To think forced starvation is just plain evil!

[Farticus101]

On the BBC today. The UN has condemned using man made starvation as a war tactic. Surely we can come to a general consensus that whatever you think about the conflict, Israel's actions here are just plain evil?

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/11/there-is-suffering-everywhere-you-look-says-mother-of-emaciated-baby-girl-trapped-in-gaza

Is that a threat?

Forced starvation is and always will be incredibly cruel.
I had an uncle who was a POW to the Japanese. To his dying day he would never have any items in his home that were from Japan, quite a feat to maintain with the musical thechnology he came to love in retirement.
I remember him recounting how when he was returned with other soldiers, the whole town came out to see them and created a welcome party. But when he and others exited the bus, the crowd fell silent and women sobbed. Many couldn’t walk through the gates they were so weak. I have never forgotten his story and how it impacted him for the rest of his life.
I am exceptionally torn on what Israel should or shouldn’t be doing, equally I am forever haunted by what Hamas have made clear they intend to continue doing. It’s an awful world out there right now- we need prayers, proactive actions and a huge consideration of history before applying awful tactics like this.

Yes. So why don't Hamas surrender? Why don’t Iran and the other Arab countries put pressure on them to do so? Why are useful idiots around the world encouraging them to keep fighting? Surrender is what has happened throughout history when one side has had to acknowledge that they have lost a war and want to spare their population any further suffering. Surely that would end the aid blockade immediately.

By not surrendering, Hamas are demonstrating yet again that they care nothing about the suffering of ordinary Palestinians. And the useful idiots are encouraging them to continue with that attitude.

The UK government is not supporting Putin. The UK has enacted many sanctions against Russia and is providing aid and weapons to Ukraine. It is treating Russia as the enemy but they are still treating Israel as an ally and selling arms and components to make arms to Israel.

How you can say that Israel gets all the flack and Russia gets none is baffling. It's the other way round.

and yet a whopping 21% here on this thread think it is !

What the hell is wrong with some people

Starving civilians, snipers shooting kids in the head, bombing hospitals, killing aid workers, raping detainees, executing ambulance workers, is not defending yourself, it is committing war crimes.

Of course 21% of people who voted YABU do not think starving babies and children is ok.

Think about it - this is Mumsnet. Most of the people on here are parents or grandparents, or people hoping to have children one day.

It's likely that 0% of us think starving babies and children is ok. But some of us think the situation in Gaza is more nuanced than the poll suggests and that Israel are not blocking aid to be evil but because Hamas have been hijacking the aid. The US are about to announce a plan to reintroduce humanitarian aid into Gaza in a way that Hamas can't intercept it.

I don't at all agree with Israel blocking aid into Gaza by the way. But I can see that the situation is more nuanced than you are trying to make out.

More like 21% think the way the question is phrased is unreasonable.

The threads question is
whether forced starvation is evil.

There may be other issues to consider but 21% voted that they believe it is not evil
because…….blah blah
It either is or isn’t.
No one is stopping people voting and thinking it is evil and then explaining why it’s happening

It’s a very simple question. It’s one of War Crimes

Should an army be allowed to starve civilians

Yes or No

So isn’t what putin doing also genocide? Isn’t hamas’ aim genocide? yes.
most wars come down to genocide because if you want to push people out from where they live because they are not you or you want all the space or whatever your random reason is, you are trying to eradicate people for being other.

And did Gaza vote them in - not all of them you cry, no, but they did. You ignore this. Not all of America voted in trump yet the Americans are getting dragged through the mud for it.

my “hot take” is that all murders are disgusting. All acts of war are evil. And running around declaring Israel alone to be evil actually validates hamas’ disgusting actions and puts it all on a totem pole of evil. It’s all fucking evil. Israel’s doing evil things. So is Hamas. It’s all evil. If that’s a “hot take” fine. But here’s my actual hot take - Your “hot take” that the team you like more is innocent and the team you don’t like is evil, is childish and exacerbates division across the world, not just in Gaza.

No but wait for The Justifiers in 3, 2,1...

YANBU. Israel is a pariah state to the world. Nobody with any humanity would condone their actions.

Yanbu at all.

I’d rather see this from a non Israel news source. I can only see Israeli news sites reporting on it, surely, if true it would have been reported by western media too?

but, taking the translation at face value - is it not that they are building tunnels to defend themselves. Similar to what any “army” would do in a “war”? And is it not factual that the occupation has a responsibility to Gazan people and that they are breaking international law by not fulfilling that?

im just unsure we can say that Israel are justified in their actions because they think that Hamas are terrorists. Innocent people in Palestine are not Hamas, no matter what Netanyahu might say.

People have absolutely tried to justify October 7th. The world has - to the point the Israeli Eurovision act couldn’t reference it in a song as it was too controversial apparently. People have even done it on this thread.

There is a video on the site with the Hamas official speaking in his own words, so the source is not really relevant.

But NYT also covered it ... arguing in support of fighting amongst civilians and against any responsibility to protect civilians. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/world/middleeast/hamas-gaza-israel-fighting.html

Absolutely, my local Daunt Books is promoting a book called Hamas: A Beginner's Guide, which describes Oct 7 as a 'consequence.'

I only LEARNED of Oct 7 because people were celebrating and beeping car horns outside my window. They were chanting and cheering the death toll ... and wearing face paint like it was a big party while innocent people were being kidnapped and murdered in horrific ways.

The aim of the Eurovision Song Contest is not to be political
Every country must adhere to this
Israel like every country ( because they are no more special ) has to abide by the rules.
Not referencing October 7th had nothing to do with its justification

“Horrifying” because someone’s not subscribing to a simplistic “goodies vs baddies” narrative?

So you think Putin blowing people up isn’t as big of a deal? I’m genuinely confused as how someone saying they think all war is evil is a bad thing but ok 👍

Except some people are mature enough to know that the world is very rarely divided into Good and Evil, 100% Goodies or 100% Baddies. Nuance may be inconvenient and less useful for headlines or virtue signalling, but it’s usually correct.

Quite fascinating that the only photo of a starved human on this thread has been ignored. Haha, why could that be I wonder.