American in Exile: Israel and Hamas [Video]

I haven’t made any posts in a while, since most of what I would have to say is already wonderfully expressed by the Alexanders and many other great sources, but this time it seemed like I better say something.

This new outburst of warfare is real trouble. There are unanswered questions that cannot be easily Fox News-ed away with “rah-rah-Israel” propaganda.

The Hamas-Iran connection is assumed, but not proven. For myself, I see no logic in the ferocity of Hamas’ attack unless there is a further endgame in sight. To do what Hamas did as just an “outburst” necessarily invites the destruction of that group and of Gaza and indeed all of “Palestine” as a whole; fitting entirely with Israeli government desire to exterminate the Palestinians as the answer to “the question.”

After all, Israel was rudely called out in this attack, and one thing Israel always does is fight, and they usually fight really hard. History has shown this.

Now, to be sure, I am not saying this because I support Israel. I don’t. I don’t support Hamas, either, though I do love the Palestinian people, since they are my “peeps”, so to speak, as my second family when I joined the Eastern Orthodox Church.

I just do not support the idea that killing other people solves the problem of one’s own existence, and especially killing people who had nothing to do with the casus belli. Hamas apparently violated this principle by kidnapping regular Israeli civilians and in some cases, apparently murdering them. They were not soldiers, they were families, kids, women. That is savagery in my eyes. Yes, that savagery is a common feature of war, but it is still savagery.

Israel is no better, and in many cases, worse: Israel learned great lessons from the en-ay-zee-ayes (sound it out and you will understand!) – they learned how to corral, cancel and eliminate undesirables in the most cruel and unpleasant ways. Their “agreements” with Palestine are “Indian-giver” treaties only the Americans could be proud of – make a deal, or make a slow steal, right? Palestinian territories are not free at all. Israel has persisted in occupying and brutalizing these people and their lands.

This from me is a round condemnation of what has happened. Knowing something of the tensions and dynamics of the situation, I can understand some of the emotion behind the attack.

But, I do not see any logic so far in the attack, and, as much as they despise Israel – I cannot believe that the Hamas folks would be so blind as to condemn their own people to further oppression, suffering and death for the scoring of political points.

It does not compute.

Fox News and the other American media are largely gone to ridiculous, and they are now in Phase Three (or Four) of their “Make American Insane” campaign. First Trump-Russia, then COVID and Vaxxing, then Ukraine, now this.

My condemnation of this most recent situation is very broad. God has a special place in hell for people who make such decisions about the lives of people they have never seen, never known, and do not care about.

And a final word directed at Nikki Haley – Your statement of telling Israel to “finish the job” on Iran is both selfish as hell (“Israel, go kill your own people to fulfill OUR goals!”) and hysterical. Full disclosure: Generally, I like Nikki Haley – certainly not as President, but I just like her (I like most people, so this is just my own personality, they are all usually far deeper than just politics). However, she is NOT what we need for national leadership. She would surely get us all vaporized. Her statements on the public stage are needed, so we know NOT to vote for her. So for that I give her credit – she hopefully destroyed her campaign. Nevertheless, her statement was extremely wrong and irresponsible, and I condemn it.

We need to learn what is really going on, and that has not been revealed yet.