A ceasefire without the surrender of Hamas only postpones the fighting as Hamas will never give up power.

Dear Yuyutsu,

You wrote: "Could we not agree that Israel HAS to do roughly what it does now in order to survive?"

Absolutely not. The continuing carving up of the West Bank, the government sanctioned movement of families into militarily occupied territory, and the escalating settler violence are not things Israel needs to do to ensure its survival. This is something only anti-Palestinian RWNJs would assert.

Speaking of RWNJs it is interesting how some many of the usual suspects here are staunchly defending Jewish victimhood but are scathing that Indigenous Australians have any themselves. Blinkered and racist perspectives.

If hamas took over an israeli hospital, full of israeli doctors, nurses and patients, would israel flatten the hospital the same way they have done in gaza?

Dear Yuyutsu, You ask me:

Do you consider it the role of the government of Israel to run after you and change what you think?

No. Not me. I note however, that the government of Israel is doing a crap job of convincing the rest of the world too.

While the government of Israel continues its barba ric, inhumane murdering of thousands of civilians, I will continue to judge it harshly and speak out against that government.

The amount of lying and tying oneself in knots, claiming historical or moral superiority trying to justify the unjustifiable that I see on this blog is is almost as scary as what is actually happening in Gaza.

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Dear Aires54,

This report on a potentially missed opportunity by the Biden administration is sobering.

I does speak to how beholden to the Israeli government the US is.

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2024/01/01/us-rejected-palestinian-deal-that-would-have-avoided-10-7/

Dear SteeleRedux,

«Absolutely not. The continuing carving up of the West Bank,...»

I was only speaking of the war in Gaza, that was the context, nothing else.

If it was up to me then I would be driving out of the West Bank at 200km/h at the risk of getting a speeding ticket.

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Dear Mikk,

«If hamas took over an israeli hospital, full of israeli doctors, nurses and patients, would israel flatten the hospital the same way they have done in gaza?»

There are no tunnels under Israeli hospitals.

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Dear Indyvidual,

«Conscription is the unfortunate need for defending the country you live in when the demographic’s mentality is such that everyone demands protection & security yet no-one is willing to pull their weight !»

That's highly hypothetical: in reality, when the cause is just, there are more who volunteer to defend a country even without being called.
- See in Ukraine how old and amputated people join the fight on crutches. The IDF has volunteers fighting in their 60's and 70's, even one in his 90's.

Also, people can also help defend their country in other ways and/or on their own terms.

But to answer that hypothetical question, suppose not enough people volunteer to defend their country, then that must mean that the country in question does not deserve to be defended.

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Dear SoapBox,

«Jews within Germany, who were never a part of mainstream German society»

Felix Mendelssohn
Arnold Schoenberg
Gustav Mahler
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Otto Klemperer

These are the most famous among dozens of Jewish-German composers.

«Christianity has played a large part in the hatred of Jews»

Correct. Many people, particularity in Europe, blame the Jews for complicating their formerly care-free life by the introduction of Christianity.

But let's not digress: the topic is Israel, not the Jews.
The incidental fact that most Israelis happen to also be Jews should not make a difference in their natural response to terror.

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Dear Aries,

The crap Israeli government deserves to die, but the IDF does what it needs to do in Gaza DESPITE that evil government, not because.