If it feels like some are taking advantage of the Israel-Hamas Conflict to provoke violence, you’re not wrong to think that way

Editorial Note:

These posts I’ve been making related to the Israel-Hamas Conflict will not count against the hard 4 to 5 article limit I announced at the end of the last mail bag for the rest of 2023. I did leave myself a bit of flexability for significant events such as this one. More so given I anticipate to writing about the topics covered in the article you’re about to read several more times before the end of this year.

~ L.S.D.

 

 

The only headline as big as the conflict between Israel and Hamas right now is the one on the dueling rallies for Israel and Palestine. I gave this a separate post because I wanted to give this the full attention it needs and deserves.

First off, most media outlets in the U.S. have been largely getting it right in making the sharp distinction between Hamas and most Palestinians. This is one of those rare times the media is being VERY careful in telling the story from both sides as much as possible. The overwhelming majority of Palestinians reject Hamas and everything they stand for. More so the current generation of young Palestinians. Western influences that have made their way into the Middle East over the last 20 years is largely why.

All that said, it’s not really a secret Hamas is and always has been outgunned and outclassed militarily by Israel. They make up for it with barbarism and terrorism as demonstrated last weekend. There are many who look at Israel exercising its right to defend itself as using a bazooka to kill flies. After all, most of those who end up dead are innocent bystanders. Exactly as Hamas intends. Hamas wants innocent Palestinians to end up dead at the hands of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) so they can turn around and say Israel wants to exterminate all Palestinians and Muslims.

…The problem is they know that’s not true. Hamas doesn’t want Palestinians to leave Gaza to ensure there will be mass civilian casualties so they can turn around and say the IDF is killing Palestinians with U.S.-made weapons. That’s true but it’s largely not intentional. This is also a conflict of Hamas’ choosing and that should NEVER be forgotten.

 

All that said.

The music festival Hamas chose to attack was intended to rally local support for Palestinian rights. Most of western media stopped following this after the conflict in Ukraine broke out but there have been nationwide protests in Israel ever since Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power as the country’s Prime Minister.

He was voted out of office in disgrace but basically forced his way back into power. He then set to work consolidating power, triggering MASSIVE nationwide protests as Palestinians in the West Bank largely anxiously looked on. Meanwhile, Hamas was training for last weekend in plain sight and Israeli intelligence supposedly never saw it coming. The third most powerful Intelligence network in the world failed to notice their #1 threat training to attack them for almost a year. According to Netanyahu himself, yes that’s correct.

The problem is most Israeli Military officials refute those claims as do most Israeli citizens. Attention is largely focused on Hamas right now but it’s possible Netanyahu may be forced out of power again once the fighting eventually stops. The Israeli people are already demanding the truth over how this was allowed to happen. With every dead Hamas fighter comes more proof last weekend’s attack was planned in advance. More so given the scale, speed, death count and how long it took for the IDF to respond.

U.S. Intelligence networks gave a preliminary assessment that also refutes the possability Netanyahu AND Israel’s on intelligence network could not have known this was coming. In other words, Netanyahu can’t claim plausible deniability. THAT’S the part world governments and most media organizations won’t DARE say publicly because it would raise this obvious question: Why did he lie to the world? What is he hiding?

For those who don’t know, Netanyahu is a part of Israel’s Right Wing Ultra Conservative faction. He has publicly stated he opposes a 2-state option for Palestine and wants to expand Israel’s territory. While he hasn’t outright said it publicly, Netanyahu is very open to going to war with Lebannon, Syria and Iran knowing the U.S. would have no choice but to help militarily.

Am I saying Netanyahu let Hamas butcher over 1,000 Israelis to create justification for a “defensive” war with Lebannon, Syria and Iran? No but a lot of Israelis I personally know have told me it’s what Netanyahu has wanted ever since Hamas took over Gaza. They believe Netanyahu made the calculation by vowing to push this conflict until Hamas has been wiped out, he can provoke Lebannon and Iran into getting involved militarily.

Lebanese fighters have already started attacking Israel from the north which raises a different, unrelated question: how much did Lebannon and Iran know about what Hamas was planning? They clearly knew something to have reacted so quickly. This is to say nothing of initial speculation the Iranian government ordered the attack so…yeah.

All that said and internal politics aside, Israel should definitely wipe out Hamas. They are a scourge even to most Palestinians on that note.

 

That brings me to this article’s title. Starting about 15 years ago, we started seeing a sharp rise in Pro-Palestinian rallies and demonstrations in not just the U.S. but other western nations.

A few days ago, someone from a Conservative Non-Profit organization found out a number of students at Harvard University signed a declaration they stated they blame Israel for Hamas’ attacks last weekend. The conservative group bought an advertising truck that displayed the names and faces of 34 signees with the message “Harvard’s Leading Antisemites” also displayed on it and parked the truck outside the gates of the campus. This has understandably drawn MASSIVE public backlash both inside and outside of Harvard.

Eight of the signees have since removed their names from the declaration while others claimed they did not read what they signed. The signees are actually being defended by the head of Harvard’s Jewish organization who said moves like this one is a typical intimidation tactic used by of Far-Right organizations to silence Pro-Palestinian activists.

They’re right to say that and it’s also why law enforcement in not just the U.S. but Europe and other places are on high alert right now. Far Right groups parading as Pro-Israel have wasted no time looking to provoke violent clashes at Pro-Palestinian rallies. Jewish organizations are rightfully calling them out because most of those same Far Right Conservative groups are also openly or secretly antisemetic White Nationalists. As was the case in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, they want to provoke a race war.

More than that, they want a holy war between Christianity and Islam. They’ve wanted one for decades due to their false interpretation of certain Bible passages that they believe involves Jerusalem. From the Islamic side, the Dome of the Rock in Jeruselem is the third-holiest site in Islam. They know the Christians want to get rid of it and claim Jerusalem for themselves and by extension Judaism.

As long as the site holy to Islam is not disturbed and they are allowed access, most Muslims could care less if Israel has sole control of Jerusalem. They are less concerned with that than Christians from Europe and the U.S. once again brining war to the region. Afghanistan is undefeated vs. foreign powers for example. The county’s nickname The Graveyard of Empires actually goes back centuries.

The European Union cut a deal with Turkey: In exchange for 500 Million Euros and turning a blind eye to that government’s blatant human rights violations, Turkey will act as a land buffer against refugees looking to enter Europe from the Middle East and Africa. As in they will not allow refugees fleeing conflict zones into Europe. This is why Refugees fleeing the Middle East and Africa now largely cross the Mediterranean Sea by boat or raft en route to Greece or Italy. Some European countries like the UK, Austria and Germany welcome refugees while others such as Hungary, France and Slovakia do not.

Understanding both sides of an issue is important. The situation with Israel and Palestine is complicated and anyone claiming it’s black and white largely doesn’t care about the details. The details do matter and shouldn’t be ignored either. Once the current conflict is over, deals will need to be made to say the least.

There was a proposal floating around until Hamas stuck to open a land corridor connecting Gaza and the West Bank. The main artery would connect the two territories via an elevated highway or tunnel that would loop from southeastern Gaza through Israel into the West Bank. Two secondary routes from northern Gaza would loop  eastward through Israel into the West Bank.

Israel currently controls the flow of traffic between the two Palestinian territories. Opening up dedicated land routes would solve a number of problems. More so if some or all those land routes that would pass through Israel are underground. Out of sight, out of mind. If the terrain forces the construction of elevated highways instead, Israel would reserve the right to patrol them from the land and air.

My point is there are ways to make things work for both sides.

 

 

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