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They had 17 years to do that. Too late for them now. You reap what you sow.
As I pointed out......the result of electing a terrorist organization to run your govt. How'd that work out for them? Not too well it seems.
As previously posted, given that Israel is prosecuting a just war against an unjust aggressor, Option 1 following ius in bello principles. Can you cite a war that did not incur "death and destruction"? I think not. Can you cite a war that did not cause one innocent person's death? I think not.
I mentioned earlier in the thread how Hamas gained control of Gaza.
Hamas only received 44.45% of the vote in 2006, but it gave them a majority of 74 seats in the 132 seat Palestinian Legislative Council at that time. Less than 15% of Gazans alive today voted for Hamas. In 2007, Hamas violently took control of Gaza.
Hamas gunmen seized military control of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, executing Fatah rivals and provoking the collapse of their power-sharing Palestinian Authority government.
As Fatah’s last security command centers fell after four days of fighting, Hamas military men in black masks moved unchallenged across Gaza City, hunting down foes, blowing up homes and dragging the body of a top Fatah militant through the streets.
Firing mortars, grenade launchers and automatic weapons, Hamas fighters captured the Gaza City headquarters of the Preventive Security, Intelligence and National Security agencies Thursday afternoon, and executed some of their captives. The Presidential Guard compound fell late in the evening. All were controlled by Fatah.
Earlier in the day, Hamas overran the main Fatah compound in the southern city of Rafah, giving it full control of the border with Egypt, a source of the smuggled weapons that have expanded the movement’s arsenal in recent months.
Hamas fighters overran the headquarters amid mortar rounds and gunfire. They raised green Hamas flags over the shattered two-story compound, kneeled to the ground in prayer and marched handcuffed Fatah gunmen into the streets, some shirtless or in their underwear.
Hamas wins the battle for Gaza control
With his Fatah forces driven from the strip, Abbas dissolves the Cabinet but the Islamist premier vows to stay.www.latimes.com
Are you asking me if I think they should be? Certainly what we saw in the initial terror attack was criminal on the face of it. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and any other terror groups or 'unaffiliated Palestinians' who took part in them should be held to account.
Maybe most of them figured Israel was not a friend or trustworthy and wanted local people to assume any positions available? Let's face it, being occupied and imprisoned and mistreated leads to resentment. Having an election (what was the turn out?) 17 long years ago does not mean they wanted their leaders to kill Israeli children does it?
Set them free and return lands taken long ago, and share the land. Maybe that would help. Bombing their children like terrorists only puts Israel in checkmate
I came across this news article from 2006 and the idea of hudna. The idea being of a long term ceasefire between Hamas and Israel rather than Hamas recognising Israel in the short term.Israel’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a cease-fire deal with the Hamas militant group that would bring a temporary halt to a devastating war that has stretched on for over six weeks and release dozens of hostages being held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Under the deal, Hamas is to free 50 of the roughly 240 hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip over a four-day period, the Israeli government said Wednesday. It said it would extend the lull by an additional day for every 10 hostages released.
The government said the first hostages to be released would be women and children.
Ahead of Wednesday morning’s Cabinet vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would resume its offensive against Hamas after the cease-fire expires.
It was not immediately clear when the truce would go into effect.
Israeli Cabinet approves truce for hostages deal with Hamas; Palestinian prisoners also to be freed
Israel’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a temporary cease-fire with the Hamas militant group that is expected to bring the first halt in fighting in a devastating six-week war and win freedom for dozens of hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for the release of Palestinians...www.pbs.org
Now, of course, some may say you can't trust Hamas etc. but it can also be said you can't trust Israel. I was watching a BBC documentary about the Six Day War and before Israel attacked the Golan Heights the Israeli PM Eshkol had said Israel had no further territorial ambitions (who else said that?!). Then Israel attacked the Golan Heights after obtaining assurances that the USSR would likely not intervene.
Let’s make guesses about how the postbellum situation will go, I’ll start.
I've been trying to figure out what's in it for Hamas with this truce deal. Assuming the Hamas doesn't care about the people of Gaza narrative and Netanyahu will want to resume the extreme violence so as to "destroy Hamas" and really to cling on to power as long as possible, what's in it for Hamas? Ha so they can rearm (over such a small number of days?). No one seems to remark that Israel has been doing a lot of rearming as well and swelling the coffers of US arms manufacturers in the process.
It's hardly a narrative, Hamas has shown they will murder those in Gaza to achieve their goal. Iran runs the overall terrorist operations and we can only speculate, but it seems to me that the longer they can tie up Israeli forces and prolong their propaganda the better for the terrorists. The hostage taking allows opportunities for Hamas to regroup and get re-supplied and last longer. They will release the hostages in small groups. Propaganda-wise, with the help of those on the left around they world, they have more of an opportunity to actually get a cease fire so they can again launch a major attack.
I believe return to N Gaza of anyone will not be allowed during the pause. Also, given that Hamas will be destroyed (according to Netanyahu) good PR can only provide a nice headstone.
I can think of very many wars that were conducted in a way that caused unnecessary death and suffering. In fact, I'm struggling to think of one in my lifetime that didn't (Falklands War?). Quite possibly anything 19th century and previously when it was simply one army v another army. So it's a very naive position to take to shrug one's shoulders and say - hey, this is an unfortunate and unavoidable result of armed conflict. Abject nonsense.
According to a lot of people on this forum it's to bomb the place back to the Stone Age and don't consider the consequences. A cease fire would be a good idea.
And that's your answer? 'Forced deprograming Hamas won't work, so carry on'.
And you remember the election that handed hamas control. Yeah, great idea; putting terrorists in charge of the govt......with access to all the money, food and supplies that goes along with it.....you know, the tens (hundreds?) of billions in aid they have been receiving all these years?
And what? Supporting them won't do the same thing?......while still leaving them in charge? Look at what is happening to them now. Unless they are a very stupid people they know how to ask for help in getting rid of hamas (they have had plenty of practice asking for aid).
Like they were celebrating in the streets on Oct 7th after getting word about the massacre? Though I have to admit, they weren't celebrating a few days later....
And what? Israel is the only country that want hamas gone? Even some Arab countries want them gone. (read: eliminated)
