Forum Topic

Yes, I am offended by the fact that Hamas have been holding innocent hostages in captivity for over a year. But ask yourself why this is. No hostages have been released for many months because every time a ceasefire deal involving the release of hostages appears to be close, Netanyahu finds some excuse for backing out. Hamas cynically, and mistakenly, see the hostages as a bargaining point - mistakenly, because the reality is that Netanyahu doesn't give a damn about the hostages. His overriding concern is his own survival as Prime Minister, and his avoidance of criminal prosecution as long as he remains in power. I suspect that, if by some miracle Hamas release the remaining hostages, Netanyahu will find another excuse for his devastation of Gaza, and for continuing to wage war against Lebanon. Perpetual war is his escape route.The Hamas atrocity of 7th October last year was obscene. But they are a terrorist organisation, and it's not wholly unsurprising that they might resort to such violence. But Israel claims to be the only democratic state in the region, and we might justifiably expect them to have higher standards than a bunch of terrorists. Alas, the Israeli government appears to be just as depraved as Hamas. Their actions in Gaza can only be descibed as genocide. Not only have they killed over 42,000 inhabitants of Gaza, but they quite clearly intend to make the strip uninhabitable, through destruction of buildings and medical facilities, deprivation of food, water and medical supplies and obliging the population to relocate many times over, without providing safe corridors for them to do so. It is nothing less than genocide. If there were doubts initially about Israeli intentions, it's now abundantly clear that their purpose is to make unfortunate Gazans, who have no agency over Hamas, pay for the great sin of 7th October.Finally, I did see the news of the release of the Yazidi woman held as a sex-slave. Are you seriously suggesting that there is equivalence of offence between this isolated example of sex slavery (perhaps there are other cases, but we know nothing about them) and the wholesale slaughter of innocents by the IDF? When individuals do things like this, does that somehow justify making the entire population of Gaza suffer?

Robert Fish ● 69d