11 November 2023: Addition of four excellent article links plus some modest rhetorical refinements.
I especially recommend the four exceptionally insightful and incisive articles here, here, here, and here. Among a great mass of other superb journalism about this and other wars and matters at Aljazeera.com, including excellent opinion articles such as this, this, this, this, this, this, and this, is this comment in this article:
"However, what is apparent is that the suffering will be borne by the innocent civilians in Gaza who are being subjected to a fierce operation by air that leaves nowhere for them to go, and who analysts expect will also soon be invaded by land. The civilians of Israel are also suffering, as they mourn their dead and search desperately for the missing."
The informative article there suggests to me that Hamas or other combatants may soon devise additional surprisingly effective strategies and tactics. Their vicious acts, born of desperation from decades of oppression by others and the vacuous ethical metrics which spring from obsession for justice at any cost, are horrific but they're an important element in a bully versus bully theater wherein Israel's current government conducts brutal programs of illegal colonialism and apartheid which are profoundly unjust, inhumane, and make life Hell for ordinary Palestinians, and is reacting to the 7 October uprising not with a measured response, but with almost completely unrestrained murderous fury.
The damage is massive, multifaceted, and enduring. The grotesque inhumanity will hang for years or even decades over Israel and supporting countries, especially the USA, as a great dark cloud of intentional heinous human rights abuse, leaving Planet Earth with no respectable or trustworthy superpower - we're now a world dominated by heartless bully nations who embrace a reptilian brain driven 'might makes right' mentality. This provides more than ample hate inflamed rationale for extremist groups or nations who side with terribly oppressed people to respond with WMDs. And they likely will.
Israel's decades long continuous theft of Palestinian land and oppression of Palestinian people is clearly criminal, as has been amply registered by the UN and oft reported by numerous globally respected institutions, several of which have warned of the severe dangers such injustices create. Neither past nor recent crimes against Israelis or Israel by immoral murderous nations or groups grant Israel license to overt race or ethnicity based oppression and brutalization of Palestinians. Surviving tyranny and murder is a great honor. But those who then tyrannize and murder others sacrifice all honor once held, replacing it with profound eternal shame.
Israel's primary benefactor, the US government, appears to view the Palestinian people as so subhuman that they've made only token efforts to discourage atrocious Israeli government oppression over decades, and is thus complicit to the tragedy of the amply predicted uprising. And most shockingly the US government supports Israel's brutalities as the world watches this tragedy unfold. My own country's behavior in this matter is absolutely disgusting and remarkably myopic. And that'll likely cost all of us very dearly later.
Human beings are inherently prone to discount the possibility of a surprising event. Even after a quite recent one. So most casual observers probably expect Israel to crush all Palestinians in the region until they're too exhausted to resist ordinary oppression, after which an extended stable period of the normal daily grind of injustice against Palestinian people will resume.
But this insane war is amplifying hatreds to extremely intense and enduring levels, and human beings do not soon forget nor forgive such injustices, nor ever forget nor forgive ongoing injustices. Another uprising will likely occur. But the outrageous brutality of Israel's response to the 7 October uprising might prompt a far more devastating terrorist reaction because the most egregious examples of long term asymmetrical warfare make an extreme response, such as use of a WMD, seem amply justified. This could happen.
It would of course be a horrific catastrophe. But it should not be viewed as surprising. It will, just as many viewed the 7 October uprising as surprising. But it shouldn't - ample warning was and is perfectly clear in both cases.
This substantial danger will grow ever more likely until the global community, including the USA, applies effective and relentless pressure on Israel to compel it to:
1. Completely cease aggression and brutalization against the mass of Palestinians who simply want fundamental justice.
2. Genuinely seek a two state solution.
3. Make substantive amends for past injustices to innocents.
Israel has a right to exist in peace, but has no right to force Palestinians from existence nor oppose a reasonable creation of a viable Palestinian state. The United States should provide only enough aid to Israel to insure that it can survive against those who seek to eradicate the nation, but with a strictly enforced condition that they completely cease oppression of others, including of course by illegal land occupations. America must force Israel to choose between survival related aid or wanton heartless oppression of others. Anything less than strict enforcement of such terms is a profound American ethics failure which is utterly transparent to the entire civilized world.
In my estimation time is short. The current rage is white hot. Hamas, their supporters, and their proxies seem likely to act as soon as the necessary logistics can be arranged. It won't be easy of course. But they demonstrated patient, clever, skillful, and tenacious asymmetrical warfare in the 7 October uprising - they're skilled fighters. If they elect to use a WMD they'll likely eventually succeed. The only way to prevent this is to thoroughly eliminate injustice against all people. Which everyone should want and demand anyway of course.
The DoomsDay clock stands at a mere 90 seconds from midnight. For good reason. But key governments wallow in ignorance and denial as they seem far more focused on forging a world of just two groups of clearly defined belligerent adversaries, one led by the USA and the other by China with major partner Russia.
No rational human being wants to live in such a world, but major governments seem to view it as inevitable and consider its formation a race to urge states to join their side. And the most powerful nations seem willing to set ethics aside whenever they think doing so will help persuade a smaller nation to join their group. In the process the Palestinian people and others are thrown to the wolves as disposable collateral damage in the supposed greater competition to form the stronger of two competing global empire bullies.
Most of these countries, including the USA, lost the courage to put respect for genuine justice, human rights, and a sense of humanity first and relegate empire building at any cost to dysfunctional and destructive governments. Shame on all of us. And not just for the ethics failures, but also for pure stupidity by forgetting that America stands strong only to the extent that it's a country and culture of genuinely and uniquely high ethical standards. America's comparative strength is waning not because of relative loss of industrial opportunity, but because it's increasingly indistinguishable, both within and without, from morally bankrupt nations.
And this ghastly cowardice of moral conviction may cost all of us very dearly. Because in a world with WMDs, brutal criminal oppression of a skillful adversary is remarkably stupid and utterly irresponsible.
If tyranny and oppression completely end and functional peace is established, at least one change of generation must still pass for hatreds in this matter to substantially subside. Every day of continued oppression just defers such a time another day. Currently the region is rife with murderous rage. All outside parties must absolutely insist that all physical hostilities and oppression completely end, followed by forging a just two state solution.
Let's face a horrific possibility squarely, sans any denial: If outside parties fail to do this a mammoth terrorist catastrophe could occur. It would be shockingly inhumane. But nobody would be in any position to claim it came as a surprise.
Bruce Campbell
Copyright 11 October 2023 through 11 November 2023 Howard Bruce Campbell
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