Hamas Attacks, Israel Responds

Forced removal of the population of Gaza under the premise there’s no civilian infrastructure left to support them.

 

Hopefully there is stark sense of realisation within Israel and the wider Jewish community worldwide that things have to change for the Palestinians. Not due to reasons of empathy for the other side, but out of self-interest when it comes to peace and security.

So what if there is no united Palestinian representative body to negotiate with? Decisions have been made for them, without their involvement, for decades. Nothing stops Israel from immediately improving Palestinian lives - especially in the West Bank. Nothing.

World opinion has definitely changed. This includes countries historically most friendly towards Israel. The time to act is now.

 

Yes, I am increasingly coming around to the idea that this is the only thing that can make sense of their strategy so far. They don't envision a Gaza with a Palestinian population post-operation.

 

I was responding more to the many angry reactions I have seen from liberals/Dems at these anti-Biden undertakings from various Muslim-American groups. You are not going to bring any of them back underneath the canopy of the Dem tent with angry statements about them suffering even more under Trump. Frankly that will confirm their already existing impression that they only have value to the Democrats as a voting bloc every couple of years and not as constituents whose concerns are worthy of being heard.
Dems serious about the threat to democracy should perhaps instead do the effort of meeting these folks where they are and trying to see if there is a way back to Biden for them.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...ecomposing-gaza-hospital-evacuated-rcna127533

 

One of the three students shot in Burlington last week is paralyzed from the chest down following his injuries:

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/03/1216...-is-paralyzed-from-chest-down-his-family-says

 

For the individuals involved but probably more so for their families, it must be absolutely appalling.

Back in the day I worked with a woman whose husband was in a paratrooper regiment and he was being shipped out to the Falklands when that was kicking off. Nobody really knew what to expect and we'd find her most days looking a bit 'teary'. We'd told her not to come in to work but she said it was better she keep busy.

Hard to know what to say or do, tbh

 

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So, hang on... a fella who's actually fought against muslim extremists thinks that driving a civilian population into the arms of the radicals might not be such a great idea?

Well, that doesn't sound right

 

I remember canvassing in the UK GE back in 2019 and we had various volunteers who tried explaining to voters why they were idiots who were too stupid to understand our 9 dimensional chess approach to politics.

Let's just say it wasn't entirely successful.

 

Sorry, maybe didn't make myself clear. I was talking about leaders OUTSIDE of Israel.

IOW the longer this carries on it makes it more likely that the leaders in US, UK, EU, etc. won't be able to be as supportive of Israel as they have been because their voters will be more engaged and many of them will be sympathetic toe Palestinians,

Sometimes it won't make a difference such as our elections next year when labour will almost certainly get in but if the political situation gets tight, UK politicians won't be able to openly support the Israeli government. Well, not if they want to get elected they won't.

I suspect it will be the same in the US where Biden's previous line of, 'If Israel didn't exist we'd have to invent it', is looking... well, unwise, shall we say.

 

I saw one report that said if the IDF had responded with more alarm to the reports that were available, including from their own people, they could have drastically reduced the amount of carnage on the day, simply by having more people there.

 

Oh, yeah, I'm sure the people who took the video didn't say anything shitty to anyone on that train to begin with.

 

EDIT: This post below was written before I read Jitty's post about Secretary Austin's remarks. Seems like Team Biden is doing this right.

That's beginning to be a worry of mine, too.

And that's where I believe Biden has a small window to act here. He needs to either get Israel to limit its war aims and methods, or he's got to go Paul Sorvino on Ray Liotta in Goodfellas. Give him an insultingly small wad of cash and wash his hands of Israel as long as Bibi is the PM.

It's early days, and the first part of the war has gone more or less exactly as I expected. Now, for me anyway, is where we're about to get to a crossroads: is Israel acting aggressively albeit sensibly? Or is the political leadership acting out of rage or some other incentive? As Israel chooses one of those paths over the other and reaches a point of no return, if it's a choice not in keeping with US interests, Biden has to call Bibi's bluff.

 

Well, I'm now not clear which voters you ARE aware of, so...

Anyway, I'm talking about voters in the UK, for example, some of whom have decided that, on balance, they're more sympathetic to the Palesrinians, (as opposed to hamas, obviously), than they are of the Israeli state. The precise details don't matter in these terms. The point is it means fewer voters will be prepared vote for a leader who openly supports the Israeli State.

 

Israeli Ambassador claims "Mowasi" is a safe haven in #Gaza that civilians can take refuge in,

Followed by a wide camera shot of Mowasi

A deserted wasteland. pic.twitter.com/Tsi8BauhXd

— Rami Jarrah (@RamiJarrah) December 4, 2023

It's not even slow-walking into a massive humanitarian disaster any more, but more like sprinting.

I guess I understand why the Biden admin is pre-emptively already distancing itself from this.