Nick Anderson for October 21, 2023

Both are important, but I have to agree that “truth” was harmed long before the first civilians. Years even.

It is really a horrible shame that people can’t realize that we are all citizens of Planet Earth. No one should feel that they are more entitled than anyone else. We need to reach out to each other in friendship, not malice. Remember……“You can’t shake hands with a fist.” (Guy Clark)

This is all too true. And sad.

You voted for Hamas. You’ve gotten the theocratic, evil dictatorship you wanted. Run for the border, disavow this madness, adopt peace, and reclaim life. By supporting Hamas you are now captives of your own making and have chosen a path than can only lead to death. Stand up for Palestine, not Hamas.

There’s always a danger for voting for right-wing pseudo-theocratic extremists — it could be your last real election [e.g. Hamas 2006].

This is why the violence will never end. It is not war. It is horrible, deadly violence, yes. But not war.

War is between countries. Israel is not being attacked by a country. HAMAS is not a country. It is a group of people sharing an idea. You can’t kill an idea.

This is why we will never win the war on drugs, the war on poverty or the war on terror. Because we have to change how people think.

And that is too hard, too slow. It is much easier just to kill them. Which makes more of them. So we never win.

It has always been this way and, sadly, probably always will be.

Just so we understand the numbers here, Israel has a population of about 10 mil, the United States has a population about 330 mil. So if an proportional attack was on the United States that would be over 46,000 killed. About 13000 have been injured, that would mean 429,000 for the United States.

No Country would let this stand. Plus have you noticed no one will talk about the decades of rocket fire the Israelis have endured and as far as occupation, Israel hasn’t been in Gaza since 2005.

Next contestant, Mr. Nick Anderson. Specialist subject – the bleeding obvious (Fawlty Towers almost).

There is also a crushing devastation and elimination of infrastructure. People’s homes are being destroyed.

Excerpt from “Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen” (2018) by Yasmin Khan, a noted food writer and human rights campaigner. “Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been closed to the outside world, held under siege by the Israeli government, and all movement of goods and people in and out is controlled by Israeli authorities. More than two million people live in the Gaza Strip, a small piece of land just 25 mi./40km long and 51/2 mi./9km wide, making it one of the most densely populated places on earth. Palestinians in Gaza are trapped in what the United Nations officials have called the world’s largest prison…Today 80 percent of Gazans rely on food aid to survive and malnutrition is rife. Israel has banned foreign trade and food supplies are restricted. Essential medical kit and medicines are restricted, as are building materials such as cement and wood….The lack of materials to maintain or repair what’s left has led to 96 percent of GAza’s water being unfit for human consumption…” I highly recommend this book. Not only is it informative, but it has also really delicious Palestinian recipes.

War is hell. It always has been and always will be. We pretend that we can fight without involving non-combatants, but that is rationalizing BS. Israel knows it will kill civilians when they bomb Gaza. They’ll say that’s unavoidable and they have a right to self defense, but does that really matter to the Palestinians on the receiving end?

Hamas killed civilians because they hate Israel. Israel will kill civilians because because they are simply in the way. No matter, they’re just as dead either way.

Most wars are fought over land, water or religion. We can’t do away with land or water, but if we had no more religions to fight other religions, ????

Why not treat terrorists as the criminals they are? We don’t decimate cities when organized crime actors or domestic terrorists commit horrible crimes and may be hiding out in our cities and towns. We also don’t blame the civilians for the criminal actions.

Netanyahu: We’re going to counter your war crime with our own war crimes . . .

Always…it’s the civilians who die in the thousands, millions while the folks who start the war sit back and get rich.