Israel Shells U.N. Building in Gaza and Media Center -- Charged With Using White Phosphorus

The grotesque Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, on Israeli civilians was totally unjustified. This is not the same as saying that it was unprovoked. Gaza has been under siege for sixteen years with no end in sight. Benjamin Netanyahu’s reaction to the Hamas attacks was predictable. Israel has bombed Gaza in 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2021, and 2023. Netanyahu has publicly stated that it is necessary to “mow the grass in Gaza” every few years. It is simply madness to keep Gaza under siege indefinitely. One does not have to be a political genius to realize that the pressure-cooker was bound to explode.

According to Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel, who was interviewed by Nicholas Kristof (New York Times, October 28, 2023), Netanyahu has approved the transfer of over one billion dollars from Israel and Qatar to support Hamas—pay for salaries, energy costs, and a lavish lifestyle for the leadership. Clearly, some of the money has found its way to Hamas’s military wing—with devastating results. So, what was Netanyahu thinking? According to Barak, Netanyahu’s goal was to keep Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank divided. The Palestinian authority in the West Bank is unpopular, corrupt, and operates merely as a subcontractor to the Israeli government to keep militants in check. In contrast, Hamas is engaged in a “holy war” against the Israeli regime. Therefore, Netanyahu could legitimately say that he has no partner for peace. This is why the existence of Hamas was critical for Netanyahu’s gambit. Clearly, Netanyahu’s plan has backfired. Now he is on a mad quest to destroy the monster he created.

As the government of Gaza, Hamas had a responsibility for the safety of its people. But Hamas militants would rather die fighting the “mighty Israel” than submit to life under occupation. For them, becoming a shaheed is the only route to honor and self-respect. Properly understood, a shaheed is a martyr honored by God in heaven for fighting in a just cause. Strictly speaking, a terrorist is not a shaheed. Unfortunately, this cult of martyrdom has been hijacked so that any attack on Israel is deemed legitimate.

Hamas and its affiliates are anathema to the secular societies in the region: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and most of Lebanon, except for the Palestinian exiles who support Hezbollah. Inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood and supported by Iran, Hamas rejects the very existence of the Zionist state. Instead, it dreams of creating an exclusively Muslim state in the historic land of Palestine. Muslim scholars should cry out against this aberration as unworthy of Islam. When Muslims ruled the Holy Land, Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived together in peace—until the Christian Crusaders descended on Jerusalem and brutally massacred Jews and Muslims and then bragged about wading in blood up to their knees. Before the creation of Israel, Palestine was populated by Jews, Muslims, and Christians. An exclusively Muslim state would be as much of an aberration as an exclusively Jewish one.

In the past few years, Netanyahu could not get enough votes to create a governing coalition without allying himself with radical Zionist parties who are not shy about saying publicly that they intend to ethnically cleanse the Promised Land from all non-Jews, including the Arab citizens of Israel. Netanyahu’s minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is famous for his admiration of the Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein, who opened fire on Muslim worshippers in 1994 at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. An Israeli court convicted him for supporting a terrorist organization. Since his assent to power, Ben-Gvir has tried to clean up his image, without much success. Radical religious parties have always loved Netanyahu, not because he believes in God—he is the Donald Trump of Israel—but because they trust him to keep the “peace process” from interfering with God’s Zionist plans.

Netanyahu has shown little concern for the hostages. My suspicion is that what aroused his “mighty vengeance” is not the scale of the attack against civilians but the fact that Hamas militants managed to overwhelm an Israeli military base in southern Israel, not far from the music festival. That was a legitimate military assault against an occupying force. This aspect of the operation is not much discussed in the media. How could a ragtag militia manage to defeat armed Israeli soldiers and take thirty of them hostage?

I do not doubt that Netanyahu experienced the humiliation of the Israeli military as a personal disgrace. After all, he built his brand on being the tough guy who could keep Israel strong and safe. What happened on October 7 is the worst thing that has happened to Israelis since the Holocaust and the worst thing that has happened to the Israeli army since the war of October 1973 when Israel was caught off guard by the combined military attack of Egypt and Syria.

A wise leader would have realized that punishing all of Gaza for the crimes of Hamas would make Israel a pariah among nations. A perceptive leader would have admitted that the unqualified support of the Western powers underscores the view of Israel as the last gasp of European colonialism. A discerning leader would have anticipated that Egypt would refuse to be complicit in a second nakba. Most important of all, a decent leader would have put his personal humiliation aside and made the fate of the hostages a priority. He would have negotiated the release of the hostages in exchange for the hundreds of Palestinians who have been in Israeli prisons for years without trial or charge. The Western press refers to them euphemistically as “security detainees.” According to Amnesty International, many of Israel’s Palestinian prisoners, which include teenagers, are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment and torture. Netanyahu should have released those with no blood on their hands in exchange for the hostages.

Instead, Netanyahu declared that it was beneath his dignity to bargain with Hamas. He refused to swallow his pride; he refused to give priority to the fate of the hostages. For him, the most important thing was restoring his personal reputation by doing something manly and heroic. I suspect that his heart’s desire is to rescue the hostages in a dramatic military operation, while destroying Hamas as a military force. Even if he succeeds, it will not be the redemption he longs for. The hostages might not survive the rescue. A military victory against Gaza is akin to shooting fish in a barrel—it can be neither manly nor heroic. Israel will suffer many casualties of valuable military men who will be fighting against fanatics with nothing to lose. Israel has already sustained casualties that it is desperately keeping secret. When it is over, Hamas will have plenty of new recruits.

As political leaders, Netanyahu and Hamas are birds of a feather—they are colossal failures. They must be disqualified as part of a future effort to make peace. The latter is not hopeless. Brilliant people, such as the Israeli American scholar Omer Bartov, have practical ideas on how to solve this intractable problem: a one-state solution that will allow Israelis and Palestinians to live together peacefully in one country with two Parliaments. In my view, this cannot be done without the exclusion of extremists on both sides and the disqualification of the United States as a failed mediator. source

Should we wait 'til it's all over, and then conduct an investigation to find out what happened? Or, do we take Israeli officials at their word, and stop them from doing this to innocent human beings?
It's war crimes . . .

INNOCENT?

I am not arguing that Gamliel, Distel-Atbaryan and Eliyahu have any influence over operational decisions, but to the global media they represent official Israel. Anyone who wants to interpret Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide that will end in ethnic cleansing can do so using quotes by these three freeloaders.

Galit Distel Atbaryan is female.

OH NO! That changes everything, doesn't it?

Is your point that Israel is not committing genocide against the innocent human beings in Gaza?

His name is Galit Distel Atbaryan

Is your point that Israel is not committing genocide against the innocent human beings in Gaza, and that the people I'm quoting didn't say what they've said?

What's up?

Quote:

His name is Galit Distel Atbaryan

Another lie.

I asked you once before whether or not you recognize what the Israelis are doing to the Gazans...

If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck . . .

Are you sure it was just once?

Let me guess – is it someone dressed in a duck costume?