Israel and its supporters blithely state, as if it were plainly obvious, that the only side Hamas in particular and Palestinians writ large will respond to is naked force, i.e., violence. The irony they miss is that their war against Gaza is a response to Hamas’ terrorist attack of October 7th. You can be sure that, when Hamas’ leadership hatched their plans for that attack, they also believed that Israel would never respond to anything other than brute force. Dehumanization is not the kind of common ground needed in the Middle East or anywhere else.
Let’s Bond Over Dehumanization
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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Yeah, but I mean, look at which side is better dressed. Those must be the good guys. Every children’s cartoon teaches this, c’mon
The Palestinians have tried nonviolent resistance on several occasions, most recently in 2019. The Israeli response was to shoot protesters’ arms and legs off, unless they were reporters or medical personnel, in which cases they were frequently shot dead. Even Gandhi counselled that nonviolence has its limits, and the Israelis are clearly sufficiently lacking in conscience for nonviolence to be effective. “If someone is threatening your women, children, and old folks with violence, and will not be deterred nonviolently, then it is better to take up arms and resist them than to let your families be killed,” or words to that effect, quoth the Mahatma.