Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, outside a morgue in Rafah, southern Gaza, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, outside a morgue in Rafah, southern Gaza, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
The thing is Israel has no intention to help the people of Gaza. They have literally said so. So if they will not help the people of Gaza, they will either do exactly what you say is not an option: leave Gaza to their own fate, or they will take the land without helping the people of Gaza, which amounts to ethnic cleansing.
To be in the right (and I say this lightly, as taking Gaza would definitely be nothing more than occupying a country through an invasion), Israel needs to either claim Gaza and make the Gazan people full citizens of Israel, including all the rights that come with that (which is, if other parts of Israel and the occupied areas of the West Bank are anything to go by, is not going to happen), or they need to leave Gaza alone, including the removal of any blockade or occupation, and give Gaza a realistic chance at being it’s own state.
Well, I will say, if they don’t fix Gaza as beneveolent irredentists would do, they’re going to have big problems doing anything on the world stage because if they’ve rooted out Hamas and destroyed its ability to carry out additional attacks and then afterward do fuck all for the civilians who just want to live and work in peace with their families because that would make liars and fools out of people like me, who believe any country with democratic ideals is a precious jewel among the absolute authoritarian shithole theocracies that surround it. If they don’t fix it, it’s called annexation, it would make Israel a Pariah. I sure hope you are wrong.
The Israeli people are going to need to throw Bibi out after this, too, for the same reason; it’s not disimilar from what Americans must do next election to maintain credibility as a democracy. This is part of separating the government of Israel from the people of Israel. There’s a popular mandate to destroy Hamas after October 7, in my opinion doing so is both moral and just, and derives the greater benefit to humanity. But the longer and more bloody, the less popular it will be and the political will for further violence will evaporate. That part of democracy, too; it won’t be too disimilar from the circumstances in America which ended the war in Vietnam and Lyndon Johnson’s political career.
Admittedly, Israel’s current plan for Gaza after the war is a bit hazy at best (as in, they still don’t appear to have one). However, early on, Israel claimed that “We shall demolish it and it will never be built again.” and that they “take no responsibility for life on the Gaza strip after the war” (source: https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/palestine-israel/2023/10/20/israel-to-take-no-responsibility-for-life-on-gaza-strip-after-war-says-defence-minster/?outputType=amp).
I sure hope they have changed their mind and will have an actual plan to help the Gazan people, but I am nowhere near as optimistic as you. I do not consider Israel an “absolute jewel” with democratic ideals. Israel is just as much a “shithole theocracy” as the countries surrounding it. The difference is that they have the money for an extensive (and I mean extensive) propaganda and lobbying machine. The amount of policies, organisations and projects of Israel to give it a positive name in the Western world is absolutely insane, and the fact that so many exist in the first place tells you enough about the true intentions of the country. A true democracy would not need to control public opinion nearly as much.
Access denied to your link.
It’s not a “true” democracy, it’s a “flawed” democracy. Same as America. Under political science standards. And because it’s a democracy it’s susceptible to factions, and a faction is in charge there right now that must be thrown out. Same as America recently was and may soon be again.