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Updated Google Maps shows destruction of the city of Rafah

390 pointsby 14h agotwitter.com
132 comments
6h agoHN ↗

I'm a little confused by this one, because if you hit the "Show historical imagery" button, and go back through the prior years, I don't really see much or anything of a playground there.

13h agoHN ↗

Atomic dome vibes when looking at some of the few buildings still standing

13h agoHN ↗

The icons from what was there before are a haunting digital ghost. School, Restaurant, Pharmacy all the city is just rubble.

12h agoHN ↗

It's sad that most world leaders do nothing to combat such genocide. There are so few sanctions against the state, or specific people, of Israel. Foreign forums are very much still open for business to them.

9h agoHN ↗

1) Ultimately, money means more to foreign nations than what happens with internal affairs of their trading partners

2) Accusations of genocide, whether they stand up or not, are great fodder for whataboutism discussions. Let's say the world's two largest economies, the US and China, decided to start sanctioning Israel for what's happening in Gaza. You could expect other countries to start threatening actions against the US and China over their previous or current genocidal behaviors. These are obviously not things that the US and China want to deal with.

7h agoHN ↗

What do you think world leaders should've done differently?

7h agoHN ↗

The post you are responding to lists several possible actions. Another good start would be to stop providing the weapons that have done this damage.

6h agoHN ↗

Cut off weapon gifts+sales to Israel, impose sanctions. Same way we dealt with the South African apartheid state.

6h agoHN ↗

Israel has both nuclear weapons and the Epstein files, so that's not really an option (granted: SA had nuclear weapons too, but nobody really to drop them on).

5h agoHN ↗

Nuclear weapons sure, but what is this about Epstein?

4h agoHN ↗

he's referring to the fact that epstein is a mossad agent and that compromised world leaders are being blackmailed to support the genocide

4h agoHN ↗

Epstein (and Ghislaine Maxwell in particular) are widely believed to have operated as a massive Mossad blackmail operation, collecting (and creating) blackmail material against western politicians and influential individuals to ensure their support for Israel.

I won't go into details that support or refute this claim, but that is what the parent poster likely meant.

44m agoHN ↗

So you're suggesting that Israel would drop a nuke on a Western country imposing a boycott? Somehow, I doubt it.

6h agoHN ↗

A lot.

Literally on Oct 7, Hamas tried to return civilian hostages, who the IDF killed. This is why Hamas changed policies to only give up hostages through 3rd parties. They reached out to israel to try and return hostages and were ignored. They reached out to the US to return hostages and were ignored. [1]

So for starters, the US could have pressured Israel to negotiate with Hamas to return the hostages.

As Israel started to show genocidal intent (for example, killing aide workers multiple times). The US could have at a minimum threaten to withhold aide. In fact, there are laws on the books that a country such as Israel committing war crimes is ineligible for aide.

Finally, the UN should have deployed peace keepers to gaza specifically to stop the genocide.

Actions could have been taken, but they weren't because our politicians are so bribed by Israeli lobby money as to turn a complete blind eye to it's misdeeds.

[1] https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-politics/2026-09-...

6h agoHN ↗

So you feel like after October 7, there should've just been a talk about what happened and some form of negotiation ?

6h agoHN ↗

Quote exactly where I even implied that.

6h agoHN ↗

Well what else do you expect when you subjugate a native population for decades? Just expect perfect victims?

The peaceful route didn't work. Only idiots will think continuing with the status quo will result in anything different.

5h agoHN ↗

Sorry buddy, you can't just attack children at a music festival and get away with it, even if you're desperate. It's not a justification. If it was, then whatever Israel is doing is fine because they're just responding as victims should, right?

I heard the recordings the ecstatic guys screaming with pleasure that they murdered as many Jews as they could, one guy called his mother in ecstatic joy, it was absolutely sick shit.

Ukraine could blow up children's schools in Russia couldn't it? But it doesn't. Russia does though...

5h agoHN ↗

sorry buddy, you can't just kill 700k people, displace the rest into an open air prison for decades, and expect no blowback.

You can't just continue to 'mow the lawn' where children are killed and kidnapped, put into Israeli prisons, and expect no blowback.

You can't just shoot people in the knees while protesting peacefully, and then expect no blowback

You can't just rape Palestinian prisoners (most of whom have been arrested under no charges), and expect no blowback.

You can't just install bombs in pagers, and set it off amongst civilians, which resulted in children being injured or killed, and expect no blowback.

Sorry buddy, but your days of gaslighting is over.

6h agoHN ↗

Hamas tried to return civilian hostages

What a bizarre claim and outright lie. They kept them locked up and starving. They could’ve just dropped them off near the border with Israel or Egypt, or handed them over to the Red Cross (which wasn’t even allowed to visit and check on the hostages).

5h agoHN ↗

Oh look, brand new account doing hasbara. Where have we seen this before? Are you a part of Israel's $1B spent on online propaganda? [1]

I cited my source. But there were also sources in October 2023 about Hamas wanting to return the hostages. The Haaretz articles reveal that it was privately even earlier than expected and the Netanyahu was warned of the attack in advance yet he chose to do nothing about it.

Why not just drop them off? Well for 1 they actually wanted the hostages to get home alive. The IDF didn't care about killing hostages as they relentlessly bombed the region.

Why not let the Red Cross see them? Because the IDF was closely watching and, shocker, if you take someone directly to the hostages guess what building gets blown up next?

[1] https://quincyinst.org/research/the-eighth-front-inside-isra...

6h agoHN ↗

Finally, the UN should have deployed

UN has no such power. I am still amazed how people do not get this.

Members need to vote for such things to happen. It wouldn't, not in this climate.

5h agoHN ↗

The question was

What do you think world leaders should've done differently?

Members should have voted in the UN to deploy peace keeping troops. The UN does have that power if it's voted for. This isn't a question of the current realities but a question of what the right actions are.

5h agoHN ↗

This is where you notice that the world is more complicated than social media posts.

Like it would've been a nice idea, until you realize that Hamas is heavily backed by Iran, Iran is helping Russia, Russia is invading Ukraine, and it starts to look like that level of intervention is a step towards a world war.

Then you notice world energy markets are going to be effected by a massive conflict etc.

If the UN went into Gaza, got attacked by Iran, then had to respond, next minute they're attacking a close Russian ally, and maybe even China might have to get involved in that.

What would've been good is if October 7 didn't happen, and that goes for both sides.

5h agoHN ↗

Iran would WELCOME UN peace keepers in gaza, are you kidding? Hell, I think even Hamas would welcome their presence. UN peace keepers would mean the likes of UNRA could operate once again in Gaza to deliver aid. It would also mean that Israel would have to stop it's aggression.

Iran is helping Russia

lol, no, other way around. Though the Russia hasn't really been involved with Iran since Ukraine started. It's actually China that's the biggest Iranian trade partner.

The only party that'd be upset over UN peace keepers in Gaza is Israel.

5h agoHN ↗

Hamas tried to return civilian hostages

Lie. It was a deal to get complete immunity for a massacre. Also, 'Civilian' per Hamas is anyone over 60. 'Let Hamas murder and keep nearly all hostages' was not in Israel's playbook.

They reached out and were ignored.

Lie. There was repeated negotiations for two years after, with plenty of Hamas demands for the hostages. It was totally public too.

As Israel started to show genocidal intent (for example, killing aide workers multiple times)

Literally not relevant. The US has much bigger errors in the current conflict.

the UN should have deployed peace keepers

Snort. Look at how successful they were in Lebanon. Peace keepers need to be willing to fight to keep the peace, and in this case, it meant fighting both sides. LOL.

our politicians are so bribed by Israeli lobby money

I suggest looking at the far bigger Qatari and Saudi expenditures (didn't they just grant an entire 747?). It's more that US politicians recall the war on terror, and know all this nonsense will one day be sent back at them with much greater force (wasn't it 4 million deaths or so?), they have no wish for the precedent to be set and deployed at them.

5h agoHN ↗

Lie. It was a deal to get complete immunity for a massacre. Also, 'Civilian' per Hamas is anyone over 60. 'Let Hamas murder and keep nearly all hostages' was not in Israel's playbook.

You are making stuff up. Nobody reports that Hamas was shooting for a "get out pillaging free" card. And the fact still remains that they tried to return 3 hostages to show good faith who the IDF proceeded to kill.

Lie. There was repeated negotiations for two years after, with plenty of Hamas demands for the hostages. It was totally public too.

Hamas, on multiple occasions, agreed to all the terms only for Israel to reject the agreement and change the terms. That was all public. It's why the hostage families became really mad at the government.

Literally not relevant. The US has much bigger errors in the current conflict.

Two wrongs don't make a right and yes, it's relevant when the IDF explodes clearly marked aid vehicles rendering aid. There's no reason to do that.

Snort. Look at how successful they were in Lebanon. Peace keepers need to be willing to fight to keep the peace, and in this case, it meant fighting both sides. LOL.

Does that really matter? The question wasn't "how effective will this be" it's "What world leaders should have done". That's what world leaders should have done.

I suggest looking at the far bigger Qatari and Saudi expenditures (didn't they just grant an entire 747?). It's more that US politicians recall the war on terror, and know all this nonsense will one day be sent back at them with much greater force (wasn't it 4 million deaths or so?), they have no wish for the precedent to be set and deployed at them.

These are weaker lobbies because of US laws. The likes of AIPAC and CUFI get around campaign finance restrictions because they are operated by US citizens (in behest of Israel). No other nation has that sort of organizations in the US. The closet you can find is things like the weirdo Shen Yun cult.

This allowed them to spend $60M in a democrat primary. You won't find that sort of direct spending from Qatar or the Saudis (barring the clear bribe in the Jet. They aren't exactly giving away jets to every primary run).

5h agoHN ↗

Nobody reports that Hamas was shooting for a "get out pillaging free" card

'Israel to withdraw and grant all other Hamas demands' is a 'get out free' card.

they tried to return 3 hostages to show good faith who the IDF proceeded to kill.

These hostages _escaped_ and were shot in error. Not 'tried to return'. Note that there was a week's ceasefire a month earlier and Hamas could have returned everyone then if they cared to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Gaza_war_ceasefire

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/21/world/israel-hostages-cam...

Hamas, on multiple occasions, agreed to all the terms only for Israel to reject the terms.

You mean all of 'Hamas's terms'. Right. The Israeli government had very different terms as the final deal (very different from what Hamas demanded) shows. The Israeli gov insisted on controlling the Egyptian border, Gaza demilitarization, etc.

It's why the hostage families became really mad at the government.

Of course. They wanted the hostages out ASAP, and could only pressure the Israeli government (obviously Hamas wouldn't care for the families).

Two wrongs don't make a right

Right, but there's such a thing as hypocrisy. One could make a 'genocidal' case against the country who started a war by bombing a schoolhouse and spoke of 'destroying an entire civilization' (it would still be wrong though). But they're a little too strong, and it's easier to pick on Israel.

That's what world leaders should have done.

Most world leaders want to be reelected (or not be overthrown if they're dictators). Sending out troops to die in a foreign land for an arguably hopeless cause is not very helpful to that end. They're likely aware of the history of military involvement in the Middle East.

The likes of AIPAC and CUFI get around campaign finance restrictions because they are operated by US citizens

Qatar etc. gets around it by donating billions to US universities or using organizations like ISNA. Everyone seems to have found a way.

6h agoHN ↗

If you had to guess, what do you think they might do? I feel like questions like this are in bad faith. Think about it for a minute, and try to come up with some things that they might do.

5h agoHN ↗

Send all collaborators to the international criminal court. (In the US, especially congress critters and members of the executive branch.)

Also, blockade Israel proportionally to the Gaza blockades. I doubt they would have kept murdering red cross members in Gaza once the supermarkets started running out of food.

40m agoHN ↗

At the very least diplomatic condemnation and a South African level sanction.

6h agoHN ↗

Do not forget that world leaders are heads of sovereign states that are in charge of their self defense. Those that actually have to defend themselves, like the US, rather than relying on strong allies, need to make public statements that are not hypocritical about what they would do for self defense. This is why both U.S. administrations support Israel's actions

6h agoHN ↗

Pretty sure that's not why US administrations support Israel's actions.

5h agoHN ↗

Bad phrasing on my part. That is one of many reasons

4h agoHN ↗

  need to make public statements that are not hypocritical

wow, you hold a very high opinion of american politics. you must have been reading new from paper news paper for the last 30 years

3h agoHN ↗

Sure, the need to self defense against US dangerous neighbors. Looking at you, Canada!

2h agoHN ↗

Have you been living under a rock? The time when "public statements" used to work is long, long gone.

30m agoHN ↗

Those that actually have to defend themselves, like the US, rather than relying on strong allies

Sure, but are we going to ignore about the US having to rely on its "helpless" allies to provide staging points and cannon fodder for its illegal imperialistic wars? How much of a superpower would it be without its overseas bases?

12h agoHN ↗

Its really telling to see the destruction limited to where the structures used to be rather than to all of the surrounding green spaces. If the destruction of civilian dwellings was purely an accident you'd expect to see the destruction spread evenly over the area. Instead it looks much more like a prolonged set of surgical strikes to destroy the buildings while preserving as much of the surrounding areas as possible.

For a great example of this, look at this pin https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZcMbdFcx87PrqoYNA

And here's a pin of where the farms were spared https://maps.app.goo.gl/iZbbTH4iH27FCz4s9

12h agoHN ↗

They just use bulldozers to flatten whatever the bombs don't. They can drive a bulldozer pretty precisely, especially when they don't care who's in front of it or under it.

Caterpillar even supplies the IDF with bulldozers just for this purpose, which then get up-armored and sent into Palestinian civilian areas to do this (including unmanned versions).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDF_Caterpillar_D9

11h agoHN ↗

I don't quite understand your argument here. In your first pin I'm struggling to find a single building that isn't leveled, or at least severely damaged. Even buildings far away from the city center in the boonies are leveled.

7h agoHN ↗

They are saying that this is genocidal destruction. In a war sometimes civilian infrastructure is hit as collateral. But here, all infrastructure is destroyed and it's clear this wasn't done by 1 or 2 errant bombs but rather because of direct targeting. It can't be argued to be an accident because in farmland you see no bombs which hit the farmland by mistake. In other-words, this is entirely purposeful.

5h agoHN ↗

this is entirely purposeful

Please check Norman Finkelstein's latest book namely Gaza's Gravediggers on this matter [1].

He also has a very telling and chilling interview recently on Palestine and Gaza [2].

[1] Gaza's Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High Places [book].

[2] Norman Finkelstein Reveals Shocking Discoveries While Researching History of Israel’s Gaza Obsession [video]:

https://youtu.be/Jmv2h1WYnNo

5h agoHN ↗

He also promotes transphobia. Chomsky was friends with Epstein and acquaintance of Steve Bannon. I don’t think that discredits his entire body of work, but I think we should stop promoting him when there are sources that are less problematic.

5h agoHN ↗

You are mixing Chomsky (the subreddit) up with Norm (the book author). Norm was friends with Chomsky but not Epstein or Bannon. I'm unaware of him having transphobic views.

5h agoHN ↗

I would caution against uncritical consumption of Finkelstein's work. He is a bit unhinged, and limited in what content he can analyse as he can't read Arabic or Hebrew.

Also Tucker Carlson? Seriously?

4h agoHN ↗

A war requires at least two militaries. This is what happens when a well armed military engages a mostly unarmed civilian society unable to mount significant opposition.

3h agoHN ↗

"Before the October 7, 2023 attacks, the total size of Hamas’s military wing (the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades) was estimated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and intelligence agencies to be between 25,000 and 30,000 fighters, with some intelligence assessments placing the upper limit as high as 40,000. This army was organized into five regional brigades and 24 battalions."

"Hamas's military force prior to October 7, 2023, was roughly 3 to 4.5 times larger than the United States military when measured as a percentage of their respective total populations."

4h agoHN ↗

If it was genocide, why would you spare the farmers? Doesn’t really make sense.

47m agoHN ↗

It’s more efficient to spend your ammo on housing and city buildings.

1h agoHN ↗

Looks the same in Ukraine, and at least there it's most likely not primarily because Russians wanted flatten the city (I'm sure they'd have preferred taking it in one piece) but rather because fighting happens from buildings resulting in the buildings getting targeted.

Doesn't mean that here the targeting couldn't have been done with the primary goal of displacing the population, but the buildings being destroyed doesn't prove the motive.

1h agoHN ↗

Does it look the same in the Ukraine? I haven’t seen any footage of entire cities leveled like this.

5h agoHN ↗

You can also see a lot of buildings demolished on the Egyptian side too.

In 2015, the Egyptian government announced a plan to demolish the entire Egyptian city of Rafah, in order to deter smuggling with the Gaza Strip. More than a decade on, most of it is gone. The residents were forcibly relocated to elsewhere in Egypt.

2h agoHN ↗

Oh 100%, you can see specific buildings (mostly marked as schools) that are still standing.

5h agoHN ↗

Israeli here. Maybe I can give some helpful context.

Most people in Israel have not, and probably will not see this - any “support” for Palestinians is seen as a very far-left idea after Oct 7. There are still many here who oppose the extent of the war - I see regular demonstrations in Tel Aviv calling for peace. I will note that there seems to be fairly universal agreement that _something_ needed to be done after Oct 7. If you want to understand the Israeli perspective (doesn’t seem like most commenters do, but I’m not writing this for them), you have to look at how Oct 7 shaped Israeli society these last 3 years.

But anyways, don’t take my word for anything, pay attention to our upcoming elections. We will see how big the tents are then.

Wishing for peace, for saner voices to rise, and for an end to this cycle of violence.

5h agoHN ↗

Is there any acknowledgement in Israel that Nakba and the very formation of the country is to blame? That Zionism is a European colonial ideology and at it's very core requires ethnic cleansing? I feel like most of the world has become educated enough to reach this conclusion and thus stands against Israel. The only peaceful way out of the situation Israel is in would be serious and massive reparations (similar to what Germany has given to Jewish people). Is there any support for that?

4h agoHN ↗

Israelis generally do learn about the Nakba in school. But we’re much more concerned about the circumstances Jews find themselves in after the Holocaust/WWII. We don’t see it in the way you describe. For us it was a matter of the survival of our people.

Reparations - Israel would love nothing more than that. Pay Palestinians to leave? That’s the easiest way about it! Bibi would be delighted. Unfortunately it’s a non starter. The fight was always about the land, and Palestinians have been losing since 1948. There is a complex history of “whose fault was it” - neither side has clean hands.

I don’t agree with the conflation of Zionism to ethnic cleansing. I think there were paths to peace that could have worked early on. Call it bad luck. I think Palestinian leadership failed its people by failing to secure them a diplomatic end to the conflict. Fighting a lost war for decades seems a bad plan. I also do blame Israeli leadership, for not always offering the olive branch without condition.

Edit: i will also address your initial question directly: “Is there any acknowledgement in Israel that Nakba and the very formation of the country is to blame?” - a very, very small fringe of the far left phrases it like this. I’m not trying to be dismissive, just pointing out that it’s a really tiny minority. I, as a self-described center left, disagree with the premise.

4h agoHN ↗

An ethno state is a stupid backwards idea.

EDIT: how is anyone downvoting thos. Who thinks it's a good idea?

2h agoHN ↗

Didn't downvote but I'll bite: Haven't states largely always been ethno-states, and isn't "ethno-state bad" a relatively modern and potentially as-yet unproven argument in the big scheme of things?

It's clearly bad to specifically re-engineer the ethnic composition of an existing state to create one, particularly violently, but I don't know that it necessarily follows that a naturally occurring ethno-state is conceptually abhorrent as you seem to be suggesting. Japan is very much such a state - is Japan bad for existing?

1h agoHN ↗

What is modern are states like we have now. Passports didn't exist before WW1 for example. The idea that people can't freely move across land and imaginary lines we call borders is a modern idea.

You have it backwards.

45m agoHN ↗

Orthodox Jews are against marrying non Jews. Is this not known?

They do not share Western social values.

3h agoHN ↗

How can you simultaneously decide you do not need to care about the lives of a group of people on the basis of a difference of ethnicity as you prioritize the formation of an ethnic state, and simultaneously refuse the premise that the formation of that state is to blame for ethnic strife? Your first and last paragraphs cannot be reconciled.

3h agoHN ↗

Pay Palestinians to leave? That’s the easiest way about it!

That’s not what reparations are, that’s ethnic cleansing.

2h agoHN ↗

There is a complex history of “whose fault was it” - neither side has clean hands.

As is true in every war.

The question is who started it.

2h agoHN ↗

If that’s the question, it truly is hopeless. Because whoever you think started it, they don’t see it that way. So there can be no shared understanding, ever. It’s just circular blame across centuries.

In the rare cases where adults have prevailed, the question has been “what will it take to end it”.

2h agoHN ↗

I do wonder, isn’t there a sense the Palestinians face the survival of their people today?

Their leadership failing the people feels like a heavy burden to place on the average person, especially in a society where there is no meaningful democracy, but even then.

There appears to be no end to what’s happening three years on. October 7th was a horror of horrors, but to visit that on an entire people day after day for years upon years as revenge, when almost none of the people suffering participated or planned it? What’s the point?

I have always supported Israel, but these last few years have gone into a zone of inhumanity towards their fellow man that is shocking to the soul of any person with human compassion.

There appears to be no condition to end the suffering other than their death. That’s genocide. Evicting them from their homes by relocation, appropriation, settlement, destruction, is the definition of ethnic cleansing. These are disturbing things that we all agreed should never happen again after WWII. It disturbs me that Israel gets a free pass because of what happened to the Jews - the horror of the past doesn’t entitle anyone to visiting their own horrors.

Am I wrong? I’ve struggled with how to discuss this with my Israeli friends.

48m agoHN ↗

But we’re much more concerned about the circumstances Jews find themselves in after the Holocaust/WWII.

The problem is that the historical timeline doesn't match up. Zionism started way earlier, and tried to found a "Jewish homeland" in 1820 in New York, and in 1903 in Uganda, and there are literally dozens of other examples throughout history. Even if we look solely at modern-day Israel, it dates back all the way to the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The first settler violence started decades before the Holocaust ever begun.

I don’t agree with the conflation of Zionism to ethnic cleansing.

How do you propose Zionists could've established an ethnically Jewish country on land already occupied by Palestinians without ethnic cleansing? Why didn't the Zionists migrate to Palestine by integrating in the already-present culture and society, rather than by displacing it?

4h agoHN ↗

My own country lost its mind after 2,977 people died in one terrorist attack a quarter of a century ago and we made many many bad decisions for a long time afterwards. It sucked. In October 2023 I had hoped that my country's well publicized example would help your country not make the same choices but it's hard to learn from other people's mistakes.

4h agoHN ↗

America didn't do things like this after 9/11, we tried to build democracies in a naive way, failed, and got a lot of people killed unnecessarily. Iraq was completely unjustified and based on fabrications.

But we weren't trying to wage war against the entire civilian populations as revenge. That's an entirely different category of crime.

4h agoHN ↗

A lot of the stories that came out of Abu Ghraib sure sound like they have very strong parallels to what is happening today. At the level of "poorly trained reservists trying to do something difficult without sufficient oversight and getting frustrated and turning to torture" it sounds very similar.

And the destruction of Fallujah from Phantom Fury ended up only marginally better than what happened to Rafah (destroyed about a quarter of the buildings in Fallujah and damaged another quarter).

4h agoHN ↗

Abu Ghraib was a scandal, some people got punished, probably not all of the right ones.

When it came out that Israel was systematically sodomizing detainees with nightsticks, they had protestors come out in favor of the guards. It's still ongoing, all charges have been dropped. Nobody is scandalized by it.

1h agoHN ↗

That's a very flat take. That ignores the fact that the doctor that saw the prisoner reported it for investigation or that the military had chose to prosecute it, also you don't mention this was one case, not "systematic"

Even ignoring the fact that protests do not imply popular support, there is no comparison as 9/11 did not include widespread sexual violence and ongoing hostage rape was still going on at the time this happened.

So even if this seemed terrible to most Israelis, it was hard to find someone who will publicly defend a rapist from rape in jail

56m agoHN ↗

Sure if you ignore the UN Commission of Inquiry report from March 2025 that concluded sexual and gender-based violence was used systematically against Palestinian detainees.

3h agoHN ↗

The reaction of Americans to Abu Ghraib and the reaction of Israelis to the - larger scale - torture of Palestinian prisoners, is miles apart. It's also why there was always an end in sight to the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, yet there isn't for Gaza until it has not a single Palestinian left.

3h agoHN ↗

"That's an entirely different category of crime" - cut the moralizing bullshit please. You have killed shitload of people and that is all that matters.

3h agoHN ↗

The world must appear quite monochrome to your simple mind.

1h agoHN ↗

Would you have preferred that the US stay out of WW2 to avoid killing any civilians? Sure, the Nazis took over, but at least our hands are clean!

2h agoHN ↗

I mean if the same thing happened to us we'd easily have had 50%+ support for glassing all of Palestine with nukes.

1h agoHN ↗

9/11 did happen to us.

Admittedly, this was before social media but back then you didn't get 50% support for gassing anybody.

1h agoHN ↗

That ended in a million dead over bi-partisan 20 years of war. Without 9/11 including massive hostage taking, rape or mass murder with torture in people homes.

The other main difference is that 9/11 ended within a few days, the hostage part of 7/10 made it an ongoing disaster for years in Israel.

1h agoHN ↗

But we weren't trying to wage war against the entire civilian populations as revenge.

Yes you were. Gaza is just another Fallujah. Just another Raqqa. Just another Mosul.

Your nation had multiple states in its cross-hairs after 9/11 and every single one of them was destroyed, somehow.

The “War on Terror” is a racist war, and ‘terrorist’ is just the era’s n-word, which is a word that dyed in the wool racists can’t use openly any more so they invented a new one.

The USA has been destroying states its ruling, racist elite deem inferior for decades. Israel is just following the precedent set by its partner in crime.

59m agoHN ↗

Here's a line graph of the HDI of Iraq and Palestine:

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/human-development-index?t...

For Iraq, you can see a small dip for the 2003 invasion, which quickly recovers and in subsequent years grows above its pre-invasion value. Far from being "destroyed", Iraq is now doing better than ever.

For Palestine, the dip is about 3x larger.

31m agoHN ↗

How many people died in Iraq? The country is completely broken. Look what's happening in the latest Iran war.

Israel is committing a genocide and we are their partners in crime.

The fact that the dip is so small for both is more a reflection of the dataset. I mean, Gaza is all but completely destroyed, how can the HDI be that high?

2h agoHN ↗

This is a false equivalence. 9/11 is not Oct 7 and the US is nothing like Israel, in fact the US was attacked for (amongst other things) it's support of Israel. America also did not conduct genocidal actions in the manner Israel has.

Israel is a colonial project that annexes land and homes from people against international law and has done so since it's conception. Gaza is a refugee camp of descendents of people displaced from their homes during the Nakba. There's a saying there: "My Grandmother is older than Israel" -- and it is true.

To look at Oct. 7 as some sort of isolated incident ignores the history of the project: After the holocaust Western Jews decided to move to an area already occupied by other people based on some loose notion of having claim to it millennia ago. They used western governments to push this concept forward. Sure, America displaced Native Americans, but Israel did it during modernity... and those natives also happen to have access to modern heavy weaponry... what did they expect to happen?

I think Israeli people are ingenious and talented but they picked the wrong patch of land to occupy -- the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem is as sacred as the Vatican and you have 1.5 billion (often crazy) Muslim people revolving around this sacred conceptualization. This is why the common people even of places like UAE/Saudi all back Palestine despite the political actions of such states. It is a recipe destined for disaster, especially with the Iran war de-coupling the Gulf States from the USA. It seems to me there is no way out.

1h agoHN ↗

America also did not conduct genocidal actions in the manner Israel has.

First Nations

Israel is a colonial project that annexes land and homes from people against international law and has done so since it's conception.

What do they call it in the US? Manifest Destiny?

1h agoHN ↗

You seem to be confused about what genocide means, and your nonchalant careless use of it denigrates those who were actually victims of it, like those in Rwanda or Burma, where governments expressly systemically sought to murder and eradicate all members of particular ethnic groups.

What Hamas clearly aspired to was genocide in the formal definition (ie, their stated end goal was and is the destruction of Israel and murder of all Jews). To my knowledge Israel has never expressed any desire to eradicate all Palestinians, nor can such a desire be imputed.

Just because you don’t like what’s happening in Gaza doesn’t make it genocide, and you (and others) would be taken slightly more seriously if you saved that term for appropriately serious situations (with the requisite mens rea), which Gaza is not.

43m agoHN ↗

has never expressed

Yes, the 4% of the Palestinian population they've killed is definitely not a form of expression. Like somehow killing only matters if you talk about how fun it is first.

For the record that's greater than the % of Bosniaks killed in the Bosnia genocide.

14m agoHN ↗

4% isn’t much in the grand scheme of things and again, yes you have to be able to prove the intent. Pretty basic legal principle. It could be 85% and that wouldn’t by itself prove genocide.

Do you guys even bother being minimally informed before commenting? Like, Wikipedia is right there…

1h agoHN ↗

Did Native Americans also pick "the wrong patch of land to occupy"?

55m agoHN ↗

Native Americans overwhelmingly died from Smallpox that was accidentally brought over by Europeans. There is no credible evidence that the transmission was malicious.

In return, Native Americans accidentally gave the Europeans Syphilis. Fair trade? Probably not, although the all-time death totals aren’t as incomparable as you might think.

4h agoHN ↗

It's a genocide and Israel showed the dark side is in everyone even in our modern, supposedly more enlightened time.

Humanity has a deep darkness and no society is immune. USA is a partner in this and as someone living here I'm deeply ashamed.

4h agoHN ↗

I support Israel, but not wholeheartedly. I understand how Nakba was a matter of survival of your people. But why is this still going on today? Why is Israel continuing to expand settlements? Can you not understand how Palestinians must feel to constantly live in fear of being pushed out of their own homes? This is what gives me heartache. Can't you draw a line and say, what happened in the past cannot be reversed, but we will not continue to expand settlements?

4h agoHN ↗

Probably tougher to do politically than me stopping ICE from putting non-violent immigrants in concentration camps

3h agoHN ↗

Can't you draw a line and say, what happened in the past cannot be reversed, but we will not continue to expand settlements?

I did a study abroad in Israel in 2005 (not jewish, just for middle eastern studies) when Israel pulled out of Gaza and did essentially that. They forcibly removed settlers and left Gaza. As I recall most Israeli's thought it'd be good step toward peace.

Unfortunately Hamas took over Gaza shortly after and shot some 12k+ rockets into southern Israel over the next 20 years, and then launched Oct 7.

Unfortunately now there seems to be far less interest in Israel now in restricting settlers in the West Bank. I also feel for the Palestinians, particularly the Arab Christian communities, however extremists on both sides don't want peace.

1h agoHN ↗

They [..] left Gaza.

Sure, if you ignore the part where they kept bombing Gaza, assassinated political leaders, did ground incursions, and blocked it by land, sea, and air.

If Israel wanted a peaceful two-state solution, why did they keep occupying Gaza by turning it into an open-air prison?

42m agoHN ↗

Sure, if you ignore the part where they kept bombing Gaza,

The answer is in the post you replied to.

> Unfortunately Hamas took over Gaza shortly after and shot some 12k+ rockets into southern Israel

35m agoHN ↗

they kept bombing Gaza

It was an automated system that immediately responded within 60s to rockets sent from Gaza. Shoot one rocket from Gaza, get the building destroyed within 60 seconds. Also, the first rocket is a war crime (indiscriminate attack), the second is a military target.

You can't just say "Israel bombed Gaza" and play the victim, omitting information.

1h agoHN ↗

The position you’re describing is essentially the modern left position in Israeli politics. Again, we’ll see in the upcoming election, but not everyone here supports the current goings on in the West Bank. The “Palestinian situation” is a major question in Israeli politics, both wrt Gaza and the wb.

One thing you will find across the board is that nobody is willing to compromise on security. Most voters today remember the second intifada. There is no serious political position where Israel fully withdraws from the wb. But there’s a big difference between “massively expanse settlements” and “phase out settlements and make room for the possibility of a future Palestinian state”.

The words “Palestinian state” are usually political suicide here in Israel, but the fact that Palestine is recognized to various extent by many countries in the world means that eventually these two realities are going to have to clash.

13m agoHN ↗

Israel rejects the two-state solution. They seem to be aggressively pursing a one-state solution, incorporating all of former Palestine (and perhaps beyond) into Israel. Obviously this doesn't include taking in the people living there, giving them Israeli citizenship. People will be killed or expelled. All while Israel continually claims to be the victim "look at what those people trying to stop us stealing their land did to us now."

4h agoHN ↗

Most people in Israel have not, and probably will not see this

It is outside their zone of interest.

3h agoHN ↗

you have to look at how Oct 7 shaped Israeli society these last 3 years.

Counterpoint, a more passive turn of phrase is more fitting: How Israeli society was shaped around oct 7.

The event doesn't shape society by itself, political and media response/interest shape the society.

3h agoHN ↗

As someone that’s watched the conflict and learned about the history, the Nakba and the displacement of Palestinians far before the years of Malcolm X and Martin Luther, the conflict with Palestine didn’t start on October 7th as this comment purports.

When I didn’t have any context of the history, I took comments like this one at face value.

However it is difficult to take comments like this in good faith as it frames Israelis as folks who are pushed beyond their conscience by their government, similar to Americans in current America, when the statistics are to the contrary.

47% support the genocidal approach - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/majority-israelis-support...

56/67/82% (depending on the polling method) support expulsion of Palestinians - https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/poll-show-most-jew...

This is the typical type of propaganda that many supporters post and write hoping to reinforce the narrative to the uninformed folks of their innocence.

While I can acknowledge that there are genuinely folks who oppose the ongoing genocide, what the world ought to look out for is whether after the next set of elections, an actual change of power and direction occurs.

And when I point to elections, the potential replacement candidates all support the same policies of genocide and expulsion. Some may be less, some are absolutely more, but if nothing changes, that is on the Israeli people.

As Americans hold responsibility for the current state of politics, Israeli’s hold the responsibility for their country as well.

2h agoHN ↗

Is it not good that the US and Israel govt are generally doing what their people want though?

What's the point of a democracy if it acts against it's people like the UK does?

2h agoHN ↗

Is it not good that the US and Israel govt are generally doing what their people want though?

At least in the case of the US, I would point out that the current sitting president was elected with less than 50% support from the people who bothered to show up and vote. I would say the system is not really working well.

45m agoHN ↗

I mean it was 49.8% it's not like it was 30 or even 40. There are plenty of people that actually wanted Donald Trump to be elected.

1h agoHN ↗

it is obscene that one of the perpetrators is the top comment here. if you want "peace" then stop victim blaming, stop pretending that "israeli society" is anything other than a murderous apartheid and etho-religious supremacist colony. you are settling on stolen land, i will not take your word or your sham elections for anything.

1h agoHN ↗

If we have to look at how October 7 shaped Israeli culture, we also have to look at how all of the dates leading up to October 6 shaped Palestinian culture. How many people were killed in the West Bank on October 6 - does that register, anywhere?

29m agoHN ↗

If you want to understand the Israeli perspective

What perspective is there on murdering a hundred thousand people, starving millions, razing entire cities? this isn't a game you can play by shuffling around some moral relativism, to gain a better "perspective". This is pure unadulterated evil on a scale that can never be erased from the conscience of every Israeli citizen for generations.

2h agoHN ↗

There are Street View photos that look like they were taken from someone driving down one of the side streets so you can pretty much walk on it. You can see apartment buildings, local shops, people going about their day... It’s heart-wrenching to contrast that life with the current aerial view, with nothing but rubble and destruction.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/31%C2%B016'58.6%22N+34%C2%...

37m agoHN ↗

The sad thing is that in a way the terrorist won.

Internationally Israel is probably positioned weaker than before and there is a fissure running through liberal societies from Ireland to France, from Portugal to Germany and probably similar in the US.

This is conflict polarizes. A good example is the recent election in Berlin, which was focused on the housing crisis but now devolved into name calling based on how people think of Israel. A minority might have voted “pro Palestine” but most people wanted affordable flats.

Sowing dissent among your adversaries is very effective.

26m agoHN ↗

"Sowing dissent among your adversaries is very effective"

Yes it is, and some countries have become very good at doing that

17m agoHN ↗

I take a harsher stance: that we should expect division to be sewn among us by our adversaries, and harden ourselves accordingly through open mindedness, debate, clear info, leaders who discuss deeply and write essays, integrity, best-faith debate (rather than flame wars, especially in popular contexts like tv and social media).

37m agoHN ↗

Google Maps acting as a real-time war damage tracker is a sobering use case. The raw satellite data is a stark visual.