Reply To: Bombing hospitals

[Siderite]

You want to know my opinion on Palestinian civilians? It’s devastating. Of course it is. I have felt sad about it for the past few weeks, not just because of the Oct 7 horror, but because I do not like war. All deaths involved are horrible, even in the most just of wars. Of course it’s sad to see upset parents, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives etc. It’s devastating and I wish the world didn’t have to be so cruel. My point has been to talk of what else can be done, because Israel has a right to exist and a right to defend itself like every other nation has done. We have done similar in WWII, against ISIS and other wars. Yet the bombings of Hamburg, Stuttgart, Leipzig etc did not remove the just reason for WWII. The sad deaths of those German civilians (300,000, at least) caught in the crossfire of destroying German infrastructure were of course catastrophic, but it didn’t make the war wrong. Believe me or not, but I do find it distressing, as I have said before. I don’t know why you want me to comment more on this, since you have moaned about lengthy posts anyway.

I don’t even like Netanyahu’s corrupt government. I do not like the settler movement in the West Bank and worry over the remarks of Netanyahu’s partners. Yet people saying I am oblivious to the humanitarian situation do not consider what the alternative is, in my opinion. Israel should not accept their citizens as regular folly for Hamas. Hamas have made it clear what their motives are; they have been on Saudi TV twice this week talking about the need to annihilate all Jews. Like every other ceasefire, they will look to break it and to kill Jews. They will take all the aid they can and use it for attacking Israel, not helping civilians. A ceasefire just means more of this.

I have admittedly got heated, and apologise for some strong statements. I do not think some charges against me are fair, though. I can say I haven’t spoken as much about Palestinian casualties is because my focus has been on what can be done for Israel given the context of the situation of hostages taken and worrying over this happening again. I have expressed dislike at many of those involved with the Palestinian rights movement, but that hasn’t been aimed at this forum. I have said that many who go and have sympathies have a good moral conscience, which is more than what has been said for anyone defending Israel’s right to defend itself (that is automatically ‘unbalanced’ seemingly). I don’t think it’s unbalanced to criticise those celebrating Oct 7, Hamas etc for their anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, the Palestinian rights movement has done incredibly little to distance themselves from it.