Thank you, Jamie, for spelling out the distinction and for calling out those who use the term for the Hamas war. I’m hanging onto this one so I can quote you now and then, if that is okay.
Here's a new take. How about Israel finish its mission, hopefully rescue the hostages and ends the war.
Israel does not have to answer to anyone for its survival. If Hamas surrendered on October 8, 2023 and released the hostages, there would be no war and no "casualties." It seems Hamas wanted this war and loves all the attention that comes from it all the while demonizing Israel and all it stands for...
I'll be clear: I loathe Hamas and wish it would disappear from the face of the earth but an Entebbe style rescue is out of the question. The two stated goals of the war: get the hostages back, and degrade Hamas militarily (destroying it is similarly impossible) are logically antithetical.
This is an important post. How do we believe these casualties? I think Israel is very careful with its protection of civilians. It goes to extraordinary measures to warn people of an imminent attack. Allowing them to evacuate. This is a war and many people don’t seem to understand that. In the second WW Britain was bombed and civilians died. In Dresden in Germany the Brits bombed everything. Then we have Nagasaki and Hiroshima, all to end a war. I believe the World is not seeing this as a War, that is the issue. However it is a War to end the War that Hamas has against Israel.
I still get a sort of sad chuckle when I think of that Golden Oldie in which a Pal woman, a murdered victim of Israeli atrocity purported by Hamas, is caught on Cell Phone concluding the video and casually getting up and walking home.
Remember al Dura case. Outing fabricated derogatory news faulting Israel. Cannot trust local sources or reporters in the Territories (hamas, plo). Apparently also not UNRWA, IRCC, others operating in terrorist territories. Ive heard their reps mouth the same script, practically verbatim, not challenged by media hosts (Joy Reid, others- MSNBC)
Not surprised at twisting truth. I am distressed that the words of terrorists are repeated, unchallenged; while those speaking for Israel, our ally, are challenged, interrupted incessantly, and treated with cynicism as if they are lying.
Fantastic read! I so tire of the false accusations of genocide against Israel! It's gotten to the point where so many can't tell the difference between REAL genocide & false ones
Great post, but I'm a little surprised that you had hundreds of cancellations. I would have thought that most of your subscribers are relatively supportive of Israel. People talk about Churchill having mobilized the English language for war. Clearly those people accusing Israel of apartheid and genocide are using words to wage war, making up unique definitions for old words.
Radio Far Side recently sent out an article bemoaning all the subscribers a Jew Hate screed had cost him. Other sites sharing the near inexplicable commonality of ordinarily providing useful and well researched info descending into drooling idiocy on Israel have not vocalized this concern, but have markedly pulled back from honking endlessly about Genocide and Stolen Land.
It may be coincidence, but it sure looks like it didn't go over well and they took the hint.
I don't want to take too much credit, but my making monkeys of them may have had something to do with the conclusion they came to...
A very important essay; thank you. I happened on a YouTube talk by journalist Chris Hedges, whom I used to respect, in which he not only describes Israel's actions in the current war as a Holocaust and a genocide, he extends the metaphor on and on, with unparalleled erudition (Hedges being Hedges) and minute detail, for I don't know how many minutes because I cut it off after thee or four. I think that this sort of behavior (not unlike what you are reporting) is what my mother would call "sticking the knife in, and twisting."
Hedges belongs to that Chomskyite wing of the left who make a lot of sense when Western neocons are running amok, but are revealed to be unhinged isolationists who almost unconditionally side with every non-Western party in the face of international conflict.
In Canada our PM, the wokest political leader on the planet Justin Trudeau, the man who has jumped on every woke bus that has traversed the city of Stupidopolis (Ottawa), said that the killing of indigeneous women by indigenous men was genocide by white people because native lives were made so hard by residential schools that their grandfather went to in 1969. Great article but Canadian politicians can always outstupid you.
In his interview, New Year's interview with Barri Weiss, linguist John McWhorter predicted 2024 would include a battle over the meaning of the word "genocide." The fact is that language has been so degraded over the past twenty years, so driven by irresponsible hyperbole, that I can't help but think the battle against redefining "genocide" will be a losing one. The word will, in fact, come to mean to defeating your enemy, and its origins in the Jewish experience of the Holocaust will be all but forgotten. "Genocide" will be genocided. That having been said, I encourage you to keep fighting the good fight.
Genocide is actually a less dramatic term for what Israel has been doing.
Also Genocide isn’t just massacring civilians it’s also kicking them all out of your country by force is technically a genocide like with how the Myanmar government kicked out the Rohingya Muslims the UN classified that as a genocide and Israel is doing that at the moment.
It isn't but is Israel really winning? Are they actually destroying Hamas?
Recall the aid truck debacle. It's unclear what exactly happened but I read accounts which claimed that armed militants started the stampede. Which raises the question: what were armed militants doing in an area that Israel had supposedly conquered/pacified, whatever word you want to use.
This always happens with guerrilla movements. Melt away, let the conventional army win, and then resurface at a time of your choosing.
"For genocide there must be a plan or pattern to destroy all or part of the Palestinian population.", according to prof. Knoops, lawyer at the ICC. Which, of course, there is none.
But from a military point of view, the IDF's operations in Gaza are a disaster.
After 5 months of action there still is no knock-out, and the ratio of casualties fighters/civilians 1 : 2 is totally onacceptable by any standard and a hunanitarian and public relations nightmare.
You forget Hamas uses civilians as human shields, so naturally more are killed. The blood is on the heads of Hamas, not Israel who bends ever backwards to avoid innocent deaths.
Tunnels under all of Gaza used for military purposes, holding hostages, munitions; launching strikes from residential, religious, healthcare and other civic structures, sounds to me like all sites become legit military targets. Hamas has been reported to forcibly restrict gazans from evacuating despite Israel's warnings.
Not aware that any representative from international UN related agencies include nor acknowledge this on their reporting.nor that they are asked.
I agree with this, but a point worth clarifying: the ICJ did *not* say that it was plausible that Israel was committing genocide. They said that it was plausible that the Palestinians had *a right to be protected* from genocide, in the abstract, not that Israel was committing it. This was then misrepresented globally as saying that Israel was plausibly committing genocide, even after the president of the Court clarified it on TV.
Also, there have been several statistical analyses that show how ridiculously improbable, and therefore almost certainly faked, Hamas' "Gaza Ministry of Health" casualty figures are.
Thank you, Jamie, for spelling out the distinction and for calling out those who use the term for the Hamas war. I’m hanging onto this one so I can quote you now and then, if that is okay.
Thanks for the kind words, please do.
Astute and articulate Jamie..... I will be filing this one
Yes, I often forget to do that. Thanks for mentioning it.
Here's a new take. How about Israel finish its mission, hopefully rescue the hostages and ends the war.
Israel does not have to answer to anyone for its survival. If Hamas surrendered on October 8, 2023 and released the hostages, there would be no war and no "casualties." It seems Hamas wanted this war and loves all the attention that comes from it all the while demonizing Israel and all it stands for...
Exactly my thoughts
"rescue the hostages" is a fantasy.
I'll be clear: I loathe Hamas and wish it would disappear from the face of the earth but an Entebbe style rescue is out of the question. The two stated goals of the war: get the hostages back, and degrade Hamas militarily (destroying it is similarly impossible) are logically antithetical.
This is an important post. How do we believe these casualties? I think Israel is very careful with its protection of civilians. It goes to extraordinary measures to warn people of an imminent attack. Allowing them to evacuate. This is a war and many people don’t seem to understand that. In the second WW Britain was bombed and civilians died. In Dresden in Germany the Brits bombed everything. Then we have Nagasaki and Hiroshima, all to end a war. I believe the World is not seeing this as a War, that is the issue. However it is a War to end the War that Hamas has against Israel.
I still get a sort of sad chuckle when I think of that Golden Oldie in which a Pal woman, a murdered victim of Israeli atrocity purported by Hamas, is caught on Cell Phone concluding the video and casually getting up and walking home.
Remember al Dura case. Outing fabricated derogatory news faulting Israel. Cannot trust local sources or reporters in the Territories (hamas, plo). Apparently also not UNRWA, IRCC, others operating in terrorist territories. Ive heard their reps mouth the same script, practically verbatim, not challenged by media hosts (Joy Reid, others- MSNBC)
If that disgusts you, check Melanie Phillips, here on Substack today.
She has details proving what we all know, that China Joe is Israel's worst and most powerful enemy.
If that disgusts you, check Melanie Phillips, here on Substack today.
She has details proving what we all know, that China Joe is Israel's worst and most powerful enemy.
Of course Hamas is lying.
The fact that Hamas is still capable of lying worries me.
Not surprised at twisting truth. I am distressed that the words of terrorists are repeated, unchallenged; while those speaking for Israel, our ally, are challenged, interrupted incessantly, and treated with cynicism as if they are lying.
Fantastic read! I so tire of the false accusations of genocide against Israel! It's gotten to the point where so many can't tell the difference between REAL genocide & false ones
I left the pizza on the counter and by the time I came home my teenage son and his friends had genocided it all.
Brilliant!
At least it wasn't the Dog...
LOL!
'LMAO!!
Great post, but I'm a little surprised that you had hundreds of cancellations. I would have thought that most of your subscribers are relatively supportive of Israel. People talk about Churchill having mobilized the English language for war. Clearly those people accusing Israel of apartheid and genocide are using words to wage war, making up unique definitions for old words.
Not hundreds of cancellations, but it generated thousands of comments and messages.
Apparently, closed minded people do that a lot.
Radio Far Side recently sent out an article bemoaning all the subscribers a Jew Hate screed had cost him. Other sites sharing the near inexplicable commonality of ordinarily providing useful and well researched info descending into drooling idiocy on Israel have not vocalized this concern, but have markedly pulled back from honking endlessly about Genocide and Stolen Land.
It may be coincidence, but it sure looks like it didn't go over well and they took the hint.
I don't want to take too much credit, but my making monkeys of them may have had something to do with the conclusion they came to...
A very important essay; thank you. I happened on a YouTube talk by journalist Chris Hedges, whom I used to respect, in which he not only describes Israel's actions in the current war as a Holocaust and a genocide, he extends the metaphor on and on, with unparalleled erudition (Hedges being Hedges) and minute detail, for I don't know how many minutes because I cut it off after thee or four. I think that this sort of behavior (not unlike what you are reporting) is what my mother would call "sticking the knife in, and twisting."
Hedges belongs to that Chomskyite wing of the left who make a lot of sense when Western neocons are running amok, but are revealed to be unhinged isolationists who almost unconditionally side with every non-Western party in the face of international conflict.
In Canada our PM, the wokest political leader on the planet Justin Trudeau, the man who has jumped on every woke bus that has traversed the city of Stupidopolis (Ottawa), said that the killing of indigeneous women by indigenous men was genocide by white people because native lives were made so hard by residential schools that their grandfather went to in 1969. Great article but Canadian politicians can always outstupid you.
You sound like someone who could benefit from a subscription to Rebel News.
Unless you already have one...
In his interview, New Year's interview with Barri Weiss, linguist John McWhorter predicted 2024 would include a battle over the meaning of the word "genocide." The fact is that language has been so degraded over the past twenty years, so driven by irresponsible hyperbole, that I can't help but think the battle against redefining "genocide" will be a losing one. The word will, in fact, come to mean to defeating your enemy, and its origins in the Jewish experience of the Holocaust will be all but forgotten. "Genocide" will be genocided. That having been said, I encourage you to keep fighting the good fight.
Genocide is actually a less dramatic term for what Israel has been doing.
Also Genocide isn’t just massacring civilians it’s also kicking them all out of your country by force is technically a genocide like with how the Myanmar government kicked out the Rohingya Muslims the UN classified that as a genocide and Israel is doing that at the moment.
Great points raised here, but I don't see anything curious about it, personally.
Some folks have God as their Father, others have Satan.
God's Children love each other. Satan's children are definitionally devoid of love
"No, winning a war is not genocide."
It isn't but is Israel really winning? Are they actually destroying Hamas?
Recall the aid truck debacle. It's unclear what exactly happened but I read accounts which claimed that armed militants started the stampede. Which raises the question: what were armed militants doing in an area that Israel had supposedly conquered/pacified, whatever word you want to use.
This always happens with guerrilla movements. Melt away, let the conventional army win, and then resurface at a time of your choosing.
Hamas has killed their own to commandeer aid supplies to sell them; kill those who interfere.
Note attack at Karen Sharon by hamas as soon as openedbto increase deliveries.
Israel is fighting on multiple fronts.. defeating is not the same as holdholding... maybe a problem with religious exempted???
"For genocide there must be a plan or pattern to destroy all or part of the Palestinian population.", according to prof. Knoops, lawyer at the ICC. Which, of course, there is none.
But from a military point of view, the IDF's operations in Gaza are a disaster.
After 5 months of action there still is no knock-out, and the ratio of casualties fighters/civilians 1 : 2 is totally onacceptable by any standard and a hunanitarian and public relations nightmare.
Actually, the international average of civilian to combatant deaths is 9-to-1, according to the UN.
That's why they lie about it.
Write back when you have evidence.
Hamas lies are evidence of Hamas lies.
Using hamas numbers is not a valid basis to compare. Now being challenged as nonsensical.
You forget Hamas uses civilians as human shields, so naturally more are killed. The blood is on the heads of Hamas, not Israel who bends ever backwards to avoid innocent deaths.
Tunnels under all of Gaza used for military purposes, holding hostages, munitions; launching strikes from residential, religious, healthcare and other civic structures, sounds to me like all sites become legit military targets. Hamas has been reported to forcibly restrict gazans from evacuating despite Israel's warnings.
Not aware that any representative from international UN related agencies include nor acknowledge this on their reporting.nor that they are asked.
What I stated is the truth.
I agree with this, but a point worth clarifying: the ICJ did *not* say that it was plausible that Israel was committing genocide. They said that it was plausible that the Palestinians had *a right to be protected* from genocide, in the abstract, not that Israel was committing it. This was then misrepresented globally as saying that Israel was plausibly committing genocide, even after the president of the Court clarified it on TV.
Also, there have been several statistical analyses that show how ridiculously improbable, and therefore almost certainly faked, Hamas' "Gaza Ministry of Health" casualty figures are.
See here (if the link posts): https://www.timesofisrael.com/plausibility-in-the-south-african-genocide-case-against-israel-is-not-what-it-seemed/