Quote:
Originally Posted by jfman
I don’t think anyone is in denial about the actions of Hamas. Whether they justify the systematic slaughter of thousands, displacement of hundreds of thousands, of Palestinians who had nothing to do with it is the question.
I’m sure the Palestinians could equally capture the hearts and minds of the population with the charred remains of children blown apart in Israeli air strikes. It’s very much not a one way street when the average person would, somewhat reasonably, expect a 21st century military to behave slightly better than your average terrorist group.
Most people would view the conflict as a consequence of events predating two weeks ago on Saturday.
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While I firmly believe - and have repeatedly stated - that the ‘who’s to blame for what’ question is impossibly complex to answer given the causal link from one event to another, stretching back more than 150 years …
I absolutely reject your continued attempts to draw actual or moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas’ actions over the past fortnight. Sure there’s room to debate what degree of military response is warranted on Israel’s part, but that’s because they’re operating a uniformed army with a chain of command and a plan of action that quite obviously shows awareness of international legal obligations as well as intense political pressure from allies. Their response is considered and calibrated. Argue they got the balance wrong by all means, but suggestions that their actions amount to the equivalent of Hamas are profoundly un-serious.
Hamas, to the extent it had a plan, entered Israel with the intention of behaving in as barbaric a way as possible, to the greatest extent possible. Beheading, torture, rape, execution of parents in front of children; execution of children in front of parents.
The behaviour of Israel in Gaza this week *is*not*the*same* as the behaviour of Hamas in Israel last week. The fact that those killed in Gaza might not see it that way is, tragically, besides the point. There is simply no comparison between no-holds-barred barbarism and calculated military action.