France24, Channel 4 (UK), and Al Jazeera English are all providing far more balanced coverage—including of the atrocities Hamas chose to perpetrate. Even the Associated Press…
France24, Channel 4 (UK), and Al Jazeera English are all providing far more balanced coverage—including of the atrocities Hamas chose to perpetrate. Even the Associated Press is being much more balanced, especially since Israel seems hellbent on undermining global sympathy even faster than the US did after 9/11. (It probably didn’t help that Israel bombed the AP’s building in Gaza despite having (obviously) GPS coordinates for their ultra-precise munitions a couple rampages ago.)
There is no need to deny or whitewash Hamas’ atrocities—which were a choice, and a pure gift to Netanyahu and the far right—just as there is no need to deny or whitewash the historical context that got us here or the truly heinous Israeli response. If they keep this up, it’s genocide; it’s already a mass of appalling war crimes.
Hamas could have hit only military targets. They could have blown up huge chunks of the wall and let hundreds of thousands of Gazans out, daring Israel to massacre them. Etc. I think Hamas played Israel like a fiddle: they, appallingly, chose a pogrom betting that the predictably insane Israeli response would swamp disgust with their act and force the hands of the Muslim world, afraid of the rage of their own populations, to remember the Palestinians. Whatever the cost to themselves or Gazans.
It’s not at all pretty, to say the least, and it may well entirely backfire. Israel seems to be saying, “Thanks, for the excuse Hamas—we now have cover to do what we want; we have the US and nuclear weapons. Nice try; you played yourselves.”
Hard to predict but Israel is clearly taking advantage of the massacre to erase Gaza, further lock down the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and possibly even move to forced population transfer.
Two weeks ago, Israel was tearing itself apart. Now it’s tearing Gaza apart. Who voted for Hamas to take this risk?
But I do wonder how many Americans know about the actual history and context, including recent events like the Great March in 2018—and the Israeli response.
"But I do wonder how many Americans know about the actual history and context, including recent events like the Great March in 2018—and the Israeli response"
Maybe 1% considering this survey had a 6% success rate of 80%+?
It’s interesting that the two leading establishment foreign policy journals are publishing articles like these:
1. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/invasion-gaza-would-be-disaster-israel
2. https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/10/13/hamas-israel-massacre-gaza-vengeance-is-not-a-policy/
France24, Channel 4 (UK), and Al Jazeera English are all providing far more balanced coverage—including of the atrocities Hamas chose to perpetrate. Even the Associated Press is being much more balanced, especially since Israel seems hellbent on undermining global sympathy even faster than the US did after 9/11. (It probably didn’t help that Israel bombed the AP’s building in Gaza despite having (obviously) GPS coordinates for their ultra-precise munitions a couple rampages ago.)
There is no need to deny or whitewash Hamas’ atrocities—which were a choice, and a pure gift to Netanyahu and the far right—just as there is no need to deny or whitewash the historical context that got us here or the truly heinous Israeli response. If they keep this up, it’s genocide; it’s already a mass of appalling war crimes.
Hamas could have hit only military targets. They could have blown up huge chunks of the wall and let hundreds of thousands of Gazans out, daring Israel to massacre them. Etc. I think Hamas played Israel like a fiddle: they, appallingly, chose a pogrom betting that the predictably insane Israeli response would swamp disgust with their act and force the hands of the Muslim world, afraid of the rage of their own populations, to remember the Palestinians. Whatever the cost to themselves or Gazans.
It’s not at all pretty, to say the least, and it may well entirely backfire. Israel seems to be saying, “Thanks, for the excuse Hamas—we now have cover to do what we want; we have the US and nuclear weapons. Nice try; you played yourselves.”
Hard to predict but Israel is clearly taking advantage of the massacre to erase Gaza, further lock down the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and possibly even move to forced population transfer.
Two weeks ago, Israel was tearing itself apart. Now it’s tearing Gaza apart. Who voted for Hamas to take this risk?
But I do wonder how many Americans know about the actual history and context, including recent events like the Great March in 2018—and the Israeli response.
"But I do wonder how many Americans know about the actual history and context, including recent events like the Great March in 2018—and the Israeli response"
Maybe 1% considering this survey had a 6% success rate of 80%+?
https://www.cfr.org/report/us-adults-knowledge-about-world
Been my experience that Americans are historically illiterate. Unless their history is channeled in simple sound bites or via social media.