This is a fantastic opinion piece by Sanders that lays it out the situation before the Hamas attack, the current situation, and what should be done. He lays out several requirements for peace that aid to Israel should be contingent on. He also notes that Hamas is hurting the Palestinians, which is a detail very few mention.
He’s also one of the first people I’ve seen try to take a stab at what a lasting solution needs to be – two states, Netanyahu ousted, Hamas destroyed, foundations of Palestinian civil government created.
I think that would be easier said than done. Right now, Israel has split the country in two and is engaging Hamas directly. In order for there to be a pause, Israel would have to pull back which not only negate their progress but allow Hamas to regroup.
So?
How the fuck does that stop anything? If I leave my phone at home I turn around and get my phone or I don’t. It’s not what is easier or how far I’ve driven. It’s whether it’s worth doing. In the case of saving the 330,000 civilians trapped in the rubble around the forces that have encircled them, then yes it’s worth doing. Nobody gets to act like it’s too late until there isn’t a shred of hope for those people and the hearts that beat inside them.
Nobody gets to claim the moral high ground in sacrificing the lives of the people trapped where you decided to invade or Hamas decided to defend. You cannot beat monsters by being an equally gross monster. It only leaves us a world of dead civilians filled with awful monsters. You want to beat Hamas? You have to be better than Hamas. Sanders gets that. Why don’t you?
Saving civilians is not a loss of progress. It’s the first step toward it dude.
Wait, what?
So the decision making is identical if you realize you forgot your phone after 5 minutes of driving vs if you drove cross country for 3 days?
That Israel should forgo revenge for humanitarian purposes aside, either your analogy is terrible or you have some of the strangest prioritization I’ve ever encountered.