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Crocodile Tears and Bogus Morality
I fully understand. The Israelis are slaughtering Palestinian women and children by the thousands, so there has to be a narrative to justify that action. It is interesting to see that Ricochet is almost fully on board with participation in that narrative. – Ricochet comment
I am fully “on board” with “the narrative” that Hamas needs to be destroyed. I would hope that Palestinians (a) heed calls to evacuate when told and (b) act to isolate and abandon the self-aggrandizing (now-wealthy) terrorists they elected to hasten the end of the campaign. In any event, civilian deaths are ultimately the fault of those who started the war.
Civilian casualties in the prosecution of a war of necessity are unavoidable. The US killed far more Japanese civilians than American civilians killed by Japan. Britain killed more unarmed Germans than Britons killed in the Blitz. There was no war referee to say that the war had to stop when the casualties became proportionate. Nor has anybody come up with a means for conducting a war in which there is not an inherent risk to noncombatants.
However, inflicting civilian casualties by intentionally rounding up and executing civilians is unambiguously wrong and qualitatively different. As a matter of law and morality, collateral human damage done in combat operations by the Wehrmacht is different from the SS lining up civilians for mass execution or transport to death camps. Heavy bombing of St. Lo or Caen before the Normandy landings was probably far more indiscriminate than what Israel is doing and will continue to do in Gaza because (a) the Allies could not warn French civilians to flee the imminent invasion because the location was secret; (b) those civilians were our allies, and (c) the technology was not as precise. So how is Israel more culpable than the Allied forces of WWII with respect to the prospect of civilian casualties?
The open joy with which Gaza terrorists abused and killed their victims reflects both the true nature of Hamas and the depravity of Palestinian culture such that another round of bogus negotiations was never going to be an answer. This is the war Hamas sought and must be fought to completion. Israel is clearly far more intent on avoiding civilian deaths than Hamas and its fan club which openly welcomes “martyrs” for their potential PR value.
Why do so many sentient adults adopt the weirdly racist notion that Palestinians really don’t know any better and cannot be held accountable because of their victim status whereas Israelis must have Vulcan-like emotional control despite unacceptable inhumane provocations? This is tiresome tiny-brained wokethink yet depressingly commonplace.
Lastly, to be blunt, why am I required to care about Palestinians at all? Over just the last few years, Muslims have killed two million other Muslims from the Maghreb to the Pakistani tribal lands. Nobody marches. No grand conferences of Muslim leaders to end the slaughter. No introspection, no self-critical examination in the Islamic world. Nor any condemnation of what the likes of Boko Haram and others have done to innocent Christians. And no recognition of the uniquely evil nature of the actions of Gazans on Oct 7. Out of that large menu of victims, only the Gazans deserve my interest and pity? How do they rate an appearance anywhere near the top of the list?
Other Arabs don’t seem to much like them. Palestinians are barred from Egypt, which (a) refused to accept the return of Gaza from Israel and (b) has built a serious border wall against Gazans that would make Trump envious. All 300,000 Palestinians were kicked out of Kuwait after the first Gulf War for openly cheering Saddam’s invasion. Palestinian political actions threatened the stability of Jordan, which has renounced claims on the West Bank mostly to keep from having to add more of them. In Lebanon, Palestinians naturally supported the more destructive elements to make that place a permanent warzone and, (perhaps most importantly from my narrow personal perspective), they cheered and gave candy to their kids when thousands of Americans died on 9/11.
All of this is why I find expressions of deep sympathy for Palestinian war casualties inherently suspect and transparently pretextual. There are a lot more people out there deserving of sympathy, starting with the Israeli families and communities attacked.
Published in War
I actually have not seen proof of the “thousands” of women and children killed by IDF in Gaza. Body bags, public burials, so forth. Assertions, yes. Proof no. And I haven’t seen mention of any “thousands” of hamas militants dead either. Are Hamas only proud of the women dead?
I wonder what the Hamas apologists here would say the U.S. should do if some Canadians slipped over the border and recorded themselves massacring 44,000 Americans, and the Canucks celebrated the event. I for one would expect Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa to receive some hot rocks, but that’s just me.
Really, the IDF has been extremely judicious in their attacks in Gaza. And I note that not one of the critics I’ve seen has said Hamas must immediately release the hostages. It’s all what Israel should/shouldn’t do. Screw ’em.
(And the quote at the top of the article…I figure it came from one of two members.)
This is a fantastic post. Really extraordinarily good, even by your own characteristically lofty standards.
And this…
There are perhaps a week’s worth of posts in the insidious, dehumanizing presuppositions that undergird the low expectations the moral equivalence crowd has for anyone who doesn’t have white skin. And yet they say it is the rest of us who are racists.
The moral equivalence schtick is beyond tiresome coming from these people. My favorite response to their reasoning has always been William F. Buckley’s response. When people during the cold war used to say there was no moral difference between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, he described them as saying that “someone who pushes an old lady into the path of an on-coming bus is no different from someone who pushes an old lady out of the path of an on-coming bus, since both of them are pushing old ladies around”.
People so morally obtuse that they are willing to make such arguments are not merely confused, they’re malevolent.
I’m investigating the terrorists that have crossed our southern border. If they get their act together and attack us, will there be those who say we deserve it?
For liberals/progressives, “morality” is the attitude they take toward people they personally dislike. I don’t think it goes much deeper.
There were many who said we “deserved it” right after 9/11, and by no means were they all on the left. People are always ready to shove God out of the way and take his seat.
The anonymous Ricochet member whom I think is the one being quoted at the beginning of this post has essentially said we had it coming on 9/11. There are Americans who believe that the U.S. is the most vile country in the world, although they are not all in agreement about why we are so reprehensible. Some because we are too Christian, some because we aren’t Christian enough, some because we are too white, some because we are too rich, some because we are too gay, some because we aren’t gay enough.
I very much appreciate your honest, factual, and morally upright disposal of this repulsively depraved comment. I didn’t see it, and I’m glad I didn’t.
I hope that whoever made it will, by God’s grace, find relief from whatever evil spiritual agency or cognitive disorder is attacking him or her, while there is still time.
I am enthusiastically on board with the narrative as discussed in the OP.
I am on Israel’s side in the war, and on the Jews side when it comes to anti-Semitism anywhere/everywhere.
The kids who ate candy on 9/11, now want to destroy Israel, world Judiasm, and western civilization.
Especially the ones admitted to US universities.
As for civilian casualties in Gaza, insofar as Hamas terrorists do not fight in any discernible uniform, and hide in and strike out from civilian areas, every dead terrorist is propped up as a “civilian” casualty.
Hamas propaganda, however, seems to beguile a lot of people who should know better.
Civilian deaths are ultimately the fault of those who started the war because (1) those who started the war are actually forcing the civilians to stay in areas about to be bombed and (2) are putting their weapons and headquarters under hospitals, day care centers, etc.
There’s nothing the Israelis can do about this. If they want to make another October 7 much less likely, they have to destroy all of Hamas.
part of this is the relatively new western obsession with equity and the belief that a disparity is proof of discrimination or something malevolent.
Let me guess that the “thousands” figure comes from the Gaza Health Ministry.
“And all the congregation said, ‘Amen.'”
They said it after 9/11. It’s not like the left’s opinion of the US has improved since then.
the real problem is the same morally obtuse reasoning has begun to infect some on the right.
According to the IDF, Hamas is shooting at their own people trying to escape northern Gaza on the routes opened up by the Israelis. Why? Because Hamas finds dead Palestinians useful for their propaganda. That’s how much they care about Palestinians.
It’s popular now to refer to the Israeli efforts as genocide. The people who do that are not being honest. Be very careful around dishonest people.
Anyone accusing Jews of genocide had better have some solid numbers to back them up.
It’s all anti-Jew, anti-West BS. The “apartheid” lie, the “occupation” lie, the “genocide” lie. The Left does not value truth and Islamists don’t either.
Of course.
There were those who said we deserved 9/11.
They seem to get by without those numbers. Also without a sense of history that goes back any further than a month.
The simple clarity here seems to push some of my neighbors – the ones who clearly know these conceptual truths (they are obviously intelligent people) but tend to only be heard from when they can introduce offensively contorted language (in a civil manner, of course) that puts all the “civilian deaths” under the same banner – out into the shadows. Their silence here is….well, telling.
On a completely unrelated note, could somebody explain to me the meaning of “good faith” when used in this context: “Assume as matter of habit that your fellow members are arguing in good faith…“? Asking for a friend.
I’ll give it a shot. They aren’t playing “gotcha”. They aren’t being provocative. They actually believe what they are saying. And finally, they will listen and accept it if facts prove them wrong. I think the latter point is difficult for all of us.
I’m completely in agreement with the post. I’d add that the use of civilians as human shields is a war crime as defined by international law. Deliberately putting civilians in harm’s way as a war strategy is a war crime, taking civilian hostages is a war crime, and, certainly, killing one’s own citizens because they are attempting to flee a war zone is criminal.
Many statements from Hamas leaders before and after the Oct. 7th attack show clearly that Israel has no choice but to wipe Hamas out. If left intact they have vowed to regroup and attack Israel again and again.
Israel’s only obligation with regard to civilian deaths is to avoid them as much as is possible consistent with reasonable military goals. I have no doubt that’s what Israel is doing, but Hamas deliberately makes it difficult to avoid civilian deaths. Unfortunately, for that reason the cost in terms of civilian lives is going to be high if Hamas is to be rooted out.
Hamas started the war, they prosecute the war on an illegal basis, and the loss of civilian lives in Gaza is entirely on their heads.
A great analysis of this topic.
https://x.com/CptAllenHistory/status/1723037202458857836
Agreed. An excellent analysis, well worth the read.
Early on, I was told by the New York Times that an Israeli bomb had hit Al-Ahli Hospital killing 500 people. It turns out it wasn’t Israeli, it wasn’t a bomb, it didn’t hit the hospital, and it didn’t kill 500 people.
Outstanding work, NYT. You merit another Walter Duranty Award for that one.