Comment on Terrorist state
mozz@mbin.grits.dev 4 months ago
The entire operation in Gaza has been terrorism this entire time, much more than it is "war." That's why I tend to put the word in quotes whenever I am talking about it. If you stop and think for a second, "war" fits the description of what they're doing pretty badly overall.
Deliberate attempts to prevent food aid to put pressure on the civilian population, and specific destruction of important civilian targets like hospitals and universities, as well as the explicit linkage of an end to Israel's attacks with particular goals like removing Hamas or particular terms in the peace agreement, being key elements. A war against armed opponents that are part of an organized apparatus whether state-sponsored or otherwise would look very different from what Israel is doing.
masquenox@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’m afraid not - as far as certain states are concerned, the slaughter of masses of civilians have pretty much always been what the term “war” means.
The firebombings of Hamburg and Tokyo are merely two examples on a laundry list of things that gets called “war” by the states that perpetrate them.
To a white supremacist settler-colonialist state like Israel, indiscriminately murdering masses of Palestinians with the push of a button isn’t just “war” - it’s glorious “war.” When the other side shoots back, they don’t call that war - they call that “terrorism.” And they learned that trick from the imperialist states they also learned their white supremacism from.
mozz@mbin.grits.dev 4 months ago
Dude. No.
The occupation after the war sure wasn’t pretty, but the allies didn’t hang around for 75 more years oppressing the shit out of Germany and going back in any time they felt like shooting some civilians, or wandering into somebody’s house and saying hey this one is mine now, or destroying water supplies just for the hell of it.
They didn’t kill around 10% of the civilian population of Japan over the course of less than a year after the war after any real military threat was ended, just because they felt like getting back at them for Pearl Harbor.
Yes, all countries commit atrocities in war. War is the process of atrocity. It’s an abomination. But not every way of going to war is the same, and what’s happening in Gaza is so different from “collateral damage” or bombing civilians in an actual military conflict, even an unequal one, that to describe it as such is basically apologia on behalf of Israel.
masquenox@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Actually, they’ve been doing that ever since somebody decided to give Columbus his three little ships.
You’re missing the point.
The only thing that’s really unique to Israel’s white supremacist genocide is that we get to witness it on our cellphones and desktops for the first time - it perfectly fits the historical pattern of colonialist genocide perpetrated by the (so-called) “West” (of which Israel forms a part) for hundreds of years now. And they called those genocides “war,” too.
mozz@mbin.grits.dev 4 months ago
Oh! We’re talking about Columbus? Yeah, that was way worse than Gaza. Just an outright unapologetic slaughter of everyone.
I thought we were talking about Hamburg and Tokyo and the allies in WW2. IDK how I got that impression.
(I’m not sure what you’re trying to get out of this interaction, but I think I’ve pretty much said everything I was interested in saying at this point.)