Months after some Israelis started to protest against aid lorries entering Gaza at the main Kerem Shalom crossing, the battle has moved to other key junctions, where rival groups of activists do their best to block or protect aid convoys.
Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos of crowds, including some very young children, hurling food onto the ground and stamping on boxes of aid.
In one video, a group of jubilant protesters dance and celebrate on top of a looted lorry.
In another, one of the stranded lorries is ablaze.
In the West Bank, at least two drivers who were not carrying goods bound for Gaza were dragged from their cabs and beaten.
Other videos show Israeli vigilantes stopping lorries in Jerusalem and demanding that drivers show papers proving they are not transporting aid to Gaza. Their faces are uncovered and they appear to be acting with complete impunity.
I’m glad that you don’t support collective punishment of Palestinians.
That’s the common ground between you and me. Where we disagree is in what steps to take to stop it. I’m so old that I boycotted Apartheid and later had the very moving experience of being thanked for my country doing that by people who had lived through it.
From some of your comments in here I think you have trouble seeing the enormity of what is happening to your fellow human beings in Gaza right now. In recent years sanctions have been used to halt an attempted genocide in Ethiopia and to weaken the power of the genocidaires in Myanmar. It’s actually usually only when superpowers (China, USA) stand in our way that they become less effective.
You’re likely right to some extent, but do consider that not all of what you hear happening in Gaza is actually true.
In contrast to probably 99% of Lemmy, I actually served in the IDF, I even have friends who are currently in Gaza. I know a lot of reports by the “Gaza Health Ministry” (Hamas) are straight up bullshit, I know for a fact that UNRWA has been infiltrated by terrorists (even if people around the world find this hard to believe).
I also highly suspect that either the IDF or the government has decided to be much less careful in this war (when it comes to making sure innocents are safe), which I think is terrible.
But I also don’t see a way forward for the state of Israel without the destruction of Hamas, because otherwise we will just repeat this in a few years, and I don’t think Hamas will stop attacking us even if we are sanctioned by most of the world (I also fear that in such a scenario, a government might rise to power in Israel which is much more extreme than even now).
The only real solution that doesn’t involve genocide is ensuring that Palestinians are happy, healthy, and have the opportunity to thrive. Terrorist groups like Hamas don’t just poof into existence. It takes a mix of desperation, grief, and hopelessness (and sometimes megalomania) to reach that point. Groups like that can’t be defeated or destroyed with bombs and missiles. Inflicting more pain and suffering creates more desperate, hopeless people who don’t feel like they have anything to live for or chance at living a good life. If the IDF kills every member of Hamas in this war, another group will rise because of all of the mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends, and family that have lost their lives as “collateral damage”.
If you want to halt Hamas and similar groups, your government needs to stop doing the recruiting efforts for them. Hell, with time, effort, and prosecuting those who perpetuate the violence, the Palestinian people could be allies.
I agree with you, but the issue is groups like Hamas don’t just poof out of existence either; and Hamas has shown they can’t be trusted to act in good faith (before Hamas’ surprise attack, there was actually a fairly long period where it seemed in Israel that Hamas’ is appeased by various benefits given to Hamas and Gazans, like giving some permission to work in Israel, and allowing money from Qatar to enter the strip. Israeli defense in turn moved troops away from Gaza and lowered the combat readiness of the surrounding areas, which led to the disaster on the 7th of October).
And unfortunately, I don’t see Hamas allowing a more reasonable group to from in Gaza while they’re still in power.
I hope I’ll be alive to see this
Thanks for your comment. Fwiw I get most of my information from credible NGOs, and even if UNRWA was magically 100% terrorists (implausible. I’ve met an Israeli woman who worked as a humanitarian in Gaza and I think she had a pretty good idea of that space) I wouldn’t feel any differently about the Gaza Genocide. Nothing excuses it.
Similarly, preventing civilians losing their lives will always take precedence over preventing civilians losing their jobs.
I’m from a former colony myself, and history has taught that the only ways Israel can avoid being attacked by the people it has dispossessed would be if it either:
stops colonizing/settling/occupying/blockading and makes reparations or
genocides and displaces the population to a tiny fraction.
It’s disappointing that in this day and age most Israeli citizens prefer either option 2 or else the status quo of ongoing occupation and violence, but it’s not that unusual.
Personally, I think Israel is highly unlikely to turn back from genocide now. The only hope is for international intervention.