Open Thread October 9, 2023 Civilian Lives
A Jewish American Living in Berlin, Matt De Vlieger, “Not all civilians are equal: 3,803 Palestinians, 177 Israelis since 2008.” The concern for civilian lives appears to waver, leaning disproportionately towards one side.
Spare me your war stories. This old Marine Sergeant does not care to hear them. The Gaza is six miles wide. It is a fish in a barrel shoot with either 105 or 155mm Howitzers. A 155mm round can go back and forth almost multiple times. They do not have to go in the Gaza to attack. They can stand on the Gaza borders and fire away. There is no safe place to go in the Gaza.
The Hamas attack is a sign of a new world order.
NY Times – David Leonhardt – Oct 9
The Global Context of the Hamas-Israel War
Claudia Goldin Wins Nobel in Economics for Studying Women in the Work Force
NY Times – just in
Nobel economics prize goes to professor for research on the workplace gender gap
AP – Oct 9
Funny how the Russia-Lovers are ginning up a war with Iran and this happens …
People living in fear of death is one thing but people living in fear of pain and disability as a threat can be even worse and certainly more motivating. I believe we are seeing the break point of the motivation only it’s not as the enforcers of the motivation would have assumed in their planned use of such motivation.
“An even more startling revelation is the number of injuries, with 152,560 Palestinians injured during this period, including 85,320 during demonstrations, compared to 6,307 Israelis injured.”
It seems humanity will always be saddled with a character trait that lives for grandeur in their life as exhibited by conquest, control and authority over all one can see.
Selfishness. Some kind of trait that must have had some kind of preservation purpose for the human being for it be so sustaining in our gene pool.
I recall the adage that goes something like: the citizens don’t start wars, politicians do.
Past history, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Palestinian fears grow amid rising Israeli settler attacks, BBC News, Yolande Knell
“There’s been a dramatic rise in violence carried out by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank this year, with more than 100 incidents reported a month according to the UN. It warns that some 400 people have been driven from their land since the start of 2022.”
As supported by the government. NBC News Andrea Mitchell, Doha Madani, Mirna Alsharif and Anna Schecter
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir praised the expansion of the settlements, calling for more. Netanyahu’s far-right government responded with plans to build 5,000 new Israeli settlements. Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land are illegal according to international law
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-66620250
August 28, 2023
Palestinian fears grow amid rising Israeli settler attacks, BBC News
By Yolande Knell
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-66620250
August 28, 2023
Palestinian fears grow amid rising Israeli settler attacks
By Yolande Knell
Ramallah — There’s been a dramatic rise in violence carried out by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank this year, with more than 100 incidents reported a month according to the UN. It warns that some 400 people have been driven from their land since the start of 2022.
Smashed cars and homes and shops set ablaze. Recent months have seen some of the worst ever scenes of settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
Some have turned deadly.
Posters in remembrance of 19-year-old Qusai Maatan, showing him astride his white Arabian horse, now surround a small roundabout in the village of Burqa, set among olive trees in the rolling hills north-east of Ramallah.
“He had a deeply caring nature. He’d always greet me warmly and check on me in a thoughtful way,” says his grandfather, Abdul Moneim Maatan, his voice cracking. “His absence leaves a huge void.”
On the evening Qusai was shot dead by an armed settler, his family say he had gone for a picnic with friends at the edge of the village. Locals describe how a confrontation with radical Israelis living nearby escalated quickly. Stones were thrown and at least one settler opened fire. In an unusually strong rebuke, Israel’s closest ally, the US, described what happened here as “a terror attack.” …
But, those are Palestinians.
What’s puzzling about Hamas’ attack is what they think their situation will be, say, 6 months from now. Tremendously well planned, amazing resources considering the circumstances of Gaza. The cruelty of their attacks within Israel was the heart of the plan, which makes a shockingly brutal response from Israel pretty much a guarantee. Hamas expects an incredibly violent response and even wants that for some reason, but what that reason could be is unclear to me for sure.
From Prof. Timothy Snyder:
““For the victim, terror is about what it is. For the terrorist, it is about what happens next.”
In the case of 9/11, what happened next was Iraq and Afghanistan, both of them disasters for the United States. Will Israel avoid these catastrophes? Will the US be dragged into a forever war in Iran?
One might guess that Iran has much to do with this, allied with Russia. Make a global war more likely, achieve total conquest of Ukraine, then … who knows.
At the Conversation, this was stated:
Meanwhile, Dov Waxman, a scholar of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict at the University of California, Los Angeles, provides historical context. Saturday’s attack came exactly 50 years and one day after Israel was similarly taken unawares by a joint operation by neighbors Egypt and Syria. The parallels are striking, Waxman writes. Both constituted a catastrophic failure of intelligence, came after spurned overtures and were intent on sending the same message: that the status quo would not be accepted and that Israel’s military might “will not keep Israelis safe.
I found this to be an interesting opinion as to why:
I can only speculate—I’m still in shock, quite honestly. But I think you have to consider the context at this moment. The Arab world is coming to terms with Israel. Saudi Arabia is talking about normalizing relations with Israel. As part of that potential deal, the United States is pressing Israel to make concessions to the Palestinian Authority—Hamas’s enemy. So this was an opportunity for Hamas and its Iranian backers to disrupt the whole process, which I think in retrospect was deeply threatening to both of them. I don’t think that Hamas follows dictation from Iran, but I do think they act in coordination, and they had a common interest in disrupting the progress that was underway and that was gaining a lot of support among Arab populations. The idea was to embarrass those Arab leaders who have made peace with Israel, or who might do so, and to prove that Hamas and Iran are the ones who are able to inflict military defeat on Israel.
From: Martin Indyk: Why Hamas Attacked—and Why Israel Was Taken by Surprise (foreignaffairs.com)
Martin Indyk, the Lowy Distinguished Fellow in U.S.-Middle East Diplomacy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Indyk has twice served as U.S. ambassador to Israel, first from 1995 to 1997 and again from 2000 to 2001.
Daniel:
Thanks for the additional information. That could be the reasoning.
In other news…
GOP Deadlocked Heading Into Speaker Contest
NY Times – Oct 11
Lawmakers were set to meet at 10 a.m. to begin voting on a nominee, but there was no consensus, opening the possibility of a drawn-out fight that would leave the House leaderless for days.
Republicans narrowly nominated Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana on Wednesday as their choice for Speaker
NY Times – just in
GOP Nominates Scalise for Speaker Amid Bitter Party Divisions
NY Times – a while ago
(There was talk of changing the House rules somehow so that a majority of GOP members would be sufficient to elect him, and he has a slim majority for now. Otherwise, if Dems mostly voted ‘present’ instead of ‘nay’, the GOP majority would be sufficient for a win. Most unlikely, it seems.)
Here Comes Mr Jordan?
NY Times – a short while ago
(Mr Jordan needs 93 more GOP votes for a win. Looks like Elise Stefanik still has a chance.)
Scalise withdraws
NY Times – just in
Scalise Withdraws as Speaker Candidate, Leaving GOP in Chaos
The No. 2 Republican had worked to win over holdouts but could not find a path to uniting his fractious party.
After Jordan, who’ve they got. Elise Stefanik? Sure, why not.
Here Comes Mr Jordan
Jim Jordan beat new challenger Austin Scott of GA for the GOP nom to be Speaker.
124 to 81. He needs 217 when the whole House votes, for the win. Maybe he’ll get 93 Dem votes.
Wait til next week, probably. But it looks (to me!) like Elise Stefanik still has a chance.
(The link above is to a wonderful old movie.)
Jordan Activates Right-Wing Pressure Campaign in Push to Win Speakership
NY Times – Oct 14
Allies of the Ohio Republican, who must persuade scores of his colleagues to support his bid for speaker, are threatening right-wing retribution to any GOP lawmakers who dare oppose him.