halfcenturyup
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 12 Oct 2009
- Messages
- 12,150
Yes, I see it.
But Israel sees itself (way over 80% of the jewish population) as fighting a war for it's very existence. If Hezbollah joins in they will fight them too as they will see it as confirmation of it as a war for the existence of Israel.
Enemies of Israel will probably be in Rage mode too as a result of Israels OTT attacks that caught so many civilians as "collateral damage" (another horrible phrase).
These attacks aren't helping Isreal's friends defend their actions but at the moment I think that is the last thing on the IDF's agenda at the moment.
Rage is difficult to calm.
Fair enough.
The thing is: Objectively, this is not a fight for theil existence of Israel. I can understand why the Israelis may think that given the history (long in terms of oppression of Jewish people, and shorter in terms of conflict over Israel) and the recent attack, but Israel isn't going to be wiped off the map, and Hamas, even with Hezbollah, aren't "killing every single Jew" or whatever they may say in their manifesto. It just isn't going to happen. So, to me as a neutral, for Israel to react as if it is does not validate in any way what they are doing. And "rage" isn't an acceptable motivation for a professional army, btw, no matter what the general population feel.
Nor do I accept for one moment, as a neutral, the argument from the Palestinian side that what happened last month was part of a resistance movement. There are ways to resist without the acts of barbarism carried out. Personally, I suspect that all the Hamas fighters involved in that attack expected to die within 30 minutes and were motivated by their own "rage", as you put it. The question Israel should be asking itself is why they didn't. But, back to my point, the difference in my eyes is that Hamas isn't a professional army and, I imagine, deliberately uses "rage" from the Palestinians to motivate them into near suicidal acts. And there must be a lot of real rage to tap into, with more being created with every passing day.
Anyway, that's my personal view on existential threats and rage as a justification for conflict. As a neutral.