Tlaib refuses to apologize for blaming Israel for Gaza hospital blast, attacks Biden

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Tlaib refuses to apologize for blaming Israel for Gaza hospital blast, attacks Biden
abcnews.go.com

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib refused to apologize Wednesday for saying on Tuesday that Israel is to blame for the hospital explosion that day in Gaza, an accusation that sparked political backlash against her from Republicans as Israel denies fault.

Tlaib joined thousands of protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza during a solidarity rally hosted by the left-leaning group Jewish Voice for Peace at the National Mall. She was visibly emotional, at times pausing her speech to openly weep and criticizing lawmakers who have not backed a ceasefire resolution.

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I think the primary issue is that "destroying Hamas" and "killing a hell of a lot of Palestinians" currently has a large overlap and the Israeli mindset of large amounts of collateral damage/death being acceptable is not shared by most of the rest of the world, even though they're experiencing the same on a smaller mindset.

The pendulum swings the other way and there are absolutely bad faith actors out there (and on here) who have no problem with Israel continuing to take a barrage of rockets on a regular basis, because they either have no skin in the game or genuinely want Israel as an entity to collapse. They aren't helpful here either.

Historically speaking, land claim issues involved one side stomping out the other. But that's pretty much frowned upon today (not that has stopped Russia but, yeah, that's another topic). This is still the most likely outcome here and will ultimately favor the larger, better funded Israel - it doesn't make it right in any sense, though, but that's frankly just what is going to happen eventually. None of the countries complaining are interested in actually helping the people on the ground in Palestine, on either side, because they are more useful as a political tool if left in the wastes to perish as a symbol

I think the primary issue is that “destroying Hamas” and “killing a hell of a lot of Palestinians” currently has a large overlap and the Israeli mindset of large amounts of collateral damage/death being acceptable is not shared by most of the rest of the world, even though they’re experiencing the same on a smaller mindset.

I'd argue it has *very little" overlap in the minds of Israelis. I've heard three people in a very conservative small town in the US discuss the latter, which is absolutely three too many. The lion's share of Jews here—yes, Jews in a conservative town in the US—are very actively hoping for the best outcome possible for Palestinian civilians (even though we know they would never forgive Israel for destroying Hamas, even if it happened via magic bullet with no collateral damage).

Yes, a loud, dickish miniority of Israelis are calling for genocide, and yes, some of them will make it into the IDF, and do something horrible. That's terrifying. Yes, Netanyahu sucks, fuck Netanyahu—although he is not calling for genocide, although he's absolutely continued just about civilian-friendly policy the IDF ever had, he's moved farther and farther to the right of Israeli politics. But the IDF, as an organization, is really still doing its best to weed them out, to control them, and to protect civilians while it goes after Hamas.

This is why Israel is trying to evacuate civilians from Gaza City. But people call that ethnic cleansing... And meanwhile, Israel has evacuated its own civilians from the south and from the Lebanese border, but nobody said Hamas and Lebanon are engaged in ethnic cleansing. Why the fuck would you not evacuate people from a war zone?

Because Hamas likes to use people at human shields.

Israel warns Hamas what building it's going to strike, and when, and urges them to evacuate civilians from that building. And Hamas refuses. So Israel does its "roof knocking" if it thinks there's a chance there might still be civilians in a building that's firing rockets, trying to warn civilians again, and its critics say that "roof knocking" is somehow a war crime. They're trying their hardest not to kill civilians, and Hamas is trying its hardest to make them martyrs!

No other army warns its enemy of what building it's going to strike and when. That's not a thing armies do. They don't share intelligence, say "hey, I know you're firing your weapons from this exact building, please stop."

People have no idea… they should look at the vietnam war and see what indiscriminate bombing looks like…

Sad to hear. However, we're talking about innocents dying and what can be done to protect them. I argued more innocents die in the long run if Hamas is not destroyed. To allow such an organization to exist just beyond your borders, is to allow innocents to die every year and that tally never stops increasing. If you need to kill the cancer in your body, you end up destroying good cells in the process, yet you do it anyways to save yourself from that cancer.

Which I keep telling people, so far Israel has shown more restraint than any other nation which would have leveled Gaza within the first few hundred rockets. Israel is going to spend even more of its blood preforming a ground invasion. Those are innocents dying too, surely. They didn't ask for this enemy or this war. I still support them, because there is no compromise that can be had with Hamas.

It's true that self-defense doesn't give Israel the right to indiscriminately destroy all Palestinians. But, outside of the online rhetoric, it seems they've been very clear about the target of their war and they repeatedly are taking steps to attack that target specifically. I just read an article from a Palestinian journalist returning to her home in defiance of Israel's warning to evacuate. These Palestinians quite literally are supporting Hamas, because they are willfully standing in front of Israel's aimed attacks. It's sad to see, but if I believe in Israel's right to self-defense, it means supporting them when they destroy those who defend Hamas.

Edit: correction, more bombs dropped in 1 year of the war

Israel has dropped more bombs in this latest "offensive" than in the US did in the entire war in Afghanistan.

More restraint my hole.

Also Israel has no right to preemptive self defence because this level of damage and the threat Israel faces would not meet the Caroline test.

Palestine has the right to resist occupation under the Geneva convention but I don't see any Zionists making sure that right isn't trampled on.

Israel has dropped more bombs in this latest “offensive” than in the US did in the entire war in Afghanistan.

I believe the bomb count is not the entire Afghanistan, but any given year of the Afghanistan war iirc that being discussed on PBS News Hour last night.

Thanks, added the correction.

Np. It's still way too much. And at this rate, maybe it will exceed the entire Afghanistan war.

A figure you chose specifically because it sounds extreme. What matters is not the amount of bombs, as you well know, but the damage inflicted with those bombs. If you have to resort to extremities to make your point, do you really have a point worth making?

It is extreme.....

4,200 murdered, 1 million people displaced all in 10 days. (From a UN article dated the 17th, probably not the current total)

There's an esrimated 50,000 pregnant women now without proper healthcare, never mind the those with chronic physical or mental health issues.

The general population facing lack essentials like food and water.

Did no one tell you it's cringe to defend fascist states or does that boot taste nice?

And again, perhaps more than that die in the long run when terrorists are capitulated with. Your calls for a ceasefire are to be understood exactly as a call for Israel to return to suffering under hundreds of rockets per day and the threat of another invasion and raping of their people. You demand everyone stop fighting while not acknowledging that at least one of the parties has made the full commitment to destroy the other, no compromises. You ask for peace because it's easier to ask for peace than to fight for it.

You're putting words in my moyth, we both agree that a ceasefire is not a solution as the injustice will just continue.

We disagree on solution though, Israel is the occupier and will kill or displace 2 million Palestinians as soon as it can. We didn't let the Nazi state or fascist italy exist after the war. We now look back and consider Rhodesia and apartheid SA to be bad. The same applies to treatment of natives by most other colonising nations.

Israel is on the wrong side of history and like all fascist and colonising states it should be torn down.

If Israel wanted to kill 2 million people, they wouldn't tell them to evacuate south. They would just destroy Gaza. Get over yourself. Clearly Israel is at least trying to somewhat minimize damages, but you can't even admit to that. You have to paint them as genocidal maniacs, completely ignoring Hamas and what they've done. You're not going to convince anyone by lying.

I said kill OR displace 2 million, they don't need to kill to commit war crimes or ethnic cleansing.

Israel also bombed the supposedly safe route to the south, so there goes the whole benevolent state lie.

Israel doesn't minimise damages, it in fact calls for the most extreme revenge against Palestine and minimises the media coverage when it blows back against them.

No matter what hamas has done it can't be allowed to deflect from Israeli crimes, Israel has been called out by the UN for committing genocide.

The fact you compare a terrorist organisation to a state that should be expected to be held to a higher set of standards is pretty damming to that state.

Israel also bombed the supposedly safe >route to the south, so there goes the >whole benevolent state lie.

Did they? Or did Hamas? If it was Israel, do you know why they did it? How are you getting access to that information?

Israel doesn't minimise damages, it in >fact calls for the most extreme revenge >against Palestine and minimises the >media coverage when it blows back >against them.

Is Gaza still there or did they destroy it? Still there? Oh, okay. Is it extreme revenge to spend a week telling civilians to evacuate? Is it extreme to spend the blood of your own soldiers in a ground invasion to destroy an enemy that has sworn to never stop attacking you?

No matter what hamas has done it can't >be allowed to deflect from Israeli crimes, >Israel has been called out by the UN for >committing genocide.

So you're literally excusing terrorism now. At least you took your mask off.

The fact you compare a terrorist >organisation to a state that should be >expected to be held to a higher set of >standards is pretty damming to that >state.

Well they did wait until they were attacked. There's a reason all of these events are happening right now. Remember what happened on the 7th? Who was responsible for that?

Israel was responsible for the 7th, they created the situation and they moved troops from the border to torment the west bank. Israel failed it's people on that day.

You try the same old shit, I call out Israeli crimes and you say I'm endorsing terrorism. I can be critical of terrorist organisations at the same time as being critical of nation states.

Remember Israel just spent 7 million dollars on YouTube ads in the past 10 days, so i hope youre not pushing state propaganda for free, they can well afford to pay you too.

What's the problem with Israel moving their troops around? There still had to be Hamas who invaded their country, raped their parents, brutalized their children, and uploaded the videos to Facebook. That part you left out?

I always think it's ironic when people argue that literal terrorists aren't responsible for their actions. "Sure, what Hamas did was bad... but Israel made them do it!" Its exactly like punching someone and claiming they made you punch them. No, they didn't. You are responsible for your actions, and Hamas is responsible for theirs. You are removing responsibility from a terrorist organization that would kill you without hesitation, do you understand?

Nah you only ask what happened on the 7th, you don't want anyone to look earlier than that.

2023 was already one of the bloodiest years for Palestinians before the 7th.

Israel has been punching for years then crys when they get punched back only to punch all the harder while still playing the victim.

Ofc they have a responsibility to their own actions but I would view them like the French resistance. Paraphrasing from a BBC article on war crimes committed by the French resistance: you can commit what is morally wrong while still being on the side of righteousness.

You are removing responsibility from a state that has a duty to protect it's people. Never mind that it was very likely they knew something was coming.

They would not kill me at all because I'm not a settler living on stolen land. If you are scared that they will kill you you've got to ask yourself why. Most people in the world do not live on occupied land and do not live under any such threat.

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you're right, there should be no preemptive self defense, they should wait for hamas to slaughter hundreds and hundreds of their citizens before bombing anyone.

No need to wait, that already happened.

Aww did someone tell you that running a genocidal apartheid state would be easy and have no risks?

What poor genocide apologists.

If zionists cared about human rights, they wouldn't be trying to re-settle the "holy" land

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Israel is going to spend even more of its blood preforming a ground invasion.

Those poor innocent invading soldiers trying to invade and colonize more and more land from these savage indigenous people. If only the indigenous people just accepted their fate peacefully and just give up their homes to the colonizers. They simply are the wrong ethnicity so they have to leave their houses or be shot. Not enough people consider how bad that makes the colonizers feel. Not leaving your house means you are just asking to be killed.

Israel has stated their intention to destroy Hamas, as you well know. If you cared about your cause, I'm not sure why you would lie and misrepresent what Israel is doing? You're not going to convince anyone who doesn't already agree with you, which is to say it's pointless. Be mad if you want. If Israel wanted the land, they would have taken it already. If Israel wanted to destroy Gaza, they would have already. Clearly, what they want is to destroy Hamas while allowing the innocents to live. They have a right to defend themself. Sorry that hurts you.

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