re: #270 Varek Raith

I’d rather put it “you’re supporting something monstrous”. I don’t think we get anywhere by labeling people monsters. That’s kind of part of the problem.

But this shit is getting worse. The swing Israel has taken to the right-wing means talk like this is more openly accepted now, I think, and that isn’t freaking good. It undermines the work the IDF does in minimizing civilian casualties hugely.

It’s also just so freaking stupid. Say they did this, they ‘flattened’ Gaza. Even leaving out international outrage against a bombing campaign that would destroy all the structures in Gaza— or, if we take the most forgiving view of what he said, a campaign that destroyed all electricity generation, all sources of fuel, and all vehicles— what would be left? Hundreds of thousands of Gazans would die, hundreds thousands would be terribly injured. That level of destruction would mean that medical aid couldn’t come quickly, so in the days after this bombing campaign civilians would be dying slowly and in pain.

Even if Israel wanted to treat all the civilians injured by such a campaign, they wouldn’t be able to. Even disposal of bodies would be a logistical problem, and disease would probably immediately begin sweeping through the population (and reaching into Israel, because that’s disease for ya.) I doubt the Gazans left alive, surrounded by the dead and dying, would simply sue for peace. I think many would attack with whatever they could. With logistical support destroyed they’d probably be easily taken care of by Israel, but it would notch up the death toll another mark.

So then we have Gaza, a smoking ruin inhabited by widows and orphans and the injured. What does Israel do then? How do they care for those civilians? Do they just retreat and take no responsibility for the situation? Do they occupy, and deal with a population that now has credible reason to believe that Israel wants to wipe them from existence? What exactly is the end-game here?

Not only is it a monstrous idea, it’s monstrously stupid.