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Isaiah Berg's avatar

"One is that Hamas is uniquely evil; they point out that Hamas has a history of suicide bombing civilian populations, or using their own civilians as “human shields”. But such arguments should not be relevant as to whether Palestinian infants should be starved; such arguments can only be compelling if a person feels the “human shields” that Israel will inevitably kill to get to the supposed targets are not worth the effort to keep alive."

Israel is not starving Palestinian infants. It is fighting a war against Hamas, and the unintended byproduct of such a war is that civilians suffer. "War is hell" is not always a selfish rationalization for barbarism. There is no way to destroy Hamas, in its current form, without exposing civilians to harm. And leaving a genocidal death cult terror state to continue to organize on your borders and launch mass murder-rape-hostage-taking expeditions is untenable.

"I'd wager the same people who are fond of the war is hell argument would not have expressed the same sentiment after the bombing of Pearl Harbor."

The Japanese struck a US naval base without warning. While violating the Hague Convention, this wasn't an unprecedented military move.

Had they disembarked from their planes and went about raping and murdering American civilians before carrying back men, women, and children to Japan as hostages, Pearl Harbor would be regarded as less of a humiliating defeat and shocking blow in war, and more of a grotesque crime against humanity perpetrated by an evil regime. Kind of like October 7th.

"But Hamas is a monster—so why would anyone expect to have a monster care about innocent infants?"

This is exactly why Israel is morally and practically correct to ignore people like you and proceed with the total and unrelenting destruction of Hamas.

There is no peace to be had with Hamas. They love death more than they love life. They want to have more innocent Palestinians martyrs. Every tunnel and rocket firing position embedded in a school or mosque or apartment building is another chance for them to kill Jews and Palestinians alike.

There is no moral symmetry between Hamas and the IDF or the state of Israel.

The idea that Israel uses human shields is laughable, because Hamas would never be deterred by human shields. We saw how Hamas treated civilians on October 7th. Or maybe you haven't been paying attention?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAFDI63yvNQ

Israel constructs bomb shelters for its children who cannot play at their local playground or soccer field without the threat of Hamas and Hezbollah rockets raining down on them with only a few seconds of warning. Hamas builds tunnels for its fighters under hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings.

Israel spends $$$ on expensive missile defense systems, rather than cheaply counter-striking to eliminate the threat, all because they value innocent Palestinian lives. A Jewish doctor operated to save Sinwar's life from a brain tumor while he was in prison for murder. After he got exchanged along with hundreds of other terrorists for a single Israeli hostage, he thanked Israel for their moral decency by launching the greatest one-day war crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

"And, after all, since the West Bank and Gaza have been occupied by Israel,"

Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza a long time ago. Evicted the few Jews remaining there. Exhumed Jewish cemeteries. They thought it would "buy quiet" and promote normalization and moderation. In hindsight, that looks like a foolish idea.

It is hard to imagine a clearer distinction of civilization vs barbarism on display here. Hamas enjoys vast popular support among Palestinians, no doubt nurtured by the legacy of Soviet anti-Zionist propaganda and the fusion of Islamist jihad with Palestinian nationalism.

Hard to course correct when UNRWA schools and Hamas Mickey Mouse TV propaganda has children in its grips from the very beginning. Iran and Qatar will keep the money flowing and smile as more Palestinians die and Israel is forced into a perpetual war for survival.

I look forward to the total destruction of Hamas, and the discrediting of everyone who would argue for a moral equivalence between Hamas and the IDF. On the other side of that, much like the total humiliation and destruction of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, we might have the possibility of peace.

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