Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

[SvennoJ]

Jaicee said:

Ryuu96 said:

I don't see a way out of this honestly and it's depressing so I've largely avoided this thread, I'm already very busy on Ukraine's topic as well and watching Ukrainians being slaughtered, I don't really want to witness it with Palestinians too but I know it's going on. Imo all offensive aid to Israel should be stopped but I'm fine with defensive aid because Israel is surrounded by terrorists who want to see it destroyed (Hezbollah, Houthis, might as well add on Iran as a terrorist country...

...

I will say as well there is a massive hypocrisy in how Israel is being defended by the West vs Ukraine, Israel gets fight jet support from UK, America, France...No restrictions or rules on how they use their weapons, whatever damn weapon they want to buy or use, feels like Israel bombing the foreign aid workers just got swept under the rug too.

This I can basically agree with. The double-standard Westerners (not just our leaders either) often apply to the situation in Gaza probably exists because, between the two sides, Israel is the (relative) democracy and Hamas is the gay-killing, woman-enslaving, Holocaust-denying religious fundamentalist cult and also started this particular war in the first place, in contrast to the Russia-Ukraine War wherein the  more liberal democracy is the one fighting for survival against a relatively arbitrary invasion. I don't think that discrepancy matters right now to the civilian population of Gaza who compose most of the dead, displaced, and malnourished. Survival is what matters right now.

We should definitely cut Israel off from offensive weaponry. I'm not in favor of broader sanctions against the Israeli public, but I think if you cut off the flow of offensive armaments, even someone like Netanyahu will respond to that, much as he appears to have responded to Biden's implied threat to cut them off last month by pulling a division out of Khan Younis. (Make no mistake, the withdrawal was pretty much for sure the end result of Biden's phone call with Netanyahu over the slain aid workers.) This is the leverage we have as Israel's main and most important diplomatic ally and it should be exercised.

While it is definitely an issue, it's also very much used as propaganda, overblown by Israel

LGBTQ life in Gaza is arduous and dangerous. I would know: I grew up there. But only blaming Palestine's conservatism and Hamas, whitewashing Israel's siege and military assaults, is dishonest and exploitative.

https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/232088

And not so long ago the situation was the same in the USA. It takes freedom and protests to get opinion to change. Blaming a culture under siege for not advancing in their social values is not fair.

Same for women's rights, not chance to advance under the current climate.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/middle-east/palestine-state-of/report-palestine-state-of/

Consensual same-sex sexual conduct continued to be banned in Gaza on the basis of a 1936 British Mandate ordinance.

In September, after the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) published guidance to staff regarding treating all genders and LGBTI people equally, the Hamas authorities condemned the guidance for promoting “deviance and moral decay”.

Women still did not have equal rights to men in personal status law, which continued to be subject to religious law. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 59% of married women and girls experienced violence at the hands of their partner, and the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling expected the numbers for 2023 to rise due to conflict and deprivation. Less than 2% of survivors complained to the police, and of those cases, 40% were investigated, according to the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy.

On 25 September, Palestinian police together with UN agencies opened an office for investigating and prosecuting domestic violence in Hebron, after a similar office opened in Nablus.


Both are still big issues in the USA as well, 25% of women experience severe intimate partner physical violence, 20% experience rape during their life.
https://ncadv.org/STATISTICS


It's also still an issue in Israel and no doubt happens in Ukraine as well. It's a world wide problem which gets worse in war time.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/domestic-violence-exacerbated-by-wartime-raising-concerns-over-looser-gun-policies/


It's a theme, the more oppression in general, the more people pass it on. Those who get abused early in life have a bigger chance of becoming abusers themselves later in life. Same as the survivors on the Holocaust have now turned into the oppressors.

Peace is needed to advance a society.



And I do think sanctions will work. Israel's economy is already under stress. By all means keep the Iron Dome well stocked and be ready to help defend Israel, but stop the monetary and offensive military aid. More sanctions on Settler activity, crack down on promoting the sale of homes in illegal settlements done in USA and Canada. (and likely other places as well).

And indeed, the US does have influence over Israel. Blinken shows up and aid increases. The willingness to 'finish the job' just doesn't seem to be there on the US side.