I believe Netanyahu used Hamas like Trump used the terrorist on J6! Netanyahu funded Hamas; that’s how they got the money to organize against Israel! Netanyahu sacrificed his people to stay in power! I can’t stand Netanyahu!!
Thank you Quasim for writing this article and for debunking these myths. You demonstrate quite clearly to the informed public and hopefully will cause the ill-informed to reflect, the dishonesty and genocidal intent of the Israeli occupation. You demonstrate equally the shameful and inexcusable complicity of the US administration and other Western leaders.
Continue on your path of truth and honest journalism, we are many that will continue to support you and spread your message.
You lost me at Terrorism . . . (but I will read on)
I’m certain you’re aware but for Benefit of those who are not~ ZioNaziIsrael is NOT “The Victim”
Though, as the FreeLoader THIEVES they are, one of their most preferred Plays is conning the world into believing ZioNazis ARE the history’s consummate “Victims.” Despite the Fact that Russians Sacrificed nearly FIVE TIMES as many Souls to WWII . In fact ZioNazis are SO EXPERT at this Narcissist Ploy of Preying-On and Exploiting Humanity’s God-Given Compassionate Empathy, that over the last 58years (since they caught on to how lucrative this Free-Loader Con is) ZioNaziTHIEVES have haul-in Hundreds of Billions, just for relentlessly reminding Humanity that Victimized is the ZioNazis’ National Identity Politics. They even tried to con the UN into classifying Israel as a NonProfit “Charity” vs God’s Special Nation. God is just not as Profitable, is He?
But I digress~
Under international law, the Palestinians have a lawful right to resist Israel’s occupation of their lands, including through armed struggle.
As Falk said in an interview with Truthout, “It is always deceptive to treat the oppressor and the oppressed as if equal.” In the current situation, he added, “the oppressor acts contrary to applicable international law and elementary morality while the oppressed is countering by exercising rights of resistance and suffering the deprivation of basic rights. Of course,” Falk added, “the tactics of resistance should be scrutinized by reference to legal and moral constraints, but without losing sight of overwhelming structures of dominance and the far greater harm done by state violence than by the violence of resistance.”
Richard Falk, former UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories and professor emeritus at Princeton University
Thank you so very much for writing this and responding to the uninformed writer of the myths. It’s easy to understand how she arrived at those myths because the US government repeats them and fully supports the ongoing genocide taking place before our eyes everyday. And the corporate media repeats them again to the American public. But one can access better information if it is accessible. So I am disappointed that your writing was taken down and I am grateful you have responded so effectively with evidence to the contrary.
I would like to add something to Qasim Rashid’s response after Meta took down some of his writing regarding Palestine/Israel, apparently in response to an uninformed piece misrepresenting and criticizing his comments. and One can say as you have done that killing civilians in a military situation is illegal, atrocious, and horrific. That’s true and one would hope that non-violent efforts would be effective fopeople trapped in a settler colonial apartheid state who are treated so aggressively and violently as the Palestinians have been. But it has been rare if ever the case that the non-violent approach has been effective in such long lasting and horrific conditions as the Palestinians and others such as in Northern Ireland and South Africa. In the US, treaties and diplomatic resistance of indigenous people in our own settler colonial country was not effective even with violent resistance in many instances. As Bernadette Devlin said years ago, something along the lines of the following: when your back is against the wall, you will do anything. The Hamas incursion into Israel was indeed a reaction to the conditions and aggression and violent treatment Palestinians have experienced daily for decades in Gaza. But it should also be understood as part of a RESISTANCE movement against the occupation. It was not unprovoked. When people are treated as the Palestinians have been one should expect resistance. Hamas’ incursion into Israel on October was part of that resistance after quite a few offers to negotiate with the Israeli government to reach a just peace for everyone. Their non-violent protests against Israeli aggression against Palestinians have repeatedly been dismissed, in acknowledged and not responded to as legitimate concerns. There are multiple independent information sources to read about the history, purpose, principles and goals of both Hamas and Hezbollah that are very enlightening if one can approach this situation with an open mind and not simply repeat the US government and Israeli lobby narratives. There is also evidence from both Israeli sources and independent journalist sources that the Hams incursion and the Israeli response on October 7 was not as straightforward as it has mostly been reported. The IDF was responsible for many Israeli deaths and home damage in at least one kibbutz. I have seen the statistic of 200 killed by the IDF. In their efforts to be sure to root out any remaining Hamas military actors when they arrived later in the morning with their Apache helicopters and missiles the IDF apparently acted on orders to shoot indiscriminately. Look at Max Blumenthal’s reporting in this. And lastly, although horrible for the Israeli hostages and for the families of those Israelis killed on Oct 7 by anyone, the numbers and circumstances pale in comparison to the numbers and circumstances of the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been slaughtered and starved in Gaza including an estimated 20,000 children dead or unaccounted for in mass graves or under rubble. And then the orphans and the PTSD in survivors of all ages in the middle of it.
At some point, this becomes totally absurd. I condemn the shit out of Hamas. I shriek my condemnations to the skies, rend my garments. Hey, I even donated to the group that Vivian Silver used to belong to, though it is quite possible the IDF killed her. (This is something the ‘condemn the Hamas people do not approve of, but Vivian Silver, I hope, would approve.) I pray for the hostages.
It is easy for me to condemn Hamas. I’m just an American who is not involved and thinks all lives are valuable, all people are valuable, who believes in peace, a starry eyed person who has a fairly safe life. I don’t know the answers about this region. I don’t want to pretend I do. I simply want the basic values to be followed and to express my belief in human rights and international humanitarian law and all the things that I hope would be bulwarks against barbarity. My emotions are only engaged in a different way than if someone was trying to kill me.
So I condemn Hamas with sincere fervor.
And THEN WHAT? WHAT?!?!? We are helping Israel in the starving of people, we are helping in depriving them of water. Starvation is the worst kind of death. I can’t think of anything worse that could happen to someone than this except having a limb amputated without anesthesia. THAT IS HAPPENING. ISRAEL IS DOING IT. AMERICA IS HELPING Something that comes close is having one’s children killed. THAT IS HAPPENING. ISRAEL IS DOING THAT. After that, having their children mutilated. ALSO, A THING THAT IS HAPPENING TO PEOPLE RIGHT NOW. BY ISRAEL. And then, lower down on the list, having your mother and father killed. ANOTHER THING ISRAEL IS DOING. And then we can talk about how people are killed. Burned. Buried alive. A million people fleeing in terror? YES. LIKE A HORROR MOVIE.
I am condemning Hamas, the USA, the UK, Israel, and whoever else. What does this do? Nothing, just like bombing the shit out of Gaza will do nothing. We gotta make it stop. Little children lost their hands, feet, lives. There is not two sides to this. Some things don’t have two sides.
Totally agree its a distraction method used by Pierce Morgan ‘do you condemn Hamas’ as if Palestinians had any choices left. Israel was too close to normalisation agreements with the whole of the Middle Eastern Arab world but nobody puts 10/7 into that context, if normalisation had happened that would leave the Palestinians on their own in their very own prison of regular lawn mowing.
It does not help that most people are not aware that the Palestinians tried the non violent route many times with non violent marches that ended up being very violent again from Israels side shooting at ankles, knee caps, elderly, women, children already disabled people etc…
Hamas has been painted as a terrorist group from the get go due to some rhetorical issues around their party manifesto, however from what i have read they were not the group responsible for the suicide bombings of the 90s and early 2000s. Hamas were backed by qatar money allowed to flow in by Netanyahu i dare to say it was no miscalculation on his behalf and he did anticipate Hamas win in the Gaza election, and the siege on Gaza as a result that followed was the perfect outcome.
Hamas has promised a resistance against occupation and they won democratically, however since their election no more elections have taken place, until 10/7 they have not really done much (other groups have done far more) to resist the occupation and i believe Palestinians had little hope in any end to the occupation with apartheid and corrupt Israel selected government in the West bank. Operation Al Aqsa Flood is Hamas’s last attempt their promise to the Palestinians.
From Al Jazeera investigation it seems Hamas was not aware of the festival/rave taking place in the area beforehand. Their goal was taking hostages at the kibbutzes and attacking military bases taking hostages, the festival did complicate the matter especially with mass Hannibal (according to Haaretz) enforced many times by the Israeli military as well as the very late response. To Palestinians hostages are a means to exchange hostages (those detained without trial in Israel for example children) so hostages are best kept alive their objective was not to kill civilians for that same reason but they ended up killing civilians not because it was their goal but mostly because Israel did not care to protect their own civilians for a country that rather sees their people dead than leaving as hostages and end up in prisoner exchanges it was not a priority to ensure to protect their civilians and get them out of the crossfire.
I am sure a lot more could be found out if the Israeli side would let in independent investigation of 10/7 but the Haaretz article about the use of Hannibal is already damning in its own right.
As for Hamas they might end up in history like the Korean resistance against the Japanese occupation, although i hope not because those who mainly resisted the japanese were people now known as North Koreans still trying to resist the American influence looming over the south of the boarder drawn by America.
Interesting comment. I don’t know very much about the Korean resistance to the Japanese, even though my friend was Korean and her dad had been a POW of the Japanese and had massive PTSD, etc.
Yes this resistance movement could certainly fail.
I don’t claim to have perfect certainty of anything, and I don’t even want to argue about it because it’s simply not in question that everything Israel is doing in Gaza is illegal, immoral, impermissible, horrific, repulsive, shocking to the conscience, etc. The case for genocide is very solid but if you want to call it ethnic cleansing or whatever—it has to be stopped. Immediately. The US has to stop it. I have begun to lose all faith in humanity this is not obvious to everyone.
There are just things YOU CAN’T DO TO PEOPLE. I don’t think we should have any patience for any people anywhere who argue the opposite.
Setting the history aside, are actions which are completely impermissible in war which Israel constantly does to Palestinians.
ALL human rights organizations, including some Israeli ones, plus the UN agree. We have seen humanitarian workers murdered by the score, from US Central Kitchen to the UN.
You are not accurate about the history but these issues have nothing to do with that. Those trying to stop these killings have done nothing wrong.
I don't have exact numbers (probably no one does) but to the reader's first point, she is also wrong about "1200 innocent civilians killed by Hamas". At least a third of the Israelis killed on 10/7 were soldiers, not civilians. An unknown number of people, at least 30 confirmed, maybe over 200, were killed by Israel via Hannibal Directive/friendly fire. This has been verified by Israeli media as well as independent media outlets in the West. In addition, Hamas is only one of the resistance groups that broke out of prison on 10/7, the resistance includes multiple groups like PFLP, Islamic Jihad, Qassam which is the armed wing of Hamas (yes, Hamas has many parts, it is an elected government, and it does much more than military activities) along with other groups. I know this is a very minor point compared to all the other points, and you've explained very well everything that was wrong with her comment (and honestly the whole comment was full of propaganda and not said in good faith, so you were gracious to answer her at all.) I find it irritating that zionists use the name Hamas when they mean any resistance and sometimes any Palestinian, since it demonstrates a total lack of understanding of the region. Good on you to even respond to that troll, I have given up trying and started to just mute them for my own sanity.
Thank you. The hope is the answers and receipts I provide are useful to others having similar conversations, and useful to those looking to understand the situation accurately.
Uphold international human rights law, stop arming Israeli war crimes, end the occupation, end the settlements, ensure release of all Israeli and Palestinian hostages, and pass a UN vote on a binding 2 state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and with justice.
Okay, just so you know - I'm copying & pasting that in every message I send to the White House from now on! At least I won't feel like I'm not getting the point across.
I have called the White House numerous times to BEG that the USA stop supplying Israel with weapons because Israel is COMMITTING WAR CRIMES by the indiscriminate killing of civilians in Gaza. The USA should not assist in those crimes in any mannor.
I have heard that Israel has given a lot of money to Hamas and basically supported its growth and power because it would end up making Israel look like the most victimized. I trust you and what you write and wonder if you have addressed this. Thank you for your splendid writing and clarity.
JPost article you linked to gives impression that it was a massive intelligence and security failure, not that they knew “when and where” and knowingly allowed it to happen.
Really? It literally says "The IDF had precise information about Hamas's intentions." And several more articles on the subject further emphasize this point, including that they knew months in advance.
From that article, it seems they scoffed away the possibility that Hamas could pull it off. Arrogant, incompetent, disgraceful, yes. It requires a leap in logic to declare this to be something that was allowed or permitted to happen. Are you implying that they could have stopped it but actively chose to let it happen?
Thank you for your excellent response to each of the claims made by “Karen.”
Karen, we need facts, not fiction and above all honesty, accountability, and a return to human decency. The killings must end; no more lives lost or maimed bodies. The resultant traumas to everyone is unthinkable and likely eternal. And the seething is hatred refueled with every heinous act. Nothing can be mended until Israel stops its relentless massacres.
I was talking to a Canadian Jewish person (after 10/7). I could see that this person repeatedly ignored my question when I asked about the settlements. The same was true for an Israeli Jewish person. The Canadian was sure about everything but not sure about anything specific! That was the gist of the whole conversation. This person managed to muster up this as a response to my questioning them about the settlements. They said, "I’ve also seen how Palestinians nearby live, the checkpoints and all. I was definitely surprised by some things, both better and worse than I thought". Didn't manage to tell what was better, and what was worse. But overall remained apathetic to the daily reality of Palestinian life under a military occupation. I had expected a Canadian living freely to be enraged witnessing firsthand the ground reality of the military occupation, but that wasn't the case. This is not a one-off incident. Almost all I spoke to are to some degree treat the occupation as "business as usual". Many don't even bother giving specifics about the occupation of the West Bank.
The point is, the majority has been denied the right to free, and objective truth, they have been made to remain willfully ignorant, (sometimes forced too). Two things can be true at the same time: Hamas' actions can be held atrocious *and* the brutal military occupation in the West Bank, including the settlements equally atrocious.
Thank you for such a well written article. I swear it repeated all my talking points I try to make daily with people around me. Zionism is a terrorist organization much like Hamas. It’s these organizations that are fighting each other. I am shamed that the US sends Israel money and weapons. They commit war crimes like Putin and still US send Israel weapons to kill people who cannot defend themselves. Netanyahu attacks our president and then demands more. Why do we put up with them?? As a young child and adolescent I had to watch Israel’s many forays into Palestinian land. The first time barely five years after post WWII land agreements were written, The Sinai war, The 6–Day War and the Yom Kippur War. It would seem that Israel had a plan. This is Israel’s Manifesto Destiny grabbing more and more land and sending settlers into the West Bank which will be a planned provocation to make the Palestinians try to defend their land. All that land grabbing and the world did nothing but watch Israel occupy more parts of Palestine, which is a sovereign country, put the people under rules and laws made by them that took away their freedoms and sent in more settlers to secure what was taken by force. Netanyahu and his war cabinet are out of control and most definitely are not a democracy so the journalists should stop calling them so. To watch them lie at the World Court was telling. For some strange reason they think they can rid the area of Hama by devastation and genocide. The joke that Netanyahu T and that vole war cabinet can’t see is that genocide won’t destroy a people, good and bad and they should know this well enough.
Thank you. It baffles me why some people think it wrong for those persecuted not to defend themselves. I’m not in any way supporting what Hamas did on October 7, but the Palestinians have been a marginalized and persecuted group treated poorly by Israel for a very long time. Most of the time revolts take place when people feel trapped and helpless, that there is no other choice and know the consequences—deaths on both sides.
I believe Netanyahu used Hamas like Trump used the terrorist on J6! Netanyahu funded Hamas; that’s how they got the money to organize against Israel! Netanyahu sacrificed his people to stay in power! I can’t stand Netanyahu!!
Thank you Quasim for writing this article and for debunking these myths. You demonstrate quite clearly to the informed public and hopefully will cause the ill-informed to reflect, the dishonesty and genocidal intent of the Israeli occupation. You demonstrate equally the shameful and inexcusable complicity of the US administration and other Western leaders.
Continue on your path of truth and honest journalism, we are many that will continue to support you and spread your message.
You lost me at Terrorism . . . (but I will read on)
I’m certain you’re aware but for Benefit of those who are not~ ZioNaziIsrael is NOT “The Victim”
Though, as the FreeLoader THIEVES they are, one of their most preferred Plays is conning the world into believing ZioNazis ARE the history’s consummate “Victims.” Despite the Fact that Russians Sacrificed nearly FIVE TIMES as many Souls to WWII . In fact ZioNazis are SO EXPERT at this Narcissist Ploy of Preying-On and Exploiting Humanity’s God-Given Compassionate Empathy, that over the last 58years (since they caught on to how lucrative this Free-Loader Con is) ZioNaziTHIEVES have haul-in Hundreds of Billions, just for relentlessly reminding Humanity that Victimized is the ZioNazis’ National Identity Politics. They even tried to con the UN into classifying Israel as a NonProfit “Charity” vs God’s Special Nation. God is just not as Profitable, is He?
But I digress~
Under international law, the Palestinians have a lawful right to resist Israel’s occupation of their lands, including through armed struggle.
As Falk said in an interview with Truthout, “It is always deceptive to treat the oppressor and the oppressed as if equal.” In the current situation, he added, “the oppressor acts contrary to applicable international law and elementary morality while the oppressed is countering by exercising rights of resistance and suffering the deprivation of basic rights. Of course,” Falk added, “the tactics of resistance should be scrutinized by reference to legal and moral constraints, but without losing sight of overwhelming structures of dominance and the far greater harm done by state violence than by the violence of resistance.”
Richard Falk, former UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories and professor emeritus at Princeton University
https://truthout.org/articles/as-an-occupier-israel-isnt-entitled-to-self-defense-under-international-law/
Thank you so very much for writing this and responding to the uninformed writer of the myths. It’s easy to understand how she arrived at those myths because the US government repeats them and fully supports the ongoing genocide taking place before our eyes everyday. And the corporate media repeats them again to the American public. But one can access better information if it is accessible. So I am disappointed that your writing was taken down and I am grateful you have responded so effectively with evidence to the contrary.
I would like to add something to Qasim Rashid’s response after Meta took down some of his writing regarding Palestine/Israel, apparently in response to an uninformed piece misrepresenting and criticizing his comments. and One can say as you have done that killing civilians in a military situation is illegal, atrocious, and horrific. That’s true and one would hope that non-violent efforts would be effective fopeople trapped in a settler colonial apartheid state who are treated so aggressively and violently as the Palestinians have been. But it has been rare if ever the case that the non-violent approach has been effective in such long lasting and horrific conditions as the Palestinians and others such as in Northern Ireland and South Africa. In the US, treaties and diplomatic resistance of indigenous people in our own settler colonial country was not effective even with violent resistance in many instances. As Bernadette Devlin said years ago, something along the lines of the following: when your back is against the wall, you will do anything. The Hamas incursion into Israel was indeed a reaction to the conditions and aggression and violent treatment Palestinians have experienced daily for decades in Gaza. But it should also be understood as part of a RESISTANCE movement against the occupation. It was not unprovoked. When people are treated as the Palestinians have been one should expect resistance. Hamas’ incursion into Israel on October was part of that resistance after quite a few offers to negotiate with the Israeli government to reach a just peace for everyone. Their non-violent protests against Israeli aggression against Palestinians have repeatedly been dismissed, in acknowledged and not responded to as legitimate concerns. There are multiple independent information sources to read about the history, purpose, principles and goals of both Hamas and Hezbollah that are very enlightening if one can approach this situation with an open mind and not simply repeat the US government and Israeli lobby narratives. There is also evidence from both Israeli sources and independent journalist sources that the Hams incursion and the Israeli response on October 7 was not as straightforward as it has mostly been reported. The IDF was responsible for many Israeli deaths and home damage in at least one kibbutz. I have seen the statistic of 200 killed by the IDF. In their efforts to be sure to root out any remaining Hamas military actors when they arrived later in the morning with their Apache helicopters and missiles the IDF apparently acted on orders to shoot indiscriminately. Look at Max Blumenthal’s reporting in this. And lastly, although horrible for the Israeli hostages and for the families of those Israelis killed on Oct 7 by anyone, the numbers and circumstances pale in comparison to the numbers and circumstances of the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been slaughtered and starved in Gaza including an estimated 20,000 children dead or unaccounted for in mass graves or under rubble. And then the orphans and the PTSD in survivors of all ages in the middle of it.
This go way from me before I was finished with it.
But I think I will let it be out there for any thoughtful replies or fact checkers who would like to respond. Thank you
Excellent piece. Thank you.
Thank you Martin
good article.
Thanks Ken
At some point, this becomes totally absurd. I condemn the shit out of Hamas. I shriek my condemnations to the skies, rend my garments. Hey, I even donated to the group that Vivian Silver used to belong to, though it is quite possible the IDF killed her. (This is something the ‘condemn the Hamas people do not approve of, but Vivian Silver, I hope, would approve.) I pray for the hostages.
It is easy for me to condemn Hamas. I’m just an American who is not involved and thinks all lives are valuable, all people are valuable, who believes in peace, a starry eyed person who has a fairly safe life. I don’t know the answers about this region. I don’t want to pretend I do. I simply want the basic values to be followed and to express my belief in human rights and international humanitarian law and all the things that I hope would be bulwarks against barbarity. My emotions are only engaged in a different way than if someone was trying to kill me.
So I condemn Hamas with sincere fervor.
And THEN WHAT? WHAT?!?!? We are helping Israel in the starving of people, we are helping in depriving them of water. Starvation is the worst kind of death. I can’t think of anything worse that could happen to someone than this except having a limb amputated without anesthesia. THAT IS HAPPENING. ISRAEL IS DOING IT. AMERICA IS HELPING Something that comes close is having one’s children killed. THAT IS HAPPENING. ISRAEL IS DOING THAT. After that, having their children mutilated. ALSO, A THING THAT IS HAPPENING TO PEOPLE RIGHT NOW. BY ISRAEL. And then, lower down on the list, having your mother and father killed. ANOTHER THING ISRAEL IS DOING. And then we can talk about how people are killed. Burned. Buried alive. A million people fleeing in terror? YES. LIKE A HORROR MOVIE.
I am condemning Hamas, the USA, the UK, Israel, and whoever else. What does this do? Nothing, just like bombing the shit out of Gaza will do nothing. We gotta make it stop. Little children lost their hands, feet, lives. There is not two sides to this. Some things don’t have two sides.
Totally agree its a distraction method used by Pierce Morgan ‘do you condemn Hamas’ as if Palestinians had any choices left. Israel was too close to normalisation agreements with the whole of the Middle Eastern Arab world but nobody puts 10/7 into that context, if normalisation had happened that would leave the Palestinians on their own in their very own prison of regular lawn mowing.
It does not help that most people are not aware that the Palestinians tried the non violent route many times with non violent marches that ended up being very violent again from Israels side shooting at ankles, knee caps, elderly, women, children already disabled people etc…
Hamas has been painted as a terrorist group from the get go due to some rhetorical issues around their party manifesto, however from what i have read they were not the group responsible for the suicide bombings of the 90s and early 2000s. Hamas were backed by qatar money allowed to flow in by Netanyahu i dare to say it was no miscalculation on his behalf and he did anticipate Hamas win in the Gaza election, and the siege on Gaza as a result that followed was the perfect outcome.
Hamas has promised a resistance against occupation and they won democratically, however since their election no more elections have taken place, until 10/7 they have not really done much (other groups have done far more) to resist the occupation and i believe Palestinians had little hope in any end to the occupation with apartheid and corrupt Israel selected government in the West bank. Operation Al Aqsa Flood is Hamas’s last attempt their promise to the Palestinians.
From Al Jazeera investigation it seems Hamas was not aware of the festival/rave taking place in the area beforehand. Their goal was taking hostages at the kibbutzes and attacking military bases taking hostages, the festival did complicate the matter especially with mass Hannibal (according to Haaretz) enforced many times by the Israeli military as well as the very late response. To Palestinians hostages are a means to exchange hostages (those detained without trial in Israel for example children) so hostages are best kept alive their objective was not to kill civilians for that same reason but they ended up killing civilians not because it was their goal but mostly because Israel did not care to protect their own civilians for a country that rather sees their people dead than leaving as hostages and end up in prisoner exchanges it was not a priority to ensure to protect their civilians and get them out of the crossfire.
I am sure a lot more could be found out if the Israeli side would let in independent investigation of 10/7 but the Haaretz article about the use of Hannibal is already damning in its own right.
As for Hamas they might end up in history like the Korean resistance against the Japanese occupation, although i hope not because those who mainly resisted the japanese were people now known as North Koreans still trying to resist the American influence looming over the south of the boarder drawn by America.
Interesting comment. I don’t know very much about the Korean resistance to the Japanese, even though my friend was Korean and her dad had been a POW of the Japanese and had massive PTSD, etc.
Yes this resistance movement could certainly fail.
I don’t claim to have perfect certainty of anything, and I don’t even want to argue about it because it’s simply not in question that everything Israel is doing in Gaza is illegal, immoral, impermissible, horrific, repulsive, shocking to the conscience, etc. The case for genocide is very solid but if you want to call it ethnic cleansing or whatever—it has to be stopped. Immediately. The US has to stop it. I have begun to lose all faith in humanity this is not obvious to everyone.
There are just things YOU CAN’T DO TO PEOPLE. I don’t think we should have any patience for any people anywhere who argue the opposite.
Setting the history aside, are actions which are completely impermissible in war which Israel constantly does to Palestinians.
ALL human rights organizations, including some Israeli ones, plus the UN agree. We have seen humanitarian workers murdered by the score, from US Central Kitchen to the UN.
You are not accurate about the history but these issues have nothing to do with that. Those trying to stop these killings have done nothing wrong.
I don't have exact numbers (probably no one does) but to the reader's first point, she is also wrong about "1200 innocent civilians killed by Hamas". At least a third of the Israelis killed on 10/7 were soldiers, not civilians. An unknown number of people, at least 30 confirmed, maybe over 200, were killed by Israel via Hannibal Directive/friendly fire. This has been verified by Israeli media as well as independent media outlets in the West. In addition, Hamas is only one of the resistance groups that broke out of prison on 10/7, the resistance includes multiple groups like PFLP, Islamic Jihad, Qassam which is the armed wing of Hamas (yes, Hamas has many parts, it is an elected government, and it does much more than military activities) along with other groups. I know this is a very minor point compared to all the other points, and you've explained very well everything that was wrong with her comment (and honestly the whole comment was full of propaganda and not said in good faith, so you were gracious to answer her at all.) I find it irritating that zionists use the name Hamas when they mean any resistance and sometimes any Palestinian, since it demonstrates a total lack of understanding of the region. Good on you to even respond to that troll, I have given up trying and started to just mute them for my own sanity.
Respect to you, you have the patience of a saint to respond so calmly and politely and generously to what was frankly a rude and disingenuous critic.
Thank you. The hope is the answers and receipts I provide are useful to others having similar conversations, and useful to those looking to understand the situation accurately.
If you had Biden's ear, what would you say?
Uphold international human rights law, stop arming Israeli war crimes, end the occupation, end the settlements, ensure release of all Israeli and Palestinian hostages, and pass a UN vote on a binding 2 state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and with justice.
Okay, just so you know - I'm copying & pasting that in every message I send to the White House from now on! At least I won't feel like I'm not getting the point across.
I have called the White House numerous times to BEG that the USA stop supplying Israel with weapons because Israel is COMMITTING WAR CRIMES by the indiscriminate killing of civilians in Gaza. The USA should not assist in those crimes in any mannor.
I have heard that Israel has given a lot of money to Hamas and basically supported its growth and power because it would end up making Israel look like the most victimized. I trust you and what you write and wonder if you have addressed this. Thank you for your splendid writing and clarity.
Yes, have addressed this factual reality in the past. Netanyahu heavily propped up Hamas and funded Hamas with the explicit goal of preventing peace and justice. I detail the receipts here: https://qasimrashid.substack.com/p/how-are-4-hostages-for-210-killed
JPost article you linked to gives impression that it was a massive intelligence and security failure, not that they knew “when and where” and knowingly allowed it to happen.
Really? It literally says "The IDF had precise information about Hamas's intentions." And several more articles on the subject further emphasize this point, including that they knew months in advance.
Guess I’ll look for those several other articles then.
https://apnews.com/article/new-york-times-hamas-attack-israel-gaza-6088cad78f5e4153d671fe9b5b819308
From that article, it seems they scoffed away the possibility that Hamas could pull it off. Arrogant, incompetent, disgraceful, yes. It requires a leap in logic to declare this to be something that was allowed or permitted to happen. Are you implying that they could have stopped it but actively chose to let it happen?
Thank you for your excellent response to each of the claims made by “Karen.”
Karen, we need facts, not fiction and above all honesty, accountability, and a return to human decency. The killings must end; no more lives lost or maimed bodies. The resultant traumas to everyone is unthinkable and likely eternal. And the seething is hatred refueled with every heinous act. Nothing can be mended until Israel stops its relentless massacres.
I was talking to a Canadian Jewish person (after 10/7). I could see that this person repeatedly ignored my question when I asked about the settlements. The same was true for an Israeli Jewish person. The Canadian was sure about everything but not sure about anything specific! That was the gist of the whole conversation. This person managed to muster up this as a response to my questioning them about the settlements. They said, "I’ve also seen how Palestinians nearby live, the checkpoints and all. I was definitely surprised by some things, both better and worse than I thought". Didn't manage to tell what was better, and what was worse. But overall remained apathetic to the daily reality of Palestinian life under a military occupation. I had expected a Canadian living freely to be enraged witnessing firsthand the ground reality of the military occupation, but that wasn't the case. This is not a one-off incident. Almost all I spoke to are to some degree treat the occupation as "business as usual". Many don't even bother giving specifics about the occupation of the West Bank.
The point is, the majority has been denied the right to free, and objective truth, they have been made to remain willfully ignorant, (sometimes forced too). Two things can be true at the same time: Hamas' actions can be held atrocious *and* the brutal military occupation in the West Bank, including the settlements equally atrocious.
Thank you for such a well written article. I swear it repeated all my talking points I try to make daily with people around me. Zionism is a terrorist organization much like Hamas. It’s these organizations that are fighting each other. I am shamed that the US sends Israel money and weapons. They commit war crimes like Putin and still US send Israel weapons to kill people who cannot defend themselves. Netanyahu attacks our president and then demands more. Why do we put up with them?? As a young child and adolescent I had to watch Israel’s many forays into Palestinian land. The first time barely five years after post WWII land agreements were written, The Sinai war, The 6–Day War and the Yom Kippur War. It would seem that Israel had a plan. This is Israel’s Manifesto Destiny grabbing more and more land and sending settlers into the West Bank which will be a planned provocation to make the Palestinians try to defend their land. All that land grabbing and the world did nothing but watch Israel occupy more parts of Palestine, which is a sovereign country, put the people under rules and laws made by them that took away their freedoms and sent in more settlers to secure what was taken by force. Netanyahu and his war cabinet are out of control and most definitely are not a democracy so the journalists should stop calling them so. To watch them lie at the World Court was telling. For some strange reason they think they can rid the area of Hama by devastation and genocide. The joke that Netanyahu T and that vole war cabinet can’t see is that genocide won’t destroy a people, good and bad and they should know this well enough.
Thank you. It baffles me why some people think it wrong for those persecuted not to defend themselves. I’m not in any way supporting what Hamas did on October 7, but the Palestinians have been a marginalized and persecuted group treated poorly by Israel for a very long time. Most of the time revolts take place when people feel trapped and helpless, that there is no other choice and know the consequences—deaths on both sides.