world news
Fear Israel perpetuates terror in Gaza war yet another double standard
A now common argument as to why Israel should not continue to engage in military action against Hamas is that IDF operations only perpetuate conflict.
Repeated ad nauseam on social media, it is contended that, as a consequence of a heavy Israeli response to the October 7 massacre, Gazan civilians will enlist in the ranks of terrorist organizations to avenge the loss of loved ones.
On November 29, US President Joe Biden expressed a similar sentiment in a post on X.
“Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace,” said Biden. “To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek. We can’t do that.”This belief that even a just war shouldn’t be fought and that Israel should turn the other cheek or else sow the seeds for future conflict is yet another wartime double standard designed to handicap the IDF.
The double standard of this belief, and how it doesn’t apply when other Western nations must engage in warfare, is made evident by both historical and modern conflicts.
It was no great concern by the Allies when fighting Nazi Germany that bombing raids would lead to the radicalization of Germans so they would enlist into the SS, nor did the US deliberately create more Jihadis when conducting air strikes against ISIS. While there have been calls to come to the negotiating table, the Ukrainian government has never been told that its war to stop the Kremlin invasion was only further radicalizing Russian youth.
Preventing peace and coexistence
There was no question for any of these actors that negotiation and diplomacy were impossible until a certain degree of military success was obtained. The Nazis and ISIS also sought to prevent people from “living side by side in peace,” but it was understood that warfare was the only means to stop them – it wasn’t giving them what they want. What Hamas, Nazis, and ISIS wanted is complete victory and genocide of their enemies, and Chamberlain-like diplomatic placation or turning the other cheek is not what stops enemies such as these.
Hamas and its ilk do not speak the language of diplomacy, but of force. If the goal is peace through diplomacy and negotiation, then such an objective cannot be met while such forces of evil exist. Some wars must be fought, and not just fought, but won.
The idea that one creates more terrorists by fighting them is an illogical double standard, not only when contrasted with the past and contemporary wars, but also when one scrutinizes the discourse surrounding other actors within the same conflict. Hamas and Palestinian factions are never cautioned that their terrorism and pogroms radicalize more Israelis, or strengthen their resolve to fight.
Palestinian terrorists are believed to act with mindless violence, a stimulus-response like a prodded animal, in an apparent mindset of bigotry of low expectations, but Israelis are expected to be introspective and mindful of the issues. It is just as likely that Israeli force would result in a Gazan hating Hamas for inviting a conflagration, seeking a new path beyond political violence, or at least being sufficiently deterred from retreading old ground.
Yet in a bigoted worldview, as many indoctrinated Palestinians do not think or have other considerations besides a violent stimulus-response, it isn’t considered that Gazans may have other motivations to enlist with Hamas, regardless of the degree of Israeli military action. Some Palestinians, like Hamas, are beholden to a jihadist worldview preached by religious leaders, which casts eyes beyond the borders of Israel.
Some are motivated by political ideology, like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which seeks a socialist revolution. Many may also be nationalists, motivated by irredentist designs, still un-accepting the existence of Israel.
There are many other factors devoid of any military action that would drive someone to become a terrorist.
In Israel and the West Bank, affluent Palestinians have turned to terrorism for no reason other than religious or political zealotry. Attributing potential Palestinian actions as responses to Israeli operations fails to understand the underlying issues of conflict, leaving them unaddressed in favor of an ongoing cycle of violence narrative.
The idea that Israel’s military operations create more terrorism ignores that Hamas has been brainwashing and radicalizing children for more than 20 years. Civilian rapid-reaction security teams in the Gaza periphery kibbutzim described how terrorists wore wide gleeful grins while firing at them – not expressions of anger.
Gazans have gone through kindergarten ceremonies in which they execute Israelis, Hamas training summer camps, and watched television programming demonizing Jews. The seeds of violence have been sowed by Hamas far more than any Israeli action.
Leaving Hamas in power is far more likely to create terrorism than a supposed consequence of collateral damage. Hamas is a known quantity that will certainly raise generations for war, radicalization by airstrike is only a possibility.
What Biden and others call for is half measures – to leave Hamas in power and substantially change the conflict equation. This has been tried multiple times before. There were ceasefires and half-measures after Cast Lead, Pillar of Defense, Protective Edge, and Guardians of the Wall.
Each operation has brought with it more death and suffering without solving the problem, allowing Hamas time to rearm, reorganize, and of course, recruit. Leaving Hamas in power is what leads to the creation of more terrorists, and as with the Nazis and ISIS before them, only with its destruction can this be stopped.
The writer is an IDF infantry reservist serving on the Gaza border.
The United States is deferring the removal of certain Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden said on Friday, citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
The deferred designation, which lasts 18 months, allows Lebanese citizens to remain in the country with the right to work, according to a memorandum Biden sent to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly deteriorated due to tensions between Hezbollah and Israel,” Biden said in the memo.
“While I remain focused on de-escalating the situation and improving humanitarian conditions, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Lebanese nationals who are present in the United States.”Increased attacks since Oct.7
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a “support front” with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering Israel’s military assault in Gaza.
The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.
On the Israeli side, 10 Israeli civilians, a foreign agricultural worker and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Tens of thousands have been evacuated from both sides of the border.
Hezbollah is an Iran-backed terrorist group and the most powerful military and political force in Lebanon.
world news
Preparing for war: Haifa mayor describes city’s infrastructure changes tensions in North escalate
Haifa mayor Yona Yahav spoke this past Monday with Lior Rosenfeld on Radio North 104.5FM about the escalation of the war in the North and his entry into political office amidst the security situation.
Yahav began, “I cannot speak on behalf of the North as I don’t know exactly what’s happening there. No one updates me, as if we are not the largest and most important city in the North. Tomorrow, the Home Front Command is coming to see us for the first time, and we will see what they have to say. We are doing everything to ensure that the city itself and our residents are safe and know what to do in case, God forbid, missiles fall on us. They are more accurate than those in 2006.”
Yahav also discussed the city’s preparations for a war in the North.
“We are now changing the entire method of building public structures,” Yahav said. “We are preparing them for prolonged stays. The minimum will be four consecutive days in shelters and such buildings, which require preparation. For example, installing toilets, which we don’t have today, and we have given instructions to build them in places close to where new houses are being built. This has been fully understood, and developers have begun to understand that the talk about evacuation and reconstruction has undergone drastic changes in light of the security situation. For example, road width needs to be maintained for the sake of evacuating residents on these roads. These are things that were not considered until now and must now be taken into account.”
Yahav’s plans for the success of Haifa’s future
Yahav then discussed his appeal to the transportation minister to stop the Highway 23 Carmel Tunnels’ toll charge.
“We called on the transportation minister to stop the discrimination. Haifa and the North are always discriminated against compared to central Israel, and there’s no reason for this. There are huge tunnels dug in Jerusalem that do not cost residents any money to pass through. There’s no reason why the tunnels dug in Haifa should include a toll. I speak on behalf of Haifa residents, and we are preparing to petition if we do not receive an answer.”
Regarding his entry into his mayoral role about three months ago, Yahav said, “I found a completely ruined city. They destroyed the municipality, and it’s very difficult to move things around. I don’t understand how residents sat idly by and kept quiet. We are trying to go to government offices to fix relations, to get funds, to move projects to bring in fees – and we are doing all this in a short time.
“The ministers are acting openly and with the goodwill to help. I am now waiting for the money on the table. The casino building in Bat Galim will be a luxurious hotel on the Bat Galim seashore. This neighborhood will undergo a complete transformation and will be the most beautiful neighborhood in the country. It will also be the only neighborhood facing a recognized beach. We came to make a change, and we will succeed.”
In conclusion, he touched on the issue of wild boars: “You won’t be able to follow them because soon you won’t see them anymore.”
world news
‘Psychological operation’: Turkey condemns FM Katz social media post depicting toddler Erdogan
Turkey’s Foreign Affairs Ministry released a statement on Sunday condemning a social media post made by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, in which Katz presented Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as a toddler on the lap of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Katz, in a Sunday post on X, wrote “Erdogan @RTErdogan finances and arms terrorist organizations of Hamas to carry out attacks and murder against Israelis. The General Security Service captured a squad of students from Bir Zeit who were employed by the Hamas headquarters in Turkey to carry out murder attacks in Israel, through training and weapons and tens of thousands of dollars provided to them.
“Erdogan turned Turkey into a state that supports terrorism and subjects Turkey to the Iranian axis of evil in the name of extreme ideology and blatant anti-Semitism.”
Katz’s comments were made in reference to a recently thwarted terror attack planned by the student Hamas cell in Bir Zeit University, north of Ramallah. The attempted attack, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said, was directed by Hamas’s base in Turkey.ארדואן @RTErdogan מממן ומחמש ארגוני טרור של החמאס לביצוע פיגועים ורצח נגד ישראלים. שירות הביטחון הכללי לכד חוליית סטודנטים מביר זית שהופעלו ע”י מפקדת החמאס בטורקיה לביצוע פיגועי רצח בישראל, באמצעות אימונים ונשק ועשרות אלפי דולרים שסופקו להם.ארדואן הפך את טורקיה למדינה תומכת טרור… pic.twitter.com/R0SCjYdngN
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) July 21, 2024
Turkey condemns the social media post
The Turkish ministry responded “The Israeli Foreign Minister is trying to hide Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians behind a series of lies, slander and disrespect.
“Israel’s dirty propaganda targeting Türkiye and President Erdoğan, and psychological operation attempts will not bear fruit.
“The members of the Netanyahu Government, who have killed nearly forty thousand Palestinians in Gaza and are now trying to start a regional war in order to stay in power, will be tried in international courts and held accountable for their crimes.
“Türkiye will continue to speak the truth and defend the right of the Palestinian people to live in justice and peace.”
The ministry cited data provided by the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Additionally, Turkey has repeatedly asserted that it does not categorize Hamas as a terrorist organization – despite its western allies acknowledging it as such and its proven attacks on Israeli civilians.
-
Solar Energy3 years agoDLR testing the use of molten salt in a solar power plant in Portugal
-
Camera3 years agoCharles ‘Chuck’ Geschke, co-founder of Adobe and inventor of the PDF, dies at 81
-
world news8 months ago
Gulf, France aid Gaza, Russia evacuates citizens
-
world news3 months ago
Jewish diaspora expresses concern as Iranian drones launch toward Israel
-
Camera3 years ago80,000MP panoramas: EarthCam announces world’s highest-resolution robotic webcam
-
TOP SCEINCE3 months agoCan animals count?
-
Solar Energy8 months agoGlencore eyes options on battery recycling project
-
Camera8 months agoDJI Air 3 vs. Mini 4 Pro: which compact drone is best?
