General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I firmly believe the use of the word "genocide" [View all]Martin Eden
(12,882 posts)1. Their long term objective is a Greater Israel encompassing all the land.
2. To sustain the viability of the Jewish State, the Palestinian demographic has to be reduced to the point of never coming close to a majority of the population. They need to crush all hope of a Palestinian state supplanting Israel and the terrorist organizations intent on achieving that goal.
3. In the current war, disregard for civilian casualties is obvious. The death toll since Oct 7 is approaching a 300-to-1 ratio Palestinians to Jews, and famine is taking hold.
I'm merely trying to state what I believe to be the strategy of the Israeli government. Palestinians are in the way of achieving the long term security of Greater Israel.
Is it genocide? That term does more to inflame passions and incite divisions than bring people together to collaborate on a viable solution to end the caranage and suffering. Two different peoples, apparently incompatable, want the same land. One side has much greater wealth and military capability, backed by the most powerful nation on the planet. The other side, with some outside support, has resorted to terrorism. Hamas is intent on killing or driving out all Jews "from the river to the sea." They don't have the power to commit "genocide" but it looks like they would if they could.
Painting one side or the other (encompassing all the people, most of whom just want to live and raise families) as EVIL, provides the dehumanizing framework for mass slaughter.
As an agnostic and a human being it seems to me the three Abrahamic religions which worship the monotheic God should make of this land with the holy city of Jerusalem an international center of peace and brotherhood.
Can we get any farther from that ideal?
We shall see.