Part of this Israel-Hamas war reminded me of the "Trolley Problem" — a speculative puzzle that incorporates inaction as a consequential option in a moral choice.
The problem is continuing to use the catch phrases that the Arab radical Muslims in Gaza use to polarize the media. The term Palestinian in polarizing in itself. The Jews and Arabs that lived in Palestine are Palestinians. The Arabs that live in Gaza are not. The terms occupation, colonization, apartheid, prison state, civilians etc are a systematic language that polarizes the conflict and portray the Gaza residents as victims when they are terrorists
The trolley driver is in an unenviable position, for sure. The real breakdown of this problem is the assumption that all lives are considered equally sacred, which is a nice idea but one which almost nobody really believes in practice.
There is one point missing from your trolley metaphor. That Palestinian civilians bear responsibility for their own demise. One, they have never risen up against Hamas or terrorist leaders before them (e.g. Arafat) to call for peace with Israel and the ability to govern themselves in some sort of civilized manner. Two, they elected Hamas and actively supported Hamas by joining its ranks, providing aid and comfort and even waging war against Israel by acting as spies for Hamas and participating in the Oct 7 murders and atrocities. Videos show them celebrating the torture of Israeli hostages. According to Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a Hamas leader “The vast number of Palestinians are complicit with Hamas. Because they voted for Hamas, they protect Hamas and most importantly they fail their moral responsibility to condemn Hamas, the least they could do.” (Source: Video interview on unitedwithisrael.org, Feb 23, 2024). So how should Israel treat these civilians? Exactly the way we've been doing thus far. By not targeting them directly and trying to get them out of harm's way. But let's quit feeding the lie that they are innocent victims. They're not. The only innocents among them are the children who've been raised in a culture of hate. I think those kids should be removed from this abusive society, re-educated and adopted out to families who won't raise them to kill Jews and become martyrs themselves.
The level of complicity of Gaza's civilians and their ensuing responsibility or shared guilt for October 7 may be considered for sure-- philosophically, morally, legally. That would require an additional essay: It does not look to me as straightforward as you put it. Which is not to say that I believe they're all necessarily "innocent". But rather than resorting to the anecdotal opinion of Mosab Hassan Yousef (the Green Prince) —interesting as it is— one can, and should, read into the Palestinian polls that are published by the Palestinians themselves. Those polls indicate that a vast majority of Gazans no longer support Hamas's rule (like, who would?) but about 3/4 of them still sympathize with its aims vis-a-vis Israel, and about half of them saw favorably October 7. How does this affect Israel's responsibility for the deaths of Gazan civilians? The least one can say is that, well, it's complicated. And nonetheless, because it is complicated, what Israel has been doing (as you point out: not targeting them directly and trying to get them out of harm's way) is, as far as one can say, the right thing to do. It's not how much of the world see's it, though, and that's another essay...
Frankly, I don't see the issue as complicated, except for what to do with the Palestinians? They never wanted statehood; they could have had it years ago but rejected it (twice) in favor of wanting Israel annihilated. Neighboring Arab countries don't want them, which is in line with these countries' common goal of keeping the Palestinians where they are to remain a vicious thorn in Israel's side.* Still, the world will continue to try and make them Israel's problem. Therefore, when the dust settles, Hamas is gone and Israel is in the regrettable position of policing Gaza again (something she hasn't done since 2005), Israel will have the burden of re-educating as many of them as feasible (offering Israeli citizenship to those willing to be law-abiding) and deporting the rest. Deport them to where? To the damn desert if other countries won't take them. Because after Oct 7 I doubt Israel will tolerate any form of Palestinian state. There is no such thing as the "Palestinian people". It's been a ruse from the start.
*Quote from PLO leader Zuheir Mohsen, the Dutch newspaper Trouw, March 31, 1977. "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.... [T]he moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."
I agree with you, and recently, Mosab said when asked about "innocent Palestinians," said "if there are any." Dor Schacher, when asked the same question said. "there aren't any." So, if it's a choice between 20,000-40,000 or more "innocent Palestinians" versus a country of people to exist, I will go with my conscience and choose the latter.
The problem is continuing to use the catch phrases that the Arab radical Muslims in Gaza use to polarize the media. The term Palestinian in polarizing in itself. The Jews and Arabs that lived in Palestine are Palestinians. The Arabs that live in Gaza are not. The terms occupation, colonization, apartheid, prison state, civilians etc are a systematic language that polarizes the conflict and portray the Gaza residents as victims when they are terrorists
The trolley driver is in an unenviable position, for sure. The real breakdown of this problem is the assumption that all lives are considered equally sacred, which is a nice idea but one which almost nobody really believes in practice.
There is one point missing from your trolley metaphor. That Palestinian civilians bear responsibility for their own demise. One, they have never risen up against Hamas or terrorist leaders before them (e.g. Arafat) to call for peace with Israel and the ability to govern themselves in some sort of civilized manner. Two, they elected Hamas and actively supported Hamas by joining its ranks, providing aid and comfort and even waging war against Israel by acting as spies for Hamas and participating in the Oct 7 murders and atrocities. Videos show them celebrating the torture of Israeli hostages. According to Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a Hamas leader “The vast number of Palestinians are complicit with Hamas. Because they voted for Hamas, they protect Hamas and most importantly they fail their moral responsibility to condemn Hamas, the least they could do.” (Source: Video interview on unitedwithisrael.org, Feb 23, 2024). So how should Israel treat these civilians? Exactly the way we've been doing thus far. By not targeting them directly and trying to get them out of harm's way. But let's quit feeding the lie that they are innocent victims. They're not. The only innocents among them are the children who've been raised in a culture of hate. I think those kids should be removed from this abusive society, re-educated and adopted out to families who won't raise them to kill Jews and become martyrs themselves.
The level of complicity of Gaza's civilians and their ensuing responsibility or shared guilt for October 7 may be considered for sure-- philosophically, morally, legally. That would require an additional essay: It does not look to me as straightforward as you put it. Which is not to say that I believe they're all necessarily "innocent". But rather than resorting to the anecdotal opinion of Mosab Hassan Yousef (the Green Prince) —interesting as it is— one can, and should, read into the Palestinian polls that are published by the Palestinians themselves. Those polls indicate that a vast majority of Gazans no longer support Hamas's rule (like, who would?) but about 3/4 of them still sympathize with its aims vis-a-vis Israel, and about half of them saw favorably October 7. How does this affect Israel's responsibility for the deaths of Gazan civilians? The least one can say is that, well, it's complicated. And nonetheless, because it is complicated, what Israel has been doing (as you point out: not targeting them directly and trying to get them out of harm's way) is, as far as one can say, the right thing to do. It's not how much of the world see's it, though, and that's another essay...
Frankly, I don't see the issue as complicated, except for what to do with the Palestinians? They never wanted statehood; they could have had it years ago but rejected it (twice) in favor of wanting Israel annihilated. Neighboring Arab countries don't want them, which is in line with these countries' common goal of keeping the Palestinians where they are to remain a vicious thorn in Israel's side.* Still, the world will continue to try and make them Israel's problem. Therefore, when the dust settles, Hamas is gone and Israel is in the regrettable position of policing Gaza again (something she hasn't done since 2005), Israel will have the burden of re-educating as many of them as feasible (offering Israeli citizenship to those willing to be law-abiding) and deporting the rest. Deport them to where? To the damn desert if other countries won't take them. Because after Oct 7 I doubt Israel will tolerate any form of Palestinian state. There is no such thing as the "Palestinian people". It's been a ruse from the start.
*Quote from PLO leader Zuheir Mohsen, the Dutch newspaper Trouw, March 31, 1977. "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.... [T]he moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."
I agree with you, and recently, Mosab said when asked about "innocent Palestinians," said "if there are any." Dor Schacher, when asked the same question said. "there aren't any." So, if it's a choice between 20,000-40,000 or more "innocent Palestinians" versus a country of people to exist, I will go with my conscience and choose the latter.