I think PBS NewsHour has been doing a stellar job at this. They recently highlighted the father who lost his twins and his wife in a bombing. They then interviewed an American pediatrician who volunteered in Gaza. It certainly humanizes them.
I’d also remind them that IDF is so incompetent that they’ve killed more aid workers in this conflict than any conflict previously… Even when there is directly coordination with IDF command as instructed. They’ve even killed their own hostages who had their hands raised, unarmed, and with a white flag.
I’d also remind them that IDF is so incompetent that they’ve killed more aid workers in this conflict than any conflict previously… Even when there is directly coordination with IDF command as instructed. They’ve even killed their own hostages who had their hands raised, unarmed, and with a white flag.
The incompetence goes even further as of May of this year 278 IDF were killed by friendly fire. I can only imagine that friendly fire death list has increase since the May reporting. The IDF seems to be shooting anything that moves, friend or foe.
It’s astounding. I’d never really fallen for the “IDF MOST MORAL ARMY IN THE WORLD” shit ever since I became interested in politics as a teen, but I took it for granted that they were at least somewhat competent, if gruesome. Turns out, no, they’re both gruesomely immoral AND gruesomely incompetent.
Every time I see IDF officials talk I get big-time Kremlin rhetoric vibes. Now I’m not here defending Hamas in any capacity, but I just tire of IDF being elevated as “the good guys.” If they’re the good guys, then their standards should have been higher. Instead, just bomb a densely-populated building, killing scores of innocents and just say (without proof), “Oh well there was a high-value Hamas target so it’s all good.” They pulled the trigger and said that one target was more valuable than the dead children they knew they would kill.
They are absolutely NOT the good guys. Israel is having a smaller scale preview of what we’d see if we had the same scenario happen under a Trump presidency. We should try to curb their worst instincts, but you have to win the bloody election first to do it, and somehow account for the fact that the majority of Americans do not give a shit about Palestine.
The last poll I saw on the issue, is that ranking issues from most important to least, Palestine ranked around #9. Behind everything from Immigration, Economy, Women’s rights etc.
It’s not an accident that some of the most vocal Pro-Palestinian voices in congress were primaried.
In that political climate, the best you can do is to do harm mitigation and make sure Republicans aren’t in the driver’s seat come 2025.
Yeah, I despise Hamas and won’t mourn the passing of the shitheads, but Israel’s conduct in murdering Palestinian civilians has been nothing short of abominable.
This is what I don’t get. Even if we take them at their word that they’re finishing this for good, did they not learn a goddamned thing from 20 years of failed US military intervention attempting the same thing? Like… here I am just a Palestinian living in a slum exacerbated by blockades just trying to raise a family and unfortunately for me Hamas now controls the neighborhood I live in and I can’t do shit about it because they’re also being supported by outside nation-states no less. On the flip-side, it seems they’re the only marginal deterrent from IDF simply annexing and bulldozing my house… Then Hamas does something stupid; but then Israel claiming to be the good guys levels my apartment and kills my mother, wife, and kids…
Yeah, you bet I would radicalize after that.
So ultimately, the IDF is further destabilizing the region, not even addressing the root causes of extremism, and sowing further October 7ths down the road when all these orphans grow up.
Worst part is, US attempts at counter-insurgency were largely destroyed by outside factors (namely, the fact that we managed to piss off half the world, and the world was right in being pissed, in invading Iraq after having acquired near-infinite goodwill simply by suffering 9/11). We developed fairly effective COIN strategies - and what’s more, we offered experienced advisers in urban COIN specifically to Israel in the immediate aftermath of October 7th.
Our advisers left, frustrated, inside of a fucking week. Because the IDF had no interest in pursuing a counter-insurgency strategy. They were interested in pursuing their fucking old world blood feud.
It’s like being handed a fucking cheat sheet of what not to do and gleefully and knowingly doing everything listed and more. It’s insane.
Or it would be insane if one was operating on the premise that the Israeli government was interested in anything other than genocide as a final solution to the Palestine issue. What Israel has done is great for continuing to lock both sides into an insane war of annihilation that will not end well for either party.
The IDF didn’t kill aid workers on accident. I refuse to believe that all, or most, are accidental with the number of absolute noncombatants (journos, aid workers, etc) that have been illegally killed (killing press workers and aid workers deliberately is a war crime).
Like others have said, it’s a feature, not a bug. They’re not incompetent - they know who they’re killing AND DON’T REALLY CARE.
I think PBS NewsHour has been doing a stellar job at this. They recently highlighted the father who lost his twins and his wife in a bombing. They then interviewed an American pediatrician who volunteered in Gaza. It certainly humanizes them.
I’d also remind them that IDF is so incompetent that they’ve killed more aid workers in this conflict than any conflict previously… Even when there is directly coordination with IDF command as instructed. They’ve even killed their own hostages who had their hands raised, unarmed, and with a white flag.
The incompetence goes even further as of May of this year 278 IDF were killed by friendly fire. I can only imagine that friendly fire death list has increase since the May reporting. The IDF seems to be shooting anything that moves, friend or foe.
It’s astounding. I’d never really fallen for the “IDF MOST MORAL ARMY IN THE WORLD” shit ever since I became interested in politics as a teen, but I took it for granted that they were at least somewhat competent, if gruesome. Turns out, no, they’re both gruesomely immoral AND gruesomely incompetent.
Every time I see IDF officials talk I get big-time Kremlin rhetoric vibes. Now I’m not here defending Hamas in any capacity, but I just tire of IDF being elevated as “the good guys.” If they’re the good guys, then their standards should have been higher. Instead, just bomb a densely-populated building, killing scores of innocents and just say (without proof), “Oh well there was a high-value Hamas target so it’s all good.” They pulled the trigger and said that one target was more valuable than the dead children they knew they would kill.
They are absolutely NOT the good guys. Israel is having a smaller scale preview of what we’d see if we had the same scenario happen under a Trump presidency. We should try to curb their worst instincts, but you have to win the bloody election first to do it, and somehow account for the fact that the majority of Americans do not give a shit about Palestine.
The last poll I saw on the issue, is that ranking issues from most important to least, Palestine ranked around #9. Behind everything from Immigration, Economy, Women’s rights etc. It’s not an accident that some of the most vocal Pro-Palestinian voices in congress were primaried.
In that political climate, the best you can do is to do harm mitigation and make sure Republicans aren’t in the driver’s seat come 2025.
Yeah, I despise Hamas and won’t mourn the passing of the shitheads, but Israel’s conduct in murdering Palestinian civilians has been nothing short of abominable.
And unlikely to end Hamas, for that matter.
This is what I don’t get. Even if we take them at their word that they’re finishing this for good, did they not learn a goddamned thing from 20 years of failed US military intervention attempting the same thing? Like… here I am just a Palestinian living in a slum exacerbated by blockades just trying to raise a family and unfortunately for me Hamas now controls the neighborhood I live in and I can’t do shit about it because they’re also being supported by outside nation-states no less. On the flip-side, it seems they’re the only marginal deterrent from IDF simply annexing and bulldozing my house… Then Hamas does something stupid; but then Israel claiming to be the good guys levels my apartment and kills my mother, wife, and kids…
Yeah, you bet I would radicalize after that.
So ultimately, the IDF is further destabilizing the region, not even addressing the root causes of extremism, and sowing further October 7ths down the road when all these orphans grow up.
Worst part is, US attempts at counter-insurgency were largely destroyed by outside factors (namely, the fact that we managed to piss off half the world, and the world was right in being pissed, in invading Iraq after having acquired near-infinite goodwill simply by suffering 9/11). We developed fairly effective COIN strategies - and what’s more, we offered experienced advisers in urban COIN specifically to Israel in the immediate aftermath of October 7th.
Our advisers left, frustrated, inside of a fucking week. Because the IDF had no interest in pursuing a counter-insurgency strategy. They were interested in pursuing their fucking old world blood feud.
Biden even warned Israel immediately following October 7th to not overreact and make the same mistake as we Americans lol.
It’s like being handed a fucking cheat sheet of what not to do and gleefully and knowingly doing everything listed and more. It’s insane.
Or it would be insane if one was operating on the premise that the Israeli government was interested in anything other than genocide as a final solution to the Palestine issue. What Israel has done is great for continuing to lock both sides into an insane war of annihilation that will not end well for either party.
If you account for the fact that Netanyahu is basically Israel’s Donald Trump, it makes a lot more sense.
The hard-right government there wants there to always be chaos so they can remain in power indefinitely.
The IDF didn’t kill aid workers on accident. I refuse to believe that all, or most, are accidental with the number of absolute noncombatants (journos, aid workers, etc) that have been illegally killed (killing press workers and aid workers deliberately is a war crime).
Like others have said, it’s a feature, not a bug. They’re not incompetent - they know who they’re killing AND DON’T REALLY CARE.