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Israel-Gaza Megathread #1

This is a megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.

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For those who haven't seen it - drone footage of the aftermath of the music festival attack (no gore): https://twitter.com/samueloakford/status/1711174266706682029

I have to admit I've been moving from a position of sympathy for Gaza towards more sympathy for Israel in the last years, and this attack perfectly exemplifies the reasons why.

Israel aims to destroy military targets, and at most you can complain about a lack of concern for civilians. Though in general they at least attempt to minimize civilian casualties. Hamas actively targets civilians, gleefully massacres them en masse, and then parades their naked bodies through the streets where common people spit on their corpses, so it isn't even just Hamas specifically. And they happily put all of it online, where other arabs cheer them on. WTF would you even attack a music festival?

On top, even when an Israeli attack kills a large number of civilians, you'll often find out that it's because Hamas deliberately put a military base inside a civilian building, actively aiming for this outcome.

Sure the Israelis also have plenty of questionable tactics such as the creeping settlements in the west bank, but everything they do just seems so much ... saner in comparison. It's the difference between a cutthroat CEO who'll backstab you in a corporate deal when it is beneficial for him to do so, and the murderhobo who'll physically backstab you because you were the nearest person and fuck jews, that's why.

The thing that has blackpilled me about the conflict more than anything is Corey Gil-Shuster's youtube channel. He goes and asks random Israelis and Palestinians on the streets various questions, which I find really illuminating because it gives a sense of the distribution of views and how well thought out they are, etc. And after you watch a few of those you can't avoid the stark reality that there is a large critical mass of Palestinians who absolutely adamantly refuse to consider any outcome short of the total destruction of Israel.

And given that is the case, and that Israel will absolutely not accept its own erasure, there is just no possible compromise or deal to be had. All you can do is keep fighting for another hundred years and hope some future generation is smarter, I guess.

Or the unthinkable option, of course. Always lurking in the background.