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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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No electricity, water, or fuel for Gaza until hostages freed - Israel

Israel's Energy Minister Israel Katz says the siege of Gaza will not end until Israeli hostages are released.

In a social media post, Israel Katz said no "electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter" until the "abductees" are free.

[From the BBC news live tracker]

I think this is a smart move. Even if the hostages being released remains very unlikely, it puts more of the moral burden for the siege on the Gazans, who do (broadly) support Hamas.

At this point the optics don't matter. I genuinely believe that Israel could detonate some tactical nuclear weapons in Gaza, killing everybody there, including the prisoners, and would suffer almost no negative consequences for it.

Israel, and by extension the Jewish diaspora, has an absolute grasp on western media and government. During the American house speaker recall debate, one of the congresswomen gave a speech explaining that we should keep McCarthy as speaker because he has done the most to bring other congressmen to Israel. Major American policy debates center around support for Israel, a small foreign country.[1]

The Palestinian terror attacks were a type of brutality I don't think anybody in the modern western world has ever seen before. They were uniquely horrific, and I think this will be remembered as a turning point in modern history the same way that 9/11 was.

Israel is out for blood, and nobody in the west with any real power is going to stop them.

And by the way: good for them. I, a Catholic American, am jealous (although jealous is the wrong word since that sortof implies an animosity, which I have none of) of the power that the Jewish people have. Much of my criticism of The Church centers around not behaving more like The Jews. Why no Catholic equivalent to "Birthright Israel"? Why not make Catholics learn latin anymore? These are good things that people should do.

(Although I don't think they should be nuking Palestine.)

And by the way: good for them. I, a Catholic American, am jealous (although jealous is the wrong word since that sortof implies an animosity, which I have none of) of the power that the Jewish people have.

Hm, I'm wondering if there's a term for that, jealousy without animosity. Would "admiration" capture the meaning?

Perhaps envy? Checking myself on perceived connotation, this blog post says:

Many people interchange the words envy and jealousy without causing much confusion. You can say Joshua is envious or Joshua is jealous, and your audience will most likely understand the message you’re trying to convey. However, these two words have different meanings. Read on if you want to use these words precisely, and make your friends envious that you know the difference.

Envy is the longing to have what someone else has, whether it be attributes or possessions. Envy requires only two parties—you and someone else. For example, you may envy another student because they got a good grade on the exam, but you didn’t.

To feel jealous means “to feel threatened, insecure, or protective of something you already have (especially in a romantic sense).” Whereas envy requires two parties, jealousy requires three. For example, you might feel jealous of your best friend’s new friend because you feel as if you might get replaced.

So perhaps @firmamenti isn't jealous of Israel, as he doesn't hold a grudge against them or the Jewish diaspora, but he is envious of their ability to wield religious identity as both a shield and a weapon.

The way I understand the words, envy is when you want what others have and jealousy is when you don't want others to have what you have.

Yeah admiration is close. But it’s like admiration but also some form of sadness or sense of failing for not having the same thing.