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

Absolutely shocking and heart-breaking.

A poster said many posts ago that the IDF and Hamas are cheeks of the same a*se. So true.

This will be more grist to the mill for the ICJ and the ICC. Israel will be held accountable for what they have done.

A fine line. ? They host Hamas leaders and allow them to fund raise for terrorist activity. The money for the October 7th attacks came from Qatar as much as anywhere else. And what do you mean by established order, those who decide what the rules based orders are, but are willing to infract them when it suits. Qatar should not be given a pass for funding terrorism because otherwise they are a great bunch of lads. I never thought I would agree with Bibi on anything but what he said about Qatar is correct.

I was referring to Raoul's equivocation about Qatar. There should be no shades of grey in our attitudes towards Qatar: they host Hamas leaders. I don't see how you condemn Iran for supporting terrorism and make excuses for Qatar because they happen to be an ally of the Americans

There's a lot I dislike about Qatar, so I don't know why you suggest I'm making excuses for them. Their treatment of migrant workers makes me suspect it's a selfish, self-centred society. A lot of Muslims I've met from around the world actively hate the natives of the various oil-rich countries of the Arabian Peninsula because of how they treat other Muslims from poorer countries.

Iranians I've met, on the other hand, have generally been highly educated and cultivated, and always polite, usually delightful people.

(This is obviously personal anecdote only - I'm aware that I've met only those Iranians who left the country, for starters. And while I'm sure some are horrible people, like everywhere, I've truly never met any.)

In geopolitical terms however, the Qatari regime is a lot more moderate than the Iranian regime. How genuine that "moderation" is, I couldn't possibly guess, but I think their desire to continue doing business is relevant. Iran probably feels its bridges are already burned so has nothing to lose.

And Walter Guinness from Dublin was assassinated by zionists. Which, while remote, is orders of magnitude more relevant than Iraqis are to Palestinians. Saying "The same" is just ignorant. It is unlikely that any of the toddlers blasted to smithereens by the IDF had a huge influence on things that happened in Iraq.

Even if you want to tar all people of the same religion with the same brush, Iraqis are majority Shia and Palestinians are majority Sunni................

And yet, this is a war between the world's only Jewish state (the closest thing the Middle East has to an enlightened democracy) and the violent fundamentalist whackjobs that want the Jews dead. Even if I don't particularly like Likud, I'm still with Israel over their mortal enemies.

Is this just a bit of whataboutery, or does it have some link to the strategy of rape carried out by Hamas in October 2023?

Interesting news out regarding the UNWRA. Channel 4 News obtained a copy of the confidential document, and in reporting today revealed the document provides "no evidence to support its (Israel's) explosive new claim that UNRWA staff were involved in the terror attacks on Israel".

Also interesting is the fact that lists of the employees etc are sent to Israel as part of the vetting process's.

I really feel due diligence should have been done here rather than the knee jerk reaction of pulling funding without a replacement immediately.

Until the investigation by the UN is complete, this is just speculation.

However, if true, it would be clear that Israel reported their UNRWA propaganda to soften the blow of the ICJ findings against it. And ironically, halting aid to Gaza which the ICJ told them not to. Those who halted funding should also be ashamed of themselves knowing the propensity of Israel to lie.

It's genocide

South Africa yet again showing the world how it should be done.