The United States is warning Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rein in “extremist” settlers in the West Bank in the wake of reports of violence against Palestinians. “We…
The United States is warning Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rein in “extremist” settlers in the West Bank in the wake of reports of violence against Palestinians. “We…
I'm glad this is being said. There are problems all around and fervor seems to be creating large envelopes of "allowed activity" for those who are willing.
This is a complex situation, but some things are clear. This is one.
Isrealis have repeatedly voted for governments that openly state they want settlement construction to kill any viable Palestinian state (Netanyahu and his far-right pals).
If the whole of Gaza can be held responsible for voting for Hamas in 2006 (and not once after since Hamas did away with elections), the whole of Isreal can be held accountable.
Yeah except the person you're responding to probably doesn't hold all of Gaza responsible for what Hamas has done since being voted into power.
Also, the Israeli left actually now has their own egotistically altruistic motive to shut down the settler shit, that being that shutting off the valve of right of return and no longer counting the votes of settlers in the west bank gives them an electoral edge.
And after the shit Bibi's pulled, you could bet good money that the courts would look the other way on them doing it too since the judges will for a long time see right wing governments as a threat to their judicial autonomy.
I don't think either population is morally responsible for what their so-called leaders do. Subsets of them, sure, but Israelis or Palestinians as a whole? Not a chance. People are not responsible for actions they had no hand in, or which they actively opposed.
Didn't work for his defense then doesn't now. It's the basis of the laws of war and Geneva Conventions.
As it turns out a place the size of jersey city with 500km of tunnels is entrenched
It's not a claim it's a fact that Gaza isn't being carpet bombed. Overlay the maps of damage from satellite imagery with where tunnels were known to be previously in public knowledge.
Also here's another interview with the former heir of one of Hamas' co-founders and leaders in the West Bank. I have others in my comment history from this guy who is actually pretty famous.
(I don't like the interviewer but he mostly shuts up and let's the Palestinian who was in and out of Israeli prisons for years since he was 10 talk. Yousef touches on a lot of the same points across the different interviews he's done but this one has a bit more nuance.)
And even this one is complex. A lot of the support for the settlers comes from American evangelical Christians. They believe that Jesus will come back under two conditions.
The first is that Jews run Israel. That's a check. The second is that Israel suffers a major attack. Well, that won't happen so that evangelicals send money to the settlers. Not only does it align with their "Israel should have the biblical borders" beliefs, but it adds fuel to the fire - worsening the conflict and making it more likely for a huge "Jesus will return this time" attack to happen.
They also support right wing Israeli politicians for the same reason. They don't want a guy running Israel who says "let's get a lasting peace with the Palestinians." They want a guy that says "I'll burn every Palestinian house to the ground and then burn the Palestinians themselves!"
This isn't meant to excuse actions by anyone else. It just shows that three situations are complex with a lot of people all over the place working against peace.