Filling in the Blanks
We can forgive [the Arabs] for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with when they love their children more than they hate us...
-Golda Meir
This will likely be my final post on the conflict itself. I’ve gone over the history, the morals, and the why. I fill in the blanks here.
Perspective
No other country in the world has acted so kindly to an enemy. No other country would ever act so kindly to their enemy.
When I talk to people in the military, they say the level of restraint Israelis have in combat is unmatched throughout the world. No other country or group tells their adversary when they’re going to bomb a building. No other country calls civilians' phones and tells them to evacuate as they try to take out a terrorist, endangering the success of their operation. Israel is the most militarily moral country in the world.
That’s not to say Israel is perfect. But if 100% is perfect, then Israel would be in the 90s. Most Western nations are in the 70s when conducting military operations. Russia would probably be in the 50s. Groups like ISIS and Hamas don’t break double digits. It’s that large of a difference.
Arab countries have not offered a viable solution. There’s a reason Egypt also has a blockade with Gaza. The other Arab nations don’t blame Egypt, as Gaza is run by a crazy death cult.
In their effort to give civilians safe passage, there are terrorists whom Israel is letting through who, at any time, can kill Israelis. Yet Israel still lets them through because they value human life. Jews value life.
Islamophobia
Even in the aftermath of 9/11, Jews were victims of more hate crimes than Muslims. The saying goes, “Islamophobia is a word created by fascists and used by cowards to manipulate morons.” There’s no Christian-phobia. Our society should be able to criticize any religion openly.
There are ignorant people who will misattribute a Sikh for a Muslim. There will always be ignorant people who do ignorant things. But as a society, we need to be critical of ideas, especially those that lead to extremism. There are many beautiful things about Islam; however, jihadism needs to be combatted not only in physical war but in the war of ideas as well. We need to discuss what leads one to jihadism.
If you think we should negotiate with jihadists and attempt to reason with them, read what they say. They tell you what they believe and what they want.
Strange Bedfellows
People are believing the activist Marxists and jihadist propaganda about America. Activist Marxists have been doing this for generations. Their merging with the radical jihadists isn’t surprising, given how they’re both aligned on their belief in destroying all enlightenment values and destroying the rule of law in America.
Comedian friends remarked how people protesting about there not being free tampons in the men’s bathroom would be at the Free Palestine march. Politics makes strange bedfellows.
Cherry Picking
Thanks to consistent propaganda against Israel— anti-Zionist protests started before Israel dropped a single bomb. Hamas loves playing the victim. There’s an entire industry of Pallywood.
I’ve seen posts showing how Hamas was friendly to some people as if that clears them of all crimes. Serial killers are mostly peaceful, too– they only kill 0.001% of the time. What defines a serial killer is their sadistic intent and the 0.001% of the time where they murder innocents. Even serial killers are mostly peaceful.
Some say if Israel just wanted to stop Hamas, couldn’t they kill the leaders in Qatar? Israel can’t take out the leaders of Hamas until the hostages are released.
Others say the number of people killed on the Palestinian side is higher than in Israel. Israel allocates resources to bomb shelters and iron domes, while Hamas converts humanitarian aid to build rockets and terror tunnels. No one cares less for Muslim women and children than Hamas. They use them as human shields.
War is hell. Similar to Hamas, ISIS used a hospital as their headquarters. The US deliberately blew up a hospital in Mosul while fighting ISIS.
The ratio of combatant to noncombatant deaths currently seems to be better than in past conflicts with terrorist organizations. The numbers that look bad are those from the Hamas-run health ministry. The health ministry is run by the same people who have lied about every part of the conflict. The same group that accidentally bombed a parking lot of their own hospital and blamed Israel, saying Israel bombed the entire hospital.
The blame for civilian casualties falls on the party that initiated the conflict and established the fighting zone in civilian territories.
I have seen people claim that no one was raped during the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel. There were eyewitnesses, first responders, and even morgue workers who commented on evidence of rape so brutal that children, women, and grandparents' pelvises were broken. For those who don’t believe rape happened, they’re too far gone to see the truth.
Emotional Reaction
My social media feed calling for a ceasefire reminds me of JoJo in JoJo Rabbit. For those who haven’t seen JoJo Rabbit— it’s an amazing film about a lovable boy, JoJo, who cares for his mother (played by Scarlett Johansson) and loves his country. So much so that his best imaginary friend is the leader of his nation. But it’s set during WW2 in Germany, so he’s in a Nazi youth group, and his best imaginary friend is Hitler.
Jojo has strong opinions and thinks he’s principled and moral. Jojo is a sweet kid; he’s just naive. My social media feed is well-intentioned, like Jojo, and I agree with their emotions. But reality is the opposite of the Free Palestine narrative. This goes for the calls for a ceasefire.
There are those who know what a ceasefire really means– letting Hamas regroup and plan more attacks. Hostages need to be returned, and Hamas needs to be taken out. Hamas dresses like civilians. They hide rocket mortars inside hospitals and even in baby strollers when walking down the street. A ceasefire would be aiding and abetting evil.
War is hell. Hamas is a morally reprehensible death cult. They want their people to be martyrs. Numerous people in Gaza want to be martyrs. I wish there were a way to reform radical jihadists. It reminds me of the common Titans in Attack on Titan. They were once human, but as soon as they become titans, you have to kill them. If you don’t, they kill you and everyone you know and love.
Summary
A group of people hate you. They despise your immutable traits.
After you beat them in wars, instead of kicking them out, you remove your own people and give them land for the sake of peace.
Then, they elect a terrorist group that says they will not rest until you’re all dead. The self-proclaimed terrorist group launches missiles at you and constantly attempts to murder your people. They’re successful in murdering your people. You build a wall and create a border so they can’t invade you.
The terrorist group gets “humanitarian aid” and converts the aid to launch more missiles to attempt to murder more of your people. They tell the world they want to kill you and will never accept you. They train their children to hate you and want to murder you.
In return, you offer them jobs and prosperity. You offer peace time and time again. No other country in the region accepts them into their society, gives them jobs, or offers refuge. You even employ them in your communes. Your people show them love.
When they assimilate into your culture, they thrive. There are over a million of them in your society— they hold senior positions in the private and public sectors. However, the neighboring territory, run by terrorists, refuses peace or assimilation.
Then, the neighboring terrorist group organizes a mass rape and murder of your people in the most brutal, disgusting way possible. Even their civilians join in on the rape and murder of your people. They take sadistic pleasure in their crimes. Screaming that it’s for the glory of their God when they commit the crimes. When they see you dead, they rejoice and shout that it’s for God’s glory. They record it all to show it off.
They hate you because of who you are. They take hostages, torturing and doing unspeakable things to them. You go to war to remove their terrorist government once and for all.
The majority of the people in the terrorist neighboring territory still feel their government represents their views. Even so, you allow their civilians safe passage. You want to replace their government; You don’t want to kill civilians. The terrorist government says they’ll kill their people for fleeing and will sabotage those who flee and who let them flee.
Filling in the Blanks
I hope you found this series of posts useful and shared it with friends. My goal was to make sense of the barrage of content.
I hope one day, we’ll slow the number of people getting radicalized. Maybe we’ll find a way to turn people back to sanity where they believe in human rights and can live peacefully alongside those with different religious views. Until that day, we must fight.