Israel accused committing genocide for preventing the access to water

I thought Hamas were a terrorist organisation? Surely they can't be an army and terrorists at the same time?

Hamas are terrorists who commit heinous crimes.

IDF are an army who commit heinous crimes.

The semantics is pretty irrelevant to the victims of those crimes.

@unclemtty Naomi Klein has written about the intergenerational trauma side in her book Doppelganger. I think she's written articles elsewhere too which might be worth a Google if you're interested and don't want to buy the book.

This is a fascinating read from an Israeli journalist on the topic.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/israeli-journalist-gideon-levy-on-the-killing-of-gaza

I just can't get my head around how Isreal are able to get away with this genocide, it's so well documented and in the open.

Don't understand how people could become so monstrous. I get that they have suffered in
the past, is it this generational trauma that has bourne out to destroy their neighbours, another's life or children just doesn't mean anything?

They've been using water as a weapon against Palestinians for decades. But now obviously it's at a catastrophic level in Gaza as it's part of a genocidal effort.

I'm not worked up or trying to make a point. Just trying to understand. Strange as one minute your point was 'central to the conflict', now it can't be explained and doesn't matter at all?

Yeah I didn't say it was so not sure what point you're trying to make.

It's no big deal if you didn't understand my post. I wasn't talking to you and the post I was responding to has been deleted. I wouldn't get worked up about it if I were you.

To keep the thread on track, I think shows just how awful Israels targeted attack on the water of Gaza is. There is no way Israel doesn't know the consequences to civilians of destroying their water supply.

I don't think that follows. The IDF is not Israel either. The British army is not Britain. The armed wing of Hamas IS thr army of the gaza government. What is the practical result of the distinction you're making? Hamas is still a legitimate military target.

So I see that MNHQ deleted my post because I pointed out that saying Palestinian equals Hamas is racist, anyone who does that needs to realise that. Assuming a person is a terrorist simply because of their ethnicity is clearly a racist attitude. I don't regret it and will continue to call out this particular form of racism whenever I see it.

I was responding to a statement in a now deleted post that said Gaza is Hamas. Gaza is not Hamas and Hamas is not an army for Gaza in the way the IDF is in Israel. You can see the posts on this page.

Hezbollah isn't the government of Lebanon. Hamas is the government of gaza.

Of course I can tell the difference. Please explain what difference it makes.

Not sure I understand. If you're saying there is no palestinian army then you are agreeing with the Israeli army that they are fighting Hamas. The Hamas armed wing is answerable to Hamas as both the political wing of Hamas and the government of gaza. In practice what difference does it make? Hamas fighters are legitimate military targets.

I saw this image on social media today which I thought was relevant to this thread.

No it's not splitting hairs. I can't believe you can't tell the difference between a terrorist militant group and a state army. Remarkable.

One of the big arguments people used to defend the actions of the Israeli government and military, including justifications given by the Israeli government and military, was that they weren't attacking or targeting Palestinian citizens but were instead fighting against the terrorist group which also oppressed Palestinians - drawing a distinction between Palestinians and Hamas, arguing that they were only targeting a terrorist group. That's different from saying they're fighting a country's army. The conflict was presented as Israel vs Hamas, not Israel vs the Palestinian army (which doesn't exist).

The terms used to define the nature of a conflict do matter, so it is relevant that Hamas's armed wing is a paramilitary organisation with loyalty to Hamas rather than to the state. A national army has its responsibilities primarily to its sovereign state and citizens. The Hamas armed wing answers solely to Hamas (and people telling Hamas what to do).

Isn't that splitting hairs? Hamas is the government Hamas has fighters, fighting. What difference does it make?

Hamas has an armed wing, but that isn't the national army. Palestine doesn't have an army or any other military in that sense. Having an armed wing doesn't make that armed wing the official military of a country (eg Hezbollah's armed wing was not the actual Lebanese army).

What do you mean Hamas isn't the army? Hamas has an armed wing. Hamas 'combatants' have been attacking Israel before, on and after 7 October. If it wasn't an 'army' that was attacking Israel then it was just Palestinian civilians attacking Israel. Which is it? I agree its central to this conflict.

At least people are saying the quiet bit out loud now, so there's no doubt about what people really think.

Gone are the pretences around claims of only targeting Hamas, or wanting to protect innocent people. This is about killing Palestinians for the crime of being Palestinian, whether by bombing them or cutting off their water. It was said by officials over a year ago and it's still being done and openly supported today.

"Hamas represents Gaza and Gaza is Hamas."

Shocking stuff. Excusing war crimes.

Hamas isn't the army. Gaza doesn't have an army. It's a fairly central issue in this conflict.