The purpose of a war is to compel the enemy to surrender. That is precisely the goal of the IDF in their present war with Hamas. Has the latter yet surrendered? Have they yet returned all of the Jewish hostages they now hold, not just a few of them? To ask these questions is to answer them. They have not done either of these things. So Israel is now continuing its war against these savages who, on Oct. 7, 2023, invaded their country and murdered, mutilated and raped thousands of innocent people, a not insignificant proportion of their entire population.
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And, yet, world opinion is now clearly on the side of yet another pause, or a cease-fire, or a halt in the hostilities. According to Al Jazeera, "Israel deserves every bit of the global public criticism it is receiving." CNN headlines: "The world is turning against Israel's war in Gaza – and many Israelis don't understand why." A report of the Australian Financial Review maintains that "Israel is winning the war against Hamas but losing public opinion. Public opinion has turned against Israel as the number of civilian Palestinian casualties mounts from retaliatory airstrikes." The Canadians have gotten into the act with this contribution of theirs: "World opinion begins to turn against US-backed Israeli war on people of Gaza."
The following countries are now boycotting Israel over their continuation of the war against Hamas: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen.
Yes, indeed, the plight of the Gazans is now dire. With the renewed bombing, they really have no place to go. Little children are running around, crying. But whose fault is this? Egypt does indeed bear some of the blame. They could, but they refuse to, take in these people as refugees. But the lion's share of the responsibility still lies with Hamas. They have not surrendered; they still hold hostages. Israel is supposed to cease and desist under these conditions?
We do blame Israel for one thing; they prematurely sent in their soldiers before making it safe for them by continued bombing. That is not the way the Allies treated the Germans in Dresden or Hiroshima or Nagasaki. There were virtually and almost literally no US soldier casualties at this end stage of that war. Yet, there have been dozens of IDF soldiers who have already perished in the fighting, thanks to a recalcitrant Hamas and their booby-trapped tunnels. Every Jewish life is precious. The Jews are the victims, here; they fight only in self-defense.
Suppose Mexico had been at war with the US. Thousands of them had made incursions into California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas. They had murdered tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children in those contiguous states. They had raped thousands of women. They filmed these atrocities. Mexicans danced in the streets when they viewed this carnage. The pistoleros took 2100 hostages, but during a pause in the fighting, released 100 of them. Now, the US was in the process of bombing that country to the south of us.
The plight of the Mexicans, many of them innocent, was calamitous. World opinion was calling upon the Americans to cease and desist. Would the land of the free and the home of the brave do any such thing before the Mexicans disarmed, surrendered and released all the hostages they held, not merely only some of them? Not if this country valued its sovereignty.
If the Palestinians disarmed, there would be peace. Israel is not interested in land grabs. They are too busy making the desert bloom (yes, this is a cliché, but is based on truth) and winning Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, etc. Their only territorial accretions have been the result of wars initiated against them by their Arab enemies. In sharp contrast, if the Israelis disarmed, there would be no more Israel.
Want to get the carnage to stop? Then stop blaming Israel, and get Hamas to surrender and release its hostages. Then, there will be the peace of the just. No more Palestinian children need weep. The wounded will quickly be taken to Israeli hospitals.
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