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Home » Musings » Facing The Reality Of Evil: The Essence Of Travel
Musings

Facing The Reality Of Evil: The Essence Of Travel

Matthew Klint Posted onNovember 3, 2023November 13, 2023 71 Comments

a group of people standing in a line

Some of the most poignant moments of my travels over the years have been facing the reality of evil. A new Israeli website invites us to do the same in the context of the Hamas massacre against Israel.

Travel Helps You Understand Evil

As I look back on my travels, I have had many opportunities to confront evil.

At Auschwitz:

a gate to Auschwitz concentration camp

> Read More: Thoughts On Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Dachau:

brick ovens with metal doors

> Read More: The Utter Pain Of Visiting Dachau Concentration Camp
> Read More: Photo Essay – Dachau Concentration Camp

Tuol Sleng in Cambodia, that told the story of Pol Pot’s reign of terror:

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

> Read More: Witnessing Pol Pot’s Inhumanity in Cambodia

The cemeteries of Normandy, France:

a group of white crosses in a field

> Read More: An Unforgettable Trip To Normandy Via Brittany Ferries

The Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, Armenia:

a circular fire pit with flowers around it

> Read More: Feeling at Home in Yerevan

Anne Frank’s House in Amsterdam:

Anne Frank House Kids

> Read More: Why I Took My Young Children To The Anne Frank House In Amsterdam And How We Discussed It

And even in less comfortable ways for Americans like me, like the The Trail of Tears memorial in Georgia or the Manzanar War Relocation Center, where thousands of Japanese Americans were interned during World War II.

A New Website Graphically Illustrates The Evil Of Hamas

As Hamas futilely strives to realize its goal of wiping Israel off the face of the map, Israel has set up a website that clearly and unequivocally documents the atrocities committed during the October 2023 Hamas Massacre:

https://twitter.com/Israel/status/1720088273664811259?s=20

As deniers as evil as those that deny the Holocaust or Armenian Genocide suggest that Hamas was simply acting in a defensive manner or that Israelis made up the atrocities, take a hard look at the images and videos on that website.

a yellow and black text on a black background

I am unashamedly on the side of Israel in this battle. In a war for survival, my sympathy and support go toward the side that was brazenly attacked by a barbaric group of fanatics whose values are antithetical to mine. The canard that Israel sits on occupied land and that justifies violence demonstrates a deceptively limited timeline of an area that was not simply Palestinian land since it was first inhabited.

But it is my prayer that that the Palestinian people will never have reason to make a similar website chronicling Israeli crimes against humanity in this war. I applaud the cautionary measures Israel has taken and now hope that the lives of Palestinians caught in the middle of this will not only be spared, but honored as image bearers of יהוה.


top image: Ido Derbi

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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71 Comments

  1. Tim Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 3:47 pm

    You might want to start reconsidering your position, Matthew. A week ago, I would have agreed with you, but the Israeli army is acting increasingly rigorously and does not at all respect civil people, women and children. There is just so much hatred in the region…I cannot take a side in this conflict, all are guilty. In a war, there are never victims, only perpetrators.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 7:08 pm

      In one sense, I do feel your struggle.

      But I also believe in just war theory and I think under jus ad bellum and even us in bello (particularly proportionality) theories, Israel has a right to proceed with its military action in Gaza.

    • Santastico Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 7:39 pm

      “Israeli army is acting increasingly rigorously and does not at all respect civil people, women and children. ” Oh, because the barbarians of Hanna’s did respect civil people, women and children, correct?. Game on my friend! They should have thought before acting in a non humane way.

      • simmonad Reply
        November 4, 2023 at 3:52 am

        It is obvious, surely, that a significant number of the deceased in Gaza will be women and children, as HALF of its population is reportedly under 18. Moreover, is the life of a 35 year old man (say) no less precious than that of a 35 year old woman or a ten yo child?

  2. Aaron Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 3:55 pm

    “But it is my prayer that that the Palestinian people will never have reason to make a similar website chronicling Israeli crimes against humanity in this war.”

    You mean the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing being committed by Israel on Gaza right now will have to be chronichled in a future website?

    “I applaud the cautionary measures Israel has taken”

    Yeah nothing says cautionary like bombing churches, hospitals, schools, UN centers, bakeries…

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 7:10 pm

      Genocide would have been bombing or invading without warning. Genocide would have been deliberately targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure. I understand that Israeli hands are not clean if we take a look at this conflict over the last several decades. On the other hand, I think the notion that this action is akin to “genocide” is simply absurd. Israel is not trying to destroy the Palestinian people.

      • Aaron Reply
        November 4, 2023 at 7:32 am

        Except that is exactly what they are doing and have been doing.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          November 4, 2023 at 7:52 am

          Ok, on this we disagree. I guess there’s no point in further discussing it.

        • Uri Reply
          November 7, 2023 at 1:48 am

          If so they’re amazingly bad at it, considering that Gaza population grows 3x faster than world average.
          War is hell, it’s a horrible thing, but don’t confuse it with genocide.
          Hamas is calling for genocide, and attempting it, but in vain.

  3. Ryan Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 4:04 pm

    I have been to many of the same memorials and sites. It’s painful to see how easily men can be convinced to commit evil acts upon their fellow man.

    And in this conflict Israel will unfortunately need to be somewhat dismissive of the outside pressure to scale back their defensive actions. Hamas will kill their own citizens happily can call them martyrs even if the IDF doesn’t fire a shot.

    Israel needs to ignore the noise. Hit hard. Hit fast. Fight to win with one clear objective, the absolute destruction of Hamas or unconditional surrender. Every civilian death is the fault of Hamas and nobody else.

    The Palestinian people will be better off in the long run if Israel can eliminate the extremist elements that view their own people as nothing more than fodder for sympathy and fundraising.

    • Jan Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 4:12 pm

      Agreed! A slowdown of IDF attacks is just more chance for Hamas to recompose themselves and lob even more rockets into Israelis.

  4. Jan Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 4:06 pm

    It’s pretty clear which side is evil, it’s the one that, if given western-standards weapons and funding, would not hesitate to make the Holocaust child’s play. Also, if IDF was really engaged in genocide, there would be no Gaza, 48 hours after Hamas’s mass rape/torture/murder,

  5. Josh Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 4:17 pm

    This is just a bizarre post and, frankly, completely detached from the reality of the past few weeks post-10/7. Yes, Hamas attacks on civilians were bad. Since then, Israel has been murdering babies, journalists, and civilians in the thousands. Both are evil and morally inexcusable, and would be condemned if they were committed by any other country. Even more sickening to know that from the Israeli side, this violence and killing is happening with weapons and other military aid funded by American taxpayers and condoned by American leaders.

    “But it is my prayer that that the Palestinian people will never have reason to make a similar website chronicling Israeli crimes against humanity in this war.” The pictures and videos of incinerated bodies of Palestinian civilians blown apart by Israeli airstrikes and desecrated by settler attacks in the West Bank are out there if you care to open your eyes.

    This post is even more shocking knowing that you have traveled to the occupied West Bank, meaning you’ve been through the military checkpoints and are aware of the discrimination, harassment, humiliation, punitive inconvenience and de jure apartheid that Palestinian Christians and Muslims have endured for decades just to be able to go to work, worship, visit family, and move about their lands.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 7:26 pm

      “Murdering” is a step too far. Murdering requires mens rea…malice aforethought, which I don’t see. I hate the term “collateral damage” but the death of these civilians is not the target, but an unfortunate side effect of Hamas hiding amongst the civilian population. And every death is heartbreaking.

      Let me try to draw an analogy. I don’t view the Iraq War as a just war. The US was not attacked and had no legal or legitimate right to go in, especially with faulty evidence on WMDs. The hundreds of thousands of civilians that died were *murdered* because there was no justification for the actions in the first place, even if they were not ever direct targets. That’s quite a bit different than the German and Japanese civilians that perished during WWII…and the civilians in Gaza who are perishing now. Why? Because the calculus changes when the war is just.

      You lament “the discrimination, harassment, humiliation, punitive inconvenience and de jure apartheid that Palestinian Christians and Muslims have endured for decades” and I do too. And indeed, I’ve been in the West Bank multiple times and seen it myself. And we have the unfortunate reality that apartheid seems necessary to maintain Israel as a Jewish state. I have no long-term solution for that. Like South Africa crumbled, so may Israel without sustained US support. Then again, maybe not.

      But I do know that a government cannot respond to cross-border incursion in which 1,400 citizens are killed (a staggering amount proportionally compared to, say, the 9/11 attacks in the USA) by trying to seek peace with a barbaric enemy that is myopically intent on destroying it.

      There are no great solutions in Israel. The whole region is a mess exacerbated by colonial powers and promises to parties that were irreconcilable. But some solutions are less evil than others.

  6. derek Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 4:20 pm

    Israel has good reason to be made and smash lots of buildings, homes, and even clinics. However, if you had your house smashed and relatives killed in Gaza, you have good reason to want to smash Israel and kill some people, too.

    The people in Gaza were largely forced from their homes and land seized, unlike in the West Bank, where many are residents for generations.

    Some say there should be a 2 state solution but what about people in Gaza? Should Gaza be enlarged and some of Tel Aviv/ Jaffa be part of that 2nd state? How about settlements in the West Bank? If there are Israeli settlements allowed in the West Bank, why not Palestinian settlements near Tel Aviv and Haifa?

    The problems cannot really be solved short of an arbitrator with military forces. The US is not going to do that.

  7. Not Lucky Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 4:34 pm

    Hamas and their specific action recently should be condemned unequivocally. Nothing else to it.

    But if you have failed previously or now to condemn 70 years of occupation, oppression, apartheid, illegal settlement, and more, then that’s not helpful at all. I understand that you are religious and therefore hold certain beliefs about the land. But that’s not the question – the question is human treatment of others, and if anyone stops at saying one side did something inhumane and ignores the other side of it, they are complicit in the problem.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 7:32 pm

      I condemn the West Bank settlements. As I said above, my heart breaks for the Palestinian people of the West Bank. I’ve seen the situation in Ramallah, Jericho, Hebron, Nablus, and Bethlehem. It is tragic…and unnecessary.

      Don’t think I’m blinded by my religion, like those right wing evangelicals who would applaud Israel if it started dashing the heads of Palestinian babies on rocks. Israel must be held accountable for actions. But so should the leadership in both the West Bank and Gaza, which has wholly and utterly failed its people and made a difficult situation far worse.

  8. Bobby Davro Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 5:12 pm

    I’m sorry, but your blind support for the atrocities being committed by the Israeli army in Gaza right now have lead me debookmark you, and I will no longer be visiting your site. I know I won’t save any lives by this, but I at least won’t be exposed to your closed minded bigotry.

    I certainly would never condone the actions of Hamas, it was vile and wrong. However the Israeli reaction has been worse. It is purely vindtictive, and will undoubtedly have the opposite of their stated aim of stopping this from happening again. They are simply recruiting more generations of dispossessed Palestinians into a fight against Isreal prolonging the eye for an eye, tit for tat cycle of violence.

    The only solution is a political one, and it is what the entire world should be calling for.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 5:14 pm

      You think that Israel should not have responded militarily to this? Like if someone came and killed your partner you’d just shrug and say they must have a reason for it and we need to compromise?

      • Aaron Reply
        November 3, 2023 at 5:22 pm

        You could ask the Palestinians the same questions.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          November 3, 2023 at 7:33 pm

          I’m not understanding how the slaughter and beading and rape by Hamas constitute self-defense.

          • Aaron
            November 4, 2023 at 7:34 am

            You mean the slaughter of Palestinians pre-Oct 7th was ok with you?

          • Matthew Klint
            November 4, 2023 at 7:51 am

            “Slaughter” is a loaded term. I am against all murder.

      • Jerry Reply
        November 3, 2023 at 5:24 pm

        If somebody killed my partner and I retaliated by killing them, I would be guilty of murder. Two people would be dead, and I would be no better off. I also think most religions would encourage forgiveness, not revenge… so yes, ultimately some level of compromise would be required, otherwise I don’t believe I’d ever be able to achieve peace in my life again.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          November 3, 2023 at 7:34 pm

          But I’m not calling for revenge killing. I am calling for justice, in the sense that the perpetuators of murder must be held accountable for their actions and be rendered unable to commit any further murder.

          This is a sober-minded action: there should be no satisfaction from the death of a human being.

      • Bobby Davro Reply
        November 3, 2023 at 5:33 pm

        I certainly would not call for their death and the death of thousands of people who happened to live them as I am not a monster driven by blood lust.

        I’m sorry but with that argument I can’t help but think you’ve somewhat proved my point.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          November 3, 2023 at 7:36 pm

          So let me get this straight. You don’t believe in justice? You don’t believe that those who murder should be held accountable?

          You never answered my question.

          • Bobby Davro
            November 4, 2023 at 3:57 am

            So, in your mind justice is equal to slaughter? If that’s your view then that does explain your stand.

            Another thought experiment, if your partner shot my partner should I have the right to kill you?

          • Matthew Klint
            November 4, 2023 at 4:20 am

            Governments are raised in order to implement justice and defend citizens.

            I’m not talking about vigilante justice of me killing someone out of revenge.

            Rather, I’m talking about the solemn duty of a government to protect its population.

            If you shot my partner, the government should have the right to take your life (after due process)…I would only have the right to take your life when acting in self-defense of imminent bodily harm.

      • Not Lucky Reply
        November 3, 2023 at 5:33 pm

        That’s surprisingly disingenous. What if someone came to your house, occupied it for 50 years, then moved outside your house and controlled your every movement, and also your power, gas, fuel, etc. Are you saying you’d be happy and have nothing to react to in that circumstance? You’d just shrug and say, okay, I guess they must have a reason for it and we need to compromise?

        I’m amazed at people who quite reasonably say Israel has a right to respond to being attacked, but somehow also believe the Palestinians should sit quietly and accept their oppression dutifully.

        At the end of the day, Israel will win (such as there is winning in this nonsense), because it has the might and the support of the United States. The rights and wrongs are irrelevant – human history is one of power and conquest, that’s all. We’re a sad lot.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          November 3, 2023 at 7:38 pm

          The rammfictaions for your line of thought are scary, but perhaps honest: it’s a fight to the death…

      • Cy Reply
        November 3, 2023 at 5:35 pm

        Matthew the point isn’t that Israel shouldn’t have responded. We all agree that Hamas’s attack was wrong, but the retaliation and specifically the tremendous loss of Gazan life is also wrong. What people have pointed out is all your posts seem to concentrate on the horrific Hamas attacks and none on the innocents suffering in Gaza–its your blog, your perrogative I suppose.

        But also, the military isn’t going to solve this problem. All the IDF is doing is creating future Hamas recruits right now. For every terrorist they kill, they are turning 10 others into future terrorists with this offensive. The solution isn’t military, its to give the Palestinian people hope and a viable future so they shun Hamas recruiters. Until that happens–and being cordoned off and trapped in Gaza with literally no way out and bits of the West Bank isn’t a viable future–this cycle of violence will never stop.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          November 3, 2023 at 7:49 pm

          You say, “For every terrorist they kill, they are turning 10 others into future terrorists with this offensive,” but did that happen in Germany or Japan after WWII? It seems to me the key is not just a plan to win the war, but a plan to win the peace. But if there is a plan and that vision is strictly and justly implemented, the two sides can live side by side and Gaza might become a template for dealing with the West Bank.

          • Christian
            November 4, 2023 at 12:17 am

            I think your analogy with Japan and Germany is flawed. Rather than coming up with a Marshall Plan to rebuild their territories, Israel is grabbing more Palestinian land every month through settlements.

          • Bobby Davro
            November 4, 2023 at 4:03 am

            “but did that happen in Germany”?

            It sort of depends on which war you’re on about. The effective collective punishment of the German people post World War 1 is pretty much accepted as one of drivers for the rise of social nationalism and the outbreak of World War 2.
            Post WWII, the political approach was very different, with very different outcomes.

          • Matthew Klint
            November 4, 2023 at 4:23 am

            @Christian: Israel needs a Marshall Plan for Gaza. The world will help too except for the sheisters in Iran and its allies (including Russia and PRC), since peace in the region undermines its relevance.

            @Bobby: Quite right and I was talking about WWII. In this case, Israel’s actions must be propionate and must be well-thought-out as to what happens when Hamas is eliminated…

          • Bobby Davro
            November 4, 2023 at 6:31 am

            The fact that you think that the direct slaughter of thousands of people, not to mention the tens if not hundreds of thousands who will be affected by the barbaric blokade is “proportionate” is truely shocking. You are witnessing and championing what may well be the beginning of a “well-thought-out” genocide here.

            So, whilst I will continue looking at these cimments for a while, as I’ve said above your site joins my boycot of all things Israeli.

          • Matthew Klint
            November 4, 2023 at 7:20 am

            I think if we are being honest with ourselves, we would concede that if our family was under imminent attack, we would stop at nothing until that threat was eliminated or at least marginalized.

          • BobbyDavro
            November 4, 2023 at 7:36 am

            Well, my mother was bombed twice by the IRA in London, and no I didn’t call for an all out invasion of the Republic of Ireland. In fact, I cheered as the Good Friday agreement was signed and a road map to peace was created.

            If Israelis really believe that this action right now is creating a lasting peace and ensuring their future security then they are quite frankly idiotic. This will lead to more violence and more bloodshed on both sides of the border.

          • Matthew Klint
            November 4, 2023 at 7:50 am

            I don’t necessarily agree with your last point, but I also recognize the importance of a political solution.

            And I agree on the Good Friday Accords:

            https://liveandletsfly.com/londonderry-murals/

          • Cy
            November 4, 2023 at 3:55 pm

            But that is exactly what happened after the initial Israeli invasion of Lebanon. And to your point there is no plan to win the peace, there hasn’t been one for the past 20 years

    • simmonad Reply
      November 4, 2023 at 4:00 am

      The reason that there are ‘generations of dispossessed Palestinians’ is because a) the Arabs refused the 1947 partition proposal which would have given them more land than the current Gaza+West Bank areas and b) the Palestinians have allowed themselves to be used as a political football.

      At around the same time as Israel’s independence, most Hindus living in Sindh province (now in Pakistan) were equally dispossessed. Yet, oddly, there’s not a single refugee camp for these people; they have got on with their lives. The same applies to those of Greek origin who were dispossessed in northern Cyprus (1974) and, of course, the Jews dispossessed when they left or got kicked out of Arab countries in 1948-1950 – a very similar number to the Palestinians in 1948, as it happens.

      • Bobby Davro Reply
        November 4, 2023 at 6:21 am

        I really do hope that you’re trying go for some irony there…

        The roots of this problem really can’t be soley attributed to “The Arabs” or “The Jews”. Its far more complicated and wide ranging.

        There needs to be a political solution, and we came close to one to in the 90s before a Jewish terrorist murdered Yitzhak Rabin.

        You cannot bomb, shoot and murder your way to peace.

      • GUWonder Reply
        November 6, 2023 at 10:25 am

        Comparing the Israeli-Palestinian situation to the India-Pakistan situation with Sindhis is a flawed analogy and ridiculous.

        The Indians offered full citizenship to Sindhis, and Pakistan offered full citizenship to Sindhis. And migration and family reunification after the partition of India had not been subject to Israeli-style favoritism for one religion over another in such matters for Sindhi migration and citizenship matters for the majority of the years since Partition.

  9. JoeMart Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 5:46 pm

    Galatians 5: 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

  10. Maryland Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 5:48 pm

    We should consider the recent funding of Hamas the problem. Yes, working for communal peace needed to be priority one a long time ago, but that didn’t happen and now new BFFs Iran and Russia have chosen to fund and supply Hamas. As third party actors they are using the conflict to accomplish their goal of mutual destruction and distraction by puppetry. I won’t blame Israel for the anger, but I pray the the true killers are soon recognized by everyone.

  11. H.T Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 6:17 pm

    It’s disheartening to read you stand with the terrorist Israeli regime that has so far killed 9K Palestinians.

    Why don’t you dig deeper and read what Amnesty International and the UNHR has to say about Israel’s genocidal path?

    As you sleep soundly at night, every night, take a moment and think about the 6K women and children that have been killed by Israeli troops and israel settlers so far.

    Just think about those young children for a moment a day. Thats all.

    Have a heart.

    With that said, I shall no longer open your website nor click on any links; supporting someone who supports genocidal governments is not something I can condone.

    You hated the Auschwitz? Israel is creating one itself.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 8:10 pm

      Do you support the genocide attempt of Hamas? Does Israel have a right to exist?

      Are you capable of having a conversation without running away? I don’t support genocide or murder in any form. I do support self-defense. That you don’t even want to engage any more tells me that you convictions are not secure. As I have said above, I don’t deny the sad reality of those in the West Bank because I have seen it with my own eyes. But that recognition is not a solution…a solution is far more complicated and the “best” solution is still a poor one, albeit better than the alternatives.

      • derek Reply
        November 3, 2023 at 9:28 pm

        Some believe that Israel does not have the right to exist in their current borders. The British gave them a lot of land, much more per capita than they allotted to Arabs, but the Jews took even more. Then in 1967, they grabbed even more. With settlements. They ĝrabbed even more. They did give back the Sinai.

        • simmonad Reply
          November 4, 2023 at 4:02 am

          You are conveniently forgetting Transjordan, which was hived off from the Palestine mandate in 1922. I suggest you redo your sums.

          • GUWonder
            November 10, 2023 at 11:06 am

            Transjordan was not part of the British Palestinian mandate which got divided and led to the creation of Israel by Britain under UN auspices. Transjordan had a Hashemite king in place before Britain’s partitioning of its Palestinian mandate. Transjordan technically got its independence in the 1920s — decades before the division of the Palestinian Mandate yielded the creation of the state of Israel — and had a king of its own recognized by the British in the 1920s.

            Inconvenient facts for those who want to justify Israel’s eating up the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza as part of Greater Israel, but still the facts.

  12. Ken Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 6:29 pm

    It’s your blog and I dare say that you know such posts will generate clicks. However, one must call out evil on both sides. Someone with deep pockets could very well also create a website detailing all the innocent lives that have been lost on the Palestinians side, or all the previous years of deplacement and oppression of lives who did nothing wrong besides being born on disputed lands. Imagine the Native Americans become powerful and start displacing all the descendants of Europeans who happened to be born on US or Canadian soil

  13. jcil Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 6:30 pm

    All the Hamas supporters remind me of the Menendez brothers calling for sympathy after murdering their parents because they are now orphans. I had sometimes wondered how the Germans could arrive at a place where they would attempt to genocide the Jews, sadly I now know, and see it happening in my own country unfortunately.

  14. Cam Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 7:05 pm

    https://theswordandthesandwich.substack.com/p/americas-apocalyptic-cheerleaders

    A great read for anyone wondering why Christians have no qualms watching Israel turn their apartheid into a genocide.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 8:17 pm

      To be absolutely clear, I am not rooting for Armageddon. I am rooting for peace.

  15. Stuart Reply
    November 3, 2023 at 7:17 pm

    I say cut off the head of the snake. Until the regime in Iran is beheaded this will never end. We are all wasting our time otherwise. Just like we did when Putin massed troops and threatened Ukraine, 100k troops NATO troops should have been placed on the Polish border as a message. I’ve had it with tyranny and attempts at diplomacy. The only thing left now is showing Force and strength. To hell with reason. The time for reasoning is over.

    • Santastico Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 7:41 pm

      @Stuart: absolutely aligned here. Time to wipe the evil of the face of the Eartb. They asked for so now it is game on.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 3, 2023 at 8:11 pm

      But Stuart, hasn’t Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq taught us that this kind of thinking, though morally and even logically quite right, never ends well?

      • Jan Reply
        November 3, 2023 at 9:05 pm

        But you also referenced Germany and Japan in another post here and it ended up very well from them. I think the Iranian population seems to be more informed, m0re likely to be in favor of toppling their current government and seems to be more open to secularism.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          November 4, 2023 at 4:24 am

          But look at the cost of lives in WWII. Not sure if we come out ahead or how that is even accomplished.

          • Stuart
            November 4, 2023 at 6:00 am

            Look at the cost of innocent lives over years as we pussyfooted around…. leading us to the inevitable anyway, eventually. Look at the lives lost in Ukraine when, if NATO had stood up to Putin with 100k troops sent to the border before he invaded, the entire thing would have been thwarted.

            I think of my grandmother’s old favorite proverb, “Lazy people do twice.”

        • GUWonder Reply
          November 10, 2023 at 11:15 am

          The Allies’ defeat of Germany and Japan in World War 2 was not accomplished with the objective of eliminating the German and Japanese states and eradicating the legitimate sovereign national aspirations and identity of the German and Japanese people in their internationally-recognized German and Japanese homelands. Even the Russians recognized that wiping out all German national aspirations and German identity in the Russian sector/sphere of influence in Germany was not a useful strategy for its hard and soft power projection capabilities.

  16. GUWonder Reply
    November 4, 2023 at 12:53 am

    I fear for Israel. The so-called counterinsurgency/counterterrorism math simply doesn’t work well and sustainably when the violence Israel is using under color of eliminating a current set of terrorists generates more future terrorists and/or lays the groundwork for future terrorism in a world where we are approaching a point where WMDs will be increasingly within the reach of lone wolf terrorists. And if Israel were to happen to “successfully” have ethnically cleansed Gaza and the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the likelihood of a lone wolf WMD attack on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories will unfortunately skyrocket over the following 20 years. Even if that worse case scenario for Israel were to be avoided forever, the country will have stained its soul with the perpetration of a genocide and be an insult to the memory of those killed in the holocaust. We are seeing an awful jump in antisemitism around the world this quarter, and Israel’s overkill ways — understandable as they are in a way since humans tend to be bad at controlling anger and hate in the face of seeing “our own” subject to the brutality of communal violence from barbaric actors — are coming with a huge spike in incidences (and sentiments) of antisemitism (and Islamophobia too). Doesn’t bode well for the future of anyone who cares equally about all civilians as civilians regardless of ethnicity, religion, national origin, etc.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 4, 2023 at 4:28 am

      My question, totally separate from this war (which I still believe is a just exercise of self-defense and errantly called “collective punishment”), is whether Israel will need South African-style apartheid in decades ahead in order to maintain the Jewishness of the state. It’s a dilemma, like in the days of the Botha era, will indeed lead to more acts of terrorism by desperate people who are no longer willing to play the game.

  17. Conway Reply
    November 4, 2023 at 3:56 am

    I want to understand your position. I’m not trying to debate or argue or change your mind. I just have a few questions to clarify your beliefs:

    1) Do you believe that everyone residing in Gaza is responsible for Hamas and for their actions on Oct 7th?

    2) Do children (lets say 15 or younger) residing in Gaza share responsibility or blame for Hamas’s actions?

    3) If you think there are any non-responsible (innocent) residents of Gaza, how many of their deaths are acceptable assuming Israel is ONLY targeting Hamas targets?

    4) Israel has stated they did bomb the Jabalia Refugee Camp, targeting Hamas. Children (15 or younger) were killed in this attack. What number of dead children would it take for you to feel that Israel was UNjustified in attacking the camp, even if their target was a legitimate Hamas member? 10 children? 100 children? 1000 children? 5,000 children?

    5) If Israel is unable to eliminate Hamas in Gaza using a combination of conventional weapons and a ground assault, would Israel be justified in using non-conventional weapons? Gas? Biological? Nuclear?

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 4, 2023 at 4:34 am

      1. No.

      2. In most cases, no.

      3. I do not think any death should be termed “acceptable” but if it is humanly possible to eliminate Hamas (and it may not be), then to that extent there will be death of civilians who are used as human shields or refuse to evacuate despite being given ample time to do so.

      4. Same answer as #3.

      5. I would think most of these non-conventual weapons, even white phosphorus, are counterproductive to Israel’s ultimate aims, though some technology targeting the network of tunnels that would destroy them seems reasonable.

      • Arbiter Reply
        November 4, 2023 at 9:23 am

        Matthew, regarding your answer about giving the Palestinians a chance to evacuate; these two articles demonstrate the calculations people might need to make even if they chose that option, it was not without risk. No arguments here from me on either side, just wanted to share this info for the sake of providing full context to a difficult situation for innocents caught in the middle.

        https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-10-13/israel-orders-unprecedented-evacuation-gaza-possible-ground-offensive

        https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231103-who-chief-shocked-by-israeli-strike-on-gaza-ambulance

      • Conway Reply
        November 4, 2023 at 10:55 am

        You didn’t really answer 3) or 4)… I’m trying to understand your stance when it comes to innocent casualties (collateral damage).

        Do you believe that Israel is justified in killing as many non-Hamas Palestinians as necessary in their pursuit of eliminating Hamas?

  18. Orel Reply
    November 4, 2023 at 8:42 am

    I appreciate your support in Israel. It is so important to us after what happened here.
    A living hell is what’s going on for many here.

  19. Dave Edwards Reply
    November 4, 2023 at 1:12 pm

    What is it Obama said?

    Elections have consequences. The people of Gaza allowed terrorists to run their government. And they did what terrorists do, they attacked and killed innocent people.

    And when paybacks comes terrorist sympathizers like some members of Congress and even ordinary people that post here cry like little bitches. As the victims use their power to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

    I wonder if these same people were concerned “innocent” people died when the Allies defeated Germany in WW2? Or were against dropping the Atomic bomb also in 1945?

    What is it Obama said?

  20. docntx Reply
    November 5, 2023 at 12:30 am

    Matthew,
    I never met any of my grandparents. Literally, they all died during the holocaust. My paternal grandfather, a decorated WW1 veteran was dumped off his wheelchair into a cattle car on his way to the extermination camp.
    An independent and self governing Gaza was the attempt by a past Israeli government to give the Arabs a chance to succeed.
    It became an Iran sponsored base of terror.
    They deliberately build their military facilities using civilians as shields. They truly do not care about the local population while they receive their marching orders from Teheran. Hamas uses all aid to rearm, and hoards resources for their terrorist activities. Please tell me how do you deal with an enemy that hides behind civilians, women and children?
    If the Arabs lay down their arms, there would be peace. If the Jews lay down their arms, there will be no more Jews.
    Their goal is genocide, nothing less.
    And, as most antisemitic statements, the “occupation,” “apartheid,” are just the typical irrational lies, all part of a thousand year tradition of slander and blood libel against Jews. Amazing how we know these groups lie, yet some continue to echo their propaganda as facts.
    “If you repeat lies often enough, they become the truth.”: Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister.

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