Genocide in Gaza

https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/26/judith_butler_ceasefire_gaza_israel

Isn't the killing of over 7,000 civilians (almost 3,000 of them CHILDREN) enough?  According to Israeli Leadership thinking, apparently not.  

If you truly don't believe the actions of Israel are genocide, then perhaps you should listen carefully to the philosopher, Professor Butler, at the link above.

No one I've heard is justifying the brutal murders of Israeli civilians by Hamas.  Those actions were criminality at its worst.  On the other hand, the actions ordered by the Leadership of Israel in response are over-the-top, beyond-the-pale, immoral, and unethical.  Even many Jewish people, in Israel, the USA, and other countries, are strongly protesting that response.

In Israel and the USA, government spokespersons essentially have stated:  this is war, it's messy, and civilians get killed.  In other words, too bad, such is life.

Sorry, that's not an ethically acceptable reason for the wholesale bombing of Gaza, which includes killing people in hospitals, schools, UN shelters, residences, and the like.  Nor is it justifiable to bomb entire neighborhoods because Hamas tunnels are under those neighborhoods.  Israeli Leaders seem to be assuming everyone living in such places was complicit in the construction and use of those tunnels.  The Leaders also appear to be assuming that all Gazans support the brutal murder of Israeli civilians.  Or, maybe they just think:  hey, tough luck, but that's war.

Here's a recent hypothesis proposed (which I believe is probable):  because some people in the Government of Israel seem to believe ALL Palestinians support terrorism, the current crisis is being used to make life in Gaza so unbearable that all the residents migrate out of the area, or alternatively, die from lack of food, water, medicine, and other supplies.

Israel claims it is targeting only Hamas.  Come on, that doesn't hold water, not a drop.  Why?  In addition to the bombing, Israel has laid siege to Gaza - no food, no water, no fuel for generators, no medical supplies, etc.  A siege targets everyone.  Yes, they finally allowed numerous supply trucks to enter.  For two million people, the amount of supplies was a pittance.  Inadequate.

All civil people everywhere should be objecting to the actions of Israel in Gaza.  Not only is the situation tragic and brutal, it's not ethically justifiable.  Finally, how extremely ironic it is that Israel is committing genocide.

Here's another irony:  the three Abrahamic religions ALL worship the God of Abraham, but often still can't be civil to one another.  It makes one wonder:  will humans ever "live and let live"?

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Attached photo is in the public domain.

Wars, Governance, Complexity, the Astonishing Decline of USA's Diplomacy, and More

 The ecologist, Nate Hagens, interviews Chuck Watson, an expert with decades of experience in the geopolitics of the Middle East, the USA, and Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMVe4nxvQ6U

AT LEAST watch the first 20 minutes or so of this penetrating piece.

In our evolutionary history, we humans have moved further and further away from the reality of Nature.  Instead of Nature, we've used social constructs to make up our own reality.  Mistakenly, it seems most humans now believe the constructs of economics, politics, formal religion, and various other ideologies have placed us in a position superior to and separate from Nature.  That's a false belief, and destructive to our habitat.

Such a view can cause, and is causing, catastrophic consequences.  For example, many governments now appear to believe planetary biophysical limits can be ignored.  As a result of such a belief, natural resources - essential to life - are being depleted or damaged or destroyed at astronomical rates.  One result of that is:  governments are going to WAR over land, water, minerals, fertile soil, natural gas deposits, oil, and the like.  

[See the last online link in the post immediately prior to this piece.  Also see:  https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/6/21/palestines-forgotten-oil-and-gas-resources ]

Nothing can excuse the brutal murder of civilians by Hamas; however, the context of Israel essentially strangling Gaza and the West Bank Palestinians for decades should not be ignored.  It isn't only about religion.  Immediately adjacent to Israel, sitting underneath the surface of Palestinian land are deposits of oil and natural gas.  Israel needs such for economic growth.  Like most countries, it believes in infinite economic growth on a finite planet.

Are our made-up constructs necessary?  Yes, that's a given.  But they must be implemented with care and comprehensive thinking, and if we desire to thrive as a species, they must not ignore the Laws of Nature.  In modern times, our social constructs have made our lives more and more complex.  In fact, the complexity now is so enormous it's beginning to look as though our governments are on the brink of not being able to cope with the situation.  Underneath it all is the monstrous mistake we made after our discovery and development of a bonanza - fossil energy.  Instead of thinking comprehensively and sustainably, we went on a 150-year energy binge.  We're still on it.

That binge brought about (and it's ongoing) an exponential increase in the complexity of society in general.  Complexity doesn't have to be harmful.  An ecosystem is orders of magnitude more complex than any machine ever built by humans.  What can be harmful is having the Powers-That-Be (both public and private) analyzing and dealing with complexity using only linear thinking and a reductionist method of analysis.  A nonlinear, holistic approach needs to be in the mix.  Reductionism can be useful in certain circumstances, but holism (or systems thinking) is required for successfully navigating through complexity.  Very few political Leaders of today appear to have any clue whatsoever of holistic thinking.  If they had such a clue, perhaps we wouldn't be entering an era of natural resource scarcity; and maybe there would be a lot fewer wars, especially during troubling environmental catastrophes.  Perhaps differences among us would no longer impede peaceful cooperation.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well