War - Part 2
Why don’t people understand the nature of war, and keep mistaking it for some fairytale that has humanity and kindness at its core? Could it be they don’t know what war is?
The last time war was fought on continental US soil, the XIX century was nearing its end. There’s no one left alive to remember it. Throughout the entire XX century, the US was spared a war on its continental territory.
While World Wars raged, during the first half of the XX century, nobody invaded our shores, no one bombed our cities (Pearl Harbor aside) and war was felt through the families of all who were drafted to fight overseas, and the knowledge of war was acquired by those men, as they came home. Then the draft ended. For the remainder of the last century, war became all but invisible, something on television, the gold star families a side show, quickly drowned by Coca-Cola commercials.
We know nothing of war. What we knew, from second hand sources, we diluted in our privileged existence, but we do opine a lot about it, so do I. But I try to base my opinion on facts and history, not feelings. It’s hard, when you feel intensely, as I do. But I try.
Yesterday, I was reminded that an eye for an eye is no solution, and neither is collective punishment, no matter how terrible the acts inflicted upon you. I agree. I really do.
The thing is, war doesn’t give a shit about feelings. War is truly hell. It’s not what we wish it could be. It’s just war. Regardless of nuclear mutual assured destruction, war has become the true enemy, in the XX century. The means of destruction, the reach, the power to inflict damage without consequence, are more than enough to make it so, way before nuclear weapons are considered.
So if there is one thing you shouldn’t do, if you love your children, is to start a war. Because it will get out of hand, real fast. And when it does, because of its nature, depending whose side you’re on, you will feel the urge to declare it inhumane, excessive, disproportionate, cruel, heartless. You declare these things as if they are unexpected, unfair, avoidable. And from the top of your shoebox, shrouded in your privilege, you cry foul.
The truth is, none of this is a surprise. This is what war looks like. If you throw a stone through your neighbor’s window, be prepared to have your dog shot, if he has a hand gun.
But if your neighbor has a Gatling gun, you better run for the basement, cause your house is going bye bye. Now your neighbor may be a dick, sure. But you better think long and hard, before throwing that rock.
Hamas knew Israel’s reaction would be swift and terrifying, especially since there are maniacs in charge of it, who they know very well. Maniacs who actually facilitated Hamas ascension, to break up the Palestinian authority. Who actively supported Hamas during the Gaza civil war, in 2006 and 2007, even if targeting both them and Fatah.
“For years, the various governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu took an approach that divided power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank — bringing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to his knees while making moves that propped up the Hamas terror group.” - The Times of Israel, 10/8/2023.
Divide and conquer, towards an Israeli one state solution, that would effectively destroy Israel as a democratic state. That was always the plan, and Hamas always a part of it.
Today, we watch it unfold, and its consequences, devastating for both Israeli and Palestinians. And if you look at it, Gaza is being punished. Collectively punished. And it’s wrong.
But so is war. I have stated here before, more than a few times, that you do not fight terrorism with an army. You don’t rescue hostages with bombs.
You can go down my timeline on Threads, or browse my ‘I am Oakie’s list words’ blog, I am not repeating myself here, but to say terrorism is a law enforcement, intelligence agencies problem. And to declare a conventional war on terror only breeds more terror. All this is true. But that truth does not live in a vacuum.
When the terrorists are numbered in the tens of thousands, controlling a territory adjacent to their target country, and launching thousands of missiles into it each day, you got yourself a war. Period. And war is not what you wish it to be. It’s just war. And this is also true.
And the truth is, there was a ceasefire in place, before 10/7. And the truth is, Hamas broke it in the most monstrous way possible, causing the worst catastrophic event inflicted on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Their aim remains the one expressed in their principles.
“A real state of Palestine is a state that has been liberated. There is no alternative to a fully sovereign Palestinian State on the entire national Palestinian soil, with Jerusalem as its capital.” - Hamas General Principles and Objectives, 2017.
From the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, Palestine will be free. In essence, the destruction of Israel.
How that destruction will come about was shown to all the world, in no uncertain terms, on October 7, 2023. That’s the way they wish to destroy Israel. A 10/7 every day, until all Jews are killed. Let that sit for a minute. Not a war to conquer another nation, but the systematic annihilation of the Jewish people in that nation, by the most cruel actions imaginable. The definition of genocidal maniacal behavior.
And for now, the target is Israel. But rest assured, privileged western liberal, you are next. The Hamas charter is crafted to give you the impression they respect you, as long as you support them, but make no mistake. Time after time, they and others like them, have declared the goal is religious supremacy. When a Christian, a Jew, or a Muslim, say there is only one God, what they mean is there can be no other.
And even if there are plenty of Christian and Jewish fanatics, willing to remove all the unfaithful from the face of the Earth, the inescapable truth is, today, the most dangerous religious fanatical movement lives inside Islam. And their aim is hegemony.
So be careful who you root for, my thriends. And picture yourselves in a country, where after 9/11, planes were flown into buildings every single day since. Where terrorists are not a dozen or so, but tens of thousands, living right by your border, some even among you. Imagine that. Imagine what law enforcement could do to stop it. Right…
So you get two options.
Allowing it to go on, getting the FBI to try and stop those tens of thousands of terrorists, to try and prevent all those planes being flown into buildings all across America, every single fucking day, or go to war. And really try to end it.
Not the ideal itself, not terror itself, but to end the incessant attack on our country, on our own soil, killing and destroying daily.
And that is the reality of today’s war in the Middle East. It will not destroy terrorism, it will not obliterate Hamas, and no matter how it is waged, it will spawn more terror in the future. We know this. But the alternative to it is the equivalent to suicide. And Israel is not going to roll over and die, just because war is hell.
The ways in which this war is fought can be rethought, strategies can be redrawn, but no matter how much they are adjusted to make the suffering of the few Palestinian innocents left in Gaza less painful, it will still be horrific and cruel. Because that is what war is. For all involved, but especially for those who foolishly decided to poke the lion.
No matter how much you contort yourself into a pretzel, trying to accuse Israel of crimes, and crimes were committed, as they are in every war, the unavoidable truth is that if you really love your children, and if you really wish for peace and coexistence, you do not claim your goal is genocide, and proceed to throw a rock through your neighbor’s window. For your neighbor knows you want to kill all his family, and he has a Gatling gun.
Israel’s strategy is wrong, the war should be handled differently, with a lot more Israeli military casualties, a lot less Palestinian civilians killed. I agree. But it would still be fucking war. And a lot of people who didn’t need to die, would be killed.
So yes, painfully yes, and again, if you love your children and don’t want them to suffer the inevitable cruelty of war, don’t fucking start one.
Am Yisrael Chai.
