Why I wonder most about is the attack last year. For historical reasons to do with the founding of the State of Israel, the emphasis upon rape and sexual violence was guaranteed to raise an immediate and forceful response.
What objective was worth the certain strong retaliation by Israel? Gaza, in particular, was and is vulnerable to any kind of surface military intervention. Too many people on not enough land. Civilian casualties guaranteed on top of the hardship of simply existing.
I cannot help but wonder what clever mind thought up the plan, sold it to Hamas, and what end they had in mind.
I can’t help but think that the only party to gain has been Russia who gained an immediate reprieve from Ukrainian pressure and began to turn the tide as Ukraine began to suffer from the redirection of political attention and resources elsewhere. The US stands behind Ukraine but Israel has first claim on American support.
Would Putin sell out the Palestinians in order to survive and maybe win in Ukraine? There’s no doubt in my mind.
I have similar thoughts. The only other thing I can really imagine is that they hoped to galvanize enough of the rest of the world and the middle east against Israel that it would lead to the end of the state. But any way you cut it, there’s no way Hamas didn’t know this would start a new chapter of war in the Middle East. Thanks for reading, Britni!
One thing that has gotten short shrift in Middle East reporting: Lebanon. For 40+ years, Western news has reported that situation skewed to the interests of Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah.
In the 1980s in Houston, one of my favorite friends was a Lebanese guy. He was brilliant. To get his engineering degree from Oklahoma State, he’d had to teach himself computer programming. He started at a distinct disadvantage, years behind his American college-mates. But he did it. Graduated cum laude, got his MS in chemical engineering.
He was my downstairs neighbor, and we talked often. At the time, Lebanon had granted Palestinians safe haven. They had been kicked out of every country they ever inhabited. Morocco, Saudi Arabia, at that time most recently from Jordan. Because without exception, when a country took them in, terrorism would immediately start up. They would try to overthrow the government of their host country.
Lebanon - which was not an “Arab” country - took them in. And immediately, the violence started. Palestinians joined with Syrians and began murdering Lebanese citizens. My friend’s family was Maronite, basically Catholics who don’t recognize the pope. His dad owned the radio-TV-movie studio in Beirut. Syrians bombed it to smithereens, forcing all western news stations to broadcast from Damascus. Where Syria then censored what could be transmitted.
Mike made several secretive trips back to Lebanon, 1980s-1990s, filming Syrian and Hezbollah fighters. He could not get a single network to air his raw footage. His sister had been secular Maronite, but became full-fledged atheist after Hezbollah blew up a Maronite Church. Sixty of her friends were killed in that incident.
In those days, I was more of the “let’s solve this through diplomacy” camp. Mike countered with, *No, Iran and Syria and their minions only understand force.*
It’s complicated further by evangelical support of Israel so Armageddon and the rapture will come. It’s less “support of Israel for peace,” and more, “We need destruction of Al Aqsa so Jesus can come again.”
I wish everyone would talk about Iran and Syria’s role in this mess. It cannot be solved by negotiating with Palestinians. They’re not the head of the snake.
Jake Tapper understands all this, but his spine seems to have collapsed. In his younger years, he reported honestly and directly on this topic.
Unfortunately, there are tragedies and lack of accountability on all sides here. Part of the wider problem is that most of the public take sides as well. Our government is mostly purely pro-Israel with no acknowledgement of the other side's grievances. The pro-Palestinian side only wants lockstep without acknowledging their support for a known terrorist faction. Many believe that you can't be Zionist and support the rights of the Palestinians, as I am. All this from people who aren't experiencing the daily experience of trying to survive in the situation itself.
No matter what the semantics are, the two sides have strong beliefs in their versions of events. I have an opinion too, but that’s not the way forward.
The ongoing violence isn’t helping anyone move toward peace. It’s also not helping anyone get hostages back, or return the lives of the people who have been brutally killed, on both sides.
More people are dying every day. Isn’t there something we can do to stop it?
I was touched by the compassion in your writing.
It is not appropriate to “take sides”; we are all God’s children and the suffering is terrible.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Lasita. I couldn't agree more.
Why I wonder most about is the attack last year. For historical reasons to do with the founding of the State of Israel, the emphasis upon rape and sexual violence was guaranteed to raise an immediate and forceful response.
What objective was worth the certain strong retaliation by Israel? Gaza, in particular, was and is vulnerable to any kind of surface military intervention. Too many people on not enough land. Civilian casualties guaranteed on top of the hardship of simply existing.
I cannot help but wonder what clever mind thought up the plan, sold it to Hamas, and what end they had in mind.
I can’t help but think that the only party to gain has been Russia who gained an immediate reprieve from Ukrainian pressure and began to turn the tide as Ukraine began to suffer from the redirection of political attention and resources elsewhere. The US stands behind Ukraine but Israel has first claim on American support.
Would Putin sell out the Palestinians in order to survive and maybe win in Ukraine? There’s no doubt in my mind.
I have similar thoughts. The only other thing I can really imagine is that they hoped to galvanize enough of the rest of the world and the middle east against Israel that it would lead to the end of the state. But any way you cut it, there’s no way Hamas didn’t know this would start a new chapter of war in the Middle East. Thanks for reading, Britni!
One thing that has gotten short shrift in Middle East reporting: Lebanon. For 40+ years, Western news has reported that situation skewed to the interests of Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah.
In the 1980s in Houston, one of my favorite friends was a Lebanese guy. He was brilliant. To get his engineering degree from Oklahoma State, he’d had to teach himself computer programming. He started at a distinct disadvantage, years behind his American college-mates. But he did it. Graduated cum laude, got his MS in chemical engineering.
He was my downstairs neighbor, and we talked often. At the time, Lebanon had granted Palestinians safe haven. They had been kicked out of every country they ever inhabited. Morocco, Saudi Arabia, at that time most recently from Jordan. Because without exception, when a country took them in, terrorism would immediately start up. They would try to overthrow the government of their host country.
Lebanon - which was not an “Arab” country - took them in. And immediately, the violence started. Palestinians joined with Syrians and began murdering Lebanese citizens. My friend’s family was Maronite, basically Catholics who don’t recognize the pope. His dad owned the radio-TV-movie studio in Beirut. Syrians bombed it to smithereens, forcing all western news stations to broadcast from Damascus. Where Syria then censored what could be transmitted.
Mike made several secretive trips back to Lebanon, 1980s-1990s, filming Syrian and Hezbollah fighters. He could not get a single network to air his raw footage. His sister had been secular Maronite, but became full-fledged atheist after Hezbollah blew up a Maronite Church. Sixty of her friends were killed in that incident.
In those days, I was more of the “let’s solve this through diplomacy” camp. Mike countered with, *No, Iran and Syria and their minions only understand force.*
It’s complicated further by evangelical support of Israel so Armageddon and the rapture will come. It’s less “support of Israel for peace,” and more, “We need destruction of Al Aqsa so Jesus can come again.”
I wish everyone would talk about Iran and Syria’s role in this mess. It cannot be solved by negotiating with Palestinians. They’re not the head of the snake.
Jake Tapper understands all this, but his spine seems to have collapsed. In his younger years, he reported honestly and directly on this topic.
Unfortunately, there are tragedies and lack of accountability on all sides here. Part of the wider problem is that most of the public take sides as well. Our government is mostly purely pro-Israel with no acknowledgement of the other side's grievances. The pro-Palestinian side only wants lockstep without acknowledging their support for a known terrorist faction. Many believe that you can't be Zionist and support the rights of the Palestinians, as I am. All this from people who aren't experiencing the daily experience of trying to survive in the situation itself.
No matter what the semantics are, the two sides have strong beliefs in their versions of events. I have an opinion too, but that’s not the way forward.
The ongoing violence isn’t helping anyone move toward peace. It’s also not helping anyone get hostages back, or return the lives of the people who have been brutally killed, on both sides.
More people are dying every day. Isn’t there something we can do to stop it?