More tut-tut-ery in Gaza

So the Rafah offensive has begun and the resulting disruption has ended humanitarian aid for the time being. Just look at CNN if you want the dismaying details. And nobody does anything. I think President Biden is threatening to withhold some weapons system or other. Doesn't matter much.

The UN is annoyed but given the utter worthlessness of that august institution, that matters even less.

The world has decided to let Israel do as she will.

 

I believe that Israel has repeatedly ordered and warned residents to evacuate Rafa.

 

Israel has been trying to facilitate a large amount of aid to Gaza.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.aipac.org/resources/israel-humanitarian-aid-gaza?format=amp

https://www.ajc.org/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-israels-humanitarian-aid-to-gaza

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/un-lowers-confirmed-death-toll-141111019.html

Israel urges caution on Gaza death toll after UN cuts figures
Israel has urged the West to treat death figures from Hamas more cautiously, after the UN began citing dramatically lower totals for the numbers of women and children killed.

Israel, is trying to secure it civilians, cities and provide secure life to the Southern Israel.
As long as Hamas has control over Gaza, there will be no security.
Hamas removal from controlling Gaza, is also good for Gaza civilians.
Israel is paying a heavy price in blood, and many Israelis want to see that their solders didn't fall in vain and South Israel can resume somewhat normal life.

North is escalating further and on a verge of more serious conflict where all Israel will become target.

 

AIPAC is rated RIGHT bias with mixed reliability, plus the article is a few months old. This is only a mediocre MBFC rating. Similar to what one would expect from an unedited live news source like CNN, Fox, or MSNBC. So folks should consume that article with that in mind. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/aipac-bias-and-credibility/

American Jewish Committee is not rated on MBFC. I consider that a big warning sign for a news source to not be rated by MBFC.

 

I accept your critique about the sources.
Here is something more rescent
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/14/world/middleeast/un-gaza-death-toll-women-children.html

Israel Katz, called the new numbers “the miraculous resurrection of the dead in Gaza,” saying the United Nations had relied on “fake data from a terrorist organization.”

"As recently as May 6, the U.N’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its regularly updated online report that at least 9,500 women and 14,500 children were among the dead, out of an overall death toll of 34,735.

Two days later, the U.N. said in another online update that 4,959 women, 7,797 children and 10,006 men had been killed. While the total number of deaths remained roughly the same, a U.N. official said that it was awaiting more identifying information from officials in Gaza for about 10,000 of the dead, so they were not included in the new breakdown of women, men and children."

 

That was a good article, I thought. The only line that didn't make sense to me was one of the lines you copied. "Israel Katz, called the new numbers “the miraculous resurrection of the dead in Gaza,” saying the United Nations had relied on “fake data from a terrorist organization.”"

I didn't really see anything in the article that really backed up that assertion?

 

Should the West Learn from experience of other countries?

 

There are definitely aspects of extreme Islamic thought that are repugnant (lack of women's rights, lack of freedom of expression, beating people, killing and so on).

The problem is that we can't paint with too broad a brush.

First of all, this tends to whip up anti Muslim hysteria.

Second, Islam wasn't always like this. There was a Golden Age in Science and Philosophy. At that point Islam exhibited more tolerance than Christian countries. Christianity went through its own history post Christ of violence and intolerance. In fact, a pagan ruler had to rebuke Christians for their anti semitism and behavior). Think of St. John Chrysostom and Martin Luther among many others.

Finally, the British took over 1/4 of the world and all its oceans. The US is culturally ruining the cultural history and vitality of many nations. The US also has a culture of violence. And in many states with the death penalty has executed innocent people due to corrupt court systems, race, poverty, or in spite of reduced mental capacity or rehabilitation.

Watch out for America (land of superficial plastic crap culture). At least the British had some decent culture

 

And America not only has all of those issues I mentioned above but a segment of Evangelicals that have blended American Nationalism with their faith. Some even believing that God chose Donald Trump to be his avenging angel.
A segment of American Evangelicals latched onto crazy dispensationalism and sees anti Christs everywhere, Satanic chipping and marks of the beast, and the end times in every blood moon.

They see intelligent believing Christian academics, scholars and denominations as apostate heretics.

 

I disagree with you on your view of America. America is great country, a young country and I love this country. The superficial and plastic, I think it's not the case, its more of a business oriented, commerce and what else that makes it work, but also a lot of good hardworking, goodhearted people in this country. More needs to be done to make it even better. Yes, there are areas to improve.
Well, UK is waking up but most likely It's very late in the situation, and who knows if civil war - a religious war is on the way in the UK.
A parallel society is developing in parts of Muslim Britain that is getting more radicalized, I fear it will be like in Lebanon.
As Briggit Gabriel shares her experience, it is known behavior and tactic of Jihad.
Just like in Lebanon, Islamists of today need to subdue Christians so they can subdue the Jews.
I say Islamists vs Muslims because there is a difference. In my book, Islamists are radicals who use Jihad to make all world Islamic.
Back to Gaza, IDF in Raffia already discovered 4 tunnels from Egypt in to Gaza, this is lifeline for Hamas. They will shut it down.
First time in the history of warfare, I think enemy combatants are supplied by Israel with fuel and supplies. Hamas is able to resist longer due to those supplies.
The War cabinet in Israel appears in conflict with itself, it's a big problem.

 

Well-informed, intellectual Islam is a far cry from the increasingly hostile attitudes expressed by young Muslims coming from war zones, "seeking revenge and justice for the wrongs done to their countries,".

https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/42524
Among the Mosques: A Journey Across Muslim Britain, by Ed Husain.
This book was written before the Oct 7th attacks on Israel and war in Gaza, so the situation only got more polarized and radicalized since the book was released in 2021.
Estimated by 2050, there will be 13 million British Muslims.
Ed Husain visited towns with growing Muslim populations to gauge how well people are integrating and what the future will look like.
He wants the government to stop according respectability to intolerant self-appointed Muslim representatives, and to insist schools have modern curricula. But ultimately, the struggle for the soul of Islam - between the literalist Islamists and those who see Islam as an evolving faith - is a battle that Muslims, not non-believers, must fight. Yet, it is an unfair fight because so much money is backing those who yearn for the return of the caliph and who despise innovation. Modern Muslims are silent, he remarks, while an organised minority control the mosques, bookshops, schools and charities, and they are vocal online, intimidating and judging their more liberal co-religionists.

 

"Statisticians have debunked the data. Yet the narrative remains unchanged.
Clearly, the sheer volume of the footage of suffering civilians – all projected by Hamas, which censors pictures of dead or wounded combatants – has caused us to lose our minds.

Every humane heart must bleed for Israel, for Gaza. Even a single innocent death is appalling.
What should do so is the bigger picture. It is the principle of a just war, which always involves civilian casualties.
Israel did not choose this conflict any more than Britain chose to fight Nazi Germany. Such is the curse of the world that democracies are sometimes faced with an ugly enemy and the only way to respond is with force. Churchill knew this. So does Israel. Do we?
But unless one is a pacifist, the tragedy of the individual civilian in a war zone – no matter how heartrending – is not what sways the argument.
Those of sound judgment must insist that the emperor has no clothes.
The Jewish state is estimated to be killing proportionately fewer civilians than any other democracy in the history of warfare.
To argue otherwise is wrong. Now let’s talk about destroying jihadism."

 

I'm not questioning that. The only complaints I've seen from reliable sources, including the article you linked, has to do with the ratio of women and children versus the number of men. So the statement “the miraculous resurrection of the dead in Gaza,” appears to be misleading and best and a bogus lie at worst?

 

I think he saw that civilian catualties #s went down and didn't make a connection to the balance between man of combat age vs civilians children, women etc.

The Israeli foreign minister criticized the UN’s change, describing it as “the miraculous resurrection of the dead in Gaza” and accusing the UN of using “fake data from a terrorist organization.”

 

Well, like I said it was an excellent article except for that one very misleading quote included in the article .

 

Anyway, I wonder how much longer Israel can keep this up. Any war is a serious drain on a pretty small population. Israel relies heavily on reservists which means they aren't working at their usual civilian jobs.

 

Oct 7 can't repeat.
Israel managing the war economy.
It's been 3 months since scale down of activity in Gaza, most reserve are back at work places, it's dificuilt, especially for independent, small businesses etc.
But it can't be for nothing.
Hostages must be released.
Security and threat from Gaza needs to be removed. No Hamas or Fatah managing Gaza.

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-moves-to-more-limited-rafah-assault-plan-to-which-us-will-not-object-report/

Israel moves to more limited Rafah assault plan, to which US will not object – report
Washington Post analyst says plan to send two divisions into south Gaza city has been shelved, unnamed Israeli defense officials have agreed on how ‘day after’ will look.
Defense Forces)

Israel has decided to shelve plans for a major offensive in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, and will act in a more limited manner, after discussions with the US on the matter, Washington Post analyst David Ignatius reported Monday.

Ignatius said, based on conversations with unidentified officials with knowledge of the matter, that a previous plan to send two divisions into the city will not move forward, and operations will instead be more restrained.

Washington believes the new plans will result in fewer civilian casualties and thus is not expected to oppose them, Ignatius wrote.