I don’t think you’re as dense as you pretend to be. But for anyone deceived by straw-manning and performative confusion used as a rhetorical trick, let me be clear.
[Graph demonstrating the difference in scale of civilian deaths by the IDF and the lopsided human toll the Palestinian people have paid over the conflict]
Hamas has little in common with the French Resistance. But the Palestinians are just as human as the people of Oradour-sur-Glane, and collective punishment is wrong whether it is done by Israel’s criminal leaders trying to distract attention from their political blunders, or Nazis. Apologia for collective punishment and disregard for human life is justification for fascism.
What you absolutely lose track of while arguing is not whether what the IDF is doing wrong - it is. It is the way you’re arguing.
This conflict won’t be resolved by blaming only one side while glorifying the other. And glorifying Hamas is what you are doing when you are equaling them to the French partisans.
I’m open to the actual argument, that being are they in fact using human shields, and what is the IDFs responsibility in protecting these civilians.
And funnily enough I agree with you here. Killing civilians is wrong no matter who does it. As is collective punishment.
I’m not arguing or debating with you. That’s not what I’ve done, and I won’t do it. I’m talking past you.
while glorifying the other
I hope everyone who reads your words can recognize that you’re mischaracterizing my statements, and acting in bad faith. Anyone who encounters this exchange can use it as evidence that you are not worth serious engagement.
All you do is attack the way I’m arguing, which you don’t seem enjoy. I don’t understand what the point of that is.
I’m not even disagreeing with your critic of the IDF. I just need to point out the absolute stupidity of your comment
French resistance during the second world war knew the Nazis would retaliate; they still operated and hid within the civilian population. There are former towns in France where only crumbling stone, abandoned cars, and a plaque to the dead remains, a vow to never rebuild and never forget. Everyone was killed and their homes burned in reprisal for maquis activity.
Are you saying the French women and children murdered by Nazis are the fault of the French partisans? Is this a grey moral area for you?
Are you siding with the Nazis, huh? HUH?
That’s just not necessary, nor a particularly pleasant debate style.
But I’m not getting that through to you. So enjoy your weekend!
I don’t think you’re as dense as you pretend to be. But for anyone deceived by straw-manning and performative confusion used as a rhetorical trick, let me be clear.
Using human shields has a specific an codified meaning; all humanitarian organizations who have investigated Hamas or any other Palestinian defense organization have found no evidence of this war crime. International law also makes clear that even if an armed force is improperly using civilian objects to shield itself, its opponent is still required to protect civilians from disproportionate harm.
Killing civilians is wrong. It is wrong when Hamas does it, it is therefore much more wrong when Israel, which has more resources and claims moral superiority, does it on a much larger scale, not just through retaliation bombings the last few weeks, but from before the seige of Gaza going back to the Nakba - massacring civilians, assisting their allies in massacring civilians, poisoning wells, using siege tactics to create an open-air prison and starvation conditions in Gaza, murdering activists, protesters, and journalists by the dozens. In their most obscene moments Israel has murdered children playing on a beach near a hotel populated by international journalists, and protected those murderers with their highest courts, but even more insidious is the culture of arbitrary detention and imprisonment of palestinian children. Not only does the IDF show complete disregard for Palestinian life when choosing their bombing targets, the inhabitants of Gaza rely on potable water and electricity from Israel – and now the Israeli authorities have them cut off. They have built an apartied system, and have engaged in collective punishment.
[Graph demonstrating the difference in scale of civilian deaths by the IDF and the lopsided human toll the Palestinian people have paid over the conflict]
As a commenter living in the west, my opinion has little influence on the tactics of Islamic authoritarians. Israel is much more sensitive to western public opinion. We are complicit with Israel’s crimes if we do not resist.
Hamas has little in common with the French Resistance. But the Palestinians are just as human as the people of Oradour-sur-Glane, and collective punishment is wrong whether it is done by Israel’s criminal leaders trying to distract attention from their political blunders, or Nazis. Apologia for collective punishment and disregard for human life is justification for fascism.
What you absolutely lose track of while arguing is not whether what the IDF is doing wrong - it is. It is the way you’re arguing.
This conflict won’t be resolved by blaming only one side while glorifying the other. And glorifying Hamas is what you are doing when you are equaling them to the French partisans.
I’m open to the actual argument, that being are they in fact using human shields, and what is the IDFs responsibility in protecting these civilians. And funnily enough I agree with you here. Killing civilians is wrong no matter who does it. As is collective punishment.
I’m not arguing or debating with you. That’s not what I’ve done, and I won’t do it. I’m talking past you.
I hope everyone who reads your words can recognize that you’re mischaracterizing my statements, and acting in bad faith. Anyone who encounters this exchange can use it as evidence that you are not worth serious engagement.
All you do is attack the way I’m arguing, which you don’t seem enjoy. I don’t understand what the point of that is.
I’m not even disagreeing with your critic of the IDF. I just need to point out the absolute stupidity of your comment
Are you siding with the Nazis, huh? HUH?
That’s just not necessary, nor a particularly pleasant debate style.
But I’m not getting that through to you. So enjoy your weekend!