Reply To: They won’t will they?

[Siderite]

As I have said before, what should Israel do given Hamas has taken hostages? Doing nothing is unpalatable, Hamas won’t entertain diplomacy without massive concessions and how long does it take? Urban warfare is brutal, but there have been attempts to get people to evacuate. Whether this is enough is debatable, but the idea that this is genocidal is off.

The act of war was started with the pogrom. I do not know what the answer is to be honest, I do not know if this is the right solution, and fear what might happen and don’t want things to worsen. However, I don’t see how Israel can’t respond somehow. When they face an enemy who have historically used human shields, placed ammunition depots near schools and hospitals, it is going to end up messy. Evacuating is not ideal, but what is? We cannot expect Israel to abandon its citizens. If the IRA had launched a bloody assault killing thousands in England and brought hostages back to Belfast, we’d likely see an escalation from the British Army. Same with many other countries. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in an act of war, it wasn’t the fault of the US for retaliating with war. If Hamas are going to do similar, then they are responsible as the aggressor.

I do not know what will happen, evidence may emerge of Israel committing deliberate attacks on civilians, but right now it’s too confusing to say. However, Hamas have already gone beyond the line of acceptability by a long shot and explicitly make their intent clear. They do not care about Palestinian lives for that matter, and there will be no peace and harmony until they’re discredited. This has a chance to end if Hamas release the hostages, but there is little pressure for them to do so and force Israel into doing what they said they’d do.