Do you know what Hamas is? Gaza is governed by Hamas, which has not held elections since 2007; it is a military and militant political organization with many thousands of members, and is financially and strategically supported by numerous anti-Israel states. It was not "one or two" terrorists who attacked, killed and kidnapped Israeli civilians on October 7th, upon whom some senseless revenge is being taken: it was this Hamas, an existential threat to Israel, that Israel seeks finally be rid of. Hamas knew perfectly well that they were going to be very hard to eliminate without civilian casualties, especially given their significant numbers in the population, and especially by their hiding themselves and exposing their own civilian population to violence. Nothing "compels" Israel to kill civilians, you're right. But Israel is not going around killing Gazan civilians for the hell of it. Civilians will, however, get killed, as long as the wicked cowards of Hamas hide behind them and co-opt them into their explicitly genocidal project of killing all the Jews -- a much greater Islamist project which Hamas is but one part. Response to IRA terrorism is not comparable, as it was possible for Britain to target the terrorist element specifically, without reducing far more to rubble and death. Had the IRA been as pervasive in Irish society as Hamas is in Gaza, and had they hidden behind civilians as Hamas does, far worse would have ensued. I think your picture of what is happening is badly warped by genuine but manipulative images of suffering. Listen to what Hamas has screamed endlessly about what they want to do with the Jews. Then they start doing it to the Jews. You tell me what Israel's proper response should be. Another hypothesis to consider (a challenging formulation I've heard floating about the webs): If Hamas were to disarm today, there would be peace in Gaza next week-- not much love, and quite a few arrests, but the bombs would stop falling, and there might be a way forward. If Israel, on the other hand, were to disarm today, its Jews would be slaughtered by the millions, and their state annihilated, within days. We all know this is true. |