Israel invades Gaza

Quote:

It wouldn't be out of the question if Jewish settlers were stopped from encroaching on Palestinian land and the Israelis themselves stopped electing hard right fascists like the Likkud.

Why would that make a difference? Even when Israel reversed its settlement policy by pulling out of Gaza in 2005 Hamas wasn’t satisfied. I can’t think of one occasion when the PA or Hamas ever took the initiative in extending some kind of peace offer to Israel. Maybe if the Palestinians hadn’t elected a party that wants to drive Israel into the sea this conflict could have been avoided...
Kadima isn’t perfect, I’ll concede that, but they’ve been more willing than Hamas to pursue peace. No other country would absorb rocket attacks without reacting for as long as Israel did. I don't know what reality you live in if you think people are going to tolerate their government not acting when rockets are being launched daily near their homes.
EDIT:
Your cartoon is fucked. Think about it, if you’re entrusted to defend your country, and you see the enemy launching rockets dangerously close to civilian areas, which are killing your own people, what are you going to do? Are you just going to sit by and let it happen?
Furthermore, are you really going to have any sympathy for someone who knowingly congregates near a place where rockets are being launched into Israel? You know it’s going to be a target, so why are you staying there? It’s not that hard to hear rockets being launched from your backyard. Get the fuck out if you’re too chicken shit to throw them off your land.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Bradylama

Hamas isn't a Gaza separatist movement, numbnuts.

But then I'm debating political nuance with a dbzatar.

I never said they were separatists.

Originally Posted by Bradylama

Look, geopolitical realities are no excuse when you're living next to terrorists. Maybe if you don't want to get bombed by the IDF you should leave Gaza.

*gets shot at IDF checkpoint*

Well, if staying in a target-zone is your preference, that’s fine. It wouldn’t be mine.

Originally Posted by Effstar

Are you suggesting that when the IRA were perpetuating a bombing campaign against train stations and shopping centres in mainland Britain, the best course of action for the UK government would have been to indiscriminately blow the shit out of south Belfast? Maybe send the tanks into Dublin because a lot of IRA members lived there too you know? Quite a lot of the IRA's funding came from New York you know, maybe we should have started blowing up Manhattan? We all know how popular a move that turned out not to be...

Maybe my history’s a bit off, but I’m pretty sure Britain conducted military operations against the IRA. If you read my post I wasn’t suggesting anything except that some kind of reaction was needed. Do I think saturated bombings are going solve the problem in the long-term? No, but I do think that Hamas’ rocket attacks have to end, and the easiest way to do that in the short-run is to bomb their launching sites. Of course, there’s always Brady’s advice, which is to just let Hamas fire rockets into Israel indefinitely (post 91). If we just leave them alone long enough eventually they’ll see the error of their ways and stop, right?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Bradylama

You said Israel withdrew from Gaza and ended their settlement program, as if that was supposed to make Hamas go "gee thanks guys" and just completely ignore everything that's been going on in the West Bank.

Not like Israel has left Gaza alone, mind. There's still the economic strangulation and fun stuff like low-flying Israeli jets creating sonic booms that cause health problems like damaging children's ears.

I never said I agreed with everything Israel does. What I don’t agree with is your characterization of Israel. Israel has just as much right to launch an embargo/blockade of Palestine as the Americans do against Cuba. Equally, if the Palestinians want to try and compel Israel into lifting its blockade by firing rockets into their territory, they should expect retaliation. I don’t see why you expect Israel to just sit back and absorb attacks against its territory.
As for the disengagement plan, at least Israel has made gestures towards peace. I’m sure Israel is very sorry they couldn’t do more for the Palestinians when they’ve been so committed to the peace process since 2001. Can you remind me how many times Hamas has extended some kind of peace gesture towards Israel?

Originally Posted by Bradylama

Yeah, they should have just put that children's hospital on wheels and rolled it into Egypt.

Or leave if someone's launching rockets near your home?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.