Is every bombing genocide now? Was the bombing of Hamburg genocide? Or is it only when the Israelis do it? Does context mean anything any more? This is why I spoke of people losing touch of what Hamas did. Not to say that they are apologists, but it’s inseparable from the context.
Israel has a duty to protect its citizens, as JI has said, so it has a duty to free the hostages. How does it do this without military action? How does it minimise civilian casualties? If Israel didn’t tell people to evacuate more civilians would be in the way of its planned campaign to destroy Hamas and people would call it genocide. Tell them to evacuate for their own safety and it’s still apparently genocide. What can Israel do which isn’t ‘genocidal’? Sitting back and doing little will make Israel look weak and encourage Hamas. Meaning this repeats, and Hamas don’t make their goals a secret.
I also think putting the blame all on Israel for the six day war is a bit off, given that the tensions could have been eased if Jordan didn’t harbour terrorists themselves. Still, none of this means that Israel is wrong in wanting to protect its own citizens today or that I don’t think there should be a two state solution.
