The Political Thread

[mygrimmbrother]

This is a ridiculously one-sided conflict, not a war. It's a slaughter. As for Hamas provoking the current military action - Gaza has been under siege for 7 years, completely blockaded. Israel say they don't target civilian infrastructure yet there are accounts of them destroying olive groves and fishing nets along the coast. When you pen that many people in such a dense area and systematically abuse them, OF COURSE SOME WILL RESIST, and they have every right to.

Oh, and that fancy Iron Dome, I believe that shoots down 90-odd% of all Hamas' home-made, barely dangerous rockets anyway.

Fuck Israel.

[Old Tankie]

"Hamas' home-made, barely dangerous rockets", you having a laugh?  Or do you mean "home-made" by the Iranian State who, along with their mates in Hamas, want to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.  Yes, and screw the Israelis for having the temerity to shoot down some of the rockets.  Perhaps they should let them land and kill as many Israelis as possible, would that make you happy?

According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees more than 1,800 Palestinians have been starved to death or been murdered by President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.  Have you been on here having a pop at him?  If not, why not?

Have you commented on here about the massacres in South Sudan perpetrated by Boko Haram or the death of hundreds of children in Eastern Ukraine?  Or the thousands killed by Isis in Iraq?  Or any of the other killing fields in the world?  Or is it just Israel that grabs your attention?  I wonder why.

[Jim_Campbell]

Do other horrors reduce the horrors that Israel is inflicting on Gaza?

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Have you commented on here about the massacres in South Sudan perpetrated by Boko Haram or the death of hundreds of children in Eastern Ukraine?  Or the thousands killed by Isis in Iraq?  Or any of the other killing fields in the world? 

Don't mean to nitpick your otherwise totally fact-checked post but "hundreds of children" have not died in Eastern Ukraine although that article doesn't include the 80 kids on MH17 because it's from last month but I don't think more than a hundred Ukranian kids have died since then. I'll keep a look out for more though so I can balance them out against all the other child deaths in the world and therefore not be totally mortified about the current Gaza crisis.

[Frank]

Have you commented on here about the massacres in South Sudan perpetrated by Boko Haram ... I wonder why.

Because Boko Haram is a Nigerian Islamic fascist organisation which does not operate in South Sudan, a state many thousands of miles to Nigeria's East. The genocide in South Sudan is of an ethnic character, rather than religious, and South Sudan was formed by mostly Christian and traditional African religious adherents who wanted to distance themselves from the predominantly Muslim North.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

That's some top class Whataboutery right there.

[Old Tankie]

Of course all casualties of wars are horrible, Jim.  I feel sorry for the Israeli casualties as well as the Palestinian casualties.  It's just that the concentration on Gaza intrigues me.  I wonder what the reason is?

[Richmond Clements]

Of course all casualties of wars are horrible, Jim.  I feel sorry for the Israeli casualties as well as the Palestinian casualties.  It's just that the concentration on Gaza intrigues me.  I wonder what the reason is?

I assuming you're hinting that it is in some way anti Semitic to oppose the bombing of children's hospitals?

[Jim_Campbell]

Because its the systematic assault by a massively well-equipped military state on a tiny area with two million people crammed into it, the vast majority of whom are just poor, hapless bastards who can't get out of the way because the Israelis have built a fucking great wall round the place and have even blockaded the coast. If the Israelis could work out how to put a roof on the place, I'm pretty sure they would.

[Old Tankie]

I agree that the odds are heavily in Israel's favour, Jim, but how do you suggest they deal with the hundreds of rockets being fired at them.  They pulled out of Gaza years ago but the rockets kept coming.

I never mentioned anything about being anti-Semetic, Richmond.  I just asked a question and Jim's given me his answer.

[Trout]

I hate this thread so much.

[Professor Bear]

Threads dedicated to difficult topics can keep some loons contained within, Trouty.
I can recall at least one occasion that someone uncoupled their discussion from another thread to bring it here, so it's maybe good to have a lightning rod on a forum as fond of thread drift as this one.  I know I'd have highjacked that Paddington Bear discussion if someone hadn't started a dedicated Holocaust Denial thread.

[Richmond Clements]

Jon Snow. Turns out he dosen't know nothing after all. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/27/jon-snow-gaza-israel-video-children-_n_5624934.html?utm_hp_ref=uk#closeOverlay

[mygrimmbrother]

That's some top class Whataboutery right there.

And that's exactly why I'm not even going to dignify Tankie's comment with a response.

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

I never mentioned anything about being anti-Semetic, Richmond.  I just asked a question and Jim's given me his answer.

That's somewhat disingenuous, I think the point you were making was perfectly clear.

Personally, a lot of the anti-Israel rhetoric does make me uncomfortable - even though I pretty much agree with it - because there's no getting round that it is a Jewish state with a democratically-elected government.

The reason Hamas provokes such slaughter of their own people with their stupid little rocket attacks is to harden international views against Israel, and it's obviously working. Israel needs to find another way of dealing with Hamas.