Israel, Palestine & the Levant rolling events: Oct 23 on

In next week's municipal elections in Tel Aviv, the Likud and "Jewish Power"(Ben Gvir) are running together as one list.
The Likud is now effectively part of a large Kahanist bloc.

— Yair Wallach (@YairWallach) February 21, 2024

I've never comes across the idea that Hamas were ever even the slightest bit progressive, where did you come across this?

John Oliver did a segment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ9PKQbkJv8

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/nov/13/john-oliver-on-israel-hamas-war-netanyahu

It might be unreliable, or I might have misremembered that they presented thenselves as a progressive alternative.

"I have read some ideas that Hamas started as progressive and could have used the money to governing and building infrastructure. Instead they are firmly committed to eliminating Israel and Jews worldwide."

Comes off as paranoia when the boot is firmly on the other foot and as the tweet above indicates Israel's eliminationist tendencies are on the rise.

xp

There are some “huge asterisks” about Gazans’ election of Hamas, such as that it was elected in 2006 without a referendum since; that children born after the election make up roughly half of Gaza’s population; and that Hamas won only a plurality of votes by presenting itself as a moderate organization against a rival party, Fatah, widely known for corruption.

“Hamas is a terrible organization that in no way kept its promises, because in the years following, that tone of open-minded freedom clearly fell away,” Oliver explained.

Might have been useful if there were elections since 2006.

As it is Hamas holds the hostages. They are the ones that have to be negotiated with.

"“I’m also not going to do a historical blow by blow of how Palestinians came to live in Gaza and the West Bank right now. You can Google that for yourselves,” he continued."

Love this one.

Doesn't he know Google hardly works anymore?

The bit talking about 2005 starts around 9 mins in that clip. I think they ran partly on an anti-corruption platform, but I think a lot in that clip is resting on an English language interview - which I wouldn't put too much store in. I think its better to judge them on their actions rather than an English language interview aimed at a Western audience

Throughout 2004/5 Hamas claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on civilians in Jerusalem, Beer Sheva, Tel Aviv, and Sderot amongst others.

Then Israel unilaterally pulled out, and Hamas could say "look, what we're doing works". Thats persuasive! It looked like Israel pulled out because of Hamas attacks in the preceding year, thats a pretty good thing to bring to an election

I know Israel didnt pull out because of Hamas attacks, but its something Hamas could plausibly claim

"I have read some ideas that Hamas started as progressive and could have used the money to governing and building infrastructure. Instead they are firmly committed to eliminating Israel and Jews worldwide."

Comes off as paranoia when the boot is firmly on the other foot and as the tweet above indicates Israel's eliminationist tendencies are on the rise.

― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, February 21, 2024 12:31 AM bookmarkflaglink

Sorry, what?

I am trying to find a charitable interpretation of your post, but it sounds like you are dismissing 10/7 and Hamas' promise to repeat it again and again as "paranoia"

Spare me this charity of yours and save it for IDF military tribunals.

You overlook 30000 people and a place in ashes and a further escalation in Rafah to come, since 10/7. What is Hamas' threats compared to this?

They are both very bad!!! I can say it, can you?

Of course. But they have to be negotiated with. So what if you or I think they are bad?

xxp stop equating them

Coming off as "will you condemn Hamas?" at this point is not a great look.

Just checking, I don't know what to assume these days.

Same.

H.P. I am not "equating: them by talking about them at the same as part of the same dynamic and immediately after xyzzz asked me to "compare" them.

I mean it's absurd. One of you asks me something, and when I answer the other says "stop doing that!"

It feels controlling, I don't like it.

...

"they are both very bad" is literally equating the moral weight of the two! I'm assuming it's not a matter of you having a limited vocabulary!

"killing 1000 people, what do you think about that?".
"it's very bad".
"okay, how about 30x that number?".
"the same, also very bad".

???

I mean just quantitatively its terrible, then you bring in the qualitative like the fact that it is unfree people, second class, repressed people on the side to the right. The citizen vs. soldier ratios in those death tolls. The children ratios in those death tolls. The things outside of death tolls i.e. infrastructural destruction, forced mass relocation. Israel hasn't just killed 30,000 Palestinians, they've effectively destroyed the lives of 2 million people. Do you understand how infuriating it is for you to play both-sideisms when this is the reality! It is unbearable!

You want nuance from xyzzzz on how Hamas has culpability but you can't seem to express the brazen fact that Israel has/is/will-continue to do far more horrible things than Hamas in the near future! They are not both "very bad". Israels response is so insanely disproportionate that questions of Hamas' culpability code as "yeah but they deserved it"

And God damn Felicity, as if your last sentence didn't just sum up how frustrating this all is. It is insulting to bring up your personal offence and proclivities when we are talking about 13,000 murdered children. Read the room.

Can I ask you, do you have a personal connection to this conflict?

no

We all have a personal connection to this conflict because our governments are spending billions on arming one side of it.

paging Donne, John Donne

Leaving Suzy's perfectly reasonable point aside, why pull up a close family connection as a means to shut down conversation on what we are seeing and having our actions (marching, in the main) portrayed in a negative light? What's that about?

Can I ask you, do you have a personal connection to this conflict?

Appallingly, I have lifelong friends who are lefty/Dem and Jewish who have, since 7/10, been sharing horrible screeds from Douglas Murray and other professional Islamophobes, and I know pointing out the history of these UK commentators would not go down well when my friends are feeling vulnerable to antisemitic attention. The US media has limited coverage of Palestinian voices. At some point when emotions are not running as strong, it will be easier to discuss this.

I know people who have been completely disowned by their families and communities for taking a stance against the genocide (or in some cases treated like ignorant children who have been brainwashed and will eventually grow out of it). I am very fortunate to not have to make a choice like that and if I was closer to it I would probably have more sympathy for those who don't/won't/can't. Maybe this would be better suited to the effects in other countries thread unless we're talking about Israel specifically because it might come off as equating personal discomfort (which isn't nothing but seriously) with actual ongoing genocide which is something I'm seeing a lot and struggling to know how to respond to sensitively and empathetically enough without denying or excusing reality.

The question makes me wonder what "counts" as a personal connection. A few years ago I knew / was acquainted with a Palestinian man through my partner (he was her student & studio assistant). She lost touch with him during the pandemic, and I have no idea where he is now living or, if he returned to Palestine as he had intended, if he is still alive. I don't want to exaggerate the import of this—I can't say we were close; we met a few times and my partner would tell me about him from time to time—but I do think about him in this context.

I only mention that really because suzy spoke of "Palestinian voices," which are entirely absent on ILX as far as I know. That's no one's fault of course, but sometimes it's striking.

“Nothing that has been reported braces you for the true scale of the horror in Gaza.

"We’re simply not getting accurate information about the levels of destruction and brutality"

- @SarahChampionMP as MPs report back from Sinai on conditions in #Gaza https://t.co/YxMHCYPGZu

— International Development Committee (@CommonsIDC) February 21, 2024

https://i.ibb.co/PQdsN0T/GG2i-Bi4-Wk-AAqty-E.png

yes, it's worth thinking about the fact that "eliminating Hamas" also means reducing Gaza to a state of anarchy during a time of mass deprivation and desperation.

The World Food Programme suspending aid to northern Gaza is, e.g., one consequence: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/gaza-world-food-program-1.7120202

Can you tell me why you continue to bring up this point, as if humanity and solidarity and a desire for liberation aren’t international? As if empathy can only be felt when one has a connection to an event? As if it is only legitimate if it is?

I agree that empathy is a noble goal, and I asked because I was genuinely trying to understand H.P's perspective. People bring all kinds of backgrounds to this discussion, and I feel like I have a better sense of where the points of division are in the US and UK, less so in Australia (where I think H.P is from).

Minister of Social Equality & Women's Advancement, May Golan of the Likud, during a Knesset hearing about the motion to expel MK Ofer Cassif: "I am personally proud of the ruins of Gaza, and that every baby, even 80 years from now, will tell their grandchildren what the Jews did" pic.twitter.com/dhwzqSS0mT

— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) February 21, 2024

You will die, your children will die, your grandchildren will die - there won't be a Palestinian state, there won't be."
MK Hanoch Milbitsky (Likud) to MK Ayman Odeh: "There will never be a Palestinian state"

pic.twitter.com/QfZupYlapl

— Avner Gvaryahu (@AGvaryahu) February 21, 2024

Golan says “If I am racist for wanting to defend my country and for wanting to protect my basic rights and security, then I’m a proud racist”

These are our friends and allies I'm told.

Look Tom D., your sarcasm sounds like a defense of Hamas.

they didn't quite have the votes to kick Cassif out

the only MK I'd vote for

Very good

מר ביטחון, מר כלכלה, מר מלחמה - חלאס, שחרר אותנו מעול ההישרדות הפוליטית שלך. pic.twitter.com/OZ99hHjpGa

— איימן עודה أيمن عودة Ayman Odeh (@AyOdeh) February 22, 2024

Well I never...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/22/us-intelligence-unrwa-hamas

BREAKING: Next week #Israel is to approve #Jerusalem periphery #E1 South and East spatial plans, which would allow for the addition of 3,401 settlement housing units and the transfer - in grave breach of international law - of an additional 14,500 settlers to the heart of the… pic.twitter.com/rTJK551hd4

— Itay Epshtain (@EpshtainItay) February 24, 2024

Why does Hamas keep forcing Israel to do this?

On the demo today it was pointed out that if the Israelis were killing children in the UK at the rate they are in Gaza we'd be at around 300 000 dead now.

Sorry to ask but how does that work? If the rate is the same why would the number be different?

I mean the number of children murdered is already unthinkable without this kind of thought experiment but I’m confused

Hundreds of aid trucks being denied entrance to Gaza, and sometimes being bombed once they get in. People are eating their horses and stewing leaves for nutrition. But sure, it's the UNRWA schools that teach young Palestinian children to hate Israel.

Sorry to ask but how does that work? If the rate is the same why would the number be different?

uh, because uk has 30 x the population.

whatever, it is the highest rate of civilian murder of a population of any post ww2 conflict.

Oh ok, that’s proportion rather than rate I think. Apply that to say china, or earth, the number would be even higher

whatever, it is the highest rate of civilian murder of a population of any post ww2 conflict.

Yeah that’s the point and worth making again & again, just seemed like a weird way to make it