Israel/Hamas War Superthread

[Bengalzona]

(12-24-2023, 03:02 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Very true.  The difference is that can happen in Israel in the next election.  In Gaza they haven't held an election in decades and you get killed for standing up to Hamas.  So, given those facts, how do you get rid of Hamas?

Yup. That has kind of always been the question. If a country is generous to the Palestinian people and sends them benefits, Hamas declares it is because their extremist efforts and the people believe them. If a country is cruel to the Palestinian people and/or hurts them, Hamas declares them as an enemy and uses it as an example of why they and their extremism are necessary.

This is why an outside force would never be able to fully remove a group like Hamas. Even if you target and kill all of the current leaders, occupy where they live, and outlaw the group, they can re-invent themselves in a new incarnation and re-establish among the people. Because they are from that people. The U.S. came to this same conclusion about the Taliban. You can kill them all day long, but they will be back tomorrow. How do you deal with this?

In Afghanistan, we thought we had an answer. Occupy the country and give the people some breathing space to see other options than the ones forced upon them by the extremist group. We were there for almost 20 years and the Taliban rolled back in just as soon as we left. It didn't work. I suppose one could argue that our efforts won over a portion of the population and perhaps in the future they may overtake the Taliban. But that would require an organized grassroots resistance movement to the Taliban rule. That could happen. And if that group reached a certain maturity and size, then outside powers might be able to covertly support them.

Could that work in Gaza? It might have, before Netanyahu and crew started lowering the heavy hand on the area years ago. The Israeli extremism has just made it easier for the Taliban to point at them and declare they are the enemy. And the Palestinian people buy it because they see that with their own eyes on an almost daily basis. How does the Empire in Star Wars go to the people of Tatooine and convince them that they are really the good guys and are just misunderstood because they have to take these extremist measures? It doesn't fly with them.