To think Israel won't exist much longer?

No her experience wasn't different, the article says they were told to smile and pretend to be happy.

Maybe think twice before praising the actions of terrorist kidnapping scum.

Too late to edit but the last paragraph was meant to read as

The hostages recently released have been through something so awful and I'm sorry they've had to endure all of it and I’m glad they’ve been freed. That goes for all of them that have been freed.

@resouply The post you and @stomachamelon are responding to was said months ago and was referring to previous released hostages who's experience were different to the ones recently released. I'm not sure why you both have sieved through months of posts to bring it up now. Your comments are somewhat unfair.

The hostages recently released have been awful and I'm sorry they've had to endure all of it.

British attitudes to the Israel-Gaza conflict: February 2024 update | YouGov

@NecessaryNC24 always x

@whatswrongwiththeworldddd if you think they been 'treated respectfully' you have clearly never read any of the testimony from released hostages.

What utter rubbish.

Does anyone care about the infant hostages at all? The little redheads we ALL saw clinging on to their mother in fear ?

Or maybe the thought of them ( if they're still alive ) being starved , tortured, raped has put you off your breakfast.

Refreshing to hear a voice of reason.

Many of us in the UK and US support Israel. It is Hamas which today's reports show is losing masses of support in Gaza not least because its awful control over the area and its prevention of free speech and dissent has, thanks to Israel, been diminished.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68891217

There's lots wrong with this but also the main one being the UN know better

@Stomacharmeleon

The UN experts know better than you.

This is an intriguing post. Who exactly would be the same people who would be Nazi’s in Germany in WW2.? The Israelis or people who support the IDF?

@zonder... for the following reasons

1. Israel's 'beef' is with Hamas and they have always said that. They have asserted numerous times that their war is against Hamas not the Palestinian people.

I Know some Israeli politicians on the right have made dehumanising comments and I would hope they are reprimanded as it's not a reflection of Israel.

1. Israel is responding to a genocidal attack. Against a group that have stated many times and since that their whole aim is to eradicate the world of Jews which is genocidal intent. They also took hostages back to Gaza.

1. Israel said many warnings into Gaza before they came in Arabic. They made their intent clear and delayed the ground invasion until they had done this.

1. Hamas' actions- such as hiding munitions in what would be protected sites mean that these sites then become legitimate targets. Don't hide weapons, rockets, terrorists etc in places you Don't want attacked. They have continued to fire rockets... not from bases... but from civilian areas into Israel. This is not one sided. The offensive has not altered regardless of what is going on.

1. There are lots of uncertainties about the situation in Gaza eg figures of deaths and injured have come from Hamas, the circumstances in which civilians have died (the hospital that was struck by Palestinian Islamic jihad)

Those are some of my thoughts regarding why 'genocide' is the wrong word.

As is often pointed out 'genocide' is a legal term and as it stands Israel does not reach that threshold.
It's a sensationalist word and not only demonises Israel but draws attention away from genuine genocide such as Rwanda and Armenia.

I'm interested in this @Stomacharmeleon - here is the UN definition of genocide. In what way is it different from what is happening in Gaza now?

The definition contained in Article II of the Convention describes genocide as a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part.

The U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.” The acts include “killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and/or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

@Auvergne63 I meant more the emotive stuff but we can agree to disagree. As is often pointed out 'genocide' is a legal term and as it stands Israel does not reach that threshold.
It's a sensationalist word and not only demonises Israel but draws attention away from genuine genocide such as Rwanda and Armenia.

Although I agree some of Israel's policies and politicians need changing they are not trying to exterminate the Palestinian people. Remember when they left Gaza they left infrastructure which Hamas destroyed, they employ people from Gaza in Israel, they have had ceasefires and gone to the table numerous times to discuss moving forward.

There was a massacre and there are hostages enmeshed in Gaza at the moment. And hopefully there will be a 'truce' soon.

I accept the Jewish eminent scientist but it's opinion. There is a lot of those.

Even the concept that it's become a source of debate whether the actions of Israel in Gaza right now constitutes as a genocide or not, is alarming in itself.
It highlights the severity of the situation and the ongoing trauma on civilians at disproportionate levels.

You can disagree as much as you want with the term "genocide" but when an eminent Jewish scientist ( whose entire family except parents were murdered in the holocaust and with 40 years of researching the Palestinian and Israeli conflict) declares it is a genocide, I tend to listen.
Israel is a " democracy" therefore you should hold them to have higher moral standards than a terrorist organisation and shouldn't be able "to turn everything I have said on its head". By doing so, you have just proved that the Israeli government's actions are as horrific as the Hamas' ones.

Genocide refers to intent to destroy in part or in whole a people. I think there's an argument that placing a deliberate siege on the entire population is indicative of genocidal intent - since we all know people can not survive without food, water and medical care. However, I expect scholars will debate it for years to come and we will all see the arguments on both sides at some point.

@Auvergne63 I could literally turn everything you have said on its head and from Israel's perspective.
And most importantly I disagree with the use of the word 'genocide'.

@marmaladeandpeanutbutter even the Israeli's think he is a fruitcake. See what happened when he tried to join the hostage families.
Don't tar everyone with the same brush. You don't want us to do that with Hamas.

Other attacks such as calling people antI- semetic aswell.
It makes questioning anything almost impossible. Isn’t that the point though so we shut up.

I saw on channel 4 news tonight an Israeli talking about the West bank and saying that anyone disagreeing with his right to take land there was a Nazi.

Oh sure, take whatever you like and whatever you like and then invoke holocaust politics to justify it. Bonkers. That can not be right, at all.

You're right.
I just stated my opinion - but a left wing paper writing about a right wing government in a different country with hostile nations adjacent to it isn't going to be able to tell you how it is.