Israel

[Res Ipsa]

The situation in the Middle East is so complex, I can't pretend to understand it. One of the thing's that is hard for someone like me is that I have to hold two things in my mind that are absolutely in tensions: (1) Terrorist attacks against civilian populations cannot be condoned or tolerated. (2) It is naïve to ignore the conditions under which terrorism tends to arise and the role of governments in creating those conditions.

Gaza and the West Bank are currently failed states. And, despite the two state solution that was negotiated in 1993, none of the parties that have an interest in resolving this conflict appear to have taken seriously the process of turning both areas into functioning states governed by Palestinians. I think it's fair to say that the Likud party and Netanyahu have actively worked to prevent both from developing into functioning states.

I did some reading and found analysis before the attack that predicted a third intifada in the West Bank. The Israeli governing that was formed at the end of last year had approved new settlements in the occupied West Bank and appeared to be moving toward annexation of occupied territory as a policy. Take a look at what Israeli settlements in the West Bank have done to the ability of the Palestinians to have a healthy, functioning states: https://www.ochaopt.org/content/west-ba ... s-may-2023 You have to study the map for a bit to understand what it shows. All those light colored islands are controlled either by the Palestinian Authority or jointly by the PA and the government of Israel. All the purplish colored corridors are solely controlled by Israel. There is no freedom of movement with the occupied territory between Palestinian cities. Every new Israeli settlement comes with a secured corridor connecting it to Israel.

The presence of all those settlements in the West Bank and the secured corridors they come with means that Israel simply cannot have defensible borders in the occupied territories and the Palestians cannot have a functional state. And the Israeli government, by permitting and subsidizing more and more settlements, has made the two situations worse and worse. Israel cannot have secure borders when it's borders have more tentacles than Cthulhu, and the Palestinians cannot have a functional state when Palestine exists as an archipelego in N Isreal controlled sea.

I think it's very difficult to destroy terrorist organizations when they are entrenched in and disbursed throughout an existing population. Unless they start to behave like a military capturing and holding territory, it's tough to kill only the bad guys. Israel has pursued a strategy in Gaza of making the price of harboring Hamas too high for the citizenry, but it clearly isn't working. In Gaza, Hamas isn't just a shadowy terrorist group -- it has done things like building schools and hospitals that benefit the citizenry. So, unless the citizens of Gaza are persuaded that someone can offer them a better deal than Hamas, killing civilians and destroying infrastructure in Gaza is likely to result in the radicalization of civilians and the creation of more terrorists.

The timing of the Hamas attack makes sense given that other Arab nations have been pursuing diplomatic agreements with Israel and that Israel had its hands full trying to deal with a third potential intifada in the West Bank. It appears that Israeli intelligence in Gaza was overconfident in its belief that it had made attacks by Hamas too expensive in Gaza and was focussed on the West Bank. Israel will have to figure out the intelligence failure.

How Israel responds in Gaza is, in my opinion, largely beyond the control of the U.S. But other things aren't. I think maybe the most important is to keep the diplomatic progress between Israel and other Arab countries intact and moving forward. That process isolates Hamas (and Hezbollah), and is an important step toward persuading Palestinians that they can get better deals from their neighbors than from terrorists. Another is to make our best efforts to keep other actors out of the conflict -- especially Iran and Hezbollah. Russia, too, although it's tied up at the moment.

Israel obviously needs some help with its rocket defenses. The Iron Dome didn't work so well, and U.S. assistance will likely be needed to upgrade those defenses.

But all that requires a fully functioning U.S. government, which we don't really have. Senators Tuberman, Cruz, and Paul need to stop their political reindeer games over the appointment of ambassadors and military promotions. Hell, I don't think we have ambassadors for most of the middle east because of holds placed by this gang of three. Or Democrats need to bite the bullet and dynamite the hold system.

And, like every other problem the U.S. faces, effective solutions require $$. And the branch of our government in which all money bills must originate is tied up in Republican infighting.

Long term -- and this is a lesson that we should have learned years and years ago -- failed states are bad news. Functioning states need to be built -- they don't spontaneously spring into life. And that's going to require investment in the the things that allow states to function. If Hamas is who is building infrastructure in Gaza, why in the world wouldn't the local people support Hamas?

I just listened to today's press conference. Gawd damn -- reporters are morons.

ETA: Tom Friedman had an interesting opinion piece in yesterday's NYT. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/opin ... =url-share

[ajax18]

If I were you, I wouldn't go out with your pistol. While Merrick Garland has his focus on Catholics, parents who oppose critical race theory, white Republican terrorists, BLM has already sworn allegiance to Hamas.

I can only imagine what your cortisol levels must look like.

I'm serious Steuss. Radical Islamic terrorists could come through the southern border right now and drag you out of your home in Las Vegas if they wanted to do so, not that they have any less contempt for American Gentiles like me than American Jews like yourself. I hope you realize that I don't hate Jews in spite of how others choose to label me. There is a real antisemitic terrorist threat brewing in the entire world and it's not people of European decent that you should be concerned about, even though that's all the left ever speaks about.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

I can only imagine what your cortisol levels must look like.

I'm serious Steuss. Radical Islamic terrorists could come through the southern border right now and drag you out of your home in Las Vegas if they wanted to do so, not that they have any less contempt for American Gentiles like me than American Jews like yourself. I hope you realize that I don't hate Jews in spite of how others choose to label me. There is a real antisemitic terrorist threat brewing in the entire world and it's not people of European decent that you should be concerned about, even though that's all the left ever speaks about.

You literally labeled yourself.

- Doc

[Doctor Steuss]

I can only imagine what your cortisol levels must look like.

I'm serious Steuss. Radical Islamic terrorists could come through the southern border right now and drag you out of your home in Las Vegas if they wanted to do so,

Someone could also use CRISPR to encode some of Hitler's DNA into a goat, and have that goat fart in my cereal. Lots of things are possible, but that doesn't mean they're probable.

In my short lifetime, supporters of a President held a march chanting "blood and soil," and "the Jews will not replace us." The American Nazi Party endorsed someone who ended up becoming President of the United States.

I'm a little less worried about what might come through the Southern border than what's fermenting in my own backyard.

not that they have any less contempt for American Gentiles like me than American Jews like yourself.

Oh, I know that Islamic extremists generally have a sustained level of contempt for all things of the Western and civilized world. Like all terrorists whose ideology is rooted in hate, they are a blight on the global community, and humanity.

I hope you realize that I don't hate Jews in spite of how others choose to label me.

I appreciate that. I honestly do believe that you are a good person at heart. I've never felt hatred towards you. I have often felt saddened at thoughts/beliefs that you have been subjected to and adhere to that I genuinely believe are unhealthy (on an individual level, and community level), but the reason I dialogue with you often (even though I fall short on being as kind as I'd like to be) is because I have seen change -- and above all, I know the change that I have seen in myself (and how far I have to go).

I think people are generally critical of people and things that they think are worthy of more.

There is a real antisemitic terrorist threat brewing in the entire world and it's not people of European decent that you should be concerned about, even though that's all the left ever speaks about.

There have been a lot of terrorist attacks specifically targeting Jews in the United States during my lifetime. Fortunately, most of them have only resulted in property damage. There have been a handful that have been radicalized Islamic extremists (just last year, a Pakistani man held some people hostage at a synagogue); however, the majority of terrorist attacks against Jews on American soil in my lifetime have been carried out by people of European decent (generally right-wing extremists), or extremist black nationalists.

This is generally the face of terrorism against Jews in America (this man killed 11, and injured 6 others in a synagogue):

[Res Ipsa]

The Washington Post published a column by Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens, about the Hamas attack. It's a warning to other nations about the dangers of populism.

The real explanation for Israel’s dysfunction is populism rather than any alleged immorality. For many years, Israel has been governed by a populist strongman, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is a public-relations genius but an incompetent prime minister. He has repeatedly preferred his personal interests over the national interest and has built his career on dividing the nation against itself. He has appointed people to key positions based on loyalty more than qualifications, took credit for every success while never taking responsibility for failures, and seemed to give little importance to either telling or hearing the truth.

The coalition Netanyahu established in December 2022 has been by far the worst. It is an alliance of messianic zealots and shameless opportunists, who ignored Israel’s many problems — including the deteriorating security situation — and focused instead on grabbing unlimited power for themselves. In pursuit of this goal, they adopted extremely divisive policies, spread outrageous conspiracy theories about state institutions that oppose their policies, and labeled the country’s serving elites as “deep state” traitors.

Hmmmm.

[Vēritās]

The Washington Post published a column by Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens, about the Hamas attack. It's a warning to other nations about the dangers of populism.

The real explanation for Israel’s dysfunction is populism rather than any alleged immorality. For many years, Israel has been governed by a populist strongman, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is a public-relations genius but an incompetent prime minister. He has repeatedly preferred his personal interests over the national interest and has built his career on dividing the nation against itself. He has appointed people to key positions based on loyalty more than qualifications, took credit for every success while never taking responsibility for failures, and seemed to give little importance to either telling or hearing the truth.

The coalition Netanyahu established in December 2022 has been by far the worst. It is an alliance of messianic zealots and shameless opportunists, who ignored Israel’s many problems — including the deteriorating security situation — and focused instead on grabbing unlimited power for themselves. In pursuit of this goal, they adopted extremely divisive policies, spread outrageous conspiracy theories about state institutions that oppose their policies, and labeled the country’s serving elites as “deep state” traitors.

Hmmmm.

Sound like anyone we know?

[Morley]

We've been texting back and forth this morning with a friend who lives in Haifa, and the sense of horror in Israel right now is palpable. Even there in the relatively quiet North, they're being constantly shelled, and they have to keep sheltering in their safe room. When Hezbollah escalates in Lebanon, the conflagration's just going to get worse.

[ajax18]

No one is to blame for Hamas' attack, but those within Hamas that planned and/or carried out the attack.

What's your view on Palestinians who voted for the current Hamas regime? Do they bear any responsibility for the actions of their chosen leaders?

Do you believe that Israel has an apartheid state in place that has forced millions of Palestinians into living in squalor and that Israeli bigotry is reponsible for this? Would it have been better that the Jews were never given an ancestral homeland at all?

[Vēritās]

No one is to blame for Hamas' attack, but those within Hamas that planned and/or carried out the attack.

What's your view on Palestinians who voted for the current Hamas regime? Do they bear any responsibility for the actions of their chosen leaders?

Do you believe that Israel has an apartheid state in place that has forced millions of Palestinians into living in squalor and that Israeli bigotry is reponsible for this? Would it have been better that the Jews were never given an ancestral homeland at all?

Palestinians never "chose" their leaders; they don't have a choice in the matter. The fact that you think otherwise reflects your ignorance. Hamas doesn't check with the general population to make sure they're supporting their planned attacks.

Hamas has also been instrumental in helping the people when no one else would, by facilitating humanitarian aid, building schools, hospitals, etc. When you're trapped on an Island and the only people willing to help you are the local headhunters, you're pretty much out of options.

[Vēritās]

No one is to blame for Hamas' attack, but those within Hamas that planned and/or carried out the attack.

What's your view on Palestinians who voted for the current Hamas regime? Do they bear any responsibility for the actions of their chosen leaders?

Do you believe that Israel has an apartheid state in place that has forced millions of Palestinians into living in squalor and that Israeli bigotry is reponsible for this? Would it have been better that the Jews were never given an ancestral homeland at all?

There is no question Israel is guilty of enforcing apartheid. That's what it is, by definition. Israel kicked out the Palestinians, or I should say their parents and grandparents. Most everyone living in Palestine today was born after the 6 day war. Over 40% of the population is under the age of 14. But tell us more about how Republicans care so much about saving children from certain death.

Why did the Jews need to be "given an ancestral homeland" in the first place?