BiH-Kira said:
Isn't it ironic that Israelis are now the nazis?
Well either way what they are doing is inhuman and should be sanctioned by the UN or whoever has the authority to do so. But lets be real, it won't happen since the big brother will approve of their action.
There is a fine difference between defense and mass murder of civilians. Latest news reports state that there are 750 civilian deaths and 17 Israeli military deaths. You can hardly call that self defense. Attempted genocide would fit better to describe this situation.
Attempted genocide is hardly an apt description. If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they could easily do it. The fact that they go out of their way to minimize civilian casualties, either by warning shots, flyers, phone calls and messages, whathaveyou, kind of goes against the definition of genocide.
We could argue whether Israel's response is appropriate or not, I happen to believe that it is at least to a modest extent understandable and reasonable, but this does not change that Hamas purposefully centers themselves in civilian centers to act as human shields to purposefully exacerbate any civilian casualties. Hamas would report them as civilian, Israel would report them as terrorist. It's a messy situation.
Cecilo said:
Even if you want to try to blame it all on people hating the jewish people. At the moment they actually have a reason to hate the Jewish people. They are illegally ON THEIR LAND. The Gaza strip does not belong to Israel as determined by the United Nations and a previously signed pact.
Pretty sure Israel de-occupied the area in 2005, though there could be an argument for lingering influence I suppose.
If the Hamas still attack the people of Israel after that they lose their sympathy from me. But right now ya know, They have a legitimate reason to attack and hate Israel. They are occupying their homes and settling their land.
I would like to think there's no sane reason to deliberately attack innocent civilians (key word: deliberately).
RA92 said:
After Israel signed the ceasefire agreement back in Nov 2012, there was no rocketfire from Hamas for 3 months, and they even even tried to stop rocket fires from smaller factions. This conflict resumed only after Israel broke the terms of ceasefire. Of the <url=http://blog.thejerusalemfund.org/2012/12/israeli-ceasefire-violations-in-gaza.html>120 Israeli ceasefire violations during that period, all we got from the mainstream media was the number of rockets from Gaza. Here's a graph of Israeli vs Hamas ceasefire violations.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F07y-Gax1XA/UvKDpEwhwZI/AAAAAAAAFVY/vS6xmEK44Zg/s1600/Gaza+Dynamics.png
source: http://blog.thejerusalemfund.org/2014/02/israelgaza-cease-fire-dynamics-breakdown.html
That graph and source seem incredibly, incredibly biased. I would imagine Hamas rocket fires would count as violations, though the graph clearly intends to stack it on one person over another.
Grouchy Imp said:
They could stop firing on UN-run shelters for a start...
<a href=http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28468526>BBC News link
Both sides are guilty of killing civilians, and you saying that one side deserves our moral support whilst they continue to be as bad as the people they fight is just wrong.
Hamas uses the UN schools as rocket depots and firing centers. Video is fine [http://therightscoop.com/israeli-ambassador-reams-out-cnn-for-not-reporting-un-statement-that-says-hamas-makes-un-schools-a-target/], don't want to cite the entire website for potential bias.
A major difference is the fact that Hamas deliberately target civilian centers, whilst Israel actively tries to minimize civilian casualties. Arguments could be made for the effectivness, and perhaps maybe true intent, of these attempts, but there is a distinct difference between the two sides regarding civilians.
Baresark said:
Fun fact: Both sides have a majority that think the "two state" system is for the best, but both shitty governments like to keep shooting at each other.
I really hope that's true. For all our sake's.
Look, I've been entrenched in this shenanigans for a while. I have family in the area, and I won't say where because I feel it is irrelevant. Family is family, and people are people.
Israel is stuck in a messy situation. I don't think it is unreasonable for them to want to stop the rocket fire. I'd imagine most nations would prefer rockets to stop being fired at them, especially rockets specifically targeted towards their civilians.
I'm reminded of a scenario, can't remember if it's apocryphal or if I was asked this directly. "What would you do if were a soldier and you saw a child suicide bomber running right at you?" You shoot the kid and save yourself and your squadmates, they use his death as a tool. You don't, you die. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't envy Israel in this position. (I will note, when googling "Children Suicide Bombers" the first link was this [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_suicide_bombers_in_the_Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict]. I find that depressing)
On the topic of this picture, I dislike it because it implies that the whole image is full of bombs and destruction. In actuality it's just the lights to the cities of the area. And whatever bombs you might be able to see, they are small and barely noticeable.
