Apologies for picking out a single point, which was not the actual topic of the article, but are you stating that you do not consider that Israel is committing a genocide? That you consider this a "false anti-semetic conspiracy" from the left?
Thank you for this polite question as that most challengers to my thoughts are far less so. This may take a little writing to answer you properly. Sometimes such explanations in an ordered fashion seems to help so I will try this approach.
Background. I served most of my Army career in the US Special Operations Command and in the Counterterrorism field, mostly in the region and in Afghanistan. In addition, I've spent over fifty years studying the region and for a wide variety of reasons, including personal. One of my daughter's lives in Northern Israel and I have gone to Israel, first in 1984. I traveled not only in Israel and the then, pre-first Intifada West Bank. The region, its history and especially all of the national security issues pertaining to Israel, are all part of my deep study and experience.
After the war began on October 7th, I wrote somewhere around 20 in-depth reports from a professional perspective regarding all aspects of the war in Gaza. In each of those essays, I detailed along with sources what was really occurring on the ground, mostly because almost all mainstream western media, refused to do so. I will provide those links to you at the end of my comments.
Now for some of the most salient points:
1. I have from the very beginning, sounded loud alarms regarding the human suffering on both sides, even though roughly 90% of western news sources lied overtly about the situation on the ground. It became so saturated with pro-Hamas propaganda, that to this day, there are sources I formerly considered credible that I will never or very rarely ever read again. The two most prominent are the BBC and Reuters.
2. When not deployed myself, often yearly, my small team would always cram hard regarding training for the next deployment and part of that training revolved around how Hamas and other anti-Israel genocidal terrorist organizations used propaganda. I know exactly what they do and don't do and how they prey on willfully uninformed reporters in the region saturate themselves in Hamas propaganda. The Hamas Health ministry is a notorious propaganda effort and far less than they are a health service.
3. In the region, the number of active members of terror organizations can be historically difficult to track. By all credible sources, Hamas entered the war that they started, with no less than 35,000 fighters and no more than 95,000. The estimated death toll in Gaza is at my last look, roughly 65,000, yet not one news service will differentiate between fighters and innocent civilians.
4. America's premier institution for analyzing adherence to the LOAC, International laws of armed conflict is at the Lieber Institute at West Point. Their lead regarding Urban Warfare spent a fair amount of time with the IDF, observing whether or not that Israel was adhering to legal standards. They have done this in several of the last few such conflicts. Prior to Gaza, Israel was assessed to be the "gold standard" of adhering to the LOAC. In Gaza, they were still assessed to be operating at a very high standard but then again, for those who do not understand Urban Warfare, this greatly complicates the picture. I spent 2004 in Baghdad, the second most violent year of the war which gives me some distinct professional experience.
5. One of my early essays out of the 20 or so was a long, very detailed assessment of who is to blame for Oct 7th and one of those six was the Netanyahu far-right extremist administration. I still hold this opinion and my current assessment of "Bibi" is now even worse than it was in Oct. of 2023. People don't seem to recall that hundreds of thousands of Israelis were in the streets protesting against Bibi for months before Oct. 7th, clearly demonstrating their disgust with him as well.
6. Few people understand how deep a vein of wishing for peace, beats in the hearts of Israelis and Palestinians. The people don't want war on either side but terrorists under the influence of violent extremist Islamic ideology, continue to pick all of the fights. The only exception was the 67 war. In 67, Israel made a preventive strike against their Arab neighbors because all of the intelligence clearly showed that those Arabs states were only a matter of days from launching their next attack on Israel. Before then and until today, it is those opposing Israel that "start these wars."
7. There are only 6 or 7 primary multinational media conglomerates and they have always and continue to sing a very dishonest song about an "occupied" Gaza and Occupied Palestinians. This is absurd to anyone who actually has been paying attention or reads and participates in history. Gaza has not been occupied since 2005. Gaza residents, likely under threat from Hamas voted them into power as the government of Gaza in 2006.
8. Soldiers don't love war and those raised in nations where the rule of law matters, do not often commit atrocities. In war though, there are incidents for a variety of reasons. Israel often deals with these incidents as would any US soldier under the same circumstances. Still, if anyone is to blame for the civilian casualties, our fingers must point directly at Hamas, Iran and associated other terrorist groups. The use of "human shields" by groups like Hamas, is doctrine, not some ad hoc tactic that occasionally happens. At risk to their own troops, Israel regularly uses "call outs" to civilians when they know that Hamas is in a building. They gave occupants roughly two weeks before the war to move out of north Gaza before commencing the war. Gaza is so small, that a mother leading small children could have walked from northern Gaza to safe zones in the south, in three or four hours. Israel allocated two weeks and put their troops in peril because they told Hamas where they would attack at every opportunity. They did this to protect civilians.
9. No one wishes the people of Gaza who are not Hamas fighters to be hurt, but blaming Israel for genocide, is preposterous. After all, why should they put up with lethal terror attacks all year and every years without defending themselves. If this occurred along our southern border more than a couple of times, Americans would be screaming bloody murder for the military to cross the Rio Grande and attack those terrorist organizations. Israel is inundated with such attacks year in and year out. Israel is at peace with Jordan and Egypt, who have long-standing peaceful neighbor policies. What's wrong with Iran, Iraq, Syria, and other Arab states that they refuse to stop supporting Hamas, Hezbollah and others? They could too have peace. Israel in most peace negotiations have given up far more than those they negotiate with, but they must also protect their populace, 2.9 million of which are Arab, or what people today call Palestinian. Even the name is a myth.
With so much Gulf Oil States investment in western media, no wonder that the narratives we digest are so distorted and dishonest. But then again and as we can see from our political landscape during the trump era, many Americans don't ever bother to understand things that they should, in order to make informed decisions. This is the entire reason that I write this column regularly.
The bottom line is that yes, there are far-too many civilian casualties but the focus should be on whose fault. The media's arbitrary abuse of Israel because their investors and board members use Gulf Oil money to synchronize narratives or that that they believe the UN or the Hamas Health Ministry when they should be sourcing truth, is reckless and inhumane in the sense that it costs Arabs and Israelis their lives. To be clear, unless Hamas can be functionally destroyed and prevented from again holding power in Gaza, Palestinians will continue to suffer immeasurably. If they want no more war, they key is to stop the rabid terrorists that continue to start them. Last but not least, both Hamas and Hezbollah are sworn to the genocide of Israel and their inhabitants. Israel on the other hand, built most of the infrastructure of Gaza and the majority of the western states provide 90% of the aid to Palestinians. Russia, Iran, China and the Arab Gulf Oil states need to stop whining and begin supporting their fellow Arabs instead of starting wars that kill them.
Thank you again for the polite question. Below is the link to a Special Edition of sorts that I put together with the most important essays from the 20 that I've written.
YEAH!!! We've finally stopped pretending this is a “difference of opinion.” This analysis reads like a field report from a psychological war zone: thirty years of coordinated propaganda, oligarch money, and Russian signal boosting have turned an entire political party into an identity cult. There’s no dialogue to be had with people who think Hannity is scripture and climate change is witchcraft.
Cobaugh’s call for radical acceptance is the first honest diagnosis I’ve seen in a long time. You can’t reason someone out of a delusion that defines who they are. The GOP isn’t debating policy, they’re defending ego death. The only viable countermeasure is overwhelming turnout and structural reform. Forget the “reach across the aisle” fantasy. You don’t compromise with an arsonist while your house burns. You grab the hose, douse the flames, and maybe, just maybe, rebuild later.
You write very well, thank you. As you can see from my comments responding to your first question, pretty answers the points in the article you posted. I did forget to answer your point regarding antisemitism about the phrase, "from the river to the sea." This phrase refers to a series of Hamas charters, their founding and sustaining documents that their intentions, plainly spoken are to commit genocide against all Israelis, even the roughly 3 million Arab residents of Israel. Yes, the phrase is overtly antisemitic. I finish by saying that I support a two-state solution and as a soldier who has spent far too many years in combat zones, I tend to use the phrase, "no one appreciates peace more than old soldiers." I want everyone to live free, happy and in peace. There are no exceptions. The only way we can support peace in Israel and surrounding territories and the region, is to stop those whose false narratives that incite war. I just want people to stop seeing this situation as so darned one-sided. It is actually far from it.
Paul, not for a minute am I defending Hamas, Hezbollah or any other terrorist organisation. They are evil, and yes, committed to the extermination of Israel. However, there is a reason they exist, although I won't go into that now. The atrocities of Oct 7, 2023, are indefensible (although again, there are questions about Israel's involvement that I will not get into here). But Gaza is more than Hamas. You quote a figure of 35,000 - 65,000 Hamas combatants. Gaza also consists of nearly 2 million civilians. I also respect Israel's "right to self-defence", but one of the core principles of International Humanitarian Law is "proportionality". I cannot see how you can defend Israel's response to the Oct 7 attacks as complying with the condition, or any of the other core principles of International Humanitarian Law. Again, I am not defending Hamas in the least. But I cannot understand how you cannot see that what Israel is inflicting on Gaza, using the Oct 7 attacks as an excuse, is anything short of genocide.
I understand your feelings and don't disagree with the wish for safety for non-combatants. I've been there, done that. Still, in all due respect, I am not convinced that you understand the reality on the ground. It's not your fault when the overwhelming majority of multi-national media conglomerates have synchronized their narratives. Without professional national security connections and my deep and long-held relationships in the region with members of all religious and ethnic communities, it would be very difficult to develop a deep understanding.
Things to take into account:
1. Hamas' standard playbook calls for hostages and the directives on Oct. 7th directed the barbaric nature of the attack, in detail.
2. Part of Hamas' playbook is to build primary points in their subterranean tunnel system of hundreds of kilometers, directly underneath "protected sites." They plan and execute plans to either murder Palestinian civilians and blame it on the IDF. In every instance surrounding these sites, callouts were executed. Texts were sent directly to cell phones, leaflets were dropped to vacate, PA systems blared warnings in Arabic and several other tactics that exceed either the US or NATO requirements.
3. People not intimately familiar with the region and that listen to mainstream media's curated narratives against Israel, would see the situation as you do. Urban warfare, especially with hundreds of kilometers of tunnels holding hostages, is a delicate business. Un-biased observers from West Point as I noted previously observed and noted the measures that I have described.
4. Even today, Al Jazeera published a report that 58,000 of the dead were fighters, not civilians.
5. Where is the condemnation of Hamas for murdering fellow Gazans? Hamas began executing innocent Palestinians within hours of returning to Gaza... with their weapons. Hence today's strikes in Gaza. I was on the phone with my daughter in the north of Israel where we could both hear fighters taking off at the airbase near to where she lives.
6. Painting Israelis as genocidal is beyond inaccurate and I must admit, a bit insulting. Remember it was the reservists that make up so much of Israel's troop strength declared that they would not fight in Lebanon if Bibi ordered it. They did this because always being the victim and labeled the aggressor by the whole world means that they do not intentionally create civcas. To believe so is to be fully uninformed about the country and its people.
7. The media did not talk about the hostages hardly at all, after the initial shock of Oct. 7th, and before Israel began their operations in Gaza.
I make no excuses for the mistakes made or an occasional and rare instance of IDF brutality, but they are without a doubt, the exception, not the rule. There will be no peace for Palestinians and Israelis so long as world public opinion believes in false narratives, not all their own fault due to media bias.
I am old enough to remember just how strong the peace movement was from a joint effort of Israelis and Palestinians. Egypt and Jordan have no problems with peace agreements between themselves and Israel. I remember my Israeli in-laws sobbing with tears after the signing of the Camp David Accords between Begin and Sadat. Palestinians the same. Too bad that Russia, Iran and the Arab Gulf oil states couldn't help themselves from stirring up trouble. As previously noted, both Hamas and Hezbollah, plus countless other terrorist organizations in the region, have written into their charters and mission statements that Israeli genocide is their ultimate goal. No one discusses these matters. For the record, many of those murdered on Oct. 7th in the most barbaric fashion, were volunteers that helped Gazans get to medical appointments and countless other support efforts.
I'm so very sorry but blaming Israel for genocide is absurd when one knows what is happening on the ground. I don't disregard those who see things this way, knowing that their intentions are honorable. Still, without understanding truth from credible sources, there is no other way to see this conflict other than as you do. There are graves all over Israel too, from fighting some of the worst terrorists on the planet. Some of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, died trying to protect the innocent or to recover them. This piece is wholly absent in most western news. Thank Goodness that at least Al Jazeera, a Sunni Muslim paper in Qatar is telling the truth about the casualties.
I wish you the best and I appreciate your spirited defense of your position.
Ok, I'm not going to debate this with you any longer. You obviously have a pro-Israel bias, probably due to family relationships there, and a position of "righteousness" (which I find incredibly patronising) due to your professional work in the area. You seem to think that because I have not "been on the ground", I cannot possibly understand what is happening. With respect to Israel committing genocide, I am not sure how you can justify the blockage of AID, including baby formula, or how you reconcile babies and children dying of malnutrition, amputations having to be conducted without anaesthesia, the deliberating targeting of children and non-combatants (doctors, nurses, AID workers), and a myriad of other "war crimes" against civilians. I go back to the principle of proportionality, and whatever Hamas' crimes may be, Israel's response falls far outside the lines of proportionality. And for the record, I do not get my information from mainstream media. I get it from sources such as Substack or GroundNews, but also the testimony of independent witnesses to the atrocities in Gaza such as Australian, Irish and American doctors and nurses, International AID workers and independent reports, including from Israeli institutions such as Physicians for Human Rights Israel & B’Tselem: These two Israeli human rights organisations concluded in July 2025 that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
I have to say I find it incredibly ironic that this conversation and debate of the "facts" has come out of an article where you contest that you cannot debate Republicans, as they are living in an alternate reality with a different set of facts.
I will, of course, research this topic further so that I can better understand the history of this region and the centuries-old cycle of atrocities on both sides. Look out for those pieces.
Apologies for picking out a single point, which was not the actual topic of the article, but are you stating that you do not consider that Israel is committing a genocide? That you consider this a "false anti-semetic conspiracy" from the left?
Veilomani,
Thank you for this polite question as that most challengers to my thoughts are far less so. This may take a little writing to answer you properly. Sometimes such explanations in an ordered fashion seems to help so I will try this approach.
Background. I served most of my Army career in the US Special Operations Command and in the Counterterrorism field, mostly in the region and in Afghanistan. In addition, I've spent over fifty years studying the region and for a wide variety of reasons, including personal. One of my daughter's lives in Northern Israel and I have gone to Israel, first in 1984. I traveled not only in Israel and the then, pre-first Intifada West Bank. The region, its history and especially all of the national security issues pertaining to Israel, are all part of my deep study and experience.
After the war began on October 7th, I wrote somewhere around 20 in-depth reports from a professional perspective regarding all aspects of the war in Gaza. In each of those essays, I detailed along with sources what was really occurring on the ground, mostly because almost all mainstream western media, refused to do so. I will provide those links to you at the end of my comments.
Now for some of the most salient points:
1. I have from the very beginning, sounded loud alarms regarding the human suffering on both sides, even though roughly 90% of western news sources lied overtly about the situation on the ground. It became so saturated with pro-Hamas propaganda, that to this day, there are sources I formerly considered credible that I will never or very rarely ever read again. The two most prominent are the BBC and Reuters.
2. When not deployed myself, often yearly, my small team would always cram hard regarding training for the next deployment and part of that training revolved around how Hamas and other anti-Israel genocidal terrorist organizations used propaganda. I know exactly what they do and don't do and how they prey on willfully uninformed reporters in the region saturate themselves in Hamas propaganda. The Hamas Health ministry is a notorious propaganda effort and far less than they are a health service.
3. In the region, the number of active members of terror organizations can be historically difficult to track. By all credible sources, Hamas entered the war that they started, with no less than 35,000 fighters and no more than 95,000. The estimated death toll in Gaza is at my last look, roughly 65,000, yet not one news service will differentiate between fighters and innocent civilians.
4. America's premier institution for analyzing adherence to the LOAC, International laws of armed conflict is at the Lieber Institute at West Point. Their lead regarding Urban Warfare spent a fair amount of time with the IDF, observing whether or not that Israel was adhering to legal standards. They have done this in several of the last few such conflicts. Prior to Gaza, Israel was assessed to be the "gold standard" of adhering to the LOAC. In Gaza, they were still assessed to be operating at a very high standard but then again, for those who do not understand Urban Warfare, this greatly complicates the picture. I spent 2004 in Baghdad, the second most violent year of the war which gives me some distinct professional experience.
5. One of my early essays out of the 20 or so was a long, very detailed assessment of who is to blame for Oct 7th and one of those six was the Netanyahu far-right extremist administration. I still hold this opinion and my current assessment of "Bibi" is now even worse than it was in Oct. of 2023. People don't seem to recall that hundreds of thousands of Israelis were in the streets protesting against Bibi for months before Oct. 7th, clearly demonstrating their disgust with him as well.
6. Few people understand how deep a vein of wishing for peace, beats in the hearts of Israelis and Palestinians. The people don't want war on either side but terrorists under the influence of violent extremist Islamic ideology, continue to pick all of the fights. The only exception was the 67 war. In 67, Israel made a preventive strike against their Arab neighbors because all of the intelligence clearly showed that those Arabs states were only a matter of days from launching their next attack on Israel. Before then and until today, it is those opposing Israel that "start these wars."
7. There are only 6 or 7 primary multinational media conglomerates and they have always and continue to sing a very dishonest song about an "occupied" Gaza and Occupied Palestinians. This is absurd to anyone who actually has been paying attention or reads and participates in history. Gaza has not been occupied since 2005. Gaza residents, likely under threat from Hamas voted them into power as the government of Gaza in 2006.
8. Soldiers don't love war and those raised in nations where the rule of law matters, do not often commit atrocities. In war though, there are incidents for a variety of reasons. Israel often deals with these incidents as would any US soldier under the same circumstances. Still, if anyone is to blame for the civilian casualties, our fingers must point directly at Hamas, Iran and associated other terrorist groups. The use of "human shields" by groups like Hamas, is doctrine, not some ad hoc tactic that occasionally happens. At risk to their own troops, Israel regularly uses "call outs" to civilians when they know that Hamas is in a building. They gave occupants roughly two weeks before the war to move out of north Gaza before commencing the war. Gaza is so small, that a mother leading small children could have walked from northern Gaza to safe zones in the south, in three or four hours. Israel allocated two weeks and put their troops in peril because they told Hamas where they would attack at every opportunity. They did this to protect civilians.
9. No one wishes the people of Gaza who are not Hamas fighters to be hurt, but blaming Israel for genocide, is preposterous. After all, why should they put up with lethal terror attacks all year and every years without defending themselves. If this occurred along our southern border more than a couple of times, Americans would be screaming bloody murder for the military to cross the Rio Grande and attack those terrorist organizations. Israel is inundated with such attacks year in and year out. Israel is at peace with Jordan and Egypt, who have long-standing peaceful neighbor policies. What's wrong with Iran, Iraq, Syria, and other Arab states that they refuse to stop supporting Hamas, Hezbollah and others? They could too have peace. Israel in most peace negotiations have given up far more than those they negotiate with, but they must also protect their populace, 2.9 million of which are Arab, or what people today call Palestinian. Even the name is a myth.
With so much Gulf Oil States investment in western media, no wonder that the narratives we digest are so distorted and dishonest. But then again and as we can see from our political landscape during the trump era, many Americans don't ever bother to understand things that they should, in order to make informed decisions. This is the entire reason that I write this column regularly.
The bottom line is that yes, there are far-too many civilian casualties but the focus should be on whose fault. The media's arbitrary abuse of Israel because their investors and board members use Gulf Oil money to synchronize narratives or that that they believe the UN or the Hamas Health Ministry when they should be sourcing truth, is reckless and inhumane in the sense that it costs Arabs and Israelis their lives. To be clear, unless Hamas can be functionally destroyed and prevented from again holding power in Gaza, Palestinians will continue to suffer immeasurably. If they want no more war, they key is to stop the rabid terrorists that continue to start them. Last but not least, both Hamas and Hezbollah are sworn to the genocide of Israel and their inhabitants. Israel on the other hand, built most of the infrastructure of Gaza and the majority of the western states provide 90% of the aid to Palestinians. Russia, Iran, China and the Arab Gulf Oil states need to stop whining and begin supporting their fellow Arabs instead of starting wars that kill them.
Thank you again for the polite question. Below is the link to a Special Edition of sorts that I put together with the most important essays from the 20 that I've written.
https://www.truthaboutthreats.com/p/tat-bi-annual-journal-israel-gaza?utm_source=publication-search
YEAH!!! We've finally stopped pretending this is a “difference of opinion.” This analysis reads like a field report from a psychological war zone: thirty years of coordinated propaganda, oligarch money, and Russian signal boosting have turned an entire political party into an identity cult. There’s no dialogue to be had with people who think Hannity is scripture and climate change is witchcraft.
Cobaugh’s call for radical acceptance is the first honest diagnosis I’ve seen in a long time. You can’t reason someone out of a delusion that defines who they are. The GOP isn’t debating policy, they’re defending ego death. The only viable countermeasure is overwhelming turnout and structural reform. Forget the “reach across the aisle” fantasy. You don’t compromise with an arsonist while your house burns. You grab the hose, douse the flames, and maybe, just maybe, rebuild later.
https://open.substack.com/pub/clareparrish/p/when-did-the-genocide-in-gaza-become?r=2wlx1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
You write very well, thank you. As you can see from my comments responding to your first question, pretty answers the points in the article you posted. I did forget to answer your point regarding antisemitism about the phrase, "from the river to the sea." This phrase refers to a series of Hamas charters, their founding and sustaining documents that their intentions, plainly spoken are to commit genocide against all Israelis, even the roughly 3 million Arab residents of Israel. Yes, the phrase is overtly antisemitic. I finish by saying that I support a two-state solution and as a soldier who has spent far too many years in combat zones, I tend to use the phrase, "no one appreciates peace more than old soldiers." I want everyone to live free, happy and in peace. There are no exceptions. The only way we can support peace in Israel and surrounding territories and the region, is to stop those whose false narratives that incite war. I just want people to stop seeing this situation as so darned one-sided. It is actually far from it.
My regards
Paul, not for a minute am I defending Hamas, Hezbollah or any other terrorist organisation. They are evil, and yes, committed to the extermination of Israel. However, there is a reason they exist, although I won't go into that now. The atrocities of Oct 7, 2023, are indefensible (although again, there are questions about Israel's involvement that I will not get into here). But Gaza is more than Hamas. You quote a figure of 35,000 - 65,000 Hamas combatants. Gaza also consists of nearly 2 million civilians. I also respect Israel's "right to self-defence", but one of the core principles of International Humanitarian Law is "proportionality". I cannot see how you can defend Israel's response to the Oct 7 attacks as complying with the condition, or any of the other core principles of International Humanitarian Law. Again, I am not defending Hamas in the least. But I cannot understand how you cannot see that what Israel is inflicting on Gaza, using the Oct 7 attacks as an excuse, is anything short of genocide.
Clare,
I understand your feelings and don't disagree with the wish for safety for non-combatants. I've been there, done that. Still, in all due respect, I am not convinced that you understand the reality on the ground. It's not your fault when the overwhelming majority of multi-national media conglomerates have synchronized their narratives. Without professional national security connections and my deep and long-held relationships in the region with members of all religious and ethnic communities, it would be very difficult to develop a deep understanding.
Things to take into account:
1. Hamas' standard playbook calls for hostages and the directives on Oct. 7th directed the barbaric nature of the attack, in detail.
2. Part of Hamas' playbook is to build primary points in their subterranean tunnel system of hundreds of kilometers, directly underneath "protected sites." They plan and execute plans to either murder Palestinian civilians and blame it on the IDF. In every instance surrounding these sites, callouts were executed. Texts were sent directly to cell phones, leaflets were dropped to vacate, PA systems blared warnings in Arabic and several other tactics that exceed either the US or NATO requirements.
3. People not intimately familiar with the region and that listen to mainstream media's curated narratives against Israel, would see the situation as you do. Urban warfare, especially with hundreds of kilometers of tunnels holding hostages, is a delicate business. Un-biased observers from West Point as I noted previously observed and noted the measures that I have described.
4. Even today, Al Jazeera published a report that 58,000 of the dead were fighters, not civilians.
5. Where is the condemnation of Hamas for murdering fellow Gazans? Hamas began executing innocent Palestinians within hours of returning to Gaza... with their weapons. Hence today's strikes in Gaza. I was on the phone with my daughter in the north of Israel where we could both hear fighters taking off at the airbase near to where she lives.
6. Painting Israelis as genocidal is beyond inaccurate and I must admit, a bit insulting. Remember it was the reservists that make up so much of Israel's troop strength declared that they would not fight in Lebanon if Bibi ordered it. They did this because always being the victim and labeled the aggressor by the whole world means that they do not intentionally create civcas. To believe so is to be fully uninformed about the country and its people.
7. The media did not talk about the hostages hardly at all, after the initial shock of Oct. 7th, and before Israel began their operations in Gaza.
I make no excuses for the mistakes made or an occasional and rare instance of IDF brutality, but they are without a doubt, the exception, not the rule. There will be no peace for Palestinians and Israelis so long as world public opinion believes in false narratives, not all their own fault due to media bias.
I am old enough to remember just how strong the peace movement was from a joint effort of Israelis and Palestinians. Egypt and Jordan have no problems with peace agreements between themselves and Israel. I remember my Israeli in-laws sobbing with tears after the signing of the Camp David Accords between Begin and Sadat. Palestinians the same. Too bad that Russia, Iran and the Arab Gulf oil states couldn't help themselves from stirring up trouble. As previously noted, both Hamas and Hezbollah, plus countless other terrorist organizations in the region, have written into their charters and mission statements that Israeli genocide is their ultimate goal. No one discusses these matters. For the record, many of those murdered on Oct. 7th in the most barbaric fashion, were volunteers that helped Gazans get to medical appointments and countless other support efforts.
I'm so very sorry but blaming Israel for genocide is absurd when one knows what is happening on the ground. I don't disregard those who see things this way, knowing that their intentions are honorable. Still, without understanding truth from credible sources, there is no other way to see this conflict other than as you do. There are graves all over Israel too, from fighting some of the worst terrorists on the planet. Some of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, died trying to protect the innocent or to recover them. This piece is wholly absent in most western news. Thank Goodness that at least Al Jazeera, a Sunni Muslim paper in Qatar is telling the truth about the casualties.
I wish you the best and I appreciate your spirited defense of your position.
Kind regards,
Ok, I'm not going to debate this with you any longer. You obviously have a pro-Israel bias, probably due to family relationships there, and a position of "righteousness" (which I find incredibly patronising) due to your professional work in the area. You seem to think that because I have not "been on the ground", I cannot possibly understand what is happening. With respect to Israel committing genocide, I am not sure how you can justify the blockage of AID, including baby formula, or how you reconcile babies and children dying of malnutrition, amputations having to be conducted without anaesthesia, the deliberating targeting of children and non-combatants (doctors, nurses, AID workers), and a myriad of other "war crimes" against civilians. I go back to the principle of proportionality, and whatever Hamas' crimes may be, Israel's response falls far outside the lines of proportionality. And for the record, I do not get my information from mainstream media. I get it from sources such as Substack or GroundNews, but also the testimony of independent witnesses to the atrocities in Gaza such as Australian, Irish and American doctors and nurses, International AID workers and independent reports, including from Israeli institutions such as Physicians for Human Rights Israel & B’Tselem: These two Israeli human rights organisations concluded in July 2025 that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
I have to say I find it incredibly ironic that this conversation and debate of the "facts" has come out of an article where you contest that you cannot debate Republicans, as they are living in an alternate reality with a different set of facts.
I will, of course, research this topic further so that I can better understand the history of this region and the centuries-old cycle of atrocities on both sides. Look out for those pieces.
Regards
Clare