JBG
Liberal democrat
One year ago today, Hamas conducted an utterly brutal attack against partiers at an Israeli rock festival. What has happened, both in the West and in Israel is indescribable.
Developments in Israel - Israel's initial response was demonstrably unprepared. Somehow, the major portions of the leadership of Hamas escaped. Because Hamas managed to create a "Gaza under Gaza" Israel had no way to respond without causing massive civilian casualties. Hamas placed its military facilities in tunnels underneath schools, hospitals and other civilian uses. Israel simply could not respond without massive destruction of civilian facilities and without increasing already desperate suffering.
After a halting start, Israel's response has become much better. In many ways, what has happened since the beginning of August is a model for what should have happened to begin with. First, major Hamas leaders were killed in safe houses in Iran. Iran and Hamas were badly humiliated by the Israeli response, which has been effective.
Even better has been the recent attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Those attacks were sequential. First, though Israel has not claimed credit, were the pager explosions. The next day, walkie talkies blew up. Nazrallah Met his deserved fate days later, as did much of Hezbollah's leadership.
Western Reaction - The West's response, ranging from university campuses to governments has been horrific. At one time the West was not shy about designating itself as the "civilized world" and others as "savages." Even the New York Times regularly described Arab attackers as “marauders.” Now, for whatever reason, we dignify savages as “militants.” We criticize Israel for “disproportionate” responses to activity which at one time would have been unacceptable. Somehow, murdering 1200 innocent civilians and grabbing hostages and committing rape is an acceptable tactic. Students yelling “from the river to the sea” are advocating Hitlerian murder. No one calls them out on this. They are attending school on their parents' dime or more likely on subsidized student aid while constructing encampments and destroying university life. University professors express "exhilaration." University presidents testify in Congress that whether antisemitic violence violence violates university codes of conduct depends on the "context."
Somehow, we are squeamish about treating these people as criminals. If we arrest them, we are releasing them without charges. Alvin Bragg dismissed virtually all the charges against the Vandals and other criminals.
Lessons from October 7 - What October 7th shows is that we have totally lost our nerve To defend and protect civilization. We applaud murder. We condemn Israel's efforts to ensure that “never again” has meaning.
For more:
See Bari Weiss: A Year of Revelations (link) for another excellent discussion.
Developments in Israel - Israel's initial response was demonstrably unprepared. Somehow, the major portions of the leadership of Hamas escaped. Because Hamas managed to create a "Gaza under Gaza" Israel had no way to respond without causing massive civilian casualties. Hamas placed its military facilities in tunnels underneath schools, hospitals and other civilian uses. Israel simply could not respond without massive destruction of civilian facilities and without increasing already desperate suffering.
After a halting start, Israel's response has become much better. In many ways, what has happened since the beginning of August is a model for what should have happened to begin with. First, major Hamas leaders were killed in safe houses in Iran. Iran and Hamas were badly humiliated by the Israeli response, which has been effective.
Even better has been the recent attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Those attacks were sequential. First, though Israel has not claimed credit, were the pager explosions. The next day, walkie talkies blew up. Nazrallah Met his deserved fate days later, as did much of Hezbollah's leadership.
Western Reaction - The West's response, ranging from university campuses to governments has been horrific. At one time the West was not shy about designating itself as the "civilized world" and others as "savages." Even the New York Times regularly described Arab attackers as “marauders.” Now, for whatever reason, we dignify savages as “militants.” We criticize Israel for “disproportionate” responses to activity which at one time would have been unacceptable. Somehow, murdering 1200 innocent civilians and grabbing hostages and committing rape is an acceptable tactic. Students yelling “from the river to the sea” are advocating Hitlerian murder. No one calls them out on this. They are attending school on their parents' dime or more likely on subsidized student aid while constructing encampments and destroying university life. University professors express "exhilaration." University presidents testify in Congress that whether antisemitic violence violence violates university codes of conduct depends on the "context."
Somehow, we are squeamish about treating these people as criminals. If we arrest them, we are releasing them without charges. Alvin Bragg dismissed virtually all the charges against the Vandals and other criminals.
Lessons from October 7 - What October 7th shows is that we have totally lost our nerve To defend and protect civilization. We applaud murder. We condemn Israel's efforts to ensure that “never again” has meaning.
For more:
See Bari Weiss: A Year of Revelations (link) for another excellent discussion.
