Israel-Hamas War 2023

[Razgovory]

Israel gets more attention because it is entirely dependent on United States support.  Why the United States supports Israel, the way it does has a lot to do with it own internal politics and the power of the groups which require the United States to do so.  Those groups are not like-minded.  There is the religious right of the United States that has an odd notion that they need to bring up about the end of the world so that Jesus can come and the only way for that to happen is for the temple to be rebuilt.  That group is of course very different from the Jewish populations within the United States that have their own reasons for supporting the state of Israel.

Israeli really isn't that dependent on the US, less so than Saudi Arabia who has starved tens of thousands of children to death in Yemen.  The amount of support that Israel gets from the religious right is overstated, but is trotted out as a reason to oppose Israel.  By opposing Israel, you are opposing the American Religious right by proxy, and that makes many people feel good.  That hundreds of millions of religious right Muslims believe that the battle against Israeli is a prophesized end times genocide promised to them by God is simply impolite to bring up.  People might think you are a racist or an Islamophobe if you harped on that they way you might talk about Christian religious right.

[Valmy]

Please add in Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia. They also get away with whatever.  Our relations with Sudan would be basically the same without Darfur.  They are an anarchy that produces nothing we want.  It's like Somalia.  Russia really only became a problem with the invasion of Ukraine, we didn't give a damn about Chechnya.

Ah yeah. The Saudis for sure. You are right about that.

[Duque de Bragança]

Ethnic cleansing does work against terrorism, cf. Zealots/Sicarii.

The Jews were wiped from the land of Israel, never to return  . . .

Well, Judæe was renamed Palestina, Jerusalem was renamed Ælia Capitolina, as part of the ethnic cleansing around Jerusalem, but it was after the second Roman-Jewish War, not the first (Josephus') where Sicarii and Zealots made quite a name for themselves.
There was also a much less known 'Quietus War' during Trajan's reign when the Jews rose in revolt in support of Iranians Parthians at war with the Roman Empire, with harsh reprisals as well.

Some Jews stayed in Palæstina, migrating to coastal cities or Galilæa but 2/3 of the Jewish population was either dispersed (diaspora) in the Empire or killed.

[viper37]

Ethnic cleansing does work against terrorism, cf. Zealots/Sicarii.

The Jews were wiped from the land of Israel, never to return  . . .

There were still Jewish defenders fighting side by side with Arab defenders against the Crusaders in 1141, so they were never truly wiped out.

We should start using the same metrics as Israel uses for Palestinians. 

- it wasn't a real massacre, there were survivors
- they fought against the legitimate rulers, they had no choice to defend themselves
- they attacked civilians, the army was only protecting the good people of the country
- they struck first, the Romans were only defending themselves
- the population kept growing after that, proof that not so many were killed, it's all lies and exageration
- there were still Jews in the territory after the supposed cleansing
- it was never their territory to begin with, there's no proof they were always there before the original inhabitants
- the Romans brought roads, aqueducts and baths to the desert, while there was only scarce population before, they're the ones who really developed the country from those sheep herders

[Valmy]

The Jews helped the Persians take Jerusalem when they invaded after Phocas overthrew Mauricius in the Byzantine-Sassanian War as well.

I think there were always some Jews in the area despite Hadrian's best efforts.

[viper37]

Interview from a doctor coming back from Gaza.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d5yFJ1CjZYE

[Sophie Scholl]

Ser Davos Seaworth, The Onion Knight, is smuggling relief aid into Gaza. 

Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists set sail for the Gaza Strip on Sunday afternoon, aboard a ship carrying aid. The mission is aimed at "breaking Israel's siege" of the devastated territory, organizers said.

"Game of Thrones" actor Liam Cunningham and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent, are also among the crew. Hassan has been barred from entering Israel due to her active opposition to the Israeli assault on Gaza.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-activist-greta-thunberg-game-of-thrones-actor-liam-cunningham-gaza-aid-ship/

[HVC]

Well hopefully his fingers make it this time.

[Savonarola]

And the Globalized Intifada continues:

Eight hurt in Colorado fire attack after suspect shouts 'free Palestine'

It would be hard to imagine a greater propaganda victory for Trump than this; immigrant (maybe an illegal immigrant) from a Muslim country sets fire to a group of Jews, including a Holocaust survivor.  (I guess it could have been greater he could have been a Harvard educated DEI counselor as well.)  Currently the story is the headline at Fox News with seven unique stories covering the event (though it has been covered by every major news network.)