who got himself shot at Utah after spending his decade long political career cheering on political violence.
Surrender, return all the hostages and then trust nice Uncle Benjamin to be kind and let you have a lovely peaceful prosperous life in Gaza and the West Bank. Trust that he is so peaceful he will be very very cross at all the settlers who shoot civilians and destroy their homes and plaster your land with fortified illegal settlements. Trust that he will send them away with a smack on the bottom and give you your homes back and make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.
I simply checked out the last few weeks it's too much :(
Me too (apart from reading this article which is the only news item that puts a real perspective on it). I try to pretend it can't get any worse, although I know it can and will.
Your commentary channels righteous fury at the staggering human cost of the war in Gaza and the global hypocrisy surrounding it, from Western powers enabling Israel’s actions, to Arab regimes too compromised or cowardly to intervene, to the grim normalisation of mass civilian death. But amid the outrage, satire, and despair, the core truth remains: a people are being starved, bombed, and erased, while the world either looks away or debates semantics. That silence, institutional, political, moral, is complicity. And the question you pose echoes louder each day, with whom, exactly, is there left to make peace?
Speaking as a Brit, it's nice to see we are doing our bit to help: "New British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has admitted to receiving at least £210,000 from pro-Israeli lobbyist Gary Lubner"
At least a good sum of money!
Their current government isn't looking for a peace deal. They simple want to kill everyone who is in their way. Historically that led to their final downfall against the Romans. It is the Russian way to handle things, a choice between obedience or death.
So the Europeans nations are irrelevant?
Hm, maybe they all together should stop supporting Israel and embargo it to show you how irrelevant Israel is for the world.
What does Israel have to offer to the world except genocide and permanent warmongering?
What is the Israel endgame here ? Finish all Palestinians for eternal peace like what USA had done with Red Indians. It seems West is convinced with above argument.
There are so many platforms for whataboutery and trolling. Spare us here.
Deeply depressing, but I don't find anything I can disagree with...
I expect nothing more than continued chaos. The notion that humanity operates on a rational basis - even in respect of self-interest - is completely false. We're moving into an era of unprecedented chaos. So far as the Middle East is concerned, nothing is more certain than that before too long it will generate enormous demand for Geiger counters and Iodine pills.
Yes it is a bitter rant, but it is also a logical conclusion of what happened behind the curtain. For that a big thank you to Tom. About the final conclusion (Israel is going to win in...) I have a different opinion. I wouldn't bet that Israel will still exists in 190 years and if mankind continues on this path there won't be any mankind at all in 19.000 years.
No they won't. It is just the question, when their final downfall and how bloddy it will, be.
Why, one may ask?
Look into the dark pages of history. It is simply a question of how big a population is in relation to how big the other populations are, which are treated as hostile.
Hostility backfires and produces hostility. History doesn't repeat itself, only human stupidity does and that stupidity is very, very expensive in terms of lives.
"I have a different opinion. I wouldn't bet that Israel will still exists in 190 years .... "
The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1291): history may not repeat itself, but sometimes I surely think so.
Spot on Tom, the hypocrisy and evil of the West not even hidden well anymore. Idiocracy, oligarchy, and genocide seems all the West now has to offer. :-(
Need to say that it is very difficult to follow the flow of your mind, Tom, because of the excessive sarcasm and irony. Of course, you may say that it is meant for an intelligent enough reader who can keep up… but there are few who are more comfortable with a straightforward approach (a spade is a spade
Как по мне, то написано довольно прямо - как это ещё можно интерпретировать? Спасибо Тому, но люди в большинстве своём глупые, и с этим ничего не поделать - такой вот вид....
"…and so, the leadership of Qatar is limited to express its hope (quote) ‘for a collective response' - from regional allies..."
I suspect this being the same story like in Lebanon, where Hezbollah was likely sold out and Israel went by target data supplied by local authorities.
Arab League gave Israel a hunting permit for Iranian sockpuppets/assets. And they are so happy to use it, and Arabian authorities do oblige => nothing real will happen.
Maybe let Iran get some nukes to blow off the genocidal government of Israel not sound so weird now.
Maybe if that were going to. happen, maybe, some new ideas will appear, like embargo them by the genocidal they are doing, bomba the IDF bases to hell to destroy the runways or planes, wait... Where I saw this? Lybia? Yugoslavia?
Israel is the perfect example you can find to explain why the post 1945 order fails.
In 1945 4 countries where above the resto and not sccounting to anyone: USA, URSS, the Brits and France. The europeans had to dismantle rheir colonials empires and bow in front of rheir protector, the US. Then China joined the club.
Israel tricked the system, then India, Pakistan, North Korea.
The system don't works whenvthe guarantors are proven bullies. All of them 5.
I think that Iran has no real intention to destroy Israel. As any authoritarian regime, they are corrupt and addicted to the luxury power offers. They have enough fission products to poison israel for centuries, even without the nukes. they don't do it, they won't do it.
That's one of silly things: first Khomeini, and then Khamenei, have both permitted a nuclear program, but prohibited the making (and especially the assembly) of nuclear warheads.
No matter what has happened ever since, Khamenei's Nuclear Fatwa of 2003 stands until this very day.
And now mind: at the same time, nobody minded Pakistan developing nukes, even when its Dr. Khan was selling nuclear stuff all over the world, and Pakistani nuclear scientists were meeting OBL in Afghanistan.
And yet: everybody is daydreaming about Iran's bomb, and this nuking Iran...?!?
Come on, get serious.
Get serious… no that would undermine your analysis of everybody being idiots. Not gonna happen.
While this response from you was bristling... with exactly what?
Bristling? Don’t know., didn’t mean it that way. My comment was focusing on the last sentence: you urged us to get serious. But you have always pointed out our idiocy, so if we got serious it would invalidate your previous analysis. But I guess I missed some sarcasm. Not an important comment anyhow.
Wow. Yeah. Who can top this piece? The German boner really made me laugh.
Right, the Hamas are brave freedom fighters just struggling against all odds to liberate the Gaza strip from the Israeli occupation, and the Israelis are mass murderers and zionists. Wait, the Gaza occupation was ended 20 years ago (just look in wikipedia for: Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip). Israeli attacked the peaceful palestinians in Gaza. No, wait, the brave Palestinians freedom fighters attacked Israel. European hypocrisy is so frustrating. Wait until you live next to 2 milion arab muslims, 25% of which are armed to the teeth religious fanatics who won't accept nothing short of complete mass execution of your entire civilian population. They attack in surprise, commit really unspeakable atrocities, and when the wheel turns, act the victim. I am not saying there is no innocent population in Gaza, and their suffering is real, but calling the Israeli army mass murders and gang rapists is simply not the truth. This untruth serves the Hamas well, and incentivizes it to cause as much suffering and losses in it's civilian population as possible. Radical islam is on the rise in europe and you will suffer. But it is nothing compared to the suffering of Israel. The radical islamist civilians in europe can cause only so much damage. Not so an organized trained army of fanatic muslim terrorists like the Hamas who are consuming murder drugs before fights to make them even more bestial than they already are. I am sorry if this causes discomfort for some readers. The truth in this case is extremely unpleasant (and also not politically correct), but it is the unpopular truth nontheless.
Oh, you've just missed the part
- where Zionists have ethnically cleansed the population of Palestine;
- and conquered more than 51% of Palestine assigned to them by the UN;
- then eradicated over 400 towns and villages of the native population and 'replaced' these by own settlements constructed on the territory not belonging to them;
- then conquered the rest of Palestine and constructed settlements on newly conquered territories (like the Gaza Striip and the West Bank);
- then withdrew from the Gaza Strip but intensified the land grab in the West Bank;
- and then re-conquered the Gaza Strip again...?
...and all that while co-creating several terrorist organisations including Hamas, to disunite the Palestinians through establishing a religious extremist organisation - to counter the atheist PLO?
I'm sorry for you. Sincerely. I'm a hypocrite, while you're none. You're just a sincere man without any kind of agendas. A nice and fine person that never fell for any kind of religion-based mythology - but is forced to ignore all of the above listed, and come here to correct such hypocrites like me.
I apologize, this will be a little long, as it requires some background to be laid.
The issue can be complicated (i.e. clouded) by mixing in the west bank, but this is largely irrelevant to the current war in Gaza, and I will explain.
Hamas controls Gaza, after having massacred the Fatah representatives there (shooting said representatives in their knee caps before throwing them from the rooftops, ring a bell ?).
But up to the time these lines are written, was not able to do the same in the west bank, largely due to IDF presence there.
It could claimed the Hamas attack at Oct7 was a way of trying to free the West bank, but that would be extremely naive, and would ignore the statement of the Hamas spokespersons themselves, who in all earnestness declared the attack to be the first step in the Holy War and the killing of all the Israeli population.
Israel quit the Gaza strip 20 years ago, and since then had no claim on the place, and only wished to live peacefully side by side, hoping for this to be a model on which peace with the west bank would also be achieved.
All of these are facts.
Now, some Europeans truthfully say that Israel re-conquered the Gaza strip, while at the same time completely ignoring the reason it was forced to do so, which is the frustrating part.
It is not complicated. It never was.
It's only 'complicated' IF one is refusing to inform. The reason doesn't matter: the mass of people finding excuses for the Zionist genocide on Palestinians have masses of reasons.
Here a list of good starters:
https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/annual-post-on-why-do-i-think-about
Read, inform yourself. PLEASE. This is no patronising: just a reminder that in your hand - or on your desk - you really hold the approach to all the knowledge of the humanity. It's on you to use it - or continue refusing to use it.
Well, yes an no.
Obviously, I did not read all the list yet, only the post itself.
And yes, Israel today is larger than what was originally allocated by the UN in 1947.
Still, being one sided is unfair, and worse: it distorts the view of events, and then wrong conclusions are reached.
For example, showing the single Israeli massacre in deir Yasin, while ignoring dozens of massacres done by the Arabs in the same war.
To be sure the massacre in Deir Yasin was horrible, and should not have happened, but it was a singular event and it occurred 75 years ago, and all those involved are long dead, and there is nothing that can be done about it.
The post further conveniently ignores, that today's Israelis are raised from childhood on the ethos of "Tohar Haneshek" (i.e. purity of arms), meaning that the weapon is only to be used against combatants !
An Israeli soldier is proud to serve his country, and proud in Tohar Haneshek, and proud to be part of the most moral army in the world (this is arguable, but the point is that the IDF strives to be the most moral army in the world, and is a strong candidate for the title).
Compare this to Hamas, or any of the Israel's enemies all of whom will gladly kill women and children and boast of it.
Nor did I see in the post the "hakesh bagag" procedure of the IDF, the only army in the world that has such a procedure (where before bombing an enemy building, a small grenade or missile is sent to warn the inhabitants of the danger, and to signal them to clear the building).
Israel is fighting inhumane enemies, and does a good (yes, yes, not perfect) job of remaining moral and ethical.
Compared to things we see in the war in Ukraine (which is why I contribute so heavily to ZSU units collections), Israel does not torture prisoners of war, does not mutilate them, does not starve them, allows visits of relatives and the red cross, and so on and so on, the facts are all there, just need to want to see them.
I will not even mention the double standard Israel and especially the IDF are held to.
And I do agree that your coverage of the war in Ukraine is excellent :)
Sure. And you forgot that the same is the case with such top Israeli historians like Shlomo Sand, Ilan Pappe and Benny Morris.
... anti-semitic jerks, all of us... 🙄
...confusing such fine, decent people like you, who have no agenda and would never come to the idea to deny a genocide.
Oh now you moved into the fairy tale section. You really want to make us believe that the IDF use magic bullets, which only hit combatants, but never civilians.
And so the pilots of the AH-64 and the gunners of the tanks on the 7th of October did only hit the Arabs but no one of the Israeli hostages.
Must be a relatively new development. A former member of the IDF told me a different story. The same for the Oath ceremony of the armed forces of the IDF, as seen in a video of it in Latrun in 1994.
Magic bullets and magic mushrooms work only in the mind of people, but not in reality.
The current government of Israel is diligently sowing the roots of Israel's downfall, it is only a matter of time.
Everything will come back including dividends and the bill will be paid as usual by mostly innocent civilian bystanders.
Coming back to your claim it was only Deir Yasin. So neither Abu Shusha, nor Tantura, nor Lydda, nor Saliha, nor Al-Dawayima........... ever happened.
Weapons are never pure in a moral sense, they are just tools, built to kill.
No ceremony will EVER change that. This is merely a moral hypocrisy from the realm of propaganda, like as the consecration of the cannon barrels by priests in 1914.
To paraphrase Nietzsche, "Nothing new under the sun, it is just the constant return of the same."
I hesitated if to merit this with an answer, as the questions are so biased as to suggest that there is no point in seriously answering.
Obviously, the IDF does not have magic bullets, and I didn't say it did, so your comment is out of line.
I did say, and have given some examples (and there are more), that the IDF does it's best not to hurt innocents !
Since Hamas benefits from every civilian casualty and suffering, and since it has no morality to hinder it, obviously, the greater drive for causing civilian casualties comes from Hamas, and news reports to the contrary are usually biased intentionally or unintentionally.
Hamas numbers on civilian vs terrorist casualty numbers in Gaza are just a lie.
By the same token, you should have understood, that even disregarding Israel's western ideology of the worth of human lives, since civilian casualties directly play into Hamas's advantage, the IDF would be strongly motivated to avoid them.
My last point is that fighting in these conditions makes it impossible to avoid civilian casualties altogether, and that even the vaunted IDF cannot avoid those completely. The best serious estimate I got was 1:1 ratio, which, in these conditions, is actually really like magic.
Following the Oct 7 attack, It is not like Israel had many alternatives, is was either to quit and leave victory to Hamas, or go to war in these conditions.
We know what you would have it choose, and we know what it did choose.
The West Bank is not and cannot be seen as isolated from Gaza. Israel just found it opportune to divide and conquer focusing on West Bank first. Its not like the Palestinians in those two areas doesn’t talk together, share experiences, are not affected by Israel on all and everything. Regarding withdrawing from Gaza, yes Israel did. But Gaza isn’t a state. Which Israel is very clear on. If it was a state it would be allowed to control its own borders, it would be allowed its own currency, control over coastal resources and so on. Israel just let Hamas be the prison guards.
That's a whole lot of words to not address the core of the issue - those "freedom fighters" signed their own death warrant when they decided to go on a torture/rape/murder/kidnapping safari on Oct 7th. Any rational citizen would want their government to do exactly what Israel did - try really hard to kill everyone involved in the attack.
And before you all start yelling about operations in Gaza, that's a completely separate and much more difficult topic from killing those "freedom fighters" in Quatar. The morality of the Quatar operation is black and white like a bus full of nuns.
How good the war began on 7 October 2023, right?
Not with the completely mindless (just quoting contemporary diplomats who had a clue about Sykes-Picot negotiations) decision to start settling Zionists in Palestine, so around 1915-1916... nor with the decision to ignore Zionist ethnic cleansing of the native population, starting with 1947, and all the decades of terror ever since?
(Asking for a friend)
Sir, just because you feel very strongly about something, its unacceptable to shout rudely and loudly about your views all over someone's personal blog, where you and me are invited (tolerated?) guests.
You are being quite uncouth.
Yes, and the Zionist genocide on Palestinians began in November 1947. What now?
And meanwhile the zombie experten drone on about a Two State Final Solution! This will never happen, and the killing will continue until the Israelis realize this is unsustainable, or the Arab oil states make it stop. But this won’t happen soon. Fun fact: the original British Zionists had a plan to have Texas be the homeland of European Jews because New York was too crowded. The little corporal wasn’t the only one who loved westerns.
Don't put words in my mouth please, it's unseemly. The war didn't start on Oct 7th, and it wont end with the next ceasefire. However, the murder/torture/rape/kidnapping safari did happen on October 7th, and there is only one acceptable response to an event like that. Kill everyone who participated to the extent possible. It won't solve the conflict, or move the world to a better place, or result in anything good long term, but it's something you have to do as a country when things like this happen.
This conflict will carry on for a long time precisely because both sides citizens are human, and want bloody justice, so their leaderships are operating in an ever narrowing decision space. There's no place in that decision space for an eduring peace settlement acceptable to both peoples.
Aha. But, you're still unable to answer my question?
Wasn't that a rhetorical question?
Why is there an AIM-7 Sparrow under that F-15? I thought they were long retired
The AIM-7R is still very much in arsenals - of Israel and the USA, just for example.
In low-threat scenarios, like the mass of what is the IASF doing nowadays, it's an 'excellent counterweight' to balance jets with irregular warloads, too.
...and it's cheaper to waste for downing UAVs than AIM-120C-7s, Python IV/Vs and similar stuff.
Thanks Tom (as a side note, I am almost finishing your "Moscow's Game of Poker" book, very interesting read).
Thx, Carlos.
Intersting analysis of the behind the scenes movement. And the total situation in the Middle East.