first, while there are some people who are paid to help with Israel's PR battle, most people defending teh state are not paid. Some are trained, others are not. Why is that bad? Do you think that Arabs don't pay people for PR? Americans don't? Are you that naive?
Second, hasbara (explanation) is called by you "peddling a narrative." That's nice but immaterial. I would call it "explaining the truth in the face of Hamas lies and Pallywood." You have an article that makes a claim. Would it help if I linked to an article which said otherwise? Is having Turkish
opinion listed supposed to be any sort of objective analysis?
As to your claim "The Gaza Genocide is not a "war" just as machine gunning homeless and starving women and children in a line is not "combat"." You have a right to that opinion. But it IS a war against Hamas and, sadly, Hamas is putting civilians in the line of fire. Israel has provided options, safe havens, and aid to a people who have called for its destruction and has gone beyond any other country in the treatment of its enemies during a war. If you want, I can get links for all of these claims. Interested?
Yes, we believe in "never forget" -- never forget the existential threat that people who call for more "October 7th" massacres present.
First of all, I appreciate your civility and know that in every conflict that neither side is either intrinsically good or evil.
I am also not so naive as to think that only the "other" side of any conflict uses propaganda and as an older combat Veteran, I am not so quick to condemn genuine collateral damage; the unavoidable killing of innocent civilians.
However, there is too much irrefutable evidence from even Israeli sources that IDF regards the killing of what Israeli Defense Minister calls "human animals" "...more lightly than the killing of mosquitoes" (1)
Another Jewish source reports the IDF crimes that "...include the use of human shields, close-range murder of civilians, targeting of medics, and more." (2)
If you don't believe the Jewish and Israeli sources I've already cited in earlier comments, perhaps you'll believe the confessions of the ethical Israelis of "Breaking the Silence". (3)
I stand by my assertion that what moral Jews(4) around the world are calling a genocide is not a "war".
Where is Hamas' Air Force, where is Hamas' Navy, tanks, helicopter gunships, and heavy artillery?
Netanyahu couldn't call his genocidal foray through Gaza "mowing the lawn" as he has phrased other murderous rampages.
Apologists for Netanyahu's genocide act as if the entire Palestine - Israel conflict began with Hamas' attack on 7 October 2023 when, not only did Israel help create Hamas to destroy the PLO but the cyclical violence began with the invasion of foreign Zionist terrorist gangs in the 1940s and continues as I write this.
Re:
Hamas is putting civilians in the line of fire.
I've read this absurd rationalization countless times.
It's not Hamas that massacred thousands of Palestine's native residents and herded the rest into a walled open-air prison that Israel uses as an arms testing ground (5) every time they feel like "mowing the lawn".
In other words, artificially created population density is no excuse for mass murder.
Re:
Israel has provided options, safe havens, and aid to a people who have called for its destruction and has gone beyond any other country in the treatment of its enemies during a war.
Even before the tragic events of 7 October 2023, almost half of Israeli Jews supported ethnic cleansing( 6) of all native Palestinian Arabs and with today's murderous "Settler" extremism (7), I hope you'll understand why anyone today would have trouble believing that Israel is a gushing fount of philanthropy toward the native residents of Palestine whose primary offense was already living on land coveted by foreign Zionist terrorists.
The most compelling proof that Netanyahu and his right wing extremists are only interested in the systematic extermination of Gaza's residence and theft of their land is the absence of an End Game or Exit Strategy.
What will Gaza be in 6 months other than endless mounds of rubble and body parts?
I rarely make predictions but I'll make two:
1. Even if Hamas is eliminated, resistance to Israel's illegal occupation will only grow. Netanyahu can't kill his way to Israel's security.
2. America will pay dearly because of its complicity in what over 1/3 of America believes is genocide. (8)
Finally, my time in and around Palestinian refugee camps during the '73 War has allowed me to see the side most heavily repressed by MSM. I am also aware of the numerous Israeli / Jewish NGOs that help Palestinians and expose IDF atrocities just as I appreciate the democratic candor of Israeli media and society.
Because I have spent time in multiple hostile environments, I fully appreciate the desire of everyday Israelis to be in a secure setting.
It is simply my opinion that the greatest obstacle to security has come from the "Greater Israel," right wing, "Settler" extremists.
The following article (9) explains that the Settlements are proof that Israel's right wing doesn't want peace and the security that comes with it. (unfortunately, it's behind a paywall)
While we obviously disagree on some major points, I hope we can agree that the sooner the killing stops the less likely we are to have a regional escalation.
Thanks,
(1)"The Israel Massacre Forces"
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-the-israel-massacre-forces-1.5962852
EXCERPT "The shooting on the Gaza border shows once again that the killing of Palestinians is accepted in Israel more lightly than the killing of mosquitoes"CONTINUED
(2). "Independent investigation details Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians in Gaza"
Independent investigation details Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians in Gaza
EXCERPT "A new independent medical fact-finding mission in Gaza has detailed Israel’s deliberate killing of Palestinian civilians in its summer 2014 attack, codenamed Operation “Protective Edge.” Acts documented in the investigation include the use of human shields, close-range murder of civilians, targeting of medics, and more."
CONTINUED
(3). "BREAKING THE SILENCE"
Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran soldiers who have served in the Israeli military since the start of the Second Intifada and have taken it upon themselves to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories. We endeavor to stimulate public...
www.breakingthesilence.org.il
(4). “Jews Against Genocide statement and action”
www.ijan.org
EXCERPT “We, Jews Against Genocide, came to Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial of the genocide committed against Jews, to honor the Palestinian children who are dying in a genocide committed by Jews.
We brought dolls to symbolise the children of Gaza, and tried to bring a glimpse of the horror that Gazan’s face, to Israel’s doorstep. We hope to show Israel, and the world, the absurd reality of using the memory of one genocide to justify another.” CONTINUED
(5). “The Lab”: Israel Tests Weapons, Tactics On Captive Palestinian Population
https://www.wrmea.org/2013-septembe...actics-on-captive-palestinian-population.html
EXCERPT "“The Lab,” which won a recent award at DocAviv, Israel’s documentary Oscars, is due to premiere in the U.S. in August. Directed by Yotam Feldman, the film presents the first close-up view of Israel’s arms industry and the dealers who have enriched themselves.
The title relates to the film’s central argument: that Israel has rapidly come to rely on the continuing captivity of Palestinians in what are effectively the world’s largest open-air prisons.
The reason is that there are massive profits to be made from testing Israeli military innovations on the more than four million Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank."CONTINUED
(6). “Nearly half of Israeli Jews believe in ethnic cleansing, survey finds”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/almost-half-of-israeli-jews-want-ethnic-cleansing-palestinians-wake-up-call-survey-finds-a6919271.html
EXCERPT “Almost half of Jewish Israelis believe Arabs should be "expelled or transferred" from
Israel, a survey has found." CONTINUED
(7). "Israel Must Loudly Arrest the Murderous West Bank Settlers"
Or risk losing any moral authority in this war.
slate.com
EXCERPT "Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack,
settlers there have killed more than 120 Palestinians and injured at least 2,000. They have forcibly expelled more than 800 Palestinians from their homes, blown up their generators and solar panels, and burned down tents of Bedouin herders.
Again: This has been going on not in Gaza but in the West Bank—which is governed by the Palestinian Authority, not by Hamas." CONTINUED
(8). “35 percent of Americans say Israel committing genocide in Gaza: Poll”
www.middleeasteye.net
EXCERPT “Around 35 percent of Americans believe Israel is carrying out a genocide against Palestinians, according to the latest
Economist/YouGov poll." CONTINUED
(9). “Israel Does Not Want Peace”
Rejectionism Is Embedded in Israel's Most Primal Beliefs. There, at the Deepest Level, Lies the Concept That This Land Is Destined for the Jews Alone.
www.haaretz.com
EXCERPT “Israel does not want peace. There is nothing I have ever written that I would be happier to be proved wrong about. But the evidence is piling up. In fact, it can be said that Israel has never wanted peace – a just peace, that is, one based on a just compromise for both sides".CONTINUED