I've been seeing your reblogs about the Israel-Palestine conflict from time to time (not on Tumblr much these days) and while they're more reasonable than some things I've seen on Twitter I do wonder if you think Israel's actions are proportional or even conducive to a peaceful solution. Idk I just feel like even if Hamas are the bad guys and don't deserve to have Palestine as a state, the Palestinian people also don't deserve to be bombed so relentlessly, but I don't see Israel stopping that anytime soon, so I'm not sure this will end in anything but the destruction of the Palestinian people, in which case it's still an unjust tragedy (that which Israel cannot be proud of)
First of all, thank you so much for saying that you find my takes reasonable. It's always a challenge to talk about such complex, emotionally charged, and nuanced issues, especially in this format. I'm really glad that you've gotten something out of reading my thoughts, even if you may not agree with everything I have to say.
A couple of thoughts here. First off, war is always awful and always a tragedy. No matter the circumstances. Full stop. End of story. It's something no one should have to live through or experience.
I don't know if you're American, but I will say that a lot of Americans who grew up their whole life in the USA are really sheltered from the reality of war and imagine it as something far away that happens to other people. And that isn't the reality for most people who have to experience war. It's just that the US is so insanely powerful that no one dares to attack it directly and instead it deals with all its enemies far away, using its military which is a very small percentage of its population. Furthermore, historically the US was so far away from everyone that it was difficult to reach. During World War II Japanese and German planes could not fly far enough to reach the US homeland, so while many Americans fought bravely overseas, the US never got bombed. That wasn't true for other people. And it wasn't just victims of Axis aggression who were bombed either.
Although there were incidents of war crimes committed by the democratic countries that were members of the Allies, there were not government policies that condoned such behavior and so the incidence was far, FAR lower than the huge number of war crimes committed by Nazi and Soviet forces because both represented ideologies that not only condoned but actively encouraged war crimes. And even so, even with the Allies overwhelmingly following the rules of war, a lot of civilians died. They generally didn't intentionally go out of their way to kill civilians. But. It was still a war. They targeted cities and infrastructure.
In Germany alone millions of civilians were killed. Some died in bombings. Some died because of the shortages of things like food and medicine. I read a book once about the few Berlin Jews who survived the Nazi period in hiding in Berlin. At one point one of them had a child with his non-Jewish German lover (who was in the resistance) who was hiding him. They concocted an elaborate ruse to convince the authorities the baby was the product of an affair she was having with a friend of hers (who was actually secretly gay and hiding his sexuality from the Nazi police). It worked. They were so excited to bring this new life into the world. The pregnancy was difficult. The baby needed an incubator. Unfortunately just then Allied bombings targeting electrical infrastructure caused a blackout. The baby died. The half Jewish child of an anti-Nazi resistance fighter was one of the casualties of the war - a victim not of Nazi violence but of Allied bombings.
That is the horrible reality of war. Even though it doesn't mean it was wrong to fight the Nazis. And what happened there was not even a warcrime. Military action that causes civilian deaths is not a warcrime unless civilians are being intentionally targeted. But war is tragic and ugly and awful. And I think sometimes sheltered Americans who have never really endured conflict or lived under bombing don't understand that and see any bad thing that happens in war as a war crime. Which is untrue. War is just like that. Even in the "best" of circumstances. It's awful and good people who don't deserve it get hurt.
So similarly I don't think every civilian death in Gaza automatically is a warcrime or evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the Israeli military. But that doesn't mean it's ok or that we shouldn't be trying to build peace. And peace can only happen if we recognize the concerns and feelings of BOTH SIDES, regardless of whether we agree with them. The Palestinian people are there. The Israelis are there. We need to accept both those facts and proceed towards finding a way for those two peoples to coexist together. Needlessly inflaming tensions by disregarding the perspective of either side is not helpful. (And by the way, learning to understand does not mean we have to agree).
I also think it's important not to reduce these groups to a monolith. There are many different factions of Palestinian people. They aren't all Hamas or Hamas supporters or the PLO or PLO supporters. Similarly Israel has many different political parties and Israelis are not all their government and do not all hold the same opinions.
So yes. Hamas are the bad guys. Israel withdrew from Gaza completely in 2005 and was still withdrawn at the time of the October 7 attack. If you haven't, I suggest watching the #Nova documentary which features footage of the attack. It will help you understand the emotional state and perspective of Israelis post October 7 (compounded by the fact that a lot of the world reacted with condemnation rather than sympathy even though they were the ones who were attacked and were not even engaged in any operations in Gaza at the time).
Hamas is also the bad guy from a Palestinian perspective. Yes it's true that Hamas was elected in Gaza in 2005 but they then seized power and became an absolutely horrific dictatorship. They have committed, and continue to commit, appalling atrocities against the Palestinian people. Here you can read the account of a Palestinian dissident who was tortured by Hamas for standing up for the rights of his people. Support for Hamas is anti-peace and anti-Palestinian. While they are in power and continue to support the annihilation of Israel and of all Jews and keep murdering and torturing and oppressing people in Gaza there is not going to be peace for Israelis or Palestinians. And anyone who supports them is just plain evil.
And yes. The Palestinian people don't deserve to be bombed. No one deserves to live through that. There's a great interview that I really, really recommend you watch here with Lucy Aharish. She is an Arab Muslim Israeli news anchor who is a fierce critic of Netanyahu and his far right party. She has sued the Israeli government multiple times and has spoken out against racism and bigotry on the Israeli far right. The interviewer is really annoying but Lucy is great. In the interview she speaks about her experiences growing up as an Arab Muslim in Israel and about her experiences with racism and with standing up to Netanyahu and the Israeli far right. She also talks about October 7, about how frightening and awful it was, and how she felt so angry afterwards that at first she lost her ability to empathize with Palestinian people and how she reclaimed her kindness and empathy and how no one deserves to live through bombings like those in Gaza and how a path forward to peace must be found. She's the sort of liberal, anti-Netanyahu voice that is needed to help resolve Israel's internal and external problems.
Now, just because Israel was attacked and has a right to respond and just because civilians unfortunately always die in war doesn't mean that Netanyahu and his rightwing party are acting in the best interests of Palestinian people or Israeli people or peace. Before October 7 there were MASSIVE protests in Israel against Netanyahu because of his corrupt and antidemocratic actions (kind of like many rightwing parties in Europe and the US) and he knows once the war is done and he loses power he's probably going to jail. So that doesn't exactly incentivize him to wrap things up. Also because his party is far right they're not doing their best to crack down on incidents of war crimes or misconduct. (And that's not even getting into the way they often turn a blind eye to appalling incidents carried out be extremist individuals in the West Bank).
Still, given that fact that Israel is bombing dense urban areas, the number of civilian deaths is actually amazingly low. Partly because they warn where they are going to bomb. (That's why you see all those images of people being displaced...which is also something terrible to go through; but those people are moving because they've been alerted in advance of a bombing, even though that means Hamas fighters can escape and even though most militaries don't do this). If Israel truly wanted to destroy the Palestinian people they could. They have very powerful weapons and Gaza is tiny. But they haven't. So I don't think right now that is their goal. But it doesn't make Netanyahu a good person or someone interested in building peace or not a corrupt criminal. And it doesn't make his party not far right, with all the problematic aspects that entails. Israel has problems. Like every country. Israel has bigots and bad people. Like every country. And like every country Israel deserves to keep existing and keep growing towards something better. And Palestinians deserve the same thing.
To understand more about the conflict I recommend this post and this video. The situation is complicated and awful but it doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't work for a better future. By educating ourselves and using empathy and understanding and embracing truth and nuance instead of bigotry and hate and extremism we can help build a better future.
Some more good videos:
These are the voices who should be elevated. There are a lot of them out there. And the more you see that, the more you see how a certain type of narrative is being crafted, to inflame hate and tension, by silence and talking over the many moderate and good faith activists working towards peace and understanding.
A few more:
Wait I'm actually not done. I think it's important to note that this ask was not sitting in my inbox a long time. I had it for only 2 days before I answered it. So this is up-to-date. Which I think is important because from the way it's written you might think it was from the height of the Israel-Hamas war. But there is currently a ceasefire in effect. If you aren't aware of that fact I think you need to consider that you may be reading unreliable sources.
It's also important context regarding whether Israel is seeking to destroy the Palestinian people. For all that Netanyahu is an awful rightwing corrupt criminal, he didn't start this war. Hamas attacked Israel, slaughtered thousands, and took hostages. Israel eventually retaliated and demanded the return of the hostages in exchange for a ceasefire. They finally got the hostages back and the war ended. Israel's actions show that their goal was to stop the attacks and get their people back. If Hamas returned the hostages earlier (or didn't attack) there wouldn't have been a war.
The Holocaust didn't happen because the Germans offered ceasefire conditions that Jewish people turned down or because Jewish people murdered and kidnapped a bunch of Germans. It happened because the Germans wanted to eradicate the Jewish people. And there was no compromise solution or conditions they were offering.
Also, people in the West openly supporting Hamas and making the pro-Palestine movement about eradicating Israel (and ofter about speaking over actual Palestinians) inflames tensions and distrust and makes peace harder. Here are a last few videos that are good to see.
I think it's important to note that while the peoples in the videos on this post have different backgrounds and views and beliefs and don't all agree with each other, and might not even all like each other, what they have in common is a desire to act in good faith and build on peace. That's what is needed. And these are the voices that are being purposely talked over and silenced.
Because this isn't about Muslims vs Jews or Israelis vs Palestinians. It's about rationalism, nuance, peace and love vs ignorance, hate and extremism. A lot of people in the West have picked the side of extremism and ignorance. That must end.
Here are a last few videos I think are worth watching.
Also note here that Gaza was not an "open air prison"before the war. Even this Turkish propaganda channel (last video below) admits it. (That makes it all the more tragic that Hamas started this awful, ruinous war rather than building on what they had). Also Israel is the most diverse country in the middle east, despite what you may see in news reports. It's a good idea to take a look at these places.
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