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Hamas vs. Israel, a thought experiment

InChrist

Free4ever
A country who actively inflames tensions with another is not interested in peace with them. Israel uses its power to control Gaza and ignore violence by its people against Palestinians in the West Bank. That's not "seeking peace".
Sounds like your understanding of the situation is completely reversed.
 

It Aint Necessarily So

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Yikes. This thread is starting to mirror the cycle of neverending hate that is the initial problem.
It's hard to remember a more provocative topic getting posters dander up here on RF.
Does anyone have any solutions?
Just a personal one. Acceptance. Que será, será. Wisdom to know the difference stuff. People will do what they want, and it's not always pretty.

I'm playing the role of dispassionate observer for this and much of the world's troubles beyond my reach to impact. One needs to protect his emotional well-being. There is too much sadness now in the world to try to remain maximally empathetic. Possible compassion fatigue or burnout if you don't.

And frankly, I'm losing interest in much of humanity, which creates an interesting problem for somebody who calls himself a humanist. I weep for the beasts through the upcoming climate crisis as their habitats burn, not the people whose houses are burning down.
The land of Israel was given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants by the God of Israel-Creator of heaven and earth.
Another victory for Abrahamic religion setting people against one another. Once people believe something like that, they feel a need to defend that gift in the presence of the deity they believe gifted them with it. Both sides. That's holy war. Gott mit uns.
 

Bthoth

Well-Known Member
It's hard to remember a more provocative topic getting posters dander up here on RF.
I understand that completely.
.
I'm playing the role of dispassionate observer for this and much of the world's troubles beyond my reach to impact. One needs to protect his emotional well-being. There is too much sadness now in the world to try to remain maximally empathetic. Possible compassion fatigue or burnout if you don't.
solid
And frankly, I'm losing interest in much of humanity, which creates an interesting problem for somebody who calls himself a humanist. I weep for the beasts through the upcoming climate crisis as their habitats burn, not the people whose houses are burning down.
Ironic but again understood.
Another victory for Abrahamic religion setting people against one another. Once people believe something like that, they feel a need to defend that gift in the presence of the deity they believe gifted them with it. Both sides. That's holy war. Gott mit uns.
The three horns of prophecy, the abrahamic religions. Sad part is, in a mad MAD world, with a small group that will use the samson option while others will tie a plane to their butts and crash into buildings, it's getting scary!
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
The attitude is apparent, and to express it as people watch their homes and families burning down is particularly despicable.
When the entirely man-made apocalypse comes (probably very soon), I agree, I'll be sadder for the animals than the people. This is our mess, we need to start cleaning it up real quick-like.
 

Watchmen

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I like the emotional accusation followed by condescension. Well done. But ignoring that, can you tell me in what way you think Hamas's attack negates the analogy?

Israel has all the power. They have a full, advanced military funded by Western powers like the U.S. They have a fully functional modern state with things like an advanced healthcare system and economy. They take actions that specifically inflame tensions with Palestinians. They functionally control Gaza. They allow Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and the displacement of hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank.

Obviously Hamas's attack was wrong and horrible. Just don't ignore Israel's actions that led up to it.
I’m not going to waste my time on someone who compares Israel’s strong self-defense to a wife-beater.
 

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
I’m not going to waste my time on someone who compares Israel’s strong self-defense to a wife-beater.

In other words, you have an extreme emotional investment in this which is coloring your view and so you are incapable of discussing it objectively, so instead you condescend and insult. If you really weren't going to "waste your time", you wouldn't have taken the time to post this drivel.
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
All of the information that is out there on the situation.
Hmmm - I find pro-Israeli info and pro-Palestinian info. They sometimes conflict. They cannot all be accurate. So how do you know that all your info is accurate, given the conflicting nature of the info available?
 

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
Hmmm - I find pro-Israeli info and pro-Palestinian info. They sometimes conflict. They cannot all be accurate. So how do you know that all your info is accurate, given the conflicting nature of the info available?

This seems to be another version of "well, we can't trust any info, so I'll just go with whatever feels right". It's entirely possible to find objective, nonpartisan info. It's also possible to detect the bias in certain info and understand that info's failings. It's not a simple "well, this side say X and this side says Y, so who knows?".
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
This seems to be another version of "well, we can't trust any info, so I'll just go with whatever feels right". It's entirely possible to find objective, nonpartisan info. It's also possible to detect the bias in certain info and understand that info's failings. It's not a simple "well, this side say X and this side says Y, so who knows?".

As I've studied this situation off and on for years, it strikes me that there are no clean answers here. The situation is not cut and dried, no matter how you look at it. So with this situation when anyone says anything along the lines of:

"Sounds like your understanding of the situation is severely lacking and only based on the popular narrative put out by Israel and its allies."

It sounds to me like your understanding is incomplete as well?
 

It Aint Necessarily So

Veteran Member
Premium Member
This seems to be another version of "well, we can't trust any info, so I'll just go with whatever feels right"
I didn't get that from @icehorse 's comment, which was, "I find pro-Israeli info and pro-Palestinian info. They sometimes conflict. They cannot all be accurate. So how do you know that all your info is accurate, given the conflicting nature of the info available?" I agree. I don't know who's guilty of what with this hospital explosion. I expect both the Israeli's and Palestinians to blame the other, so there's no information there when they do.
It's not a simple "well, this side say X and this side says Y, so who knows?".
Why not? That's exactly where I'm at now. Here's what I know. Ancient Jews (when is it correct to call them Jews versus Hebrews) occupied land in and around modern Israel, were expelled via a Babylonian captivity run out by the Romans, reclaimed land centuries later then occupied by Arab Muslims that has been committed to their extinction since and has initiated wars and acts of terrorism upon the Jews. This has resulted in the Palestinians being relegated to their own regions, which they consider oppression and justification for the attacks of October 7th, so they attacked. Israel is retaliating. Neither should be trusted to be objective or honest, and I don't feel a need to pick a side or to assign blame, so your comment above is my position more or less.
 

Left Coast

This Is Water
Staff member
Premium Member
It's ironic that the Zionists are also committing gradual genocide like the Nazis and taking over the land which was also given to the Palestinians and other Semites by a god.

Before you throw around inflammatory words like genocide, you might want to look at a graph of the Palestinian population over the past 20+ years.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
A country who actively inflames tensions with another is not interested in peace with them. Israel uses its power to control Gaza and ignore violence by its people against Palestinians in the West Bank. That's not "seeking peace".
Again, you simply don't know what you're talking about. Even if you were remotely correct, what would justify Hamas' attack on civilians that was 100% intentional, thus not "collateral damage"? There simply is no excuse.
 
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