Ever ask yourself why the Palestinians choose Hamas over other potential alternatives? You make it sound like they are clearly voting against their own interests. Do you think they agree?
Weâve explained this several times in this thread, along with the fact that there hasnât been an election allowed in Gaza since 2006 so we donât know what Palestinians would have chosen at any point between say 2010 and 2023.
This of course doesnât matter to anyone whoâs hell-bent on casting Palestinians as the bad guys.
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Remember that there havenât been elections since 2006.
At the time, Fatah (aka the PA) was widely seen as corrupt, and was not very popular. Hamas campaigned on ending the corruption, and ending unemployment/poverty.
Exit polls showed that over 75% of Palestinian voters wanted Hamas to change their stance on Israel, and close to 80% supported a peace deal.
I think that if there were elections again today, weâd see different results, and the exit polls would show a completely different story.
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Itâs useless to provide food if Hamas takes it for their soldiers and lets the Palestinians starve. If they are starving, which I doubt given not even the UN is saying so.
Youâre still posting things from last year, because the car ramming that murdered a 17 year old girl (and injured many others), and the discovery that small children taken prisoner by Hamas were murdered, both things that happened within this past month, is not as convenient for your narrative.
Prolly not useless. Iâd wager some one eats the food. Hence, actually quite useful. Sorta âworking as intendedâ in an obvious fashion.
I agree that itâs hard to say anyone is on the high ground. But I disagree with any sort of moral equivalence to Hamas.
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Is that someone about to mastermind kidnapping some more Israeli kids as hostages? Iâd say it was pretty useless in that case.
Although, yes, it is useful to the terrorists, if thatâs what you meant.
Actually, for that to follow logically, replace the âsomeoneâ with âevery oneâ. Then the sentence is correct.
Is that what you meant?
Israel has had neighbors vowing its destruction for decades and has won some of them over, at least a little, like Egypt. There was probably some element of 1) either they wonât be able to hurt Israel seriously or 2) they will eventually switch focus to their own state. So the electricity was to help support Gaza, kind of a Marshall Plan although clearly not successful like that one was. But of course they were wrong about #1 above and now, during a war, the priority is different.
The scenario specifically was that soldiers eat the food intended for civilians.
That said there are plenty of examples of food aid rotting while the populace starves. I donât know if thatâs happened specifically with Gazans in the last 1.5 years other than the food from the U.S. thatâs rotting because Elon Musk froze USAid but itâs not like thatâs an unusual thing to happen in general. I canât find any older examples right now because everything that Google pulls is new, but Iâve certainly read about it during past famines and wars.
Feeding enemy soldiers is not âworking as intendedâ.
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Well, I am going to assert the food has neither any political leanings nor religious beliefs. It was made to nourishâŚmostly targeting humans, I suppose, but prolly a lot of critters as well. That is pretty much the only thing its producers intended. So seems obvious the food is not useless.
Unless you believe that no innocents (ya know, like 11 yr old girls) benefit from more food in Gaza, my statement stands. And if you do believe that, explain why I should not conclude you and Ana believe food to be weapon in the cause of the war?
Iâm just dubious of the claim that no child receives any less to eat when the food is not provided to Gaza. Some of those terrorists are prolly parents, and they just might give their children food rather than eat it themselves. Parents are weird that way.
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I donât know how much of the food aid would reach 11 yo girls if it were allowed past the border. Iâm just repeating the scenario that was laid out that you altered before arguing it down. I didnât comment on whether it was likely.
My guess is that Hamas probably distributes most of the food either to soldiers or the families of soldiers. So if youâre an 11 yo girl whose father killed lots of Israelis and whose mother sheltered hostages then youâre probably a LOT more likely to be getting food aid than if youâre an 11 yo girl whose father and mother openly state that Hamas was wrong to invade Israel and take hostages.
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Combined with Israelâs other actions Iâd say characterizing it as a Marshall Plan is ridiculous.
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I donât think that none of the food makes its way to civilians. Iâm sure some of it does. But a huge amount is taken by Hamas, which means that under international law, Israel is allowed to withhold it.
Have you seen the videos of Palestinians saying that their greatest wish is for their children to die as martyrs? I remember a few years ago, there was a clip where a father was encouraging his toddler son to throw rocks at an Israeli soldier standing a few feet away, and telling the soldier to go ahead and shoot his son.
Sadly, the culture theyâre raised in values violence against Israelis more than it values children. Many Palestinians would gladly sacrifice their children in the name of resistance.
There are still honest people living in Israel who are willing to speak out about the attrocities that have been commited by the IDF and the Israeli Govt. I have little doubt more information will flow from them to outside organisations like the ICC and ICJ.
Highly illuminating article that aligns with what we have seen happen in this very thread.
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This is hardly unusual. Itâs what all governments do, basically. The USA uses a lot of its treasure to kill enemies (DoD) rather than provide healthcare to its citizens. Whatâs the difference?
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Also relevant to the US is how applicable an election outcome is to claiming broad support of the some of the things that Musk and Trump subsequently have done.
The difference is that the US maintains a basic standard of living for its citizens. People in the US can purchase different levels of whatever youâre looking for - healthcare, homes, etc. The infrastructure for it is there.
In Gaza, Hamas has removed much of the basic infrastructure, and citizens there donât always have the ability to purchase a better life, because Hamas has removed those options. Things like taking pipes meant for water, and instead using them to build rockets.