Bob Lord In the Israel – Palestine debate, the actions and supposed intentions of Hamas are invoked in defense of Israel’s actions. Unless and until Hamas is eliminated, the logic goes, Israel has no choice but to continue on its current course.
But does this make sense? Does the argument withstand careful scrutiny? Let’s explore.
The Zionist crowd is repeatedly invoking the allocation of resources by Hamas as justification for Israel’s aggression these days. Some of our local Arizona Zionists were sharing this quote from the Times of Israel on Facebook: Over the past several years, thousands of rockets have been launched from Gaza, home to one of the supposed … Read more
Ole Thuckarooskie is in the race of his life, thanks in part to his exposure as a Latino bashing late-night internet troll who expresses disdain for the students he purports to “serve” and for the public schools he was elected to “superintend.” The good news is we have a candidate, David Garcia, who has the experience, … Read more
If I were better technologically, I’d embed this youtube video here, but please indulge me, click on the link, and view it. It’s the better part of an hour, but it’s a pretty amazing talk. http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=-fP4_Uff5Io&u=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DetXAm-OylQQ%26feature%3Dshare The speaker, Miko Peled, is the son of an Israeli general. He lost his niece, the general’s granddaughter, to … Read more
There’s no clear place to start with this piece, so I’ll start here:
Israel: “Hamas intentionally places its rockets and other weapons amidst the civilian population.” This of course causes people to blame Hamas for the deaths of innocent Palestinians, because Hamas is locating its weaponry inappropriately
Let’s follow the logical implication of that criticism: Hamas should cluster its weaponry in military bases away from the population center. Gaza, however, is one of the most densely populated strips of land on the planet. There are few places in Gaza not near population. But there are some. So what happens if Hamas does what we’re being told it should? Essentially, the weaponry would be useless for its intended purpose, whether that purpose is offensive or defensive. At the outset of any confrontation, Israel would wipe out a handful of military targets in a matter of minutes.
So, the real question we should be asking is not whether Hamas locates its weapons appropriately, but whether Hamas should hold weapons at all. If Hamas should not be armed, then anywhere it holds its weapons would be wrong, and its holding of weapons in population centers would be besides point. But if it should be armed, it really has no choice but to place its armaments in populated areas, if those armaments are to have any significance.
Should Hamas be armed?