10-08-2023, 08:36 PM
(10-08-2023, 07:49 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: This is truly a travesty. One thing is for certain, and that is that many, if not most of the casualties on either side of this conflict will be innocent people. This is the, what, fifth war Hamas has stirred up since 2007? I fear that this will be worse than any of the others, though. As much as I denounce Israeli actions, there is no excuse for what Hamas has done, here.
Most certainly, and I hope Israel is able to muster some restraint in this regard. Although Hamas's tendency to use civilians as human shields makes this hope a rather fragile one. And my thanks to you for condemning Hamas without trying to equivocate, not that I would have expected that from you. Several members of "The Squad" have really tied themselves in knots trying to both condemn Hamas and equate them to the actions of the IDF. To me this is reprehensible.
Quote:The lack of intelligence on this is very surprising. A lot of the analysis I have read and heard has talked about how Netanyahu is known for his ability to know about these sorts of things, especially in these occupied areas. There are questions about whether this will strengthen or weaken Netanyahu as things move away from the immediate response phase. Will he be blamed for the failure or will the country rally around him? That is the part that will be interesting to see.
An overlooked point in this regard, and I am not trying to make a political statement out of this, is the failure of our own intelligence agencies in this regard. Israel is certainly more laser focused on this region than us, for obvious reasons. But our intelligence budget dwarfs theirs and apparently we had no inkling as well. Interesting to say the least.
