I am a subscriber too, and I don't necessarily agree with your analysis.
But my agreement or disagreement is not the point; nor is it the basis for my subscription.
Rather, I find that you typically illuminate the subject under review, in a way that other media, for whatever reason, (here I make no allegations of bias or moral deficiency) sometimes may not, and you bring to my attention, facts or viewpoints, that are worth considering.
Thanks Justin for a great analysis. I find you have laid out a difficult situation very well. There are no easy answers and no clear paths forward. Keep digging and delivering as you do. The rest of us have to turn down the temperature and think.
Very grateful for your thoughtful analysis, always. I read widely including Al Jazeera and Haaretz and value your views. Including and interpreting the quotes from Ehud Barak is exceptionally beneficial in light of the mainstream media. An amusing misspelling of corral "to chorale the forces of the Arab" , oops. Or, maybe you want them all singing the same tune.
Skimmed and scanned because I can't let myself care about this mess until Israel is in existential danger - because that's the day they'll look for an actual solution. A 1-state gives away votes that they won't, 2-state gives away land that they won't. They will give nothing until they are in mortal peril. When the Arab states around them are rich and powerful, that is. It is very, very difficult for me to believe that all the war around Iran/Iraq/Syria for nearly 40 years is not the result of efforts to slow that development.
But I did stop to follow your links about the hospital indeed being a military asset, and I saw the same footage, opposite conclusion:
...the tunnel entrance is nearly 100m from the hospital building; the basement does NOT have a batcave pole down to the Hamas Lair. Indeed, the shaft near the hospital is about a half-metre in diameter, could only pass one or two people per minute, up or down. The footage of hostages, looks like the hospital is being used as a hospital and the hostages needed treatment, particularly the guy in a gurney. It does not look like it was their storage place.
But, again: the entire war - and the right name for it is "The Israeli Civil War", obviously - is pointless until Israel is forced to a deal, which nobody is able to, in this generation. So I can ignore the place at will, save to encourage they immigrate to Canada.
The longer Israel keeps bombing the people of Gaza.....destroying their infrastructure, their homes and all possibility of anything like a livlihood..........the less credible any of these arguments are.
We might be tempted to forget.....in all this genocidal bombing of a civilian population.........that these are the indigenous people of Palestine, and that they have been suffering a state of violent apartheid for over 70 years. We might forget over 4000 Palestinians languish in Israeli prisons, some of them as young as 14 and many of them imprisoned without charge.
We might overlook the deaths of Palestinians in the West Bank, where there is no Hamas, but lots of Israeli settlers coveting Palestinian property. We might be tempted to forget what some of us have only recently learned...THAT IT IS HUMANITARIAN AID THAT HAS KEPT GAZA FED AND CARED FOR OVER THE LAST 16 YEARS....
And we might be willing to forget how fuel, food and water has been denied....how disease is spreading now among the victims of Israeli's search for 'terrorists'. Perhaps the 40 journalists killed in this short war against terrorism aren't that important.........and the news blackouts just coincidental...
But I'm not as good at forgetting as some. Too much university training to blame for that I guess...
and what I can't forget adds up.
This Ex Israeli PM can speculate all he wants, justify and excuse all he wants....and promise any kind of pie in the sky that he wants. I don't think there's a peace of any kind in the forseeable future.
I suspect Israel does want Gaza..........plow it, fertilize it, and farm it. That's the picture I see in my nightmares.....once the Israeli government has pushed the original inhabitants into the Sinai...or talked some country like Canada into taking them......termporary farm workers will farm it for the Israelis.
I don't know why you agree with Mr. Barak. He is a man with a "𝘡𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮". There 𝘪𝘴 a one state solution which is secular. It doesn't mean the people can't be Jewish or Islamic or ... Don't we have that in Canada?
You point to the nub of the issue: Is a state based on exclusive religious beliefs compatible with universal human rights? The answer is obviously not. One state or two states, there has to be tolerance for all religions and all citizens must have the same rights. Barak is right that Israel's extreme intolerant right-wing is the obstacle to peace. Hear what Gabor Maté has to say about the indignities inflicted on Palestinians by Israeli governments over many years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrcYQyudLzY&t=12s .
You've lost me. You ignore waaaay too much of the needless grotesque brutality of the IDF, both in the Gaza strip and the West Bank. You, in spite of your supposed even-handed intentions, come off as an apologist. This is a war of genocidal intent. The numerous statements to exactly that end made by Israeli cabinet officials and the clear ongoing actions to exactly that end by the IDF torpedo your professions that the 'democratically elected government' of Israel and the democratically elected government of the Gazan population' are not moral equals, that Hamas is clearly the renegade in the room. I don't agree. I REALLY do not agree. And some of your contentions simply don't bear inspection. Best of luck with your career. Unsubscribed.
I don't think you can prove the case that Israel has genocidal intentions. It certainly feels like an accusation that rises to the extent of the damage and death, but I just don't believe it's an apt description. Was America's war in Afghanistan a genocide? Was their war in Iraq? Genocide, by law, requires intent. You can absolutely prove that Israel has the intention of allowing an intolerably high number of civilian deaths — 'collateral damage' — but I don't think you can prove that the civilian deaths are the point. Israel could, tomorrow, clear Gaza and displace its entire population. It has spent decades dealing with the PA in Gaza, allowing Gazans to enter Israel for work, building infrastructure in Gaza, etc. You can, and should, argue that many of those policies and programs were inadequate and even, at times, malicious. But I don't think it portends a desire to destroy the Palestinian people. As I point out, it was Israel who offered a deal for independence in 2000, and it was the Palestinians who said no. Yes, some cabinet officials have said truly unhinged and grotesque things. And, yes, the IDF have breached international law and ignored reports making that clear. We can be honest about that. But I reject the idea that we must support something greater, the accusation of genocide, or else our criticisms are actually apologia.
My point is specifically that we still have the tools to punish those responsible by removing Netanyahu and supporting an alternative that supports peace. You can confine yourself to your outrage, but I don't think that brings the world closer to peace.
'Reject' my criticisms till you're blue in the face (they're not 'my' criticisms, in fact, but those of individuals... journalists, lawyers, human rights advocates, whom I profoundly respect and defer to in the context of on-point astute critics of Israel's depraved assault on the citizenry of Gaza). You're a word smith, but you're not the voice of clarity that you purport to be. Being self-critical about this, it won't hurt you. It'll better your journalism. In vital ways.
I am a subscriber too, and I don't necessarily agree with your analysis.
But my agreement or disagreement is not the point; nor is it the basis for my subscription.
Rather, I find that you typically illuminate the subject under review, in a way that other media, for whatever reason, (here I make no allegations of bias or moral deficiency) sometimes may not, and you bring to my attention, facts or viewpoints, that are worth considering.
Thanks Justin for a great analysis. I find you have laid out a difficult situation very well. There are no easy answers and no clear paths forward. Keep digging and delivering as you do. The rest of us have to turn down the temperature and think.
Very grateful for your thoughtful analysis, always. I read widely including Al Jazeera and Haaretz and value your views. Including and interpreting the quotes from Ehud Barak is exceptionally beneficial in light of the mainstream media. An amusing misspelling of corral "to chorale the forces of the Arab" , oops. Or, maybe you want them all singing the same tune.
Skimmed and scanned because I can't let myself care about this mess until Israel is in existential danger - because that's the day they'll look for an actual solution. A 1-state gives away votes that they won't, 2-state gives away land that they won't. They will give nothing until they are in mortal peril. When the Arab states around them are rich and powerful, that is. It is very, very difficult for me to believe that all the war around Iran/Iraq/Syria for nearly 40 years is not the result of efforts to slow that development.
But I did stop to follow your links about the hospital indeed being a military asset, and I saw the same footage, opposite conclusion:
http://brander.ca/stackback#hamasdestruction
...the tunnel entrance is nearly 100m from the hospital building; the basement does NOT have a batcave pole down to the Hamas Lair. Indeed, the shaft near the hospital is about a half-metre in diameter, could only pass one or two people per minute, up or down. The footage of hostages, looks like the hospital is being used as a hospital and the hostages needed treatment, particularly the guy in a gurney. It does not look like it was their storage place.
But, again: the entire war - and the right name for it is "The Israeli Civil War", obviously - is pointless until Israel is forced to a deal, which nobody is able to, in this generation. So I can ignore the place at will, save to encourage they immigrate to Canada.
The longer Israel keeps bombing the people of Gaza.....destroying their infrastructure, their homes and all possibility of anything like a livlihood..........the less credible any of these arguments are.
We might be tempted to forget.....in all this genocidal bombing of a civilian population.........that these are the indigenous people of Palestine, and that they have been suffering a state of violent apartheid for over 70 years. We might forget over 4000 Palestinians languish in Israeli prisons, some of them as young as 14 and many of them imprisoned without charge.
We might overlook the deaths of Palestinians in the West Bank, where there is no Hamas, but lots of Israeli settlers coveting Palestinian property. We might be tempted to forget what some of us have only recently learned...THAT IT IS HUMANITARIAN AID THAT HAS KEPT GAZA FED AND CARED FOR OVER THE LAST 16 YEARS....
And we might be willing to forget how fuel, food and water has been denied....how disease is spreading now among the victims of Israeli's search for 'terrorists'. Perhaps the 40 journalists killed in this short war against terrorism aren't that important.........and the news blackouts just coincidental...
But I'm not as good at forgetting as some. Too much university training to blame for that I guess...
and what I can't forget adds up.
This Ex Israeli PM can speculate all he wants, justify and excuse all he wants....and promise any kind of pie in the sky that he wants. I don't think there's a peace of any kind in the forseeable future.
I suspect Israel does want Gaza..........plow it, fertilize it, and farm it. That's the picture I see in my nightmares.....once the Israeli government has pushed the original inhabitants into the Sinai...or talked some country like Canada into taking them......termporary farm workers will farm it for the Israelis.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘴 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘬 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘥"
I don't know why you agree with Mr. Barak. He is a man with a "𝘡𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮". There 𝘪𝘴 a one state solution which is secular. It doesn't mean the people can't be Jewish or Islamic or ... Don't we have that in Canada?
You point to the nub of the issue: Is a state based on exclusive religious beliefs compatible with universal human rights? The answer is obviously not. One state or two states, there has to be tolerance for all religions and all citizens must have the same rights. Barak is right that Israel's extreme intolerant right-wing is the obstacle to peace. Hear what Gabor Maté has to say about the indignities inflicted on Palestinians by Israeli governments over many years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrcYQyudLzY&t=12s .
You've lost me. You ignore waaaay too much of the needless grotesque brutality of the IDF, both in the Gaza strip and the West Bank. You, in spite of your supposed even-handed intentions, come off as an apologist. This is a war of genocidal intent. The numerous statements to exactly that end made by Israeli cabinet officials and the clear ongoing actions to exactly that end by the IDF torpedo your professions that the 'democratically elected government' of Israel and the democratically elected government of the Gazan population' are not moral equals, that Hamas is clearly the renegade in the room. I don't agree. I REALLY do not agree. And some of your contentions simply don't bear inspection. Best of luck with your career. Unsubscribed.
Well, sorry to see you go.
I don't think you can prove the case that Israel has genocidal intentions. It certainly feels like an accusation that rises to the extent of the damage and death, but I just don't believe it's an apt description. Was America's war in Afghanistan a genocide? Was their war in Iraq? Genocide, by law, requires intent. You can absolutely prove that Israel has the intention of allowing an intolerably high number of civilian deaths — 'collateral damage' — but I don't think you can prove that the civilian deaths are the point. Israel could, tomorrow, clear Gaza and displace its entire population. It has spent decades dealing with the PA in Gaza, allowing Gazans to enter Israel for work, building infrastructure in Gaza, etc. You can, and should, argue that many of those policies and programs were inadequate and even, at times, malicious. But I don't think it portends a desire to destroy the Palestinian people. As I point out, it was Israel who offered a deal for independence in 2000, and it was the Palestinians who said no. Yes, some cabinet officials have said truly unhinged and grotesque things. And, yes, the IDF have breached international law and ignored reports making that clear. We can be honest about that. But I reject the idea that we must support something greater, the accusation of genocide, or else our criticisms are actually apologia.
My point is specifically that we still have the tools to punish those responsible by removing Netanyahu and supporting an alternative that supports peace. You can confine yourself to your outrage, but I don't think that brings the world closer to peace.
'Reject' my criticisms till you're blue in the face (they're not 'my' criticisms, in fact, but those of individuals... journalists, lawyers, human rights advocates, whom I profoundly respect and defer to in the context of on-point astute critics of Israel's depraved assault on the citizenry of Gaza). You're a word smith, but you're not the voice of clarity that you purport to be. Being self-critical about this, it won't hurt you. It'll better your journalism. In vital ways.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/israeli-genocide