Hamas strike on Israel

You did post the comically ridiculous and well debunked Hamas Propganda map though, didn't you.

I'm showing the logic of a child, and this is what you come back with. Your naivity gave me a chuckle amidst the vomit in my mouth when I read your bile

If anyone was intent on destroying 2 million people as you repeatedly state, in what universe would the existance of 20 hostages possibly prevent them, especially when he can simply declare that they were all killed by the force he's fighting anyway, and use their deaths to justify his actions

This isn't a cartoon sheepy.

The Israeli people arent idiots, nor are the families of the hostages. If Netenyahu dropped bombs in all of Gaza and wiped everybody out - nobody would believe the hostages died by Hamas hands.

If he did it in less destructive ways, bodies would need to be retrieved, autopsies conducted etc. the means of death would be ascertained.

Hamas people holding the hostages could have phones, may have videos of hostages being killed by the IDF.

The risks are endless when you lie (as is being shown) and all would result in your king being ousted and landed in jail.

Now retract your bullshit and answer my question please, thanks.

Bibi is a 75 year old man. Why would he care a jot as long as he had time to get the job done.

You aren't making anyway sense.

Are you saying Hamas aims are for Israel to not kill all Gazans once hostages are returned?

And just to be clear - when you said "nope", you are confirming that the welfare of Gazans don't factor into your thoughts at all?

Grand, I have no love for Bibi. If he is sent to prison for corruption charges for the rest of his life, so be it.

Now that we have that out of the way, what is your opinion on the future of Gaza? Should they continue to be ruled with an iron fist by Hamas or some similar right-wing fascist element? Are people seriously saying this is a good idea for the future of the average Gazan?

You avoided the question, hence why I presumed you want Hamas to stay in power?

So which is it? What future do you want for Gaza? And how do we get there?

Hamas aims are self-preservation. They don't give a crap about the people of Gaza.

As I repeat, again.

If you think the only thing stopping Israel from killing 2 million people, is 20 hostages, then you are utterly misguided.

You present the Israelis, especially Jewish Israeli's as bloodthirsty. You say many times that the IDF are on the cusp of exterminating 2 million Gazan's but then reject the accusations that you are calling Jewish Israeli genocidal. They are on the cusp of killing 2 million Gazan's but wont do so because of 20 hostages… really? Honestly??

The poll which we both read and agree on, shows that 74% of Israelis want the war to come to an end, as soon as there is a hostage exchange. But you seem to think the Government is going to ignore that, ignore Trump, ignore the growing international pressure, and most importantly, ignore the army and the reservists who are exhausted. The military has made it known to the government that they are done with this war… but somehow you think the Israeli government will ignore all that, and go and kill 2 million Gazans…. and all you have is some poll about attitudes…?? Again, honestly?

And this is why you think Hamas should keep the hostages, as some bargaining chip.

Meanwhile people die every day because Hamas one presumes shares this point of view..

One way to end this war is for Hamas to release all the hostages. I have no doubt about that.
No one should be supporting Hamas's view that they should keep them, as a bargaining chip.

So again you are sticking to criticism of Israels many many warcrimes, and concerns they will commit more, as anti semetic?

It is preposterous. You can't have polls in Israel and give our when those polls in Israel have majority Jewish people responding, and when they are bad say it is antisemetic. That is ridiculous. Jewish people make up the majority of Israelis. And again, I am not painting anybody, Jewish or not, as bloodthirsty. I am showing you what the polls say.

You are painting them as some honourable people who have the welfare of Gazans at heart, and will rise up should Netenyahu decide to wipe out his enemies - as he and many of his cronies have said they will do, and have provided no proof for this. They want hostages returned, that is it. Your position in crazy.

We have witnessed a country committing genocide for two years and you are telling me it is antisemetic to be concerned that they will continue it, or drop a bomb in people they have very intentionally corralled into a small area.

I am advocating for a firm agreement to be put in place to ensure the safety of Gazans.

You can shove your Hamas accusations along with Sheepy.

I haven't contradicted myself al all.

I said that Hamas don't give a crap about Gazans, and that the hostages should be released immediately, and that Hamas should surrender and bring the war to an end for the betterment of everyone.

You, on the other hand, for someone who doesn't support Hamas, are making a very strong case for them as the 'Heroic defenders of the Nation', bravely safeguarding the people of Gaza from the bloodythirsty Jews who are only slavering to set upon them with evil intent.

Well! Praise be Jesus!

As long as the Hamas supporters of Ireland are being honest we can all rest easy.

Who wouldn't want to thank and commend someone who was wearing a Hamas scarf on Oct 7th.

Well I understand that what I am saying is coming across as crass or uncaring, it couldn't be further from the truth. I'd urge you to read my posts, and not Sheepys slanderous versions of them. Of course I want hostages released, but I also want Gazans protected

I was listening to "the rest is politics" podcast this morning, and Rory Stewart (the host, a very well connected conservative British politician) said the below, a direct transcript. Also not a supporter of Hamas btw!

So would you weigh up 20 lives for 2 million? Why not have a firm agreement in place first that guarantees the safety of all civilians - hostages and Gazans.

Saying release the hostages and the war will end is extremely dangerous position to take when you are dealing with a government carrying out genocide.

Transcript:

And there's another fundamental problem in this negotiation, which is that I was speaking to somebody who's very, very senior in Israeli national security, very close to Netanyahu. Who said to me, of course, when the hostages are returned, we will then have no reason not to wipe Gaza off the face of the earth.

So how are you supposed to get a deal together when Hamas feels the hostages are their one guarantee on some form of restraint by the Israelis, that it's the only thing that's holding the Israelis back from going even further?

Why would they honestly return the remaining hostages if... The sense they get is that when they return those remaining hostages, Netanyahu will just radically increase and redouble his efforts to wipe them all out. Why would they do that?

This is a summary of a New York Times op-ed that was written by John Spencer of the Institute of War Studies, which is at West Point and published earlier this week, and posted on X/Twitter by the author himself.

Genocide is defined by specific intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part. That's a high legal bar - Omer Bartov didn't meet that bar. Since Oct 7th, Spencer has been in Gaza 4 times, embedded with the IDF.

Netanyahu's "remember Amalek" reference is a phrase from Jewish history and tradition, is engraved at Yad Vashem and also appears at the Holocaust memorial in The Hague. In both places, it serves as a warning to be vigilant against threats, not as a call for mass killing.

Yoav Gallant's reference to Hamas fighters as "human animals" is not a war crime.

Far-right politicians Bezalel Smotrich and Nissim Vaturi don't command troops, issue orders or shape battlefield decisions. So their rhetoric is irrelevant to the legal case.

Israel has taken extraordinary steps to limit civilian harm (i.e. warnings, pauses to let civilians leave combat areas) and has delivered more humanitarian aid to Gaza than any military has ever provided to an enemy population in wartime.

The numbers of Gazan dead given by the Gazan health ministry come from a terrorist organisation, they mix civilians and fighters and count anyone under 18 as a child, even though Hamas uses teenagers and younger children as combatants. The figures are not independently verified and contain false details, including names, ages and sex.

Many thousands of civilians died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the fight against ISIS caused many thousands of deaths but were not considered genocidal.

The law matters. So does precision. And above all, truth matters.

Here is a link to the X/Twitter copy of his article:

twitter.com/SpencerGuard/status/1948010761957052628

Copy and paste the link onto the address bar.