1) At the outset of this war, some were conflating Hamas with Gaza. Those individuals were rightfully admonished. Hamas had attacked Israel on October 7 - not the Gazans, who were afforded the presumption of being the territory's citizens.
2) Accordingly, the conversation generally shifted to the appropriate parties being participants, though lazily by describing the war as being between Netanyahu (and all of the juvenile names assigned to him) and Hamas.
3) It took only a moment before the conversation shifted to describing the parties as Israel and Hamas. Do you see the problem? If there was appropriate pushback, I never noticed it. I was unable to participate for a lengthy time and am only now, on rare occasion, willing to do so. But the bastardization stuck, didn't it? Sorry that you happen to be my target amongst the vast majority who are, giving the benefit of the doubt confused, but the comment to which I replied was a perfect example - Gazans died from bombs dropped by Israel. Gazans are being starved thanks to Israel. Hamas started it, but Israel is now to be held in contempt.
To be more clear, let's humor ourselves and state that Israel is the the citizens of the country, okay? So what's the verdict? Are the Israelis accountable for what happens in Gaza, or is it Netanyahu (or the Knesset or the Likud Party)? Ultimately, it doesn't matter - obviously - as the propagandist narrative has taken hold, and as the majority of the Western world is just fine with that obscenity having become a natural description of the ongoing war. I don't speak in those terms, and will, albeit infrequently, call it out every time I see it. Either this is a war between the governing authority of a country and the governing authority of a territory, or it's a war between its people. I say it's the former and you, with all due deference, can't make up your mind.
4) I fucking hate having to be so explicit four responses deep into a comment I made that was, itself, explicit.
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