Quote:
Originally Posted by Bownesian
I don't think Israel's hands are totally clean here - mistakes always happen, and there are always bad actors on all sides of all wars. Any individual soldier can make a wrong decision intentionally or unintentionally in a war situation, and it happens in every war. Some sides investigate and prosecute those bad actors, while others celebrate them.
Governments can have dirty hands as well (Hamas, choosing to imbed in a population, Russia in Chechnya, or the US government using Agent Orange).
I would argue that Israel does in fact have the firepower to push that civilian death ratio well into the high 90% range if they actually wanted a genocide. They have tanks on the margins of tent encampments and could easily wipe them out if they chose to. They do not.
I would also argue that Hamas' goals are actually genocidal. They seek the elimination of the Jewish state and its replacement with an Islamic one. They seek this through the destruction and displacement of Israel's people, and through demographic replacement via the "right of return".
In my view, Israel could commit genocide, but does not; Hamas cannot commit genocide, but would if they could.
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This argument is always bull####. "They could be doing a lot worse so its not genocide"... No, that's not an argument. They are not doing a lot worse because they are towing a fine line between getting international condemned and maintaining US military support.