‘As if we don’t exist’: Under bombs in Lebanon, Americans feel abandoned
aljazeera.com
Critics say the US rushed to evacuate its citizens in Israel last year. For Lebanon, the response has been much slower.
Critics say the US rushed to evacuate its citizens in Israel last year. For Lebanon, the response has been much slower.
At first I really wanted to say "good, now they are treated the same as the Lebanese people living alongside them" but no, that definitely isn't "good" by any real measure of this word. I hope this whole tragedy will stop soon.
It won't stop until either Israel is disarmed or there is a complete change of people in charge of Israel and criminals like Netanyahu, his entire government and IDF commanders are sent to prison.
That latter option won't cause much change. Israel is, as a state and as a people, ideologically poisoned. They need something on the level of the denazification of Germany before you can hope for any change.
I am not disagreeing with you but you need to start somewhere. Sending Netanyahu, his government and senior IDF officers to prison for war crimes would send shock waves and could be a trigger of wider changes.
Ideally, I would like to see Northern Ireland power sharing solution in Palestine/Israel where each office is shared equally between Israelis and Palestinians. That however in my view can only follow after justice for the victims is achieved first and the perpetrators are in prison.
Honestly, I don't think justice for Palestinians is likely. As I see it, peace is inevitable but moderately far at the pace we're going, but justice would require a perceived violation of Israel's integrity that Palestinians will never have the bargaining power to demand. It'd be throwing a wrench into a peace process that will likely be reluctant and fragile already. Justice would be nice to have as an addon, but Palestinians will likely choose to take the fastest route towards human rights, which will be a two-state solution where Palestinians make some concessions but gain a state with real sovereignty. If something drastically changes justice might become possible, but in my thinking it'll be Palestinians, not Israelis, making concessions to make peace possible a la the Oslo Accords.
Sadly, you may be right.
Disarming Israel will make the war stop just like how disarming Ukraine would make that war stop as well.
You meant Russia and yeah, both Israel and Russia should be disarmed.
No, I meant Ukraine. If Russia was disarmed, Ukraine and probably every other nation as well would just leave them alone. If Israel was disarmed, its enemies would murder every single jew in there.
That's why comparison to Ukraine is more accurate.
No, you definitely meant Russia. Aggressive fascist state invading their neighbours and murdering civilians, just like Israel.
You don't get to blame just one side for murdering civilians when both sides are doing it. You're being dishonest. The only reason there aren’t more dead Israeli civilians is because of their world-class air defense systems and their enemy's lack of military capacity.
I’d be really curious to hear what you imagine would happen to the Israeli population if we removed their ability to defend themselves and why it wouldn't be october 7th times a million?
No, it is definitely aggressors fault. Both Russia and Israel should fuck off back into their INTERNATIONALLY recognised borders.
This isn't about whose fault it was. Killing civilians is equally bad, no matter whose the aggressor and they're both doing it. You can't use that as an argument against Israel.
I’d be really curious to hear what you imagine would happen to the Israeli population if we removed their ability to defend themselves and why it wouldn’t be october 7th times a million?
No, it is definitely aggressors fault. Palestinians and Lebanese have right to defend themselves, just like Polish Home Army did during 2WW. If the aggressor fuck off back, civilians will stop dying.
I’d be really curious to hear what you imagine would happen to the Israeli population if we removed their ability to defend themselves and why it wouldn’t be october 7th times a million?
You really don't seem to want to answer this question. I wonder why that is.
Israel is an occupying force. 7th Oct would never have happened if Israel had not been commiting genocide and has not been occupying Palestine in the first place.
This is like arguing that Third Reich may suffer if it withdraws from land it occupied and/or Wehrmacht is disarmed.
They would certainly remove the settlers back to internationally recognized Israeli borders, but no there's no evidence for your statement except Israeli lies about Palestinian slogans.
Ukraine is not the aggressor
... or all of Radical Islam admits the cost is too high and gives up their pointless hate.
Only Nazi's think hating genocide is pointless.
It is the Sith that speak in absolutes.
Oh yeah, cause only a little bit of genocide is fine‽‽
Don't you think that feelings of victims hating the perpetrators are completely justified?
That's not the point. Forgiveness to avoid more tragedy is.
In times of “peace”, the Israeli boot was still heavy on their neck.
If only there were peaceful ways to get help that would almost have certainly garnered a lot more sympathy than resorting to terrorism...
So, your solution is for the Palestinians to shut up and die? Nice, real peaceful
You said it, not me, but continuing to propagate violence only makes your solution the only viable one. Food for thought.
Israel has only ever responded to peaceful protests with lethal violence
When peaceful resistance is made impossible, violent revolution is inevitable
You can't expect people subjected to systematic violence and dehumanization for generations to not fight back for their own humanity and human rights
If only that was what they were fighting for.
Hasn't been made impossible, just costly. Still less costly than resorting to terrorism. What is the body count now? More or less than projected when Hamas was deciding to 10/7? Any closer to victory? Let me know when reality sinks in.
That is exactly what they are fighting for. Israel has always been the obstacle for peace, because it is a Settler Colonialist Ethnostate founded on, and ever continuing, ethnic cleansing. Apartheid is the reality.
::: spoiler Settlements
Israel does justify the settlements and military bases in the West Bank in the name of Security. However, the reality of the settlements on-the-ground has been the cause of violent resistance and a significant obstacle to peace, as it has been for decades.
This type of settlement, where the native population gets 'Transferred' to make room for the settlers, is a long standing practice.
The mass ethnic cleansing campaign of 1948:
Further, declassified Israeli documents show that the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip were deliberately planned before being executed in 1967:
While the peace process was exploited to continue de-facto annexation of the West Bank via Settlements
The settlements are maintained through a violent apartheid that routinely employs violence towards Palestinians and denies human rights like water access, civil rights, etc. This kind of control gives rise to violent resistance to the Apartheid occupation, jeopardizing the safety of Israeli civilians.
:::
::: spoiler One or Two State Solution
How Avi Shlaim moved from two-state solution to one-state solution
‘One state is a game changer’: A conversation with Ilan Pappe
One State Solution, Foreign Affairs
Both Hamas and Fatah have agreed to a Two-State solution based on the 1967 borders for decades. Oslo and Camp David were used by Israel to continue settlements in the West Bank and maintain an Apartheid, while preventing any actual Two-State solution
:::
Hamas has already agreed to no longer govern the Gaza Strip, as long as Palestinians receive liberation and a unified government can take place.
In the Shadow of the Holocaust by Masha Gessen, the situation in Gaza is compared to the Warsaw Ghettos. The comparison was also made by a Palestinian poet who was later killed by an Israeli airstrike. Adi Callai, an Israeli, has also written on the parallels in his article The Gaza Ghetto Uprising and expanded upon in his corresponding video
Israel shoots into crowds of peaceful protestors in Palestine and has for years.
Israeli Snipers have shot and killed on foreign journalists for years at these events.
There are, in fact, none. That's why Hamas managed to gain the Palestinian cause a lot of sympathy over the last 20 years while the PLO did absolutely fucking nothing.
They tried peaceful protests and the Israeli military opened fire on them. They went to the UN for help and Israel called it “diplomatic terrorism” and put sanctions on Palestinians. What alternatives are there?
Did the Jews forgive nazi perpetrators? Or were they still hunting them down many years after the war?
So why do you want Palestinians to forgive nazi perpetrators?
Pointless hate? These people are subject to Israeli Apartheid and acts of ethnic cleansing. Daily. What part of fighting that is pointless?
Don’t tread on me for me, but not for thee
It's not radical to stand up for oppression and genocide. It's not pointless to hate a group of people who stolen everything from you. The fact that you would label it as such just goes to show how little you actually value human lives and their rights.
I get what you're saying. It frustrates me that anyone thinks citizenship matters when it comes to civilians getting bombed.
I mean morally it doesn't, but it should matter for the US that it's citizens are getting bombed. More than just a moral failure, America not acting to protect those citizens indicates its failure as a state. It's very much worth pointing out.
There are 6,000 Americans trying to leave. We've evacuated 100.
What the fuck is going with my country? Biden was supposed to be a vote for the status quo after a crazy 4 years but now it feels like we're right back in the Trump years.
It's neoliberalism protecting capitalism
Nah, there's nothing about capitalism to protect here. I would agree that's part of their support for Israel, but not getting our own people out of the way doesn't make sense with that.
Caring more about war profits than human lives is pretty capitalism
Or just plain racist.
You misspelled "nazism". Israel is a Nazi state, starting from racial laws, imperialism and occupation and ending on the genocide.
Responded to the wrong comment- pre coffee. Not braining today, deleted it with an apology for off-topic’ing your discussion.
You may have acute amnesia
Well, that's because they are.
Paying taxes to fund the bombs that kill you:
I don't know what sane American would be in Lebanon, but then again there's Americans who get it in their fool heads to go to active war zones all the time. Like they're fucking tourists to a war, not even to fight. Not to mention North Korea.
America has lot's Lebanese people. They're just there to visit their families. Lebanon wasn't an active war zone until Israel decided it was. Thanks to being enabled by America.
Hezbollah has been launching rockets at Israel for a year now, they were the ones who made it a war zone, Israel just decided to finally respond to being attacked.
That is false.
... like everything else nazi apologists are saying.
Uh... There are Lebanese American people who want to visit their families. It's dangerous, but for many people worth the danger when their homes aren't suddenly made into active warzones.
The 50+ year old Lebanese immigrants in Dearborn would like you kick your ass for you