You place some blame on this escalation of violence on Hamas don't you? You fully recognize I'm sure that both sides want to do away with the other.
I can find plenty of blame with Israel and Hamas, can you?
Apologies if you misunderstood.
I said:
Originally Posted by AnnO'Neemus said:
How about if someone said something like:
...The real victims of 9/11 are the ordinary Americans but a clash like this was on the cards since they voted in the nutters of the Bush administration and the rest of the neocons...
This attack is a tragedy for all but by no means can all the blame be put [falsely, considering how none of the hijackers were Iraqi, iirc] on the Iraqi government, some blame must be laid at the feet of Bush.
It's really, really offensive, isn't it? When you blame innocent civilians for some of the misguided foreign policies of their governments, and basically say they deserved to die, because some of their compatriots voted for their government.
mears said:
You place some blame on this escalation of violence on Hamas don't you? You fully recognize I'm sure that both sides want to do away with the other.
I can find plenty of blame with Israel and Hamas, can you?
I've no idea why your post was so confrontational and aggressive about what I do or don't believe, when I was simply pointing out that something zachor said was actually offensive and I illustrated my point by substituting some words in his post and re-posting it. So how you jump from me saying that it's offensive for zachor to say that innocent civilians brought this on themselves for electing the government they elected to arguing with me about who I blame or don't blame...?
In any event, I thought it would pretty be clear that I was talking hypothetically, given that I said: "How about if
someone said something like:..."
Someone. Not I. Not me. I didn't say I believed that. I was talking hypothetically. To make a point.
What I was doing was mirroring what zachor said and substituting one country for another, and one set of politicians for another to highlight how offensive it was. And given that I was arguing that saying the Palestinians basically brought it on themselves was offensive, I would hardly be saying something similar myself, when I think it offensive.
I've nowhere argued my opinion, I've simply argued against zachor's offensive statement. Hope that's clarified that for you.
As for blaming Israel and Hamas. Well, again, just playing the devil's advocate here, but if Israel argues that it should be entitled to defend its people, then Hamas, as a democratically elected government, surely doesn't it also have a responsibility, a legal duty, to protect its people from attackers? Just wondering like.
But for the record, yes, I agree with you there is blame on both sides, the tit-for-tat violence has to end at some point. But I would point out that the Palestinians are disproportionately paying the price. How many Israelis have been killed in 2008 from the rocket fire? How many Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes and incursions? Not to mention that aid agencies have argued that the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian occupied territories amounts to collective punishment, which is illegal under international law.