South Africa, a country which over the past 30 years has had a faultless track record of its own on ensuring that racial minorities are protected from violence, has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
The Arab Muslim leadership, like the Japanese with the Potsdam Declarationâs warning of âprompt and utter destructionâ, had a choice. They demanded full control of the land (even though it always had had a mixed population) went to war on an all or nothing gamble and lost. When you gamble on all or nothing and lose, what you get is nothing. Pointing out that some non-Muslim forces fought with the Arab Muslims is like Lost Causers saying some blacks fought with the Confederacy because it ignores how the Muslims viewed them and how they would have been treated had Israel lost.
I note that you erase my point as to why those who refused to accept Israelâs existence* were not allowed to return and also do not mention how striking it is that in between 1949 and 1967 there was no attempt to create a Palestinian state in the land still under Arab control and that there were no UN resolutions condemning Jordan and Egypt for âoccupying Palestinian landâ.
âHamas should surrender,â says no-one at all.
Of all the many calls I have seen demanding an end to the war in Gaza - from the UN, from assorted governments, from Amnesty, the ICRC, MSF etc. - every single one of them calls on Israel to end the war, as if Israel was the only party to the war. Not one of them calls on Hamas to end the war by surrendering, which would be the quickest and most certain way to end it.
In a way this is a compliment to Israel. It acknowledges that Israel is a civilised state governed by rational people (yes, even under Netanyahu). It acknowledges that it is possible to appeal to Israelâs ciivilised values with at least some hope of success. It tacitly acknowledges, on the other hand, that Hamas is a group of murderous criminal terrorists who are devoid of civilised values (see 7 October), and that there is no point in appealing to them.
On the other hand, placing the onus of ending the war solely on Israel is profoundly unjust. This war began when Hamas carried out the 7 October atrocities, knowing full well what Israelâs response would be. It is Hamas which has brought down Israelâs wrath on the heads of the people of Gaza, which was of course Hamasâs intention from the start. The demand of the UN and foreign governments and NGOs should be that Hamas stop using the people of Gaza as human shields, end its reign of terror in Gaza, release all the hostages, and then, preferably, cease to exist.
So why does no-one make this obvious demand? The answer of course is that for most of the âinternational communityâ, Israel is always in the wrong, even when it is subjected to a sadistic and murderous assault such as we saw on 7 October.
Hamas, on the other hand, can be excused its atrocities because it is leading the heroic Palestinian âresistanceâ to Israeli colonialism, apartheid, genocide etc etc.
It is precisely because of this morally bankrupt double standard that Israelis are so resistant to being lectured about their duty to conduct this war by the elevated standards of the UN and MSF.
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South Africa, which accuses Israel of âapartheidâ and âgenocideâ, has just sacked the captain of its under-19 cricket team because he is Jewish. They have not even sought to disguise the fact.
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Hmmm? Wild guess but maybe Jordan and Egypt didnât have a prejudice towards the Palestinians because of their ethnicity? Maybe because Jordan and Egypt are trying to protect the people? God its really not hard to use ur brainâŚ
No, the real answer is they didnât want a state of their own, they wanted to destroy the Jewish. Please spare me the far-left routine. It cost you lot the Voice referendum, remember? Turns out non-intellectuals know when they are being treated as idiots, looked down upon and called âbogansâ - and in the privacy of the voting booth? They can vote as they think!
This war began 75 years ago with various flare ups and cold periods over the decades. Hamas undoubtedly started the current round of active fighting but to pretend that it began only on October 7 with no pretext is a dangerously one-sided view.
Israel has occupied and settled the West Bank and varied its control over Gaza for 56 years. Hamas is barely 36 years old.
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As i said, the Arab leadership had a choice in 1948, just as the Japanese had had with the clear warning in the Potsdam Declaration. Neither of them should be able to complain about the consequences of their own foolishness. Remember the âpeace termsâ Japan wanted? Including keeping (among other things) Korea, Taiwan, South Sakhalin and the post-WWI LoN Mandatory Territories in the Pacific?
Egypt is no protector or friend of the Palestinian people. Why else would they prevent so many Palestinians from being able to get to safety with their closure of the Rafah border crossing?
There are many parties responsible for the ongoing tragedy taking place in Gaza, but to solely blame Israel like so many Palestinian activists do though is a pretty big double standard.
I believe their âjustificationâ is that David Teeger dedicated an award to the Israeli soldiers fighting for their country (something quite understandable as he is Jewish).
CSA have clearly breached South African law under their Employment Equity Act in my view, specifically Chapter II Article 6 (Iâve highlighted relevant sections).
6. Prohibition of unfair discrimination.â(1) No person may unfairly discriminate, directly or indirectly, against an employee, in any employment policy or practice, on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, family responsibility, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, HIV status, conscience, belief, political opinion, culture, language and birth.
double standards? Oh lets talk about double standards,
Palestinians have experienced inhumane conditions enforced by the IDF and Israel for 76 years, the world was quiet, but when a Palestinian group dares to fight back to Israel, they are frowned on by the western world, thats a double standard for you.
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while what hamas did was horrific and can never be justified, but people choose to ignore the suffering of Palestinians because Israel is the âwestern countryâ
Correct and Hamas only came into power in 2007 which is around 20 years ago.
This kinda goes against what you just saidâŚ
And how exactly? I can understand their anger and frustration but no one chooses too, they only see Israel as the victim that âdid no wrongâ. Killing civilians on both sides is horrific and can not be justified, I cannot justify these actions by hamas.
Sorry, pal, crappy and TOXIC people and cultures do not get a free pass just because they are non-white. For your information, i find the regular justification by the western left side of the grass of the human sacrifice of freaking children by pre-Columbian societies as just âindigenous cultural practicesâ when they were objectively atrocities and crimes against humanity as appalling.
But, as i noted at the time of the Edward Coulson toppking, you wonât see these people tearing down Ho Chi Minh or Gandhi statues.
Given that the Palestinian group that âdared to fight backâ i.e. Hamas chose to do so with a genocidal massacre? Funny how that was frowned upon.
Most people would have no real issue with Fatah as they have a much more reasonable approach to things (a good summary here-bearing in mind when this was written it was prior to Hamasâs atrocities).
HAMAS VS FATAH
Ideology:
Hamas â Islamist
Fatah â Secular
Strategy towards Israel:
Hamas â Armed resistance
Fatah â Negotiations
Objectives:
Hamas â Does not recognise Israel, but accepts a Palestinian state on 1967 borders
Fatah â Recognises Israel, wants to build a state on 1967 borders
Look, like most, I do understand the frustration of the Palestinians and have a great deal of empathy for those civilians who are needlessly suffering as a consequence of the actions of the Hamas terrorists.
Likewise, many seem to see the Palestinian side as a victim that also did no wrong. The reality is that both sides are very imperfect and both sides need to come to the party and make concessions to create a lasting peace that would ultimately be beneficial for all.
Before October, There were encouraging signs with the normalisation of relations between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain, and the prospect of normalisation with the Saudis- this would have been encouraging and made the prospect of a permanent peace deal in the West Bank at least a possibility. This didnât suit Hamas and their Iranian puppet masters, so theyâve gone and metaphorically and literally blown up any prospect of peace with their heinous attacks.
Thatâs one thing I think we can certainly agree on.
Likewise white countries should also not get a free pass because they are westernizedâŚ
I do agree that Fatahs tactics of negotiations do result in better outcomes, and their plan for peace (i.e. the 1967 borders) but there are palestinians who believe all the land should belong to them even though it was purchased fairly, and israelis that believe all the land should belong to them. Former Israeli prime ministers have wanted peace, but I am concerned that Netanyahu does not want to negotiate for a two-state solution:
Here netanyahu states:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday night that he was âproudâ he prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state
and
Iâm proud that I prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state because today everybody understands what that Palestine state could have been
Other research would support the claim he definitely does not want a palestinian self governing state, unlike the West Bank which is currently occupied by Israel.
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I have no love for Netanyahu either and believe his actions as leader have hurt the peace process. I suspect heâs never gotten over the death of his brother in the Entebbe raid and thatâs motivated his hardline stance.
I donât think we should judge all Israelis based on the actions of one man and his supporters though.
It would be good if the next Israeli elections were to result in a government that does want to take serious steps to advancing the peace process.
Agreed, Israeliâs should not be blamed for there government actions as many were protesting against him in Tel Aviv early last year. I really do hope that there will be an Israeli and Palestinian leadership which their main target is peace.
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