Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I have no doubt that there are Israelis who have committed war crimes, but completely agree that what Hamas did was different from individual acts crossing the line. As I said, and you agreed, what Hamas was rational in its way. Depraved, also. And Hank says they're bad, so we all seem to be in agreement about that.
I'm just not clear what you think you're establishing. Movements that resort to terrorism do so because they can't fight by conventional means. Ideologies that justify terrorism take root among populations that don't see alternatives.
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Disregard my post that crossed with this one. Your post here moots it.
Your second point gets to mine. I think that even in terrorism, there are lines. The murder of Israelis at the '72 Olympics was horrific. But even there, it was due to blundering. And it was just shooting.
When I saw the Berg beheading video from Iraq, I recall thinking it was gratuitous. A hostage has value. And yet instead of trading him, they butchered him, in something like a medieval sacrifice.
There is little rational thinking involved in killing a person one can trade for something one wants. It makes no sense. It is the behavior not of a terrorist but of a zealot who wants nothing but to satisfy a blood lust.
Hamas' wretched recent behavior indicates a desire for total war and self-annihilation just as ISIS's beheadings had. Of course, you can say they've been at total war with Israel from the start, which indeed their charter states. But it's been cold, warm, cold, and not terribly dramatic. Bombs here and there. This new thing is a step beyond... an action they know will not end Israel, but all but assuredly will end them (at least in their current incarnation). And they clearly don't care.
"Blow it all up!" I guess if you've no hope and would rather die than live as you are, well, there's a logic in doing what they're doing. But it's an awfully twisted one.
(Kinda like MAGA dead enders here.)
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