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Events since Oct. 7 have torn to shreds any remaining pretense by Israel that it is a benign entity responsible for the safety of Jews. For so long we have heard of the Palestinians "they teach their children to kill us" though over the course of history, Palestinians have died in a ratio of 10 to 1 compared to Israelis and since the first all out attack on Gaza in 2009-10 and the similar attacks called "mowing the grass" this ratio rose to 20:1. Now, as a result of the Gaza operation of a fully equipped modern army with armor and artillery against an overwhelmingly civilian population with no way to defend itself, that ratio of 20:1 is put in the shade.

The world now sees the actual activity of what was billed as "the world's most moral army" composed of soldiers so reluctant to use force that they would "shoot and cry". It is surprising that Oct. 7 was so long in coming given the decades of terrible treatment of the natives by Israel. And now we have mere citizens able to stop aid from reaching the starving while the US must get permission from Israel to drop a tiny amount of food by air into Gaza.

There is simply no propaganda possible that can begin to cover for the open atrocities and it is clear who it is that wants to do the killing without pause or restraint. The period of cover provided by the holocaust to Israel has definitely ended, the current activity putting the holocaust definitely into history, it now being evident that most Israelis now living did not learn the lesson it posed for all humanity - that any human beings are capable of forgetting the humanity of others. The self-righteous mantle of eternal victim has made Israelis incapable of seeing anything they do as other then defensive and just.

Uncle Sam has made a monster by unquestioningly supporting a bully in all that it has done, both by military support and by diplomatic protection in the UN. How can anyone expect anything but even worse behavior when power goes not just unrestrained but fully supported, and by the home of "liberty and justice for all"!!!!!

The US and Israel have arrived together at their lowest point since WW2 and the soon after creation of The Jewish State. The US, home to half of world Jewry, is the true safe haven for any and all people seeking refuge (Trump's views notwithstanding) and most outrageously is home to many Jews who are dual citizens, enjoying full freedom and rights as any American should, but being uniquely able to at the same time take land from people not allowed any rights.

If ever Zionism could be called a rose in bloom, in that it had sympathy in the world, the bloom is now gone and the foundational effort of the movement clear for all to see. The creation of Israel in violence in 1948 taking the land by force has never ended, just as Ben-Gurion advised, reaching a climactic frenzy now with no apology or remorse, as if the slaughter we are seeing is justice in action, a right being exercised. That there is no hesitation by the IDF, some soldiers even celebrating, only goes to show how effectively what has been taught to young Israelis along with "they want to kill us"

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Perfectly said. I will add, Israel should go back to not existing now.

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East asian countries, not normally known for giving a shit (fair) are now uniformly hostile to Israel. I don't know about taiwan. I expect this to eventually show up in policy. Asians are a more risk averse bunch, generally less confrontational but even a cold distance to Israel is bad for it. The youth of anglo countries from what I can observe, both right and left are extraordinarily hostile to it. I follow their channels online online and the former genuinely hate and resent Jewish success and power, mostly their power and influence it seems, the latter have started to show disgust over Israel. Recently right wing youth are seizing on Gaza to spread anti judaic hatred. It's a very effective tactical move. More of it will probably come. I hope none of this leads to North America opening its doors to Muslim populations. Send aid at a distance please.

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No doubt what Israel is doing has given a push to antisemites and it is a project of Israel to disguise Zionism behind Judaism. Israelis have ID cards that identify them not as Israeli but as Jews. Netanyahu is the first to claim antisemitism is behind any criticism of Israel and the American Jews of Jewish Voice for Peace are out to make it clear that Zionism and Judaism are not the same or even close to being the same.

There are those who say that what Israel is doing is feeding antisemitism and that can't be denied, but the explosion of claims of antisemitism in the US is a direct attempt to do what Netanyahu has always done - deny that Jews are just another group of human beings who are capable like everyone else of doing good or bad and not a group to be sheltered by the holocaust. That shield for Israel is crumbling as the world sees just how much Israelis believe their own propaganda - that they are uniquely righteous and allowed to do whatever they want to do and call it defense.

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"Israel’s total population is around nine million, of which two million are Palestinian citizens and another two million (and growing) are ultra-orthodox Jews exempt from society."

Israel has closer to 10 million people (9.85 as of the new year). It doesn't have 2 million Palestinian citizens. It counts 2.05 million Arabs including both citizens and east Jerusalem Palestinians who are not citizens. It has roughly 1.7 million arab citizens, including both people who overwhelming identify as palestinian (like those in um-al-fahm), and those like druze who militantly reject that identification, and consider themselves Israelis solely.

It doesn't have 2 million ultra-orthodox jews either, the haredi jewish population is 1.3 million. The haredi jewish population is by no means exempt from society, haredi jews are exempt from the army, and a large percentage of men are not employed, and study religious texts full time, but the overall employment rate among haredi jews is 67.5% (55.8 among men 79.3 among women). That is low for a developed country but higher than Turkey as a whole which is 63.3%. I don't think anyone would say turkish people as a collective are exempt from society.

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Fair enough about rounded numbers (there is variation in how these figures are reported in different sources) but I don’t think this changes analysis maybe just extends the timeframe a bit. The backbone of Israel is the secular and liberal-right and they are a slim minority or plurality of the country. Interestingly about Druze is that in neighboring countries they are often fierce Arab nationalists or even pan-Islamists(!) which gives a sense of the flexibility of their identification based on circumstances.

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Israel is less isolated regionally and internationally than ever before. Have you seen mass rallies in Arab states on behalf of Palestinians? No. They don’t even have huge rallies in Iran which forces people to attend. So the real question is why? The answer is that the Gaza conflict has very little to do with Israel and Hamas and more to do with the rise of messianic Shia Islam versus the gulf Sunni states.

And as far as China or Asian countries, China is anti Israel because Israel is a US ally. U really think the country that is genociding Uygher Muslims gives a crap about Palestinians? Russia is aligned with Iran and a China because the US has sided with Ukraine.

There is so much more going on here.

Btw maybe start blaming Hamas and its backers for the disaster in Gaza. They started this war. They hide behind babies. They are the worst kind of cowards.

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I never said China loved Palestinians, that’s not the point nor necessary. The Shia-Sunni civil war is over now as you can see from renewed and growing Iranian and Saudi official and even military ties. I talk to people in the region every day and travel there often, they are very angry at Israel. I am not concerned about the future of Palestinians but I am concerned about Israelis who are very isolated and I believe their leaders need to act wisely and make friends by accepting this olive branch rather than continuing on this course.

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I don’t buy the rapprochement between Iran and KSA. MBS wouldn’t be floating some kind of recognition of Israel. Something the mullah would never accept. It was for show. Double dealing.

I never said people were not angry. But there are no mass rallies except for when Islamists came out in droves celebrating the barbarism of Oct7. So where is everyone in the Arab world? Why aren’t there rallies demanding their countries save the Palestinians from the Israeli army by allowing in refugees and don’t give us the silliness of not wanting to be complicit in another “nakba.” Considering Hamas leadership are buying their families way out of Gaza into Egypt I think the average Palestinian family would be happy to get out of Gaza.

I never said you think China loves Palestinians. I said chinas attitude has nothing to do either Palestinians and everything to do with cresting a hegemony against the US. So isolation from Asia? It’s not about Israel. This is Cold War part 2.

And what opportunity does Israel have? Hezbollah? The duplicitous MBS? The Iranian mullahs?

Hamas has threatened Oct 7 again and again. Israel will finish Hamas. It has no choice. How many of their own people they will take with them is up to Hamas.

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"Absent such a deal I predict a future of ethnic cleansing, genocide, state collapse, the use of tactical nuclear weapons, and dissolution of international legal and human rights norms. :

I suppose state collapse, nuclear weapons have not happened yet. But international legal and human rights norms have been murdered. I don't see a way out of this. The gig is up, lasted 70+ years but did not make it to 80. There is absolutely no fucking way barring some divine intervention that anyone on the planet, beyond rhetoric takes international law or human rights seriously again. We are going to see some of it last a little longer because of inertia like the first few moments of a building collapse but it will be a short, short period before everything else comes crashing down. These past four months are the most extreme example of western states basically overturning their own coveted values to protect an elite ethnic group. It is over.

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Abject non-sense. The article lacks a factual foundation. It is also unapologetically pro-zionist.

Am I wrong?

From times preceding Camp David, to this date, the Zionists have not once entered into a negotiation where they stated their intended borders. That along precludes any discussion of a two state solution. Post-Oslo, the same Zionists have stalled any negotiations for not only a two state solution, but also regional peace. Their insistence on re-settling European and Russian poachers in the West Bank is proof in fact of their complete disregard for any Palestinian homeland.

One does not have to have a peace deal. One need only have the Zionists to adhere to the territorial outlines of UN Resolution 181, and other aspects of the UN Charter. The former would allow Palestinians to enjoy not less than 40% of their homeland. The latter would prevent the Zionists from warring against Palestinians.

Start there.

My idea is fundamentally anti-Israeli. Not just anti-israeli philosophical ideations, but also a place in fact that is a Jewish state in MENA. I believe virtually every European Jew who lives anywhere in Occupied Palestine, should be given a one way ticket away. Why? For the whole of the existence of the Zionist State in Palestine, they have caused unnecessary harm. Harms to the Palestinian body, culture, and history. They have also cause harms to every neighboring country in MENA. As for the prospect of regional peace, they have cause total harm to that is well.

If Israel did not exist in Palestine, the whole of MENA would be safe, properous, and 1st world. The region would have the best the world has to offer. Everything from clean coastal waters to attractive trade relations with the West to cultural exchanges between MENA and the West. Last, if Israel did not exist in Palestine, not one child nor his mother would ever think that death is near.

As for other alleged peace proposals, the reality is that there are none. The Abraham Accords, for example, never mentioned Palestine. Rather, it provided for the US to wave, in some instances, debt obligations of prospective Muslim majority countries in exchange for new weapons deal. Worst, it was a money grab for Kushner. The trust company / entity for holding stakeholders assets was under Kushner's control. He all but dissolved the entity. But, not the cash. He took a Billion Dollars in Arab investors' money and placed them in his personal bank account. The remaining money? He gave one half Billion to one of his closest Jewish business partners, and distributed the remains to others. All of those others were Jewish.

Palestine is a nation of relatively young people. Their chief aspiration is not to have peace with the occupying entity that destroyed their homeland. Rather, they seek to control their own nation, as well as determine who should be allowed to live therein.

On this date, a day or two past October 7th, the Zionists have zero neighbors who

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"Despite Israel punching above its weight in many categories, few foreign countries have material incentive to side with a divided country of nine million against the collective will of at least 1.2 billion across the world who are opposed to it."

But they are so clever than soon India would be in their fold. I don't know if their population is in your count above.

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India if not run to extreme right would be wise not to join team genocide and join the fold as you suggest. They have a domestic Muslim population 200+ Million. They’re also neighbored by another 400+ million across Bangladesh Pakistan etc. Remaining a secular nation respecting all faiths would be in its best interest and aligning with BRICS instead. Does the I in BRICS stand for Ireland or India?

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Your name suggests you may be biased but does not say what your knowledge/experience is (and limited to one country?). As a global person, a scholar, and Indian only in my previous birth, I feel India has been ruled most of it's independence by an hatch-patch coalition of thugs, divided by caste and religion (and some would argue used by CIA and the liberal folks such as George Soros) that the country stagnated. Only last 10 plus years, the majority, the Hindus, decided to get their voice back. That has put the country to the middle (as illustrated by 'I' in the BRICS), the status of the country has increased tremendously when too much religiously oriented neighboring countries such as Pakistan is teering near bankruptcy and Bangladesh is torn between pro-this and pro-that. India has not abandoned Russia, their best friend, and I would hope they continue to do so as well as mend it's relationship with China. Pakistan was run by CIA as a tool to contain India until 1995 and Pakistan has to realize that and work with India in the future.

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…By committing genocide and wiping “our problem away.” Absolutely disgusting!

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As much as I'd like to believe this to be true, this conflict has shown in stark terms that overwhelming force has a distinct advantage over public opinion, be it local or global. Israel has the backing of the entire West, not just the US, and that will continue until they are defeated militarily or economically, neither of which are likely to happen any time soon. Yes, American power is declining, but it is still by far and away the foremost military power in the world and will continue to be for decades to come. Even at number 2 economically, that is an enormous power. Why would Israel not be able to withstand isolation better than Iran? It has more powerful allies than Iran and a more unified nation, despite low opinion polls of Netanyahu. When this war moves to a slower pace, will the global outrage continue to be so overwhelming? What about 2 years from now? Would most not just accept the new status quo? I would like to believe that isolation is a game-changer, but I'm not sure the evidence for it is very strong.

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I would think about it this way which is that Israel has slimmer margins it needs to defend. It’s not a question of the country being overcome and not functioning but the more life becomes difficult (and it has become much more difficult lately including with a staggering 20% contraction in GDP for the year) the more the best people will give up and leave. This happens in Iran too but Iran has 82M people, oil reserves, and it’s not an easy country to leave. Israel by contrast is super easy to leave and there has considerable emigration even during this conflict with what is its weakest single enemy. So I can see how things would become unpalatable in future if it continues to be at odds with the entire region or even most of the BRICS world.

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It is quite telling such a small gang of people, (much of Israel are children or religious slackers) are essentially capable of overturning a few billion and embarking on a campaign of mass child slaughter. It seems if you have the right people in the right places you are essentially given a green light to do whatever you want in the world.

Still, we've seen the IDF is not really a fighting force. Their soldiers are pretty much cowards. Hiding in tanks, paying mercenaries, sniping kids and people trying to eat but getting their asses handed to them by Hamas. I think they need to successfully complete a genocide but that will only buy it some time. It will delay the inevitable Muslim revenge and I think Muslims won't really hesitate to give em a good 'ol Amelak minus the mass child slaughter.

I support the USA not taking in Muslim refugees. Keep the temperature in the region hot and cut Israelis loose, ban Muslim migration and force them to settle their own problems. The west allows them to offload tension with asylum and migration and it just delays the problem and then we have tons of Muslims and I don't think those tensions disappear when Muslims come here.

Apostates, libs, feminists, ahmadis, gays are fair. They are few and can be used as a justification to ban the rest of Muslims from coming over. The same goes for Jews. Lets take them in when they start fleeing. They already have.

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