top | item 47154820

(no title)

slg | 5 days ago

>Perhaps I'm wrong, but your initial post reads as if Israel's genocide in Palestine is consistent with historical precedent such as the Iraq war when facing similar national traumas.

The US response was deadlier in both total number of people killed and in proportion to the inciting terrorist attacks. Both countries also committed clear war crimes along the way.

The primary distinguishing factor between the two is the label of "genocide" only consistently being applied to Israel's actions, but that is mostly due to practical reasons, namely the relative small size of Gaza in terms of both geography and population. If Afghanistan and Iraq had the population density of Gaza, not only would that have likely made the US response even more deadly due to the mechanics of warfare, but it certainly would have led to more people describing the US's actions as genocide.

Once again, this is not a defense of Israel. If this reads to you like I'm downplaying the actions of Israel, then you are underestimating the death and destruction caused by the US. Some estimates have the US responsible for as many as a million deaths.

discuss

order

LightBug1|5 days ago

I'll dispute that.

While I recall many at the time calling it a genocide due to the sanctions, the thrust of the military action was an illegal war.

Israel, by contrast, systematically murdered civilians, journalists, starved a civilian population with impunity and with government intent, and ... the list is tragically too long. Size and numbers have nothing to do with it.

Israels actions were ruled a genocide in the ICJ, the UN, among many other genocide experts (including Jewish experts).

The Israeli's had/have actual genocidal intent. Just read the reprehensible words of some of the current Israeli cabinet. Not some radical fringe, but the actual Israeli cabinet.

Sure, you mention you're not defending Israel, but the implication that there is some double standard here (perhaps "antisemitic" given your focus on labelling) is in itself a defense of Israel.

The current "administration" is a disgusting body, and the Zionist ideology, in its current form, is an absurd, preposterous ideology which gives birth to a population who dehumanise their "enemy" in exactly the same way as the Nazis dehumanised the Jews (not my words, but the words of Jewish scholars).

slg|5 days ago

Your opinion of the US is too high.

>Israel, by contrast, systematically murdered civilians,

I'm not willing to ignore the US's propensity for bombing weddings.[1][2][3][4][5]

>journalists

Or the notorious Collateral Murder strikes.[6]

> starved a civilian population with impunity and with government intent

I already hit on this with the mentioning of Gaza's population density and the mechanics of war. Gaza is much smaller and denser which means that the same bomb dropped there will kill more people and destroy more infrastructure than in Iraq or Afghanistan. That has caused a larger percentage of the arable land in Gaza to be destroyed and they already had less of it to begin with. This had made them more reliant on Israel. The US simply didn't have the opportunity to control the food supply in the same way and I'm not willing to categorize a lack of opportunity as evidence of a lack of intent. And despite that all, the long tail of the US's actions still has led to a food crisis.[7]

>Just read the reprehensible words of some of the current Israeli cabinet. Not some radical fringe, but the actual Israeli cabinet.... The current "administration" is a disgusting body, and the Zionist ideology, in its current form, is an absurd, preposterous ideology which gives birth to a population who dehumanise their "enemy" in exactly the same way as the Nazis dehumanised the Jews

If we're talking "reprehensible words" and dehumanization, it hasn't even been two weeks since a US congressperson said that Muslims were below dogs. The US has the benefit of two extra decades of hindsight and many still haven't learned the lesson you're discussing.[8].

I genuinely think you should read through some of this[9]. It sounds like it might open your eyes to the US's actual record of behavior.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wech_Baghtu_wedding_party_airs...

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haska_Meyna_wedding_party_airs...

[3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukaradeeb_wedding_party_massa...

[4] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruzgan_wedding_bombing

[5] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Radda_airstrike

[6] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007,_Baghdad_airstri...

[7] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%932026_hunger_crisi...

[8] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Fine#Muslims

[9] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes#War_o...