The Israeli right wing hawks have to be removed from power and never allowed anywhere near it again.
Established opinion and pretty much accepted by everyone interested in this debate.
The bit everyone is struggling with is how do we bring about a lasting peaceful solution that allows both Palestinians and Israelis to live as neighbours with Hamas, Hezbollah and their backers Iran still around?
How does the region rid itself of those malign organisations and backers?
How does that picture look and come about?
First, they are not “right wing”. The current regime is far right, filled with Kahanists and extreme Zionists that have for many years advocated for the destruction of Palestine and the elimination of Palestinians, even going so far as calling for their annihilation and supporting the same acts of genocide we are seeing now. They just—until recently—were not in a position to realise their vision.
Second, the first step to lasting peace is to stop the cycle of violence. That is the only thing that has ever lead to lasting peace in the human history. And that requires Israel ceasing collective punishment of all Palestinians, acts of genocide, and illegal annexation of Palestinian territory in response to the horrific acts of Hamas.
Third, there has to be an earnest desire to achieve a two-state solution; there exists no eventuality whereby a lasting peace can be brought about whilst Palestine becomes a continually smaller and smaller territory within an apartheid system. Nor can it exist whilst Hamas, PIJ, and other extremist anti-Israel movements are strengthened through brutal and illegal treatment of civilian populations (as is happening in Gaza and the West Bank today).
Fourth, the US, UK, and other Israeli allies work to isolate the influence of Iran and other malicious actors within Palestine as the new sovereign nation is established, as the Palestinian population slowly becomes less radicalised in the face of establishment of their own homeland and the economic and political support received from the international community through that process. The only way to actually diminish anti-Israel movements and terrorist organisations like Hamas to the point of functional irrelevance is by removing their causa agendi. It cannot be done by simply trying to exterminate combatants and civilians that may or may not support those movements.
Unfortunately, none of that is possible with the current far right Israeli regime. They would sooner burn down the whole of Israel than allow a two-state solution (this isn’t an exaggeration; Ben Gvir has literally said this on numerous occasions).
This is the issue that many arguing in favour of the Israeli regime seemingly miss: Hamas is an abhorrent terrorist organisation, denounced by myself and every other rational participant in this thread and the world beyond, and thus their actions are in line with expectations of what a terrorist organisation would do. Every sane person agrees they are in the wrong and they need to be eliminated.
But the Israel regime is meant to be a government above the horrific beliefs and actions of a terrorist organisation. But they currently are not. They are carrying out a war—and policies of forced displacement, annexation, settlement, and pogrom-like paramilitary actions in the West Bank—that is even more intentionally destructive than Hamas’ various attacks. And they are doing it on the back of abhorrent rhetoric and tactics that violate the convention to prevent genocide and numerous treaties and international laws.
People keep making arguments to justify the actions of the far right Israeli regime, essentially arguing that acting like Hamas (or worse) is fine because Hamas “started it” and Iran is involved.
Either the Israeli government is meant to be “better” than Hamas or they are not. If they are, they must act more responsibly and with more care for human life and in accordance with international law. If they are not, they must be considered the same (or worse) for purposes of accountability and consequence. It is not a valid argument to say “because Hamas would do it if they had the resources, it is justifiable for Israel to do it because they have the resources.”
I have lived in Israel and worked in Palestine. I have family and friends there. I have a direct experience with everything that lead up to the current state of affairs over the last 30 years or so. And I can say quite a few that pop in to the thread to share their apparent support for the current far-right Israeli regime do not seem to have much understanding of the history behind what is happening now, or the dynamics of the current climate in Israel, or even knowledge of the conditions in Palestine, before or after this new round of conflict began.
Sometimes it is dumbfounding the contradictory and inane arguments being made, which fall down completely under any amount of scrutiny based on a quick survey of past and/or current events and conditions. Some of the statements being made seem to be straight from the days before the Oslo Accords, before the slow rise to power of the modern far right in Israel, which ostensibly began with Netanyahu’s inciting of Rabin’s assassination and the undermining of the path to a two-state solution, whilst later actively working to install and empower Hamas in Gaza (and isolate and delegitimise the Palestinian Authority, or any semi-cohesive structure of Palestinian leadership) in the first place.
