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Conflict in the Middle East

Pagers and walkie talkies .....audacious and successful strike against terrorists

395 replies

mids2019 · 21/09/2024 05:24

If a large number of members of Al Quaeda or ISIS were killed with a precise attack I think in the West there would be admiration and indeed satisfaction that such a military success had occurred.

However I am disturbed by the reporting of the targeted neutralization of terrorists within Lebanon with even the main stream press virtually describing those struck as civilians and questioning the legality and morality of this! Have we lost our moral compassess?

There were some unfortunate civil an deaths but given the scale of the strike this was a terrible inevitability. However the civil an to combatant rratio was very small in reality as the explosions were kinky d to a personal zone. Yet when we read the press we allow terrorist propaganda calling the events a massacre of even that trumped up word 'genocide' that people seem to love.

If Osama bin Laden had been brought to a local hospital would we have allowed weeping doctors to lament his injuries? Thought not.

OP posts:
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ohfook · 22/09/2024 08:30

Teddleshon · 22/09/2024 08:17

@ohfook but that definition there's not a single country on earth who qualifies as one of the "good guys"

Yes that's my point. Powerful people letting millions die in their stupid battles all while trying to convince the populace that they're the ones with right on their side. Drawing up these divisions based on religion, land etc when I know for a fact that I have more in common with a mother in Israel, a mother in Palestine and a mother in Russia than I have in common with anyone making decisions about those countries.

Just like my own grandmother in the 1940s probably had far more in common with a German young wife and mother that she would've had with the governments of either of those countries.

Also while I'm ranting it infuriates me that people refuse to look at events in context in order to learn lessons from them. If the treaty of Versailles taught us anything it's that if you treat a population like absolute shit they will back someone, anyone, who will help them even if it's a fucking terrible idea. Yet here we are 80 years later surprised that we watched Israel treat an entire population like shit and now a group purporting to help them have some support even though they are undoubtedly also terrible.

Teddleshon · 22/09/2024 08:17

@ohfook but that definition there's not a single country on earth who qualifies as one of the "good guys"

Tuppence1234 · 22/09/2024 08:17

Israel is the occupying force here actually. And they seem to do a pretty good job of wiping out the Palestinians…

TomeTome · 22/09/2024 08:13

To get the three above you have to remove an ideology which wants to remove Israel from existence and how do we go about achieving that?
Or change the behaviour of the rogue state so that it’s existence is a positive thing?

EasternStandard · 22/09/2024 08:04

mids2019 · 22/09/2024 07:24

So if Palestine is a state why would not harbour a hate filled group such as Hamas? Does a state act as a terrorist group? A stars has boundaries by definition and agreeing those boundaries would be a big step toward peace as you would have rule of law in such states. If you had bouldering the Palestinians that did truly believe Paelstine was a state and not have an ideology which only accepts a single state in which Israel becomes Paelstine you might get progress.

A two state solution and hence peace will only work when

(a) Israel accepts a two state solution
(b) Palestinians accept a two state solution
(c) Borders are agreed and there is security along those borders

To get the three above you have to remove an ideology which wants to remove Israel from existence and how do we go about achieving that?

That's pretty much the question posed from after October 7th and the difficult part

ohfook · 22/09/2024 07:49

My moral compass is this. I don't care if you're British, Ukrainian, Russian, Palestinian, Lebanese or Israeli, once you kill a child you have no right to consider yourself one of the good guys.

I'll let the rich and powerful draw up their borders and create division based on religions and imaginary lines drawn across the earth and I'll keep all of my sympathy for the civilians, on all sides, who get caught up in all of this shit.

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 07:47

The americans are now saying they suspect hamas doesn’t actually want a deal.

does Nentanhayu actually want it?

Flibflobflibflob · 22/09/2024 07:45

mids2019 · 22/09/2024 07:24

So if Palestine is a state why would not harbour a hate filled group such as Hamas? Does a state act as a terrorist group? A stars has boundaries by definition and agreeing those boundaries would be a big step toward peace as you would have rule of law in such states. If you had bouldering the Palestinians that did truly believe Paelstine was a state and not have an ideology which only accepts a single state in which Israel becomes Paelstine you might get progress.

A two state solution and hence peace will only work when

(a) Israel accepts a two state solution
(b) Palestinians accept a two state solution
(c) Borders are agreed and there is security along those borders

To get the three above you have to remove an ideology which wants to remove Israel from existence and how do we go about achieving that?

I think you are right for peaceful co-existence the basic ideology of Hamas which is that Israel has to be destroyed and the Jews leave or killed isn’t going to work. I mentioned on another thread a podcast interviewing an american who went to a hamas conference. They were talking about what they would do the day after they beat Israel, options on the table were “kill all the Jews” or “kill most of the jews but keep the clever ones to work for us”. I mean wtf do you do with that kind of thinking!? This was a conference. These people are mad, Palestinians definitely have cause for complaint but their leadership is insane.

The americans are now saying they suspect hamas doesn’t actually want a deal. In the last round the Israelis acceded to demands Hamas made and then Hamas that they still weren’t going to sign up. It’s all very well telling the Israelis there should be a ceasefire but the other side need to want it too.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-september-20-2024

The United States does not expect Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire-hostage agreement in the coming months, according to the Wall Street Journal.[11] Anonymous US officials told the outlet that Hamas has made demands in the negotiations and then refused to accept a deal after the United States and Israel accepted those demands. This behavior has led international negotiators to doubt that Hamas seriously wants a deal. Senior US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have similarly questioned whether Hamas is sincerely looking to reach a deal.[12] The officials also cited disagreement between Israel and Hamas about hostage-prisoner swaps as an obstacle in negotiations. The officials added that Israel detonating pagers and personal radios owned by Lebanese Hezbollah members has further complicated diplomatic engagement with Hamas. An anonymous Arab official similarly said that there was “no chance” of a ceasefire-hostage agreement after Israel detonated the pagers and personal radios.

Institute for the Study of War

Israel appears to be exploiting disarray in Lebanese Hezbollah in order to inflict further damage upon the group.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-september-20-2024

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 07:37

Flibflobflibflob · 22/09/2024 07:35

I agree with that, war crimes should not be acceptable. The booby trap rule is about not using things that attract or draw civilians, it doesn’t mean you can’t use bobbly traps. So setting out a stall with free food then bombing it when people come would be a straightforward example. i’m not convinced this meets that threshold, there was no effort to attract civilians for example. But thats for the lawyers to thrash out.

Indiscriminately bombing civilian populations like Hezbollah are doing is probably a war crime (except they have been evacuated so don’t know) there has to be a justification for it and it has to be proportional. Just bombing somewhere for no particular reason like an apartment block or residential area where civilians are present without any military necessity is clearly a war crime. There are definitely questions over Israels actions in Gaza, targeting of sites that have hamas members for example, is the military rationale for doing so justified and is the collateral damage proportionate.

It’s not really about whether you feel it’s a war crime or not from my understanding. Not every civilian death meets the threshold of war crime. Not liking something doesn’t make it a war crime, Things you may find abhorrent may be completely legal.

Im not an expert. But international organisations are and as mentioned above they’re quite worried about Israel’s actions and feel it won’t bring peace to the area ,

Flibflobflibflob · 22/09/2024 07:35

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 07:19

What people are telling is not that Israel can’t respond. What people are saying is that Israel must respond within the law and without committing war crimes.

not a single international organisation has congratulated Israel for this operation. In fact , they’re quite worried about it

I agree with that, war crimes should not be acceptable. The booby trap rule is about not using things that attract or draw civilians, it doesn’t mean you can’t use bobbly traps. So setting out a stall with free food then bombing it when people come would be a straightforward example. i’m not convinced this meets that threshold, there was no effort to attract civilians for example. But thats for the lawyers to thrash out.

Indiscriminately bombing civilian populations like Hezbollah are doing is probably a war crime (except they have been evacuated so don’t know) there has to be a justification for it and it has to be proportional. Just bombing somewhere for no particular reason like an apartment block or residential area where civilians are present without any military necessity is clearly a war crime. There are definitely questions over Israels actions in Gaza, targeting of sites that have hamas members for example, is the military rationale for doing so justified and is the collateral damage proportionate.

It’s not really about whether you feel it’s a war crime or not from my understanding. Not every civilian death meets the threshold of war crime. Not liking something doesn’t make it a war crime, Things you may find abhorrent may be completely legal.

mids2019 · 22/09/2024 07:32

Lebanon is a state and Israel is not at war with it. However Hizbolla h effectively use the state as a base to launch attacks on Israel. In effect Lebanon is a field state and has no power to curb a vicious Islamist terrorist group (or army) acting in its midst.

For Palestinians to have a functioning state (as possible have alluded to) then you can't have a recognised IN state that still harbours groups like Hamas that could launch attacks on Israel and wash its hands of it; in that event Israel would declare war on Palesrine, occupy it and you are back to square one just with an occupied IN chartered state.

Realistically you need to combat the ideology of Islraeli hate and take out extremists in parallel with forming a functioning Palestiinian state. If Palsetinains have state and the protection of a state then all the abuses alluded to earlier wouldn't happen.

I think a big question is how it you have a Palestinian state would you prevent war between Israel and Palestine as states? I think currently that may be an inevitability.

OP posts:
mids2019 · 22/09/2024 07:24

So if Palestine is a state why would not harbour a hate filled group such as Hamas? Does a state act as a terrorist group? A stars has boundaries by definition and agreeing those boundaries would be a big step toward peace as you would have rule of law in such states. If you had bouldering the Palestinians that did truly believe Paelstine was a state and not have an ideology which only accepts a single state in which Israel becomes Paelstine you might get progress.

A two state solution and hence peace will only work when

(a) Israel accepts a two state solution
(b) Palestinians accept a two state solution
(c) Borders are agreed and there is security along those borders

To get the three above you have to remove an ideology which wants to remove Israel from existence and how do we go about achieving that?

OP posts:
Tuppence1234 · 22/09/2024 07:19

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 07:05

Palestine doesn't exist as a state and so cannot be destroyed.

I won’t continue discussing with you after it.

from wikipedia

Palestine,[i] officially the State of Palestine,[ii][e] is a country in the southern Levant region of West Asia recognized by 145 out of 193 UN member states

HTH

Edited

Norway, Ireland and Spain recognise Palestine as its own free state.

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 07:19

Flibflobflibflob · 22/09/2024 07:18

Israel is wrong, it’s simple, settlers should be jailed, detention without charge is wrong. It is not hard to see that. What I don’t understand though is why people struggle with the simple idea that when Hezbollah attacked Israel that Israel would respond. It is not a complicated idea.

What people are telling is not that Israel can’t respond. What people are saying is that Israel must respond within the law and without committing war crimes.

not a single international organisation has congratulated Israel for this operation. In fact , they’re quite worried about it

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 07:18

Flibflobflibflob · 22/09/2024 07:15

This is the problem with language. This wasn’t an indiscriminate attack on children. This was an attack on people holding hezbollah pagers. They were not targeting children. Children are not the targets here. Reports suggest 32 Hezbollah fighters died and the vast majority injured were Hezbollah. The level of collateral damage was minimal. For the scale of impact that was a successful mission. That sounds cold but they are at war. People keep repeating this idea that there were mass civilian casualties but there weren’t. Even Hezbollah are not claiming that.

It’s a war, there will be collateral damage, that doesn’t sound nice at all does it. Do you think Hezbollah entered the war believing they wouldn’t kill Israeli children or that some Lebanese children wouldn’t die. People on here sound really detached from reality to me.

Hezbollah voluntarily started attacking Israel. Hezbollah said they will not stop bombing the north of Israel. Israel is not obliged to accept that just in case they accidentally kill a Lebanese citizen. When you are being bombed daily for almost a year you will respond. People talk about the radicalising of Gazans with each Israeli attack, what do you think happens to Israelis after something like 7th October? What happens when you have experienced a massive terror attack and then your neighbour to your north starts bombing you.

What is your solution? Nasrallah has clearly stated the bombing will not stop. Israel is left with the option to do nothing and just give up the north of Israel or try to stop it.

You can say something like “well Hezbollah are a bit naughty bombing Israel (with no control over who they hit btw) but Israel’s targeting Hezbollah fighters was awful”. Thats nice, have you solved the problem? Is there now peace in the middle east?

It’s a war, there will be collateral damage

as long as you accept collateral damage from Israeli civilians side as well.
I’d prefer to be honest if there was no collateral damage from Lebanese or Israeli people

Flibflobflibflob · 22/09/2024 07:18

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 07:14

Don’t forget that they also shoot by mistake at innocent civilians. They throw people off the roofs by mistake. Kill aid worker by mistake. rape civilians by mistake. Detain civilians and torture them by mistake. Kill elderly women in churches by mistake.

all by mistake and that of course don’t worry the government / idf are investigating these incidents and we promise you it won’t happen again. It’s all love

Edited

Israel is wrong, it’s simple, settlers should be jailed, detention without charge is wrong. It is not hard to see that. What I don’t understand though is why people struggle with the simple idea that when Hezbollah attacked Israel that Israel would respond. It is not a complicated idea.

BelleHathor · 22/09/2024 07:18

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 06:40

I think many people are seeing the atrocities Israel is committing in the name of self defence so find it really difficult to justify what IDF and the government are doing. War crimes are war crimes regardless of who is doing them.

I also feel it’s Israel’s citizens to think whether their government is acting in the interest of their citizens. However , the last few polls that are coming out of Israel have made me quite disappointed as many of them justify IDFs actions. It can’t and won’t be peace through the destruction of Palestine either.

it’s sad that in order to provide your opinion @mids2019 you feel you have to to attack other peoples opinion.

Exactly, according to journalist Barak Ravid: "U.S. officials told me they recognize Israel's "de-escalation through escalation" rational and agree with it, but stress this is an "extremely difficult calibration" that could easily go out of control and lead to an all-out war"
https://www.axios.com/2024/09/21/us-israel-lebanon-hezbollah-war-pressure-diplomatic-deal

In their initial response last night to Israeli actions, Hezbollah has just finished firing 6 rounds of rockets deeper into Israel, hitting targets as far as Haifa (focusing on the military base where the planes that bomb Lebanon take off from).

This is an escalation as they've moved from using rockets with a limit of 10km to larger ammunition with further reach. Sirens sounded for 6 hours.
The IDF (with no sense of irony) is complaining:
https://x.com/IDF/status/1837707589410255169

Though it could be asked what did they expect? De-escalation through escalation only works if your enemy fears you and if you have the capability to back it up strategically. Also lying about taking out rockets and launchers without actually doing so, leaves your enemy able to respond.

x.com

https://x.com/IDF/status/1837707589410255169

Tuppence1234 · 22/09/2024 07:17

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 07:05

Palestine doesn't exist as a state and so cannot be destroyed.

I won’t continue discussing with you after it.

from wikipedia

Palestine,[i] officially the State of Palestine,[ii][e] is a country in the southern Levant region of West Asia recognized by 145 out of 193 UN member states

HTH

Edited

@mids2019 despite your posts being some of the more lengthy here, all you repeatedly seem to say is Hamas and Hizbollah = hate Israel and must be stopped. Israel = the good guys and must be able to defend themselves. Regardless of the atrocities people list, you blindly go for the defense line and any murder of civilians only happened because accident, unfortunate, human shield etc

Anything put in front of you whether it be from the UN, Amnesty, humanitarian organisations etc about the atrocities Israel is committing is ignored or must be Hamas propagana.

If people don’t support the Israeli government, they must be hamas / hizbollah supporters in your book, because you cannot fathom that you can support neither party and there is no right side in this conflict except for the civilian side.

I would be interested to know your view of the illegal occupation of Palestinian areas and Israel’s
policy over the decades, are you for a two state solution and how do you think we can get there? Do you want to recognise Palestine as a free state?

Israel has the right to defend themselves. So has the people of Palestine against Israel’s occupation. This is clear in International law. At the moment, both parties are breaking that law and this is what people are arguing.

Israel will never disarm its enemies. They are backed by Iran who will just keep supplying weapons. It’s a highly motivated enemy and for every terrorist Israel kills, new terrorists will be recruited. The more this conflict escalates, the more likely a full war in the region will be and it won’t be pretty and is also likely to reach our neck of the wood in terms of terror.

Flibflobflibflob · 22/09/2024 07:15

FrippEnos · 22/09/2024 00:39

How does indiscriminately killing children come under "defending your own country"?

I'm not going to support Hezbollah or Hamas when they do it so I am not going to support Israel when they do it either.

This is the problem with language. This wasn’t an indiscriminate attack on children. This was an attack on people holding hezbollah pagers. They were not targeting children. Children are not the targets here. Reports suggest 32 Hezbollah fighters died and the vast majority injured were Hezbollah. The level of collateral damage was minimal. For the scale of impact that was a successful mission. That sounds cold but they are at war. People keep repeating this idea that there were mass civilian casualties but there weren’t. Even Hezbollah are not claiming that.

It’s a war, there will be collateral damage, that doesn’t sound nice at all does it. Do you think Hezbollah entered the war believing they wouldn’t kill Israeli children or that some Lebanese children wouldn’t die. People on here sound really detached from reality to me.

Hezbollah voluntarily started attacking Israel. Hezbollah said they will not stop bombing the north of Israel. Israel is not obliged to accept that just in case they accidentally kill a Lebanese citizen. When you are being bombed daily for almost a year you will respond. People talk about the radicalising of Gazans with each Israeli attack, what do you think happens to Israelis after something like 7th October? What happens when you have experienced a massive terror attack and then your neighbour to your north starts bombing you.

What is your solution? Nasrallah has clearly stated the bombing will not stop. Israel is left with the option to do nothing and just give up the north of Israel or try to stop it.

You can say something like “well Hezbollah are a bit naughty bombing Israel (with no control over who they hit btw) but Israel’s targeting Hezbollah fighters was awful”. Thats nice, have you solved the problem? Is there now peace in the middle east?

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 07:14

AhNowTed · 22/09/2024 07:09

@mids2019

How convenient to paint a picture of all the hatred being on the "other side".

Meanwhile peace-loving Isreal is bulldozing Palestine homes on the West Bank, stealing their land, while armed settlers are terrorising farmers under the protection of the Israeli state, police and IDF.

Prior to Oct 7th, 2023 was the deadliest year to be a Palestinian on the WB, when Israel shot over 500 civilians including over 100 children.

Tell me about the hatred again?

Don’t forget that they also shoot by mistake at innocent civilians. They throw people off the roofs by mistake. Kill aid worker by mistake. rape civilians by mistake. Detain civilians and torture them by mistake. Kill elderly women in churches by mistake.

all by mistake and that of course don’t worry the government / idf are investigating these incidents and we promise you it won’t happen again. It’s all love

AhNowTed · 22/09/2024 07:09

@mids2019

How convenient to paint a picture of all the hatred being on the "other side".

Meanwhile peace-loving Isreal is bulldozing Palestine homes on the West Bank, stealing their land, while armed settlers are terrorising farmers under the protection of the Israeli state, police and IDF.

Prior to Oct 7th, 2023 was the deadliest year to be a Palestinian on the WB, when Israel shot over 500 civilians including over 100 children.

Tell me about the hatred again?

EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 07:05

Palestine doesn't exist as a state and so cannot be destroyed.

I won’t continue discussing with you after it.

from wikipedia

Palestine,[i] officially the State of Palestine,[ii][e] is a country in the southern Levant region of West Asia recognized by 145 out of 193 UN member states

HTH

mids2019 · 22/09/2024 06:59

I think ultimately it's got to be accepted there are many in the region that want Israel not to exist. I don't think you can get round this personally. The reason Hizbollah have rockets is not to defend Lebanon but to offer a continuous threat to a country they have backed by Iran. We have Israel surrounded by neighbours that are fuelled by a hate filled ideology as evidenced by October 7th that are willing to kill Israelis to fulfil their ideological aims.

If Hizbollah are using rockets to make Israel uninhabitable then whatnot Israel meant to do!?.a reasonable person would suggest targeting the rocket launchers and those that man them. This is the action Israel took.

If a terrorist organisation killed over a thousand of your citizens then what should you do? You take action to remove said organisation; this is what Israel is doing. Every state has a right to self defence.

Palestine doesn't exist as a state and so cannot be destroyed. What can be destroyed are the units of terrorists acting in the Gaza strip. The unfortunate thing (and this does worry some Israelis granted) is the civilian death toll. I think the way to protect future Gazans is to find a peace but that will always be thwarted if you have those that wish to destroy Israel in charge.

If Israel had more peaceable neighbours then rheumatoid keep voting in governments that are focussed on security;. Until there is a wider acceptance of the right of Israel to exist I cannot see an immediate solution.

OP posts:
EasterIssland · 22/09/2024 06:40

I think many people are seeing the atrocities Israel is committing in the name of self defence so find it really difficult to justify what IDF and the government are doing. War crimes are war crimes regardless of who is doing them.

I also feel it’s Israel’s citizens to think whether their government is acting in the interest of their citizens. However , the last few polls that are coming out of Israel have made me quite disappointed as many of them justify IDFs actions. It can’t and won’t be peace through the destruction of Palestine either.

it’s sad that in order to provide your opinion @mids2019 you feel you have to to attack other peoples opinion.

mids2019 · 22/09/2024 06:11

Currently Israeli jets are taking out rocket launching positions in Lebanon presumably manned by exactly the same people that some apparently sympathise with after the pager strike. This is absolutely vital self defence from Israel and I would be amazed if someone tried to challenge this notion. It also begs questions about how Israel can defend its people of we bowed down to the useful idiots that suggest disarming Israel in the west.

A fair reporting of Lennon is that Israel has had a great deal of tactical success recently and Hizbollah is being dealt a major blow. A terrorist organisation being dismantled gets a thumbs up from me. Hezbollah I think has failed to get the PR win it wished by laughably portraying the pager attacks as a terrorist event or highlighting Vivian casuaties. The hyperbole hasn't worked as far as Hizbollah is concerned.

I think Hamas supporters worry that it is becoming more apparent to the world the real threats Israel face and the sheer number of rockets possessed by Hizbollah is persuading many right minded people to clearly see Israel's right and need to defend itself amongst a constant demonstration of its state, people and armed forces. Israel is at war.

It is hard to beat terrorist ideology granted but they can be neutered to an extent through removal of the capability of waging armed attacks and it is sensible to do this. One of the problems looking for a lasting peace here is that you cannot by definition find peace with groups whose sole reason of existence is to destroy you. How can Hamas and Hizbollah realistically talk of a lasting sustainable peace in the region when hatred of Israel is in their DNA? I think ultimately it is for the Plaestinaina and Lebanese people to think which leading groups are acting in their best interests in terms of peace and prosperity for their peoples. It can't and won't be a peace and prosperity through the destruction of Israel so there needs to be a change in attitude in those countries that surround Israel.

OP posts: