Israel/Palestine
In reply to the discussion: Hamas's Civilian Death Strategy [View all]LeftishBrit
(41,208 posts)I don't think even Hamas WANT dead Palestinian children; more accurate to say they don't give a flying fuck. In their attitude to human lives , they remind me of the generals of WW1.
But the deaths of children is always a tragedy; and the indifference or worse of the Hamas leaders does not justify what the Israeli government has been doing. And let's assume the worst of Hamas -that they want dead Palestinian children for propaganda purposes? - then, apart from all higher moral considerations, why should Israel give them what they want?
'The people of Gaza overwhelmingly elected Hamas, a terrorist outfit dedicated to the destruction of Israel, as their designated representatives'. No; they elected them but NOT overwhelmingly or even with an absolute majority. 44.5% is not an overwhelming majority.
'On some basic level, you forfeit your right to be called civilians when you freely elect members of a terrorist organization as statesmen'
Careful there. Does the author of the article really want enemy factions to consider the 2004/2005 re-elections of Bush and Blair the warmongers as a good reason for declaring war, or terrorist attacks, on the Americans and British, for example? Equating entire populations with the bad leaders that (some of) them elect, or assuming that they are no longer to be treated as civilians if they elect bad people, sets a very VERY dangerous precedent.