Comment by richardfeynman
1 year ago
1. If Israel didn't evacuate people from the north, there would be more dead Gazans. 2. Gazans have been begging to go to Egypt; the idea is to allow them to; Egypt refuses. 3. I'm not comparing this war to WW2, I'm comparing the principle that "you can't kill terrorism because it's an ideology" to the comparable principle of "you can't kill nazism because it's an ideology." 4. Of course Hamas was an existential threat to Israel. It literally killed ~1,000 Israeli civilians in a brutal, premeditated mass slaughter, a crime against humanity. If Hamas were stronger, or if Israel were weaker, they'd have killed more. 5. There can be no peace while Hamas is in power, retains hostages, and vows to repeat their atrocities. 6. Not only are Israel's three war aims achievable, but I'd argue they are just months away from achieving the first war aim (neutering Hamas). Time will tell. 7. You started off this thread by saying Israel's stated war aim is to ethnically cleanse Gaza. When I pointed out this is wrong, you changed your argument to some Israeli officials have said that. So you're arguing your interpretation of Israel's war aims supersede the official documentary record.
> You started off this thread by saying Israel's stated war aim is to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
I started off this thread by disputing the claim you made that Gaza is not being carped bombed. To circle back to that point here is an interesting article by the Washington Post Israel has waged one of this century’s most destructive wars in Gaza[1]. Of particular interest is the comparison to the bombing campaign of Aleppo and Raqqa.
ISIS is without a doubt one of the worse terrorist organizations we have ever seen. What makes ISIS particularly bad is that—unlike Hamas, IRA, Mau Mau or the Viet Cong—they are not resisting oppression of an occupying state but for their fight—like the Nazis—are for their own fascistic ideology and dominance. Their strength and brutality was also far worse then Hamas has ever been. And yet, they were defeated in Syria with far less damage and destruction then what the IDF has already imposed (without success) in Gaza.
I want to be absolutely clear though that the people suffering both the ISIS rule and then later the bombing campaigns which successfully deposed them, were indeed horrendous.
Another point of argument here is that there was no peaceful solution to ISIS. There is one for Hamas. ISIS wasn’t resisting oppression, Hamas is—just like IRA, FLN, etc. before them.
1: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20...
no space to reply. even though we disagree, i thank you for the lack of ad hominems in this discussion, and I appreciate you taking the time for dialogue. a positive step.