Quote (Handcuffs @ Oct 14 2023 09:08pm)
Here's what I think I would have done if I had been in Netanyahu's position:
It seems clear that Hamas has no interest in peace and likely attacked as a result of increased diplomacy between Israel and gulf countries, where the outcome is to try and provoke a large attack from Israel so that Saudi Arabia will back out of talks of normalizing their relationship with Israel. This all took place on the backdrop of a military and intelligence failure.
As a result, I would deny Hamas the response they're looking to provoke, would take accountability for the failure with my own people, and would utilize myself via that process as a way for the Israeli people to direct their pain, anger, and violence away from a desire for vengeance. This way Saudi Arabia can come back to the table as no retaliatory attacks were made.
Israel takes the L on this one, for the good of long-term peace in the region. Strengthen the border, hold me accountable (let the people decide), and continue the path towards peace and normalization. That they resorted to an attack of this magnitude speaks to the fact that we were on the right path. Let us not be derailed by terrorists.
I think your reasoning behind the attack is likely correct, however I do have doubts about the long-term thinking of Hamas - it could also be possible that this was an attack of opportunity, motivated by a rave-style concert on their border (very much haram) and they didn't think too much about the aftermath. If we want to get conspiratorial, it's also possible that Netanyahu knew an attack may be imminent and did nothing as to justify their destruction, I would not put much stock in this however.
However, there is a huge elephant in the room that many people are ignoring here - these atrocities were
pre-civilizational, a level of violence against an
unprovoked party who were not at war. The level of violence here is
unspeakable - NOTHING of this magnitude has been witnessed in society since the Rape of Nanjing, and even in that scenario the two countries were at war. Even in the Rwandan genocide atrocities of this nature did not occur by all accounts, though close (they were more focused on killing by any means necessary, less the taking of captives & other unspeakable acts). Unhinged violence of this magnitude was eradicated centuries ago with the conquest of the Americas - these brutal atrocities were of course the norm with the tribal societies at the time.
Hamas no longer has the right to exist after these unspeakable events, in accordance with the unwritten laws of humane civilization that has governed all nations of the entire world since the conquest of the Americas. This, of course, does not extend to the Palestinian peoples or the inhabitants of Gaza - rather, Hamas must be destroyed in it's entirety and the remaining population must be de-radicalized and re-oriented into a peaceful existence with Israel as their governors (you cannot ignore the fact that Hamas is supported by the civilian population, much like Nazi Germany, even if there are a minority of internal dissenters).
Accordingly, the pseudo-state of the Gaza Strip must no longer exist, and the inhabitants must be, by force of arms, integrated into the larger Israeli-governed society, again, much like the occupation & de-radicalization of Germany in 1945-49. The right to a level of regional self-governance must be earned back through reformation.