Golda Meir said it best when she told President Sadat" I can forgive you for killing our children, but I can't forgive you for forcing us to kill their children" . This is not what we want to do . As many mention, Israel has a powerful army, Gaza frequently sends missiles into Israel., and Israel could have retaliated similarly but she didn't. Until October 7th. Never again is now.
This is probably the most lucid, unadorned and persuasive writing I've seen in 40-plus years of reading about this subject in general, and about the current clash in particular.
My only disagreement is with your assertion, "After October 7th, the world finally [saw] the true face of our enemy. They witnessed how Hamas raped, murdered, tortured, beheaded, and incinerated over 1,400 Israeli civilians. They even used an elderly woman's phone to film her execution and then uploaded it to her Facebook page for her family to see. They did this more than once. More than 200 bodies cannot be identified because they were mutilated or burned beyond recognition."
Granted, I haven't read or viewed every article or video, and I read mostly mainstream American media. But I'm highly engaged, I look for pro-Israel accounts, and I've read more and more broadly than most people. So if I haven’t read or seen those examples of butchery, neither has the vast, vast majority of attentive news consumers, let alone the casual ones.
This is why I believe that no matter the provocation, Israel aways loses the public opinion battle, even among a sizeable percentage, maybe even most, of the world's Jews. I'll bet most people still believe Israel bombed the hospital despite persuasive evidence from reliable outlets, eg, AP yesterday.
Ditto re stats on deaths and affiliations of the dead, eg, "The news now focuses on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the 4,500 Palestinians killed, a number provided by Hamas. This figure includes over 1,500 terrorists and 471 civilians (according to Hamas) killed by PIJ ( Palestinian Islamic Jihad) but for some reason these are the numbers used. Statistics from terrorists are rarely questioned."
More people need to read your posts. I think there'd be greater understanding of Hamas's depravity and a deeper appreciation of the Hobson's choices Israel faces.
A topic for another day, but I was shocked by the views of Israel's finance minister, Bezlel Smotrich, and minister of national security, Ben-Gvir. They're not helping the world-public-opinion battle, which matters in real terms.
"Many people are telling Israel what it shouldn't do, claiming the moral high ground as if this is a straightforward issue. ... Please tell us how we can eliminate a homicidal terrorist organization that values no lives, hides among civilians, and prevents them from leaving the impending battle zone."
Golda Meir said it best when she told President Sadat" I can forgive you for killing our children, but I can't forgive you for forcing us to kill their children" . This is not what we want to do . As many mention, Israel has a powerful army, Gaza frequently sends missiles into Israel., and Israel could have retaliated similarly but she didn't. Until October 7th. Never again is now.
This is probably the most lucid, unadorned and persuasive writing I've seen in 40-plus years of reading about this subject in general, and about the current clash in particular.
My only disagreement is with your assertion, "After October 7th, the world finally [saw] the true face of our enemy. They witnessed how Hamas raped, murdered, tortured, beheaded, and incinerated over 1,400 Israeli civilians. They even used an elderly woman's phone to film her execution and then uploaded it to her Facebook page for her family to see. They did this more than once. More than 200 bodies cannot be identified because they were mutilated or burned beyond recognition."
Granted, I haven't read or viewed every article or video, and I read mostly mainstream American media. But I'm highly engaged, I look for pro-Israel accounts, and I've read more and more broadly than most people. So if I haven’t read or seen those examples of butchery, neither has the vast, vast majority of attentive news consumers, let alone the casual ones.
This is why I believe that no matter the provocation, Israel aways loses the public opinion battle, even among a sizeable percentage, maybe even most, of the world's Jews. I'll bet most people still believe Israel bombed the hospital despite persuasive evidence from reliable outlets, eg, AP yesterday.
Ditto re stats on deaths and affiliations of the dead, eg, "The news now focuses on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the 4,500 Palestinians killed, a number provided by Hamas. This figure includes over 1,500 terrorists and 471 civilians (according to Hamas) killed by PIJ ( Palestinian Islamic Jihad) but for some reason these are the numbers used. Statistics from terrorists are rarely questioned."
More people need to read your posts. I think there'd be greater understanding of Hamas's depravity and a deeper appreciation of the Hobson's choices Israel faces.
A topic for another day, but I was shocked by the views of Israel's finance minister, Bezlel Smotrich, and minister of national security, Ben-Gvir. They're not helping the world-public-opinion battle, which matters in real terms.
"Many people are telling Israel what it shouldn't do, claiming the moral high ground as if this is a straightforward issue. ... Please tell us how we can eliminate a homicidal terrorist organization that values no lives, hides among civilians, and prevents them from leaving the impending battle zone."