A very depressing video from Gaza

[stanky]

I demand that the killing stop.

[Admin]

Genocidal cunts they may be, but Israel definitely has a sense of humour: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024 ... nian-homes

[sparks]

Stupid cunts gotta hate, fight and die.

Sorry.

[Admin]

No shit.

The good thing about it all is kids are becoming completely inured to genocide, the forthcoming global warming disaster and bullshit like working for a living.

[Meadmaker]

Just as Israel's excessive force breeds more terrorists, more terrorists breed more anti-Palestinian hard liners.

I find myself thinking that way myself sometimes. Who cares about a silly house when you have 1000+ fighters storming the border for a day of rape, murder, and kidnapping?

Well, everyone ought to care, because injustice doesn't really work in the long run. It just creates more war. There's plenty of people for whom that doesn't seem to be a problem.


Meanwhile there's aid arriving, and today a bunch of people waiting to pick up food got gunned down. Dozens dead. It seems someone in the IDF thought soldiers were in danger. Why could they think that? Could it be that people are shooting at them? Maybe people should stop shooting at them? Not likely. How about releasing the kidnapping victims? Not likely. As long as the Arabs and Jews are in close proximity in Gaza, the IDF will be in danger, and someone will get trigger happy.

Whether it's American police, or Israeli soldiers, I often ask myself how much risk people ought to tolerate before they use deadly force to "neutralize" the risk. They really are at risk. That shouldn't give them carte blanche to shoot at anything they think might be a threat, but where is the line? If you put people in situations where there lives are constantly at risk, some of them are going to freak out and go nuts. If they happen to have access to deadly weapons, bad things will happen.

So, why not just get out of Gaza so they won't be in close proximity? Well, that diddn't seem to end well the last time Israel tried that.

I still don't see a way out. Most of my life, I've thought democracy was the answer to most issues of war, because democracies tend not to fight each other. Perhaps if Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, became real democracies, there might be some progress? Not likely.

[Admin]

Meanwhile there's aid arriving, and today a bunch of people waiting to pick up food got gunned down. Dozens dead. It seems someone in the IDF thought soldiers were in danger. Why could they think that? Could it be that people are shooting at them?

The evidence suggests that wasn't the case. Probably much like Kent State - someone pulled a trigger by accident and they all open up.

That's what happens when you give guns to morons.

I still don't see a way out.

It took 700 years to stop the violence in Northern Ireland, so it might take a while.

[Meadmaker]

Meanwhile there's aid arriving, and today a bunch of people waiting to pick up food got gunned down. Dozens dead. It seems someone in the IDF thought soldiers were in danger. Why could they think that? Could it be that people are shooting at them?

The evidence suggests that wasn't the case. Probably much like Kent State - someone pulled a trigger by accident and they all open up.

That's what happens when you give guns to morons.

I still don't see a way out.

It took 700 years to stop the violence in Northern Ireland, so it might take a while.

Indeed. What it took in Ireland was prosperity and a more relaxed attitude toward religion.

That could take a while in the middle east. As with Ireland, there are powerful forces preventing either of those two things from happening.


As for morons with guns, if you give a lot of people guns, some of them will be morons.

I didn't mean to imply that someone was shooting at the IDF at that particular instant, but in general, there's plenty of people shooting at the IDF, so they're probably a bit edgy.

And they have some really powerful guns. That doesn't end well.

But there was an interesting development today. Joe Biden is going to airdrop supplies into Gaza, in defiance of Israel, while demanding, or at least strongly requesting, that Israel let more aid into there. That's a positive development. Part of short term improvement in the situation I think requires that the Israeli government understand that the United States is willing to say no, at least a little bit.

[Admin]

But there was an interesting development today. Joe Biden is going to airdrop supplies into Gaza, in defiance of Israel, while demanding, or at least strongly requesting, that Israel let more aid into there. That's a positive development. Part of short term improvement in the situation I think requires that the Israeli government understand that the United States is willing to say no, at least a little bit.

He's got a very good motivation for getting a ceasefire going - his support is bleeding as lots of Democrat voters want the bloodshed to stop.

I just hope it works.

[stanky]

In trying to imagine being Biden for a moment, i'd guess he's wanting to lose.
For that matter, Trump may also want to lose. He'd get lots of attention and wouldn't really have to do anything. His cult would revel in the righteous win and vow vengeance on the cheating enemy and Biden/Harris would bumble and fumble along until a new low in approval (3%) is reached. Harris then wins another term with 2% approval.

Noam Chomsky's response to Bill Maher's recent comments on Israel's innate rights is instructive:
https://twitter.com/LeeCamp/status/1769827243759489475

[Meadmaker]

Events of this weekend really drove home why I find the Gaza war/occupation to be so depressing.

According to headlines this morning, 274 Palestinians killed in an operation that rescued 4 hostages.

On the one hand, it shows that Israel is willing to cause disproportionate suffering in order to get its people out. They aren't all that concerned about the people they kill in the process.

On the other hand, why are there still hostages? What do the hostage keepers want?