A frequent talking points that Israel is their complaint that Hamas uses civilians as human shields. Of course, this ignores the fact that it’s difficult to build infrastructure away from civilians in a densely-populated urban environment like the Gaza Strip.
The Biden Administration claims that there’s more to the president’s full-throated support of Israel than a blank check. They say that, privately and behind the scenes, he’s quietly pressuring Israel to minimize civilian casualties among Palestinians and that his public posture ensures that Israel will listen. Given that Israel kills 40 times more Palestinians than the reverse, it’s hard to imagine how much worse Israel could behave without Biden’s “behind the scenes” efforts.
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.
Israel’s supporters argue that the nation has an inherent “right to exist.” Why? Why Israel? There are over 200 countries? Do they have an inherent right to exist? What about Palestine? What about all the nations and empires, like Parthia, that argued they were supported by God (or a god or gods) yet no longer exist? History shows that countries exist or cease to exist; there is no “right to exist.”
You can’t call yourself a democracy unless you hold elections. Americans have been supporting Ukraine in large part because it’s a democracy. But they’ve canceled all their elections and opposition parties and media are no longer allowed.
After Hamas left Gaza and carried out of a brutal raid in western Israel, killing 1400 Israelis, Israel enjoyed the sympathy of the international community. They immediately retaliated with a saturation bombing campaign. Now many thousands of Palestinians are dead and that sympathy for Israel is all but gone.
After three weeks of chaos and uncertainty, the Republican House of Representatives finally settled on a speaker, right-wing Louisiana representative Mike Johnson. All they wanted was a warm body; what they got was a loose cannon.
Former President Donald Trump has been hit by another gag order prohibiting him from disparaging witnesses and court officials in his public statements. Getting him to shut up, however, seems like an attempt to defy the laws of physics.
Leonard Cure was released from prison after serving 16 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Then he was pulled over by the police. They shot him to death.
Some employers are circulating a blacklist of college students who signed anti-Israel petitions with a view toward making them unemployable. What next?
