radius777
radius777's JournalAnd Netanyahu long enabled Hamas
in a cynical strategy of divide and conquer, to prevent the possibility of a two state solution:
GROSS: Netanyahu's 2008 campaign slogan was strong against Hamas. And in a campaign video he pledged, we will not stop the Israeli Defense Forces, we will finish the job. We will topple the terror regime of Hamas. But you write that over Netanyahu came to see Hamas as a way to balance power against the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank. And the Palestinian Authority has sought a peace agreement with Israel in return for a Palestinian state. So over time, Netanyahu started to, in his own way, support Hamas - like, help Hamas. Can you explain how he did that - like, what he gave Hamas and why?
MAZZETTI: Sure. This was, in essence, a kind of divide-and-conquer strategy for Netanyahu. But it was a sort of cynical strategy by Netanyahu that was very controversial in the past, and some past ministers of his resigned over it. But it was a sort of way to balance Hamas from - with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, to sort of allow Netanyahu to say publicly, well, I have no real partners. I've got Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. They're indistinguishable. Hamas wants the eradication of Israel. And so therefore, we can never really have peace with the Palestinians. And so by strengthening Hamas, he sort of put them on the same plane as the Palestinian Authority. And it allowed him, in essence, to sort of slow roll the peace process and sort of make it - kick it down the road so there was never real pressure on him to sit down at the table and talk about a Palestinian state.
His RW gov't in the leadup to 10-7 terror attack had been antagonizing Palestinians culminating in the IDF's raid of the sacred Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan, which Hamas named their terror attack after:
Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” and aimed at refuting Israel's claims, said Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was a necessary step and a natural reaction against Israel's plans to eliminate the Palestinian cause, seize lands, Judaize the Palestinian lands, and establish complete control over Al-Aqsa Mosque and holy sites.
A series of violent confrontations occurred between Palestinians and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem in April 2023. After the evening Ramadan prayer, Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the mosque, prompted by reports that Jews planned to sacrifice a goat at the site (which is forbidden by Israeli law). In response, Israeli police raided the mosque in riot gear, injuring 50 people[1] and arresting at least 400.[3]
In the aftermath of the clashes, Palestinian militant groups[4] fired rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon – acts broadly construed as a response to the events at Al-Aqsa.
...
On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched a major surprise attack on Israel with rocket barrage and an incursion. The commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif, claimed the attack was conducted in response to "desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque".
So while Netanyahu may not have LIHOP, it's surely an event he contributed to and used as a pretext for his aims, in the same way that Bush admin used 9-11 to justify their wars.
Netanyahu and RW Likud officials can only act tough because
they know the US has their back - that's the fundamental problem here - but western voters (especially youth, PoC, women etc) are waking up and are not going to stand for the status quo position regarding this issue anymore.
No western country should ever support Israel unless they agree to a two state solution, that recognizes the right of Palestinians to also exist.
Both Hamas (1200 killed in 10-7 attack) and IDF are evil (30k killed and counting, including many children). The difference is one is a stateless terror group and the other has the backing of western superpowers, that is now using the terror attack as a pretext for ethnic cleansing.
And for years Netanyahu empowered Hamas:
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/02/1210076717/everybody-got-it-wrong-how-did-israel-fail-to-detect-hamas-planned-invasion
MAZZETTI: Sure. This was, in essence, a kind of divide-and-conquer strategy for Netanyahu. But it was a sort of cynical strategy by Netanyahu that was very controversial in the past, and some past ministers of his resigned over it. But it was a sort of way to balance Hamas from - with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, to sort of allow Netanyahu to say publicly, well, I have no real partners. I've got Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. They're indistinguishable. Hamas wants the eradication of Israel. And so therefore, we can never really have peace with the Palestinians. And so by strengthening Hamas, he sort of put them on the same plane as the Palestinian Authority. And it allowed him, in essence, to sort of slow roll the peace process and sort of make it - kick it down the road so there was never real pressure on him to sit down at the table and talk about a Palestinian state.
The IDF is intentionally targeting civilians,
told them to hold white flags then shot them dead.... told them to go one direction that would be safe then bombed that direction... starving mothers and babies without medical care...
IDF/Netanyahu is working from the Putin playbook of attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure - to maximize misery and drive them off their land so he can claim it for himself.
Unfortunately for him - the world is seeing what is going on. Many key constitutencies (youth, women, PoC, etc) are rejecting the typical Western knee-jerk support for Israel - which cannot be allowed to conduct this one-sided brutality.
Civilians (including women, babies, etc) should not be forced to 'pay a price'
for the actions of terrorists. The terrorists themselves should've been surgically targeted. But of course that is not what IDF/Netanyahu wants - he wants to use this as an excuse to destroy/remove Palestinians so he can claim the territory for himself.
Hamas's attack killed 1200 Israelis - IDF has killed 30,000 Palestinians and displaced many more. That is not a proportionate response - unless one believes that the lives of brown-skinned Muslims are worth far less than the lives of white skinned Judeo-Christians.
From Michelle Goldberg (who is Jewish) from the NYT:
25.01.2024 | Michelle Goldberg - The New York Times.
America must face up to Israel’s extremism
The resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza is slowly becoming a key official policy of the Israeli government.
Two far-right members of Israel’s Cabinet – the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich – caused an international uproar this week with their calls to depopulate the Gaza Strip. ‘If in Gaza there will be 100 000 or 200 000 Arabs and not two million, the entire conversation on “the day after” will look different’, said Smotrich, who called for most civilians in Gaza to be resettled in other countries. The war, said Ben-Gvir, presents an ‘opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza’, facilitating Israeli settlement in the region.
...
But it’s not clear, because we’re writing a blank check to a government whose leader is only a bit more coy than Ben-Gvir and Smotrich about his intentions for Gaza. According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu told a Likud faction he is searching for countries that residents of the Gaza Strip can be sent to. ‘Our problem’, he reportedly said, is finding ‘countries that are willing to absorb Gazans, and we are working on it.’ The newspaper reported that ‘the “voluntary” resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza is slowly becoming a key official policy of the government, with a senior official saying that Israel has held talks with several countries for their potential absorption.’
...
Pro-Israel Democrats want to back a war to remove Hamas from Gaza. But increasingly, it looks as if America is underwriting a war to remove Gazans from Gaza. Experts in international law can debate whether the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza can be classified as genocidal, as South Africa is claiming at the International Court of Justice, or as some lesser type of war crime. But whatever you want to call attempts to ‘thin out’ Gaza’s population – as Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom described an alleged Netanyahu proposal – the United States is implicated in them.
...
True. Alot of those who go along with Big Lies are not
simply brainwashed (although many are) but are willing parties in sustaining the illusion. Nationalism is what Putin (and Trump) play to, ie ethnic grievance, which has always depended upon fictional narratives to justify evil.
Russians do however have limited information, so it would be interesting to see how/if their opinions would adjust if they were exposed to real news.
Rule number one of war - hit the enemy's weakness - which we are doing.
Russia's greatest weakness is their economy and its' dependence on the West. We need to ramp up the sanctions to include oil/gas, which much of their (weak) economy is based upon. Make them a pariah state. Get real news somehow (via satellite, 5G, internet - however) to the population to let them know the truth about Putin's regime. IOW, get his own people to take him out.
Russia's greatest strength is their military and nuclear power. It would be foolish to confront them directly, especially to invade their homeland which would be certain to trigger nuclear war.
If he ever attacks NATO territory (very unlikely IMO, he's a coward) then we would be compelled to defend the alliance, likely in a non-escalatory way, to prevent nuclear war.
Our biggest failure vis a vi Russia/Putin was a failure of imagination. He played us, by getting the gullible/corrupt/traitorous to buy into his victimhood narratives, which prevented us from being more forceful about admitting countries like Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. Putin tested us by gradually compromising the borders of neighboring countries. It was a test run for what he is doing now. He knew nobody would defend Ukraine and is taking advantage. He will never attack a NATO nation as he knows it likely would be the end of him.
Any external attack against the Russian homeland would
go nuclear pretty quickly, IMO.
The best way to take him out is for his own people to do it. This is why we need to ramp up the sanctions to include oil/gas. Then wait a few months as their economy crumbles and unrest starts to grow amongst the population as well as the elites and generals.
The way to have prevented this altogether was to have made it clear to Putin/Russia a long time ago that any/all former Soviet states that want to join NATO would be allowed to do so regardless of what he wanted. Putin played us pure and simple. He convinced the gullible and the corrupt that his victimhood narratives were valid - and now Ukraine is paying the price.
Russians are addicted to the West.
That's the truth Putin has failed to grasp. Modern Russia - especially the big cities - are fairly Westernized. The younger generations listen to the same music, watch the same movies etc as kids in the West do. None of them are going to want to live in a Soviet style existence. Russia has enough food and oil to sustain its population, sure, and China will help them etc. But their happiness is about being connected to the West. Unhappy people who feel closed off are likely to revolt. That is what the sanctions are about, getting them to rise up and demand regime change. We also need to find better ways (ie, satellite, internet, etc) of getting real news to them, ways that can't easily be blocked or censored.
Precisely. We live in a democratic republic with a civilian controlled military.
It is the duty of everyday citizens to voice their concerns and opinions regarding national and international affairs, and of the policies and workings of our government and military. Being an expert on any particular topic is not a prerequisite for democratic participation.
The founders were very clear on such principles, to prevent the democratic experiment from devolving into a military state.
A government of the people, by the people for the people - not a government of experts and generals.
It should be noted that most regular people couldn't care less about world politics or military objectives - until they are forced to because the so called experts and leaders who were supposed to prevent situations like this have failed to do their jobs - and now innocent people are being slaughtered and the security of the world is at grave risk. Putin was appeased for 20+ years and this is the end result.
Exactly. I hope these 'neutral' European countries
don't expect America and NATO to come bail them out if Russia attacks. Unlike Ukraine, which begged to be in NATO but was blocked by corrupt Putin-appeasing European leaders - Finland and Sweden have chosen not to be in NATO. Europe as a whole (including existing NATO nations) have to start contributing more to their own defense. The reason they have so much better healthcare than we do is because our taxes have to fund a large military - that they expect will protect them should Russia attack. F that - let them start stepping up and contributing more to their own defense and to collective Western security.
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