Hamas strike on Israel - Threadbans in op - mod warning in OP updated 19/10/23

How can Israel and Netanyahu simultaneously believe Hamas has the capacity to 'destroy Israel', but at the same time firmly believe they will be able to crush and obliterate Hamas in the next months (to the point where there won't be a single Hamas member left alive)? None of this even adds up.

Don't worry, your friends in the US Left are working to change all of that. As we know, US college campuses are becoming hotbeds of anti-Semitism and that will eventually spill out into wider American society. Eventually, that could mean no more US support for Israel, and that in turn would mean that Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Islamic Jihad, IS, Al Qaeda etc. can do whatever they want to the Jews. And in that they will have at least the indifference of some on the radical Left.

There's no arguing that Hamas/Iran have played an absolute blinder with their 7/Oct attacks. But they could not have been anywhere near as successful if they didn't have legions of useful idiots championing their cause in the West.

Jewish Students Sheltered Inside College Library During Protest - YouTube

DEI Offices Are Driving Campus Antisemitism | Glenn Loury & Tabia Lee | The Glenn Show (youtube.com)

It's not just Hamas. It's Hezbollah in Lebanon, rattling their sabres. It's the Houthis, hundreds of km away in Yemen yet taking pot shots at ships in the Red Sea that might be heading for Israel. Iran is behind it all, using these smaller local forces as proxies, and discrediting Israel with the world's governments and media is part of the strategy. This is a propaganda war as well as a proxy war, since the Iranian regime knows what will happen if they attack Israel directly.

All these reports of Israeli atrocities ... all true? Who knows? I don't, and I don't believe anyone here knows either. One of those reports from a hospital says that the people there are scared the IDF is going to kill them all ... where do they get that fear? Not from anything the IDF has said or what they've actually done so far on the ground. (Yes, I've seen reports of IDF soldiers being dicks, as soldiers do; they should follow their orders, not dick around in a playground, write crap on shells or whatever.) I've said all along that Israel needs to be held to a higher standard, preferably by themselves, if they want to represent civilisation in the region, and that starts with obeying the rules of war and being seen to obey them.

The majority of Jewish people in the West are middle class (or even higher) and well educated - not exactly the type of people you would expect to be facing rampant racism and discrimination.

A side issue for both sides at the moment but what are the long term economic impacts for both sides?

A lot of Israeli males are on army duties, productivity must be badly affected, the cost of arms must be extremely high, tourism must be on its knees and will take a long time to recover, not sure if there is boycotting of Israeli goods, there is going to be a lot of money required for security measures going forward. I don't know what the economy was like before the war started? I presume that money will come from the US and expats.

For Palestinians, it is a matter of just trying to survive. I can't imagine there is any business surviving. Infrastructure is destroyed, hospitals bombed, housing gutted, schools flattened, water and electricity supply in tatters. I don't know what economic activity there was in Gaza before this kicked off. You would think for the forseeable future, it is going to be dependent on outside assistance for food, to build housing etc. but poverty is going to exist for a long, long time

Sure does!

So Israel are now warning dire consequences on their other neighbours. Who will stop them in their tracks?

It is, until you have a quick look at the statistics for gun crime in the US. Solidary men, on the flimsiest of excuses, killing multiples of civilians with military grade weapons, and for sure, Israeli killing Palestinians in Gaza, is far from being a Flimsy excuse. Remember the Boston Marathon Bomber? Born in the US, but parents came from Chechnya. If I were in the same situation as you outlined, I'd be damn worried too. What do you think Tayto, that such an attack (or multiples) will take place in 2024?

You can be against the actions of Israel now and not be against the Jewish people in general or antisemitic. I am not a supporter of the bds movement so its not every is on one side or the other, pro or anti Israel.

You are throwing the phrase antisemitic so freely in this thread that you as may as well be calling people woke. The parameters for being antisemitic are so fuzzy now that if support bds you can be accused as being antisemitic.