War on Terrorism (Politics)

[Wile E. Coyote]

Can't see that the Irish nation is particularly pro-Palestinian, large majority think that Hamas should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation. They just think that Israel has overreacted. Demonstrations in Derry about Palestine were small. Small Muslim population by European standards, it's about 1-2% compared with England or France. 5% -6% the Irish locals are more up for protests about immigration.

It's just liberal papers like comparing the Irish struggle with the Palestinian. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it doesn't make ordinary Irish folk Pro Palestinian, they are just not invested in it in the same way that folks in London, Leicester, Paris or Marseilles are.

[Mick Harper]

I'm obliged. I have clearly been misled by those rogues at Al-Jazeera. Though to be fair, similar waxings have emanated from the BBC (or it might have been Channel 4 News). The Taoiseach with the funny name was most outspoken but then so was his Scottish opposite number with the equally funny name.

[Mick Harper]

A leak from an Israeli cabinet discussion has not, I think, been given its due importance. Netanyahu said, to the effect, that Fatah wanted to do slowly what Hamas wants to do quickly. This not just cuts across the American desire for Fatah to be put in charge of Gaza but that long term Netanyahu (or possibly Israel) wants to eliminate Fatah from the West Bank.

Since even he knows Israel will never get a more co-operative Palestinian government than Fatah this would seem to indicate that Israel has no plans for the existence of an Arab Palestine anywhere, any time.

[Mick Harper]

This Israeli friendly-fire shooting of three hostages is (even) more important than people might think. There are some pretty well understood rules about what you do with surrendering soldiers on the battlefield. On the one hand there is always a strong 'shoot the bastards' feeling because

(a) there is a slight danger they will be holding hand grenades etc and
(b) it weakens the line taking them prisoner and having to take them back to the main processing centre etc

On the other hand, there is
(a) always value to interrogating prisoners but above all
(b) if you shoot them out of hand no-one will ever surrender and you'll have to carry on fighting until everyone's dead.

It is clear the Israeli soldiers have adopted a kill 'em all policy if they are shooting 'soldiers' naked to the waist and holding white flags. No amount of IDF bromides about 'we shall be reminding our men what the protocols are etc etc' can possibly have any effect if such passions are already present and being applied routinely. It looks on this form that the Israelis will have to kill every male adult of military age in Gaza if they want to eliminate Hamas.

[Wile E. Coyote]

[Mick Harper]

The life expectancy of a Hamas leader is too short for money to be an issue. Are you sure about Netanyahu? I had assumed his corruption was to do with raising party funds as it generally is in democratic countries.

[Mick Harper]

Speaking of whom, many of us were first introduced to him as the long time Israeli PR man with good English who was wheeled out to explain whatever it was the Israelis had been up to lately. Next thing we knew, he'd taken over the whole blessèd country. I'm telling you this because I spotted that Australian bloke they wheel out etc etc sitting next to Binyamin when the camera was panning across the Israeli war cabinet.

"Take a pew. Now what experience do you bring to the table?"
"I was the bloke they used to fob off Channel 4 News."
"Oh, all right, but we can only offer you Minister of Defence for the time being."

[Wile E. Coyote]

[Mick Harper]

[Mick Harper]

There was a discussion on the BBC's Media Show about journalists being killed by the Israelis. First up was Al-Jazeera's man in Gaza who had lost half his family to Israeli bombs. It was heartbreaking stuff especially as the Israelis had 'clearly' targeted the building they were living in, it had no military or Hamas connections. Then came the BBC's own august foreign correspondent, Jeremy Bowen, who recounted a story about how his car had been 'clearly' targeted by Israeli snipers in south Lebanon.

To put things into context. The Israelis may be mad bastards but they're not so mad as to ever target journalists. They never hear the end of it whenever one of the mad bastards gets in the way.

[Wile E. Coyote]

The BBC has a piece about how their cameraman Jehad Mashhrawi walked past the destruction and corpses as he tried to flee south with his family. It's harrowing stuff. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67635735

[Mick Harper]

[Mick Harper]

Modern countries are chary about their citizens having guns. It flies in the face of 'the state must have a monopoly of violence' doctrine. Nevertheless all modern countries allow it for a variety of reasons and have a system of licensing to make sure everything is hunky dory. You've got to fill out a form as an absolute minimum (maybe not America but everywhere else) and then it goes through a bureaucratic procedure.

When the modern state is Israel and its citizens are applying for licences to the tune of three thousand a day, one is entitled to ask is it a one-question form: Are you Jewish?

[Mick Harper]

Here's an interesting exchange between a pro-Israel liberal and an anti-Israel AE-ist. It started here https://medium.com/my-side-of-the-aisle/israel-is-seriously-losing-international-support-195c03906b5a where I recommended the writer look at one of mine

Israeli War Aims
Not necessarily what it says on the tin

Why exactly are the Israelis bombing Gaza? Their stated aim is to be rid of Hamas and while Hamas individuals may be collateral damage while bombing various places in Gaza it would surely be as if, in order to be rid of John Dillinger, America’s most wanted, J Edgar Hoover had decided Chicago must be razed to the ground.

We should not be misled by modish definitions of war crimes. Country A is perfectly entitled to bomb the bejesus out of Country B if Country A is at war with Country B. ’Twas ever thus, ’twill ever be thus. You go to war, you have it coming. Nobody has ever made hard and fast distinctions between military and civilian targets because that is the whole point of war — you’re all in it together. It is the one and only court of last resort for conflict resolution. If the winners want to rub it in by punishing the losers for war crimes, that’s their business. But Israel is not at war with Gaza, it is at war with Hamas.

So they say. So they keep saying. They have to say it because if they are at war with Gaza that means Gaza is an independent sovereign entity that declared war on Israel by launching a surprise attack on October 7th 2023. It has no more to do with Hamas than Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941 had anything to do with the Democratic Party under Franklin D Roosevelt. Every country has a government, every country goes to war courtesy of a decision by the government of that country. For good or ill. But Israel’s government is only at war with Hamas.

Come on, let’s get real. Getting rid of Hamas required an invasion of Gaza. Hamas is an army as well as a government so beating Hamas might very well mean bombing buildings as part of that invasion. Hamas is not a regular army, the IDF might very well need to destroy a fair bit of civilian infrastructure as it advances through Gaza on its search and destroy mission. But that is not what the IDF is doing, it is bombing the bejesus out of the place.

Now, Israeli foreign policy can be hard to pin down (even if you’re in the Israeli cabinet) but if we judge by deeds rather than words, it looks very much as if Israel is at war with Gaza, not Hamas. What does that imply in the long term? Ah, like I say, Israeli foreign policy can be hard to pin down.

[Wile E. Coyote]