re: #700 Hieronymus Bosch

This cycle of violence has been happening for a very long time. Even if one accepts in principle that posters here is correct and not distorting anything at all by proclaiming Hamas as “advocating genocide,” can’t we very clearly see similar statements of genocidal intent expressed by elements of the Israeli far-right (who presently find themselves in the highest corridors of power)? I don’t believe the Palestinians have generally had very good leaders, but what would good Palestinian leaders look like to people posting here? Would they just say, “Ah, we were wrong all along, Judea and Samaria are eternally part of Israel, let’s just hand over all the good land here to the Jews and march ourselves over to Jordan and leave them in peace”…?

Poverty in Gaza is at horrific levels. From a public health perspective one must view poverty itself as a factor causing excess deaths. I recommend the terrific documentary which aired on PBS, “Unnatural Causes” for medical evidence on the fact that poverty and social injustice directly (that is, even controlling for all other risk factors) lead to lower life expectancy (this is due to involved stress levels and release of cortisol). If one does not believe that the Israeli blockade of Gaza is leading to terrible levels of unnecessary excess civilian deaths, I’d challenge that person’s grasp of reality.

ah bullshit…not true