Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
Yes, IDF needs to fight against terrorists in the moment too, but they have been going at it in a way that's kind of a guaranteed longterm failure. It's the lesson the West learned painfully in the "war on terror", in Afghanistan and in Iraq: as long as you are ready err on the side of killing civilians to get to your target, you will always create a new terrorist for every one you kill.
|
That’s why I think the “what would you do” question makes little sense. I think everyone agrees that you must respond to terrorism with force, but how you deploy that force and the decisions made leading up to this situation are absolutely in question.
That’s also why I believe the question of “how many civilians are you willing to sacrifice” is far more relevant. It’s easier to say the response needs to be ruthless, or that they must “glass” Gaza, than it is even to criticize Israel’s response. And it’s easy to think of Palestinians as “animals” to avoid thinking of the human cost, but it’s not so easy to sit down and put a real number on how many lives are worth less than the desired result.
I can at least respect the article shared a little bit back where they accepted that the cost of defending Israel would be a loss of innocence, and they would rather that than for Israel to be pitied. That’s honest. I think too many people are desperately clinging to this idea of Israel being an innocent victim. I think it’s more than fair to support Israel in their fight against Hamas while holding them accountable for the wrong they do, specifically to innocent Palestinians, along the way. Otherwise we’re just accepting that the ends always justifies the means, and I don’t think that’s right.