It’s not ethical. It’s war. War isn’t like in the movies.
Hitler could have spent the war in an appartment in the middle of Berlin, safe in the knowledge no one would ever dare bomb him. Stalin could have nuked NATO, safe in the knowledge NATO wouldn’t ever retaliate. If we allowed monsters who hide between civilians get away with it, they would inherit the earth. ISIS could tie a few civilians to the top of their tank, and murder us all. The Lord’s Resistance Army could have freely marched into town to procure a few more child sex slaves, because they were protected by the children they had previously abducted.
There are no good guys or bad guys in this conflict. Both sides have stolen land. A third of Israel’s population are ‘arab’ jews. They’ve lived in the region for millenia, and have just as much right to a country as the Palestinians. Let’s not pretend they’d be safe in a Palestinian state or welcomed if they fled to neighbouring countries, given how popular Mein Kampf still is in the region. You’d be exchanging defacto Apartheid for genocide.
And let’s not pretend that the Israelis have always undermined the peace process. For example, it’s no coincidence that Israeli politics shifted to the right after 2000, when Arafat walked away from further negotiations at Camp David, something even the Saudi ambassador described as criminal, and despite the Israeli PM offering far reaching and deeply unpopular concessions. Of course, Israel also helped Hamas’ rise to power, so once again no good guys or bad guys.
It’s a mess and now it’s a messy war.
All we can do is urge both sides to limit civilian casulties, not target them deliberately, but they are inevitable.
It’s not ethical. It’s war. War isn’t like in the movies.
Hitler could have spent the war in an appartment in the middle of Berlin, safe in the knowledge no one would ever dare bomb him. Stalin could have nuked NATO, safe in the knowledge NATO wouldn’t ever retaliate. If we allowed monsters who hide between civilians get away with it, they would inherit the earth. ISIS could tie a few civilians to the top of their tank, and murder us all. The Lord’s Resistance Army could have freely marched into town to procure a few more child sex slaves, because they were protected by the children they had previously abducted.
There are no good guys or bad guys in this conflict. Both sides have stolen land. A third of Israel’s population are ‘arab’ jews. They’ve lived in the region for millenia, and have just as much right to a country as the Palestinians. Let’s not pretend they’d be safe in a Palestinian state or welcomed if they fled to neighbouring countries, given how popular Mein Kampf still is in the region. You’d be exchanging defacto Apartheid for genocide.
And let’s not pretend that the Israelis have always undermined the peace process. For example, it’s no coincidence that Israeli politics shifted to the right after 2000, when Arafat walked away from further negotiations at Camp David, something even the Saudi ambassador described as criminal, and despite the Israeli PM offering far reaching and deeply unpopular concessions. Of course, Israel also helped Hamas’ rise to power, so once again no good guys or bad guys.
It’s a mess and now it’s a messy war.
All we can do is urge both sides to limit civilian casulties, not target them deliberately, but they are inevitable.