General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It genuinely looks like a nuclear weapon hit it. [View all]ancianita
(42,724 posts)A militarized zone has nothing to do with South Africa's apartheid regimes. Yes, killing is a horror. So tell that to Israel's enemies who've attacked it 16 times, unprovoked -- for months and years at a time -- in 77 years.
One thing that Bibi knows, for all his internal corruption: Israel has constitutionally guaranteed the co-equal rights of Palestinians in its constitution, and Palestinians have refused to co-exist with Israel, thus all the militarized Palestinian leaders through past decades.
Coexistence has only had a shot with a two-state solution, which the Palestinians have rejected four times:
1967 Post-Six-Day War: The Arab League, including Palestinian factions, issued the "Three No's": no peace, no recognition, and no negotiations with Israel.
2000 Camp David Accords: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat rejected a proposal facilitated by the U.S. that included a Palestinian state in Gaza, over 90% of the West Bank, and parts of East Jerusalem.
2008 Olmert Proposal: A comprehensive offer from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, including territorial concessions and arrangements for Jerusalem and refugees, was not accepted by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority.
2020 Trump Peace Plan: The Palestinian Authority rejected this plan, which envisioned a demilitarized Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem.
As it now stands (as in the past) Palestinians don't want their own state, therefore they don't want coexistence.
They fundamentally oppose the existence of a Jewish state.
Therefore, they've left Israel with no choice but to sure as hell not let Palestinians genocide Israel into non-existence.
What Bibi also "knows" is this: with Bibi or without Bibi, Israel will continue to exist.
So it sounds like you (and maybe others) are saying this:
that for Hamas and Gaza Palestinians, their written ends -- wiping Israel off the face of the Earth -- justify any means necessary; but the same can't hold true -- that Israel's ends justify its means -- even when it's been continually attacked by Palestinian orgs and their allies. This double standard, even though Israel, unlike them, does not oppose the existence of a Palestinian state, as they have.
This is bigger than what Bibi "knows."
The West has committed to Israel staying in existence.
The Middle East has no similar commitment to a Palestinian state's existence.
The ME's wealthy nations have allowed Palestinians to be their proxy -- ME nations provide stealth armament and spying in good times, then shelter and the appearance of negotiations in bad times -- while their fight against the existence of Israel and the West continues.