uncle bernard

Down ballot, but I think these results also show the Dems have a major Biden problem. His numbers are awful right now. People like Dems. They don't like Biden and don't want him to run. We'll see if the Dems show some courage and make the smart move.

I think he meant to tag me

Israel should stop bombing a civilian population. The civilian death tolls, confirmed by UN workers, are far higher than other conflicts. They've killed more civilians in one month than Russia has in 2 years of war in Ukraine. There are rules of war and Israel is not following them. None of this "excuses" Hamas. It's a defense of the innocent civilians caught in the middle. And there's no evidence this campaign is making a dent in Hamas anyway. There are 10k dead and Israel is claiming success in killing 60 important Hamas personnel. That's an unacceptable rate of allowable targets vs. civilian collateral damage. And this doesn't even get into the long-term problems with this approach, which will breed more terrorism and anti-Israel sentiment in the region. What's so hard to understand? There are millions of people all over the world calling for the same thing. There are Israeli's calling for the same thing.

This is utter BS. Just hateful fantasy. Everybody wants Hamas to release the hostages. Hamas itself has offered to release the hostages in exchange for a release of illegally held Palestinian prisoners (the major strategic reason for hostage taking in the first place). Israel has chosen to ignore any diplomatic route to release in favor of bombing Gaza, undoubtedly killing hostages alongside their captors. That's why there are protests by family members of hostages in Israel.

assuming people of a certain race/religion are bad people until proven otherwise is racism. you are a racist.

willie liking a post calling me filth followed by liking a post criticizing him for not being able to see past his cognitive biases is a little rich lol

so you think Hamas was right to murder Israeli civilians for the crimes of the Israeli government? that’s quite the endorsement.

that is not what all muslims believe. simply a racist caricature. have you ever met a muslim?

saying “civilians aren’t responsible for the crimes of their government” makes me filth? or is this another adventure in you not being able to read?

It's also what Hamas says about the civilians it murdered on 10/7. It's moral weakness. Not surprising from you though.

Bin Laden's justification for 9/11

Opium production down 95% since the US pulled out of Afghanistan. Weird….

that’s fine. it’s still ethnic cleansing if they do it. doesn’t matter if you think they deserve it.

"who is talking about forcible removal?" "there are palestinians fearing for their life that want to leave" who are they afraid of? fleeing under threat of death is forcible removal. will Israel commit to letting them return after the war? if not, that's ethnic cleansing. Also, many Israeli's are pretty open about wanting to forcibly remove them. In fact, many of them want to kill all the arabs. You see that at almost every major Israeli rally. A government minister just advocated nuking Gaza (nukes they aren't even supposed to have btw).

@Bigbrog @GreatWhiteNorth Here Israel's Intelligence Ministry is arguing they should ethnically cleanse Gaza. That's pretty definitive. Nobody can credibly say ethnic cleansing is off the table here.

I've condemned Hamas explicitly over and over again. As for ethnic cleansing, we are talking about a hypothetical scenario where IF Israel forces the Palestinians to leave (which many Israeli politicians have said publicly btw), that would be ethnic cleansing. And that is a major reason surrounding countries will not take in a mass migration of refugees. They don't want to be party to ethnic cleansing in that scenario. Half the problem in this thread is you guys get so spitting mad, you start arguing against positions nobody is advocating. You're just yelling into the void.

I think you're greatly underestimating the power of this political issue. But you're right that security concerns definitely play a part. Hamas would certainly have cells among the refugees and start operating out of the Sinai.

imagine this was your daily reality

I had personal finance education starting in middle school. I'm sure not every school does it, but it definitely exists. Getting kids to pay attention is another story.

of course hamas doesn’t follow international law. they are a terrorist group. israel is supposed to be a civilized country who follows the law. if you disagree and think they’re a terror state, that’s fine, but i have higher expectations for a country that receives billions in taxpayer money.

you have serious issues with reading comp. willie asked why arab countries aren’t letting refugees in. in this hypothetical situation, if egypt were to let in all the palestinian refugees and Israel did not let them return, that would be ethnic cleansing. that is what egypt is afraid of. we were discussing a hypothetical. i don’t know how to make it more clear for you. this is data for progress all over again.

also just pointing out that israel said civilians would be safe in south gaza, but bombed it anyway. at some point, you guys have to give israel some of the blame for the damage here, even if you think they’re on the right side. they are not following international law. civilians always die in war, but not at this scale. israel has already killed more civilians in 3 weeks than russia has killed in nearly 2 years of war. claims that they try to avoid civilian harm are not serious.

not in the final result. if egypt opens the door, the palestinians are forced in to escape the bombing and not allowed to return, egypt will be blamed in the arab world forever for allowing israel to ethnically cleansed gaza. im not saying it’s a good thing. i’m just telling you that is the political reality and the main reason they aren’t letting them in right now. obviously, the palestinians are the ones suffering for this political game between israel and the arab world, but that’s not new.