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Robin Alexander's avatar

"No other country would be shamed for prioritizing its own survival." How chilling is that sentence? And it's 100% on target. That is what we live with. It is living, breathing human absurdity.

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Sam Hilt's avatar

Like many of my friends I've struggled for these past months with the distress of living in an impossible situation, torn between the urgency of saving the hostages and the need to defend Israel from its vicious enemies. I'm not sure what's changed, but something has shifted for me. The ambiguity has resolved and the choice is clear: Hamas needs to be wiped from the face of earth. Now.

I've tried second-guessing myself and asking, "What if it was your brother or your son that was being held captive? Would you still feel the same way?" And I've found that I can look at myself in the mirror and say that, yes, I would still make the same choice. Hamas must be destroyed, and if that means that captives will never be redeemed, then that's a price we must pay. The alternative is bend the knee to monstrous evil because we can't bear to pay the price of defeating it. That road leads to no future for any of us. There really is no longer a difficult choice to be made. Am Yisrael Chai!

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X. P. Callahan's avatar

"I'm not sure what's changed, but something has shifted for me." I wonder if the shift came with the revelation of the Bibas family's fate.

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Sam Hilt's avatar

Yes, there was something especially cruel and ghastly about the Bibas family's fate. It felt like a candle being blown out, and everything going dark.

That was a big part of the shift. The other part was the way Hamas behaved during the hostage releases— their shameless gloating. It wasn't enough for them to starve and torment helpless prisoners, they needed to humiliate them one more time before letting them go. No words.

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Susan Sullivan's avatar

Hamas, only wants war and bloodshed! The way they have conducted themselves throughout the recent hostage handovers, has been nothing short of disgusting. They have had every chance, now they will reap what they sow. Israel must fight them to the bitter end. Rid them from the planet.

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Dave S's avatar

War is hell. But there is no alternative to the complete destruction of Hamas as a military or political ruling entity. The hypocrisy of the world is stunning. The Hamas 'math' has already started with hundreds killed, all women and children, of course. The media supports this nonsense. Am Yisrael Chai.

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Amy Williams's avatar

It's hard to see what is transpiring on cable TV as they show what has happened in Gaza with the destruction and children dying. Parents crying over their dead children, etc. I want to scream, yeah, but Hamas started the damn war and won't release the hostages. Where do you think that leaves Israel who sits under constant threat of another pogrom, terror strikes in Tel Aviv, or missile strikes? The people that support the Palestinians support Hamas. And they don't understand that Israel has no choice but to strike back. I tell them to do their research.

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Doug Israel's avatar

I have NOTHING in my heart for the so called civilians of Gaza. NOTHING. There is no space left for them.

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David Bross's avatar

The world turned its back on us before and during WWII. Israel has learned the harsh lesson that history repeats itself; and this time it must make the choice which the Jews could not make for themselves during the Holocaust.

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Pam Pasake's avatar

I'm devastated for the families whose loved ones are still being tortured and starved in Gaza. There's no way to know how new military incursions will affect their status. Every rock must be overturned so Hamas has not one living fighter. Not one. I don't care how it affects Gazans. I have absolutely no compassion for them and I won't pretend to.

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Mike Perceval's avatar

Amen Josh, AMEN!

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Doug Israel's avatar

The Times of Israel is no longer readable and the Jerusalem Post isn't far behind. Their hatred for Netanyahu has deranged them and destroyed their reporting.

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Jeremy Nathan Brown's avatar

Excellent journalism .. the loss of lives is sad, war is sad, but as this piece of articulate writing shows, war is inevitable. It is ever so simple, ‘release the hostages’ and let Israel live in peace. Hard to believe the world doesn’t understand such a simple message.

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ryan's avatar

“The hypocrisy is staggering “

Kindly explain how the Haaretz crowds demonstrating against Israel believe Hamas regards them . Or the Israeli future. I understand their anguish over their loved ones. How will their country continue with Hamas in power after this war? What do they propose? Emigrate to Ireland? Jews I mean. Heaven forfend the Gazans?

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Joshua Hoffman's avatar

I've spoken to many folks like this in Israel. They can't answer those questions. I have little tolerance for people who say things because they "sound good" but can never tell you how to actually do them.

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ryan's avatar

I have a much younger Israeli born friend in Tel Aviv. She hasn't expressed any opposition to the war to me. She has expressed her shock and pain at the sexual abuse of Israeli Jewish women and the men too. Unlike the UNHRC. And she hates Haaretz.

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Mar 19Edited
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Joshua Hoffman's avatar

Total victory means Hamas does not govern Gaza.

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Mar 19
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Steven Brizel's avatar

Israel should govern Gaza in the same way tbe Allies governed Germany and Japan after Worrkd War 2

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Mar 19
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Steven Brizel's avatar

Haaretz and TOI ( aka Haaretz for Dummies) both are the fake media of Israel and are studiously avoiding the issue of how the IDF was completely unprepared for 10/7 in a way that rivaled that of the US prior to Pearl Harbor and which rivaled the reliance of France on the Maginot Line in the notion that Israel could be defended by a smaller smarter army and high tech and ignoring the intelligence on the ground which Bibi was never shown of a Hamas build up near the Gaza fence The security establishment in Israel as if 10/7 aka the Deep State of Israel would make a great target of any center right candidate including Bibi who rallied Israel in a fashion reminiscent of Churchill when he assumed power of the UK after the appeasement minded Chamberlain

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Michal Shalon's avatar

The Kaplanists and leftist media are destroying Israel from the inside. It is sadder to see than even October 7 and probably the reason Oct 7 happened in the first place.

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Steven Brizel's avatar

Elections were not held until Germany was deNazified and even after elections were held in Japan MacArthur was still the governing authority until 1952,See here https://www.thefp.com/p/the-historical-case-for-trumps-gaza for more historical support for Trump’s plan for Gaza

As far as the post Civil War south any post reconstruction segregation ended in the 1960s via litigation the passage of civil rights acts and the desegregation of college football teams in the South

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Steven Brizel's avatar

That is what Trump proposed in effect

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Mark Akst's avatar

Agreed . Let’s not forget that the loss of land registers most in the Arab mind. Thus I think that Israel should again remove the Gazans from Northern Gaza annex the northern part. Move the fences etc. That will deeply effect the Arab mind set making them realize Israel is playing for keeps.

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Dana Ramos's avatar

Spot on.

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Pithy Pragmatist's avatar

I hope the IDF has been planning for this inevitability and will prosecute this war to destroy Hamas with all haste. 🇮🇱

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Paul Goldman's avatar

Israel should continue this war until Hamas lays down its arms and surrenders unconditionally. They need to be shown that they are defeated. Anything less will be considered a victory by Hamas. This war should continue, REGARDLESS of civilian casualties, as they are all the responsibility of Hamas. If every Palestinian is killed, it would be on Hamas’ head. If they don’t care about their people, why should Israel. Nothing short of total victory is required. No negotiations. No prisoner exchanges. Just complete surrender by Hamas.

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Jennifer Jerram Lamley, MSCJ's avatar

Israel should have ended this bullshit over 500 days ago. The hostages should have been home by bedtime on October 7.

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