Israel is Coming Apart at the Seams, It Seems

In general, I don't like posting opinion columns but this rabbi makes some good points.

More at the link.

Oh the ICC! How many criminals has the ICC successfully jailed?

17 to date.

This started off great, then almost immediately spiralled into false equivalencies.

"Killing is wrong no matter who does the killing and no matter who's getting killed" would have been so easy to say.

But no, someone had to conflate actual killing with non-lethal security measures put in place after deadly terrorist attacks in the hopes of preventing future terrorist attacks, and then claim there's "no justification" for any of those non-lethal security measures.

Most people that aren't insane libertarians understand the old adage "safety regulations are written in blood." Guess what, so are those security measures.

You mean like the security theater that we now have to endure at airports because of 9/11? You know, the event that might not have happened if the US hadn't fucked around so much with the inner workings of other countries?

Then there's this: https://kyivindependent.com/update-...ers-to-evacuate-from-gaza-via-rafah-crossing/

I think that we can all agree that foreigners in the region who have no ties to Hamas, Hezbollah, or any other terrorist organizations ought to be allowed to get the fuck out of the area.

That sounds suspiciously like victim blaming and an endorsement of collective punishment. You get that, don't you? Or do you think it's okay because you imagine yourself "punching up" when you say thing like this?

You mean like your comments about how Israel is handling the current round of terrorist attacks by Hamas? Do you think that it would be okay for Iraqis to launch terroristic attacks on the US in retaliation for the illegal war we launched against their country? I'm sure you're not. I'm also sure that you wouldn't be terribly surprised if that happened to us, no matter how much you might disagree with both the war and the terrorists. Do you not see the similarities? Do you not recognize that all nations have the bad habit of responding to things like terrorist attacks with things that make the situation worse? Has the US been made safer from things like taking our shoes off at airports and the Patriot Act? Or have these things done, at best, little to solve the issues, and at worst, have eroded our freedoms?

The only thing that I'm trying to do is point out that things aren't nearly as simple as you seem to want to make them. I'm just not willing to say that everything Israel has done to protect their security is the correct thing to do. You'll notice that I've never objected to Israel having nuclear weapons.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/?id=103804516

1. Whataboutism.

2. You're trying to pretend you're better than me, so using anything I've said as a defense or justification for your own words isn't going to work here.

Maybe take some time and reflect on your unconscious biases. Spend some time working on Tuckerfan.

Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic...

The Irish.

AMMAN, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Jordanian riot police on Friday forcibly dispersed hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters trying to reach a border zone with the Israeli-occupied West Bank as thousands held anti-Israel demonstrations across the country, witnesses said.

Jordan is worried that a regional widening of violence arising from the war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza could have repercussions for itself given that a large percentage of its population are Palestinians.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...ers-heading-border-with-west-bank-2023-10-13/

Quite a number actually.

Clean water has now run out in Gaza.

A human rights lawyer breaks it down.

Political correctness claims another victim who was just using words.

*Revises CV*

Hey! I recognize that bingo card. It's almost identical to the one for Hamas Bingo.

Yes, the subtle difference is that Hamas isn't directly given huge amounts of military aid by nations that proclaim to be "rules-based".

St Louis (all of Missouri) is a shithole. Don't wish for what you don't want.

Yes, let's indict all of them. The world has plenty of jail cells for both Hamas and Israeli leaders.

Ah, just saw Washington University and assumed it was actually IN Washington. I occasionally forget you Colonials had no fucking imagination when naming places.

I mean, Shafter was a decent effort, but it's no Shitterton.

I just saw the supposed Israeli bomb attack on the cars evacuating Palestinians.

It's either an IED or a car bomb, not something dropped from the sky.

https://www.axios.com/2023/10/15/israel-resumes-water-supply-to-southern-gaza-after-us-pressure

Israel has restored the water supply to south Gaza after telling everyone in Gaza to go there, apparently after pressure from the US.

https://lifestraw.com/products/lifestraw

The people of Flint will be relieved to hear the US considers access to clean water a human right.

Me: Hey, some good news! I hope this briefly interrupts the tiresome knee jerk anti-Americanism coming off some people in the thread.

You:

It's good news, but it's insufficient.

There is a very definite shift in language today in the US, UK and EU. More pressure needs to be brought to bear so that it changes further.