This picture of Israeli soldiers smiling for a selfie in front of a destroyed Gaza...

[changefromhr]

I know there are lots of pictures. I try to avoid looking as its just so awful but this one couldn't be avoided.

How sickening that the soldiers can smile and act so happy in front of all that destruction.

This is just another picture, from the thousands, that shows how the Palestinians and their lives and homes are seen as worthless.

Why does it always come to whatsboutery? Surely everyone would agree that both pictures are disgusting? This one looks cleaner because you can’t see the dead bodies but there are most likely dozens buried in the rubble behind them.

I remember that picture of Shani Louk and it was appalling and sickening to see Hamas’ complete lack of humanity over their monstrous actions.

I also find this photo chilling with the casual smiles of the soldiers as if they are on a night out, no acknowledgment of the horrors inflicted behind them.

Many soldiers come home from war with ptsd, mentally damaged by the awful things they have seen, the awful things they might have done; because even though they are the enemy, there is still something (I guess it’s called humanity) that recoils at having caused the death of another human being. It definitely does not seem like these soldiers are going to have any issues though.

Because they are young and naive, like many others who have ended up in battle over the centuries.
You should meet a couple of the older, battle hardened ones, though they generally don't talk about the horrors.

It’s because we’re all scarf wearing useful idiots, terrorist supporting, antisemites practicing fuckwittery, who just want any excuse to criticize the world’s only Jewish state and hold it to a higher standard than any other country. Did I get that right @quantumbutterfly or did I miss anything ?
it also has nothing to do with the fact that some of us - being mothers and members of a parenting site - actually care about the horrific and disproportionate deaths of children and other mothers or human rights and international law.

Feel free to start a thread on Syria if you want (you can include why Israel bombed Damascus this week in the discussion). The topic of this thread is the photo the OP posted, so yes, you are derailing.

Ah, I see, only some people are allowed to 'broaden the context' of threads.

Whilst they are not veterans, I don’t think it’s naivety; not once they’re standing in a war zone.
It’s a complete lack of compassion or humanity. And maybe that is a byproduct of war, as we’ve seen numerous examples of a lack of empathy from both sides but that still doesn’t make it right.

Quantumbutterfly it’s just whatabouttery when you find you can’t defend the indefensible anymore. It is a bit of an uphill battle trying to defend 74 years of ethnic cleansing brutality and occupation that has now led to the total destruction of the tiny bit of land given to them by the occupiers.

Much easier to judge them from here I think.

I wonder how scared they are by what they're about to face, knowing what happened to people like them on 7/10, how much of their attitude is bravado to cover that fear. They are the same age as many of the hostages and other victims of 7/10. They may even be friends with some of those still held.

quantumbutterfly this is a photo of genuinely scared people. Hope this helps

www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/12/08/images-of-syrian-civil-war-take-on-

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/12/08/images-of-syrian-civil-war-take-on-a-second-life-in-gaza-conflict/

Take the innocent out of it and they’re both as bad as each other.

This land has been fought over for centuries if it’s not one aggressor it’s the other.

In the meantime lives are wasted.

Well they clearly aren’t as bad as each other, one is an occupier for a start and has taken 80 percent of the land. One has also killed far more than the other side every single year since it’s creation.

@Desertrose2023 , thank you for continuing to talk complete sense on this topic, especially when some posters seem to base this war on point scoring alone.

There is a massive difference with Syria. No western nation is supporting the Assad regime, there are sanctions, the opposition has been supported, most European nations have taken in Syrian refugees and continue to provide humanitarian aid. The is completely different to what is happening with Israel and Palestine where the British government are supporting Israel in their murder of innocent civilians so of course there is domestic opposition to that. It's not selective condemnation, point out the people here supporting Assad?

Fear? What have they to fear they've killed everyone, there's more of them, they've better weapons, food, medical supplies and homes to go to. I will keep my concern for the children who have seen untold horrors, had their limbs amputated without anaesthetics, seen their parents murdered, starving, are terrified and unlikely able to recover from the trauma and you expect me to feel concern for the soldiers who have inflicted this on children?

*quantumbutterfly · Today 07:37

People in Gaza are demonstrating against hamas. If one Iranian guy gets attacked by sympathisers on the streets of London, how brave are those who demonstrate against hamas in their stronghold.

I stand with those who see hamas for what they truly are.
Is it a coincidence that Syria started bombing it's own people while the world looked at Gaza. Where is the outrage? Assad has used chemical weapons on his own people. Where are the demonstrations?*

Totally agree with you!!

don’t forget how Iranians are killing there own young people every week , no demonstrations for them!!

Turkey has been killing Kurds for decades 40,000 no demos every Saturday for them.

8000 Nigerian Christians killed by Islamist attacks this year alone , no demonstrations for them today.

Are you the type of people that when someone tells you of their mum dying rather then express empathy you start telling them of your dead cat?

No. Interesting analogy. Are you comparing the terrorism to a dead cat?

No I'm not I was using it to query a personality type. We are talking about one situation and you bring up another, and don't pretend it's because of some concern for that situation its sole purpose is to try and minimise what is happening in Gaza.
You clearly didn't understand my analogy if you think the terrorists would be the dead cat.

Probably. They always deflect, deflect, deflect. I also noticed they tried to deflect the 30,000 Palestine deaths over the last few months, with 8,000 Nigerian deaths over a year. Surely one is worse than the other? I also noticed that they failed to acknowledge how the Gazans are literally trapped in a concentration camp and how our governments are deliberately financing their genocide. Of course that pisses us off.

Not as simple as that. And human lives can’t be measure by 'they killed more than me so they’re worse’. One life killed is too many. This is not a modern war created recently, yet it seems like there’ll never be an end.

That's not just controversial, it's sick.

I'd imagine the soldiers in the picture are relieved to be alive for another day, and perhaps communicating that to their family and friends.