Lysander
5mo ago
True, if Israel wanted to reduce hostage-taking to almost zero it would announce that there will be no more hostage deals ever under any circumstances and use only military means to rescue the hostages, even if that might endanger some of the current hostages. It's possible that that would reduce the number of hostages at risk in the long run, even if it would greatly endanger the current hostages. It's not possible politically though, since the plight of the current hostages is a huge political issue that the Israeli electorate cares very deeply about.
The other overarching goal is the elimination of Hamas and its ability to rule in the Gaza Strip.
Lysander
5mo ago
Expecting a false flag attack by Israel seems to me unusually uncharitable to Israeli motives. Israel wants as many hostages released as possible. That is one of two overarching goals of the war, and the only reason for it to agree to a temporary ceasefire in the first place. Staging a false flag attack and retaliating based on it would end the hostage exchange.
Lysander
5mo ago
Because now we have a principle that you can't acquire territory by conquest. It means that some conflicts will be considered ongoing for a long time, but it's also supposed to mean that most countries don't even consider starting a war of conquest in the first place, because no one will recognize their gains, so we have many fewer wars of conquest.
Lysander
5mo ago
It's not so easy to move 2 million people 50+ km. There's physically enough room in the West Bank (it's much bigger than the Gaza strip), but they would still need tent cities or some other solution for them. Israel would also not like the Gaza population radicalizing the West Bank population (more than it already is) and increasing the population density, making terrorist attacks from there easier.
Lysander
5mo ago
If it was going to, it already would have exploded. As it is, if they join now, it will be anti-climatic.
I would be inclined to agree. However, the situation along the Israel-Lebanese border is now such that it would have certainly resulted in a full-fledged war by Israel against Hezbollah, at least at the scale of the 2006 war, if Israel weren't preoccupied with Gaza. Hezbollah doesn't want a full war, but they're relying on the fact that Israel wants a full war even less in order to get away with more attacks than they could in other circumstances. Israel won't tolerate this state indefinitely, and it could still escalate to a full-scale war if either side miscalculates.
Lysander
6mo ago
Ex-PM Bennett recently suggested that the IDF should cut off northern Gaza and then just keep it under siege until Hamas runs out of supplies in its tunnels, which would take months to years.
Lysander
6mo ago
It seems the adequate justification has a short shelf life and needs to be renewed every few weeks or months.
Lysander
6mo ago
This is politics, unfortunately. But since the Hamas attack thousands of Haredim have volunteered to be drafted.
Lysander
6mo ago
The IDF uses female soldiers to great effect as trainers and instructors. From what I understand, male soldiers have been shown to be much more attentive and learn better when the instructor is an attractive female. This is what Gal Gadot did in her military service.
Most of the female soldiers in bases that were overrun during the initial attack were "lookouts" (tatspitaniot). Their job is to monitor the surveillance technology that tracks the Gaza border and alert about anything that seems suspicious. I don't think there's any reason to think that they would be at a disadvantage in a job like that compared to a male soldier, and it frees up the male soldier for a combat role which requires his physical abilities.
There are some border patrol units that are now mixed gender, but the traditional infantry and armor units are still male only. There was a famous Supreme Court case a few decades ago that required the IDF to allow women to enter the pilots course, but as I understand it only a handful of women have passed since then.
Lysander
6mo ago
They released the two Americans, and two elderly Israeli women. Only one of them gave an interview.
Lysander
6mo ago
Pour liquid propane inside could help I think. It displaces all the oxygen. And without electricity passive ventilation probably won't work well and eventually they will run out of oxygen.
There are also (almost certainly) hostages in the tunnels. Israel can't indiscriminately kill everyone in the tunnels until it can account for all of the hostages. Maybe some kind of non-lethal and non-toxic gas could be put into the tunnels that would allow taking them over without harming those inside.
Lysander
6mo ago
According to HRW, no:
At the same time, the attacking party is not relieved from its obligation to take into account the risk to civilians, including the duty to avoid causing disproportionate harm to civilians, simply because it considers the defending party responsible for having located legitimate military targets within or near populated areas. That is, the presence of a Hamas commander or rocket launcher, or other military facility in a populated area would not justify attacking the area without regard to the threatened civilian population, including the duty to distinguish combatants from civilians and the rule of proportionality.
Lysander
6mo ago
On the other hand, there is no way to write a gun control law that takes ethnicity into account without making it completely obvious that you are running an ethno-state and thus looking really bad to a lot of people in the broader world.
Easier than you might think, and Israel is already doing it. To get a gun license in Israel you need to have completed a certain degree of military training (among other requirements). Non-Jews (Druze, Bedouins, some Christian Arabs) who serve in the IDF are not those that you need to worry about starting a riot at the behest of Hamas or Hezbollah.
ISIS has been largely destroyed militarily. Even if it's not literally completely gone, it's a far cry from what it was at its height. The example of ISIS is also frequently invoked in Israel regarding what Israel should aim for with Hamas.
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