Does a military attack justify starving every man, women and child to death?

[planosteve]

The past five months have been clarifying. What was supposed to be hidden has been thrust into the light. What was supposed to be obscured has come sharply into focus.

Liberal democracy is not what it seems.

It has always defined itself in contrast to what it says it is not. Where other regimes are savage, it is humanitarian. Where others are authoritarian, it is open and tolerant. Where others are criminal, it is law-abiding. When others are belligerent, it seeks peace. Or so the manuals of liberal democracy argue.

But how to keep the faith when the world’s leading liberal democracies – invariably referred to as “the West” – are complicit in the crime of crimes: genocide?

Not just law-breaking or a misdemeanour, but the extermination of a people. And not just quickly, before the mind has time to absorb and weigh the gravity and extent of the crime, but in slow motion, day after day, week after week, month after month.

What kind of system of values can allow for five months the crushing of children under rubble, the detonation of fragile bodies, the wasting away of babies, while still claiming to be humanitarian, tolerant, peace-seeking?

And not just allow all this, but actively assist in it. Supply the bombs that blow those children to pieces or bring houses down on them, and sever ties to the only aid agency that can hope to keep them alive.

The answer, it seems, is the West’s system of values.

The mask has not just slipped, it has been ripped off. What lies beneath is ugly indeed.

Depravity on show

The West is desperately trying to cope. When Western depravity is fully on show, the public’s gaze has to be firmly directed elsewhere: to the truly evil ones.

They are given a name. It is Russia. It is Al Qaeda, and Islamic State. It is China. And right now, it is Hamas.

There must be an enemy. But this time, the West’s own evil is so hard to disguise, and the enemy so paltry – a few thousand fighters underground inside a prison besieged for 17 years – that the asymmetry is difficult to ignore. The excuses are hard to swallow.

Is Hamas really so evil, so cunning, so much of a threat that it requires mass slaughter? Does the West really believe that the attack of 7 October warrants the killing, maiming and orphaning of many, many tens of thousands of children as a response?

To stamp out such thoughts, Western elites have had to do two things. First, they have tried to persuade their publics that the acts they collude in are not as bad as they look. And then that the evil perpetrated by the enemy is so exceptional, so unconscionable it justifies a response in kind.

Which is exactly the role Western media has played over the past five months.

Starved by Israel

To understand how Western publics are being manipulated, just look to the coverage – especially from those outlets most closely aligned not with the right but with supposedly liberal values.

How have the media dealt with the 2.3 million Palestinians of Gaza being gradually starved to death by an Israeli aid blockade, an action that lacks any obvious military purpose beyond inflicting a savage vengeance on Palestinian civilians? After all, Hamas fighters will outlast the young, the sick and the elderly in any mediaeval-style, attritional war denying Gaza food, water and medicines.

A headline in the New York Times, for example, told readers last month, “Starvation is stalking Gaza’s children”, as if this were a famine in Africa – a natural disaster, or an unexpected humanitarian catastrophe – rather than a policy declared in advance and carefully orchestrated by Israel’s top echelons.

https://www.unz.com/jcook/how-the-weste ... e-in-gaza/

[GFB]

Can’t wait for Israel to do what they should have done 50 years ago.

[Mark]

When you commit an act of war, you are subjecting your own people to whatever defense/retaliation the victim of your attack deems necessary. The Japanese brought Hiroshima and Nagasaki on themselves.

[planosteve]

When you commit an act of war, you are subjecting your own people to whatever defense/retaliation the victim of your attack deems necessary. The Japanese brought Hiroshima and Nagasaki on themselves.

The Japanese govt. maybe, not the Japanese people. But, there is a lot of evidence that the initial attack on Pearl Harbor was what Roosevelt wanted for an excuse and he suckered the Japanese in.
Most of the Israelis, about 70%, now oppose Nut Job for the psychopathic maniac that he turned out to be.

[planosteve]

Can’t wait for Israel to do what they should have done 50 years ago.

What was that?

[Mark]

When you commit an act of war, you are subjecting your own people to whatever defense/retaliation the victim of your attack deems necessary. The Japanese brought Hiroshima and Nagasaki on themselves.

The Japanese govt. maybe, not the Japanese people. But, there is a lot of evidence that the initial attack on Pearl Harbor was what Roosevelt wanted for an excuse and he suckered the Japanese in.
Most of the Israelis, about 70%, now oppose Nut Job for the psychopathic maniac that he turned out to be.

You couldn't be more dead wrong, as per usual.

[GFB]

Can’t wait for Israel to do what they should have done 50 years ago.

What was that?

Eliminate their murderous, maniacal enemies in Gaza.

[planosteve]

Can’t wait for Israel to do what they should have done 50 years ago.

What was that?

Eliminate their murderous, maniacal enemies in Gaza.

As I mentioned before Hamas' leadership is not in Gaza. It's in Iran. How will killing all of the women and children in Gaza eliminate their leadership in Iran?
Confucius says "If you want to eliminate somebody, go wheres they is, not wheres they ain't.

[GFB]

What was that?

Eliminate their murderous, maniacal enemies in Gaza.

As I mentioned before Hamas' leadership is not in Gaza. It's in Iran. How will killing all of the women and children in Gaza eliminate their leadership in Iran?
Confucius says "If you want to eliminate somebody, go wheres they is, not wheres they ain't.

The “leaders” didn’t do the slaughtering.

By the way, the “leaders” are living large in Qatar..not Iran.

[planosteve]

Eliminate their murderous, maniacal enemies in Gaza.

As I mentioned before Hamas' leadership is not in Gaza. It's in Iran. How will killing all of the women and children in Gaza eliminate their leadership in Iran?
Confucius says "If you want to eliminate somebody, go wheres they is, not wheres they ain't.

The “leaders” didn’t do the slaughtering.

By the way, the “leaders” are living large in Qatar..not Iran.

They may live in Qatar, but they operate out of Iran who backs them.

The fact that the Hamas leadership continues to jet around the Middle East, holding meetings in Iran and then flying back to Qatar, a major non-NATO ally of the US, illustrates that Hamas continues to feel it has impunity after October 7.

[GFB]

As I mentioned before Hamas' leadership is not in Gaza. It's in Iran. How will killing all of the women and children in Gaza eliminate their leadership in Iran?
Confucius says "If you want to eliminate somebody, go wheres they is, not wheres they ain't.

The “leaders” didn’t do the slaughtering.

By the way, the “leaders” are living large in Qatar..not Iran.

They may live in Qatar, but they operate out of Iran who backs them.

The fact that the Hamas leadership continues to jet around the Middle East, holding meetings in Iran and then flying back to Qatar, a major non-NATO ally of the US, illustrates that Hamas continues to feel it has impunity after October 7.

The maniacal killers live in Gaza.

Your “leaders” are just rich guys that soaked them dry.

The killing needs to be done in Gaza..and will be.

[planosteve]

The “leaders” didn’t do the slaughtering.

By the way, the “leaders” are living large in Qatar..not Iran.

They may live in Qatar, but they operate out of Iran who backs them.

The fact that the Hamas leadership continues to jet around the Middle East, holding meetings in Iran and then flying back to Qatar, a major non-NATO ally of the US, illustrates that Hamas continues to feel it has impunity after October 7.

The maniacal killers live in Gaza.

Your “leaders” are just rich guys that soaked them dry.

The killing needs to be done in Gaza..and will be.

No they don't. At least not the leaders.
So, you favor killing all of the women and children in Gaza to punish Hamas?

[GFB]

They may live in Qatar, but they operate out of Iran who backs them.

The maniacal killers live in Gaza.

Your “leaders” are just rich guys that soaked them dry.

The killing needs to be done in Gaza..and will be.

No they don't. At least not the leaders.
So, you favor killing all of the women and children in Gaza to punish Hamas?

Hamas will be eliminated. There are still thousands in Gaza..hiding behind your precious women and children.

[rusty]

The maniacal killers live in Gaza.

Your “leaders” are just rich guys that soaked them dry.

The killing needs to be done in Gaza..and will be.

No they don't. At least not the leaders.
So, you favor killing all of the women and children in Gaza to punish Hamas?

Hamas will be eliminated. There are still thousands in Gaza..hiding behind your precious women and children.

What’s your point? We should eliminate women and children because Hamas is hiding behind them?

[jellowrestling]

No they don't. At least not the leaders.
So, you favor killing all of the women and children in Gaza to punish Hamas?

Hamas will be eliminated. There are still thousands in Gaza..hiding behind your precious women and children.

What’s your point? We should eliminate women and children because Hamas is hiding behind them?

What's your point? They should let the terrorists go because they are hiding behind their women and children?