A large part of this world will never change their mind about this incident no matter what new information comes in. At this point I agree that it does not seem like an IDF bomb, but I hope a more thorough investigation will be done by truly impartial parties and we can learn the truth. Sadly, I don’t know whose mind would be changed by it.
Thankfully we have great research and excellent reporting by you so that interested but horrified reader like me have a better understanding of the varying reactions that we see on various tv news shows.
They've attempted to de-escalate and use patience since they left Gaza 15+ years ago. That resulted in Hamas biding it's time and then slaughtering over a thousand civilians in a single attack, gleefully broadcasting/streaming rape, torture and murder as they went.
I agree that Israel (especially Bibby and his far-right allies) does itself no favors with it's settlements, collective punishment, and disproportionate responses. But not responding at all to the attack on October 7th wouldn't have been an option for Gandhi, let alone Israel.
My modest proposal: seed the Holy Land with the world's radioactive waste such that anyone dumb enough to want to live there will be dead in 6 months. We then give each of the Israelis and Palestinians a nice chunk of Saskatchewan and somewhere in Russia that's reasonably productive, so that they're on the opposite side of the planet from each other. The Copts, Zoroastrians, and other smaller sects get to pick where they end up since they haven't been raging assholes for 75+ years. The rest of the world gets to finally move on, instead of letting something like 0.3% of the world's population (call it 20 million in total, roughly) require so much blood and treasure to keep them from wiping each other out.
And that is very much offered in the tradition of Jonathan Swift. I have no emotional investment to either side of this awful conflict. I'm just sick of it dominating so much of world affairs.
Nobody should ever argue Israel/Palestine in comments. Look what's just happened here. Your satirical comment leaves me aghast, horrified - at your outrageous suggestion that there is such a thing as a "nice" chunk of Saskatchewan.
And so I say to you, Sir, "Good day, sir, Good DAY!"
I don't think the evidence is conclusive. I saw the Al Jazeera video this morning without the banner at the bottom (can't find it now), and the light moves from the right to the left of some lit buildings, and then the explosion occurs to the right of said buildings.
Furthermore, other videos show multiple rocket launches before the explosion, but the Al Jazeera video only shows a single rocket.
The audio from IDF doesn't incriminate Hamas -- it is of 2 people (Hamas?) speculating that Hamas was responsible. If someone came up with an audio file of 2 IDF people discussing creating a fake Hamas audio, would that be less credible?
I'm not choosing sides in this, but the first casualty of war......
Thank you Justin for this well-written reporting and analysis.
A large part of this world will never change their mind about this incident no matter what new information comes in. At this point I agree that it does not seem like an IDF bomb, but I hope a more thorough investigation will be done by truly impartial parties and we can learn the truth. Sadly, I don’t know whose mind would be changed by it.
Thankfully we have great research and excellent reporting by you so that interested but horrified reader like me have a better understanding of the varying reactions that we see on various tv news shows.
Israel has the choice to not make this a war. You can "go in hot" to a hostage situation, or you can de-escalate and use patience as your weapon.
If Israel was setting off zero bombs in Gaza, the blame would be unambiguous. They have so many other options.
They've attempted to de-escalate and use patience since they left Gaza 15+ years ago. That resulted in Hamas biding it's time and then slaughtering over a thousand civilians in a single attack, gleefully broadcasting/streaming rape, torture and murder as they went.
I agree that Israel (especially Bibby and his far-right allies) does itself no favors with it's settlements, collective punishment, and disproportionate responses. But not responding at all to the attack on October 7th wouldn't have been an option for Gandhi, let alone Israel.
My modest proposal: seed the Holy Land with the world's radioactive waste such that anyone dumb enough to want to live there will be dead in 6 months. We then give each of the Israelis and Palestinians a nice chunk of Saskatchewan and somewhere in Russia that's reasonably productive, so that they're on the opposite side of the planet from each other. The Copts, Zoroastrians, and other smaller sects get to pick where they end up since they haven't been raging assholes for 75+ years. The rest of the world gets to finally move on, instead of letting something like 0.3% of the world's population (call it 20 million in total, roughly) require so much blood and treasure to keep them from wiping each other out.
And that is very much offered in the tradition of Jonathan Swift. I have no emotional investment to either side of this awful conflict. I'm just sick of it dominating so much of world affairs.
Nobody should ever argue Israel/Palestine in comments. Look what's just happened here. Your satirical comment leaves me aghast, horrified - at your outrageous suggestion that there is such a thing as a "nice" chunk of Saskatchewan.
And so I say to you, Sir, "Good day, sir, Good DAY!"
I agree with your first paragraph.
I don't think the evidence is conclusive. I saw the Al Jazeera video this morning without the banner at the bottom (can't find it now), and the light moves from the right to the left of some lit buildings, and then the explosion occurs to the right of said buildings.
Furthermore, other videos show multiple rocket launches before the explosion, but the Al Jazeera video only shows a single rocket.
The audio from IDF doesn't incriminate Hamas -- it is of 2 people (Hamas?) speculating that Hamas was responsible. If someone came up with an audio file of 2 IDF people discussing creating a fake Hamas audio, would that be less credible?
I'm not choosing sides in this, but the first casualty of war......