Unless you think that reason is that all Palestinians are terrorist and not humans, I fail to see how they're relevant. I'd be happy to accuse Egypt, too, where applicable.
sorry, that's just an absurd way to reason about things.
Of course, they are relevant. Israel is not acting in a vacuum. It didn't just wake up one day having completely withdrawn from Gaza and say, let me blockade Gaza for no reason at all, just because we feel like it. They did it for specific reasons and so, if you are going to talk about the blockade and not mention at all, pretend like the reason for the blockade just isn't there, then your analysis just becomes absurd.
The reason for it was that Hamas took over and proceeded to fire rockets at Israel, right? That Hamas is a terrorist organization. Look at the military infrastructure they were able to build under the conditions of the blockade, it's clear that this would have been a lot worse for Israel if the blockade wasn't there. And Israel as a state has a primary responsibility to protect its own civilians against being murdered by Hamas. This clearly is highly relevant to any analysis here.
First Israel "completely withdrew", now it didn't, but for good reasons.
There simply aren't justifications for using starvation against civilians, calling them animals and calling for their extermination, while IDF soldiers make videos rifling through the belongings of Palestinians to mock them, talking about colonization. "They" (Israeli hard right etc.) always wanted to take the land, so using the crimes of Hamas as an excuse to do just whatever, for just targeting infrastructure to make Gaza unlivable, as they so proudly describe in interviews, while repeating how it's all just self-defense is just too transparent.
> it's clear that this would have been a lot worse for Israel if the blockade wasn't there
You think? As they say, there is nothing scarier than a man without hope, and nobody is complaining about not letting weapons in. At least I am not.
There is the cost to Israel. You cannot commit and justify atrocities, dehumanize other humans completely, without getting deeply damaged yourself. As Chris Hedges wrote about comraderie (versus friendship), it feels great in war time, it's a high, for a while, but the comedown is really depressing and lonely.
And then there is the damage in the eyes of the world, which will keep trickling in for many years. The US, UK, Israel and Germany have no credibility right now except to each other and the usual vassals.
vasilipupkin|2 years ago
Of course, they are relevant. Israel is not acting in a vacuum. It didn't just wake up one day having completely withdrawn from Gaza and say, let me blockade Gaza for no reason at all, just because we feel like it. They did it for specific reasons and so, if you are going to talk about the blockade and not mention at all, pretend like the reason for the blockade just isn't there, then your analysis just becomes absurd.
The reason for it was that Hamas took over and proceeded to fire rockets at Israel, right? That Hamas is a terrorist organization. Look at the military infrastructure they were able to build under the conditions of the blockade, it's clear that this would have been a lot worse for Israel if the blockade wasn't there. And Israel as a state has a primary responsibility to protect its own civilians against being murdered by Hamas. This clearly is highly relevant to any analysis here.
johnnyworker|2 years ago
There simply aren't justifications for using starvation against civilians, calling them animals and calling for their extermination, while IDF soldiers make videos rifling through the belongings of Palestinians to mock them, talking about colonization. "They" (Israeli hard right etc.) always wanted to take the land, so using the crimes of Hamas as an excuse to do just whatever, for just targeting infrastructure to make Gaza unlivable, as they so proudly describe in interviews, while repeating how it's all just self-defense is just too transparent.
> it's clear that this would have been a lot worse for Israel if the blockade wasn't there
You think? As they say, there is nothing scarier than a man without hope, and nobody is complaining about not letting weapons in. At least I am not.
There is the cost to Israel. You cannot commit and justify atrocities, dehumanize other humans completely, without getting deeply damaged yourself. As Chris Hedges wrote about comraderie (versus friendship), it feels great in war time, it's a high, for a while, but the comedown is really depressing and lonely.
And then there is the damage in the eyes of the world, which will keep trickling in for many years. The US, UK, Israel and Germany have no credibility right now except to each other and the usual vassals.