Sometimes there are no good choices, but that doesn’t absolve you of the consequences of that choice you had to make.
The world isn’t made up of good guys and bad guys. Hamas doesn’t get a pass on their actions just because Israel committed worse. And my purpose in pointing this out is not to absolve Israel of their actions, it’s to ensure people remain aware of what actions are likely to result in what consequences.
My hope is that in the future, when some other fight for freedom starts up somewhere else, the people there can learn from what happened in Gaza. Learn which actions worked, which ones were futile, and which ones actively made things worse. That learning gets real muddy if we keep glossing the whole thing over with “Everything is only Israel’s fault”.
And this is the learning that I’m saying has to happen. Did that kidnapping work? Are their families safe? Did it effect nothing? Or, did it make things worse? What were the consequences of that action? That’s what I’m saying we have to not gloss over by making Hamas out to be innocent angels, and Israel the cartoon villains. In 20 years, if some freedom fighter on another continent looks to this conflict for inspiration, should they take away that everything Hamas ever did was a good idea, by the simple virtue that Israel was worse? Or should they actually learn?
The struggle hasn’t ended yet and the resistance remains defiant. Israel has been unmasked as a genocidal settler colonial entity and is more isolated than ever before.
You know why people are framing Israel as villains? It’s because they’ve lost the propaganda war. Hamas did that.
Sometimes there are no good choices, but that doesn’t absolve you of the consequences of that choice you had to make.
The world isn’t made up of good guys and bad guys. Hamas doesn’t get a pass on their actions just because Israel committed worse. And my purpose in pointing this out is not to absolve Israel of their actions, it’s to ensure people remain aware of what actions are likely to result in what consequences.
My hope is that in the future, when some other fight for freedom starts up somewhere else, the people there can learn from what happened in Gaza. Learn which actions worked, which ones were futile, and which ones actively made things worse. That learning gets real muddy if we keep glossing the whole thing over with “Everything is only Israel’s fault”.
Someone beaks into your house, starts eating all your food, stealing your things, hurting your children, and kills your dog.
You fight back.
Do we now say that we need to acknowledge the role you had in the home invasion?
Do I kidnap the home invader’s kid in response? The world is not as simplistic as you’d apparently like it to be.
If taking hostages is the only way to save your family and you’ve already tried everything else, what do you do?
Like you said, the world is not simple.
And this is the learning that I’m saying has to happen. Did that kidnapping work? Are their families safe? Did it effect nothing? Or, did it make things worse? What were the consequences of that action? That’s what I’m saying we have to not gloss over by making Hamas out to be innocent angels, and Israel the cartoon villains. In 20 years, if some freedom fighter on another continent looks to this conflict for inspiration, should they take away that everything Hamas ever did was a good idea, by the simple virtue that Israel was worse? Or should they actually learn?
The struggle hasn’t ended yet and the resistance remains defiant. Israel has been unmasked as a genocidal settler colonial entity and is more isolated than ever before.
You know why people are framing Israel as villains? It’s because they’ve lost the propaganda war. Hamas did that.
And without Western support, Israel is done.