(Thanks, J. :)

Reader John writes:

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Re: CGI's MAXtheMAGAnificent: Countering the ‘....

Hello Hobie,

I believe that most of the protests against Israeli policies are sincere and not merely antisemitism. Of course some are disguised antisemitism and that is bad. I personally applaud a people that have achieved a lot for humanity and don't appreciate the many who are jealous of a high performing people.

That said, through out the several wars between Hamas and Israel, the Palestinian causalities have always been very high. For example, the previous war (2014), the Palestinians suffered around 3000 dead versus around 30 Israelis dead. Basically it was a massacre. If the kill ratio was reversed, there would be similar outrage as today, "why did they killed many Jews?". Yet, in 2014 there was no outrage in the US and the West because so many died are not Jews but Arabs. The Oct 7 events showed the reverse, more than 1000 Jews killed versus a few dozen Hamas terrorists.

Israel cannot allow such a lop sided event and basically took revenge. That was a big strategic mistake. Israeli held the moral high ground immediately after Oct 7th, but squandered it for revenge. Israel should have just target Hamas terrorists only. If it takes months or a year, that is ok. But Israel decided to bomb Gaza back to the stone age.

For example, to kill one Hamas commander, Israel dropped several bunker buster bombs on a densely packed neighborhood. This talking point, "they use human shields, that is why civilian casualties are so high", will no longer work. If the IDF respects civilians and don't shoot at them then civilian casualties would be small. When the civilian casualties have been very high in all the engagements of the IDF through the years, then people around the world are rightly suspicious that the IDF is not doing its best to protect civilians.

In the West Bank, if a gunmen hides near someone's home, that home will be demolished even if the home owner have no idea that a gunman was hiding near the home. That is collective punishment that Israel has employed for many decades. The bombing of Gaza that is happening now is basically collective punishment on a very large scale. Collective punishment is wrong and Israel has violated international law and basic human morality.

Please post,
Reader John

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