Comment by skybrian
2 years ago
There are arguments like this everywhere on the web, you can find them anywhere, and it's not really what I was asking about.
(I am looking for serious, well-written arguments for Israel and they seem hard to find?)
2 years ago
There are arguments like this everywhere on the web, you can find them anywhere, and it's not really what I was asking about.
(I am looking for serious, well-written arguments for Israel and they seem hard to find?)
Why would you expect them to exist? This is an unexpected war fought defensively in response to a surprise attack.
When responding to the second largest terrorist attack ever, step 1 isn’t “sit down and write a long-form justification of your right to defend yourself, in English, for the benefit of skybrian’s curiosity.”
It’s not defense, though? Defense is what the Israeli military failed at on October 7. This war is a counter-attack. Since it’s on offense, the Israeli gets to choose the timing. (I admit that the hostages add some urgency, but this doesn’t look like a hostage rescue mission?)
The reason I’d expect Israel to justify the war to an international audience isn’t to satisfy me, but rather because Israel needs allies. PR is part of that.
You might have noticed that opinions on Israel among Americans are heavily skewed by age [1]. The old guard isn’t going to last forever. If they lose the US, what then? They need to be able to convince young people that what they’re doing is justified, and written articles are part of that.
So I’m somewhat surprised that there aren’t more things like that being shared in places where I’d see them.
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/12/08/views-of-the...