They exchanged text messages and emojis. Brief status updates with words of encouragement. A picture of the beloved family dog “Tutsi.”

Until no more messages came.

And then, Cindy Flash, an American, and her Israeli husband Igal vanished into the violence, presumed kidnapped by Hamas.

Four days after Hamas attacked Israel, more than 100 Israelis and potentially dozens of foreign nationals are thought to be held captive in the Gaza Strip. At least 14 U.S. citizens have been killed and an unknown number are still unaccounted for.

Flash, 67, originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, is one of them. She lives in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz in southern Israel near Gaza, where some of the most harrowing and grisly stories have been emerging during the last few days.

“They are breaking down the safe room door,” Flash said in one of her final messages to her daughter Keren, 34. “We need someone to come by the house right now.” She had been communicating with her parents from a few houses away.

Keren described her mother, who worked as an administrator in a local college, as someone who had the “sweetest biggest heart,” who everyone knew and loved, and who had spent a lifetime advocating for the rights of Palestinians, including those who live in Gaza where she may now be held.

    • @jarfil@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Hamas ≢ Palestine

      Ok, but how truish are “Hamas ≠ Palestine” and “Hamas ≈ Palestine”? At what point do we draw the line?

    • @Gerula@lemmy.world
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      -12 years ago

      Questions: Who is fighting for Hamas? From where the “boots on the ground” come from? How can they organise amidst civilian population to take any coordinated actions?

      • XIIIesq
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        2 years ago

        Assuming that your questions are rhetorical and that you are placing blame on all Palestinian citizens for the actions of Hamas. By the same logic, all Americans are guilty for the Jan 6th attack on the capital and all the other horrific acts America have committed around the world.

        • @Gerula@lemmy.world
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          02 years ago

          No, my questions are not rethorical. Any such movement cannot live separated from the local population. They cannot organise in secret if nobody is keeping that secret. They cannot train if the others don’t keep the secret. They cannot manufacture, hide and launch thousands of small range rockets if other don’t keep a secret.

          I’m not arguing about justifications or who did what and why. It’s not relevant for this discussion.

          • XIIIesq
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            22 years ago

            No, my questions are not rethorical.

            Goes on to talk about how they were making a point rather than wanting an answer to their questions

          • @Sparlock@lemmy.world
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            202 years ago

            Hamas are terrorists, Netanyahu is a terrorist. If a terrorist is someone who attacks civilians for political aims.

            I find it hard to discriminate Civilian A who was killed from Civilian B who was killed by the other side. Apparently that is a controversial statement around here. Ya’ll are fucked.

            • @flossdaily@lemmy.world
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              -112 years ago

              Hamas are terrorists because the target civilians for death.

              Netanyahu is a corrupt right-wing asshole, but he doesn’t target innocent civilians for death.

              If you broaden the word “terrorist” to apply to anyone you don’t like for any reason, the word ceases to have any meaning or weight.

              And that gives cover to ACTUAL terrorists.

              • @Sparlock@lemmy.world
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                152 years ago

                Deliberately cutting off water, electricity and medical aid will result directly in children dying. Again I find it hard to see the difference between civilian A and civilian B being killed just on the basis of WHO killed them. But you do you.

                • @flossdaily@lemmy.world
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                  2 years ago

                  Again, you’re pretending that INTENTION doesn’t matter. That collateral damage is morally equivalent to a targeted killing.

                  I just 100 percent disagree.

              • @Fedizen@lemmy.world
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                72 years ago

                bro you can you read? hear words? Israel is currently bombing apartments, ambulances, etc. Specifically with the goal of killing every last citizen in gaza that doesn’t flee.

      • @SCB@lemmy.world
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        542 years ago

        Hamas was never elected as sole leadership in Palestine. They never won a plurality of votes, ever.

        They formed a unity government, then fought the other government, usurped control, and cancelled elections forever.

        • @flossdaily@lemmy.world
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          132 years ago

          Hamas won 74 out of 132 seats. They did it with 44 percent of the vote. Not sure how that worked.

          Anyway, you’re kind of right, kind of wrong.

          • @SCB@lemmy.world
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            132 years ago

            Same way Republicans do it in Ohio, one assumes. Heavy concentration in minority-population areas.

        • Cosmic Cleric
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          72 years ago

          This should be said more often and more forcefully, as its knowledge people (including myself) are not generally aware of.

      • @zaph@sh.itjust.works
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        412 years ago

        20 years ago. Around half of today’s population didn’t vote and of the ones that did many didn’t vote for hamas. Find a new way to blame innocent people, this one doesn’t work.

          • @zaph@sh.itjust.works
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            62 years ago

            I don’t think we should condemn an entire population to death regardless of who they vote for. You’re only adding recruitment material to the terrorist’s repertoire at that point. And if they did vote for them, last year or today, you still have roughly 40% of the population who are minors. Do they deserve death because of their parent’s vote?

            • @ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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              2 years ago

              If you want to stop Israel to defend themselves from Hamas you condemn them to death because Hamas wants to kill all Jews. How is that better?

              Just let Hamas “win” can certainly not be the solution.

              • @zaph@sh.itjust.works
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                -12 years ago

                I never said they can’t defend themselves. I said indiscriminate bombing of Gaza isn’t self defense. Especially if hamas has hostages, how are they going to survive the bombing? Use your head. If someone is robbing a bank and taking hostages we don’t level the fucking bank.

              • @zaph@sh.itjust.works
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                22 years ago

                Nowhere did I accuse you of supporting genocide. You asked if they’d still vote hamas and I don’t know so I replied with the assumption that they would because of the propaganda they’re raised with and the threat of violence if they dissent from hamas and stated that even if they did I don’t think they deserve to be treated as an entire nation of terrorists. If you can’t separate that from yourself that’s on you.

          • @flossdaily@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            Overwhelmingly? In Gaza maybe, but Palestinians as a whole support them at 53 percent at last count. So, yeah, it sure looks like they are still majority pro-hamas

      • @Maalus@lemmy.world
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        492 years ago

        The article clearly states “advocate for Palestinians, then Hamas came for her” like it’s some “voting for the face eating leopards” situation. It’s a valid distinction. Also, no, the Israeli army isn’t all Israelis.

        • @Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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          -212 years ago

          It’s hard to see the difference between Palestinians and Hamas when they had a pro Palestine rally in my city and their signs were peppered with “death to all Jews” and pictures of Jewish caricatures being hanged.

          • @exoplanetary@lemmy.world
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            82 years ago

            Just because Hamas support Palestine doesn’t mean that supporting Palestine makes you support Hamas. That’s like saying that because I like art and Hitler liked art that means I support Hitler (which I very much fucking don’t). It doesn’t make any sense logically.

            • @Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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              52 years ago

              Ok so don’t. These people are just like the IDF and the people shouting death to Jews are just like Hamas, what’s the problem here? Seems we’re in agreement

              • @Lucent@lemmy.world
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                -62 years ago

                One group has the power to complete annihilate the other.

                The other is living in the largest open air prison & concentration camp in the world.

                This is a ghetto uprising. Something I would expect you to know the history of.

  • TinyPizza
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    2 years ago

    This seems more like an example of wrong place wrong time because nowhere in the article does it state that they were specifically targeted. What it does say is that they lived right next to the fence and that they and their neighbors both had safe rooms. To me, when you (and your neighbors) feel the need to build a fortified room to protect yourselves during a potential attack that says this area is potentially very dangerous.

    Also, stop conflating the Palestinian people with Hamas. Not all Russians are committing war crimes in Ukraine. Not all Americans stormed the US capital on J6. Not all Saudis were on planes on 9/11. We do not need to further dehumanize ANY of the people who are now suffering through this now and the MANY who are continuing to have suffering brought upon them.

    Nobody can excuse attacks on civilian populations for revenge. This goes both ways. And whether or not this poor sweet lady and her husband are still alive, I’m sure she would be equally abhorred that her life’s work is being used as an excuse to undo the very thing she worked towards.

    Edit: I’ve been informed all homes in Israel must have safe rooms by law.

    • a new sad me
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      762 years ago

      Israeli here:

      1. Every house in Israel has to have a safe room by law
      2. The place where she lived was close to the border but completely within Israel. It wasn’t a settlement at all.
      3. Most kibbutzim in Israel are known to be centre-left. This is well-known to anyone who even vaguely follow the Israeli media (and Hammas follow)

      Hammasb (not the Palestiniens, Hammas) knew exactly who they murder. There is no excuse to wash their hand.

      • TinyPizza
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        So then Israel (not it’s people, but the military) know exactly who they murder now? So when they now and in the past murder civilians there’s also no excuse?

        1. I didn’t know that about the safe rooms, thank you for the context.
        2. The article states she lived “right next to the security fence” and while I’m sure it’s within the border that still doesn’t mean it’s a great place to build. Nobody said it was a settlement.
        3. There’s no excusing the attack, rationalizing who they attacked or how they went about it. Again thank you for pointing this out because it highlights that this was either an indiscriminate attack against anyone and anything Israeli or that they were purposely trying to spoil the sentiment of those who would speak out against what now comes after. Were they just that diabolical or was it an attack of opportunity in terms of location and defense? You tell me.

        Edit: also, aside from all that. I’m truly sorry this happened to your country and your people. I wish you all peace and an end to the bloodshed.

      • @Lucent@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        “It wasn’t a settlement at all.”

        Your entire country is a settlement.

        There are Palestinians that are older than your “state”.

        • @Tavarin@lemmy.ca
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          282 years ago

          Palestine became a state at the same time. there was never a Palestine before that.

        • @assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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          82 years ago

          Every country is a settlement, you’re really not making a point.

          Look into the chain of events that caused Israeli/Palestinian enmity, then what caused those events, and so forth. You’ll find the only innocent side here are the civilians.

    • donuts
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      422 years ago

      nowhere in the article does it state that they were specifically targeted.

      Basically nobody was specifically targeted. Hamas simply flooded in and started raping, murdering, destroying and taking hostages indiscriminately. People from various countries and religions, old women, children and babies, even pro-Palestinians advocates like these people. It was straight up terrorist madness, and now innocent people in Palestine are suffering as a result. A textbook cycle of violence.

    • iByteABit [he/him]
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      42 years ago

      Sadly most people are way too fucking dumb and uneducated to have nuanced opinions, but you can’t blame them fully when they’re so busy working all day that they can’t afford to spend time reading and learning from quality sources

  • IninewCrow
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    782 years ago

    I really don’t understand why people decided to live in these kibbutz right next to the Gaza border and never realize that this might happen.

    It’s like sitting right on the very edge of the shoulder of a very busy highway. Eventually you will be hit by a fast moving car.

    It’s disputed territory with the potential of becoming a war zone at any moment and people decided to buy expensive real estate and build beautiful homes next to impoverished people that have nothing.

    And we should be surprised that this happened?

    What the Palestinians did was terrible … but we should all be reading the headlines with a lot of history and context. None of it is justified by any side … but at the same time, none of it is a surprise.

    • HubertManne
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      252 years ago

      wow. this is the best comment I have seen on it. I feel sorta similar. Whats been done is just monsterous but man the situation is so ridiculous and I wish the US and the rest of the world had done many different things post ww2.

      • donuts
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        182 years ago

        It’s a common misconception that Israel and Palestine were created post WW2 but the roots go all the way back to turn of the 20th century. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_for_Palestine

        People like to blame America for all things, but this region has been under conflict and conquest for literally thousands of years. It was controlled at points by Egypt, Babylon, Assyrians and Persia, In biblical times it was essentially tribal (Israelites, canaanites, samaratins, philistines who were in conflict with israelites…) until the Roman Empire took over. Then Rome broke up into two and it become part of the (Eastern Roman) Byzantine Empire, then after Muhammad’s death it was conquered by the Muslim Caliphate, then taken under control of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. Religiously it has been Jewish, Christian and Muslim and I think has historical significance to all 3. I’m sure I’ve left a bunch of stuff out because I’m no historian.

        It’s one of the most complicated and protracted conflicts in history, and the people who want to make this out to be simple are either plain dumb or have some kind of alterior motive.

        • @assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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          42 years ago

          There’s really no point in history we can use to say “there, this makes X side justified and Y side the bad guys!”

          Pogroms in Russia left Jewish scholars to conclude that they would only see respect and freedom if they had their own state. That morphed over time into a nationalist movement with violent insurgents.

          Palestinians were just living under British colonial rule. They wanted freedom and independence too, and cooperated against violent insurgents. They wanted their land in full and to not have to give it away to and accommodate other people. And over time that’s morphed into groups like Hamas that want every Israeli dead and Israel destroyed.

          Their causes have all done damnable things at some point. Their causes started from wanting fundamental freedom and independence and safety.

        • HubertManne
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          22 years ago

          Well I was talking more than just the creation of isreal which was technically britain but the american end times christians who feel they need to make biblical prophesies come to pass so they can say. See look the bible prophecy we made happen came to pass so its really magic for sure darn diggety. I did not explain myself well because my little comment represents a whole bunch in my head but essentially I wish the democratic world would have gotten together and worked to protect itself and had nothing to do with the non democratic world until such time as they had evolved into decent democracies. It still cracks me up the UN is a democratically run (sorta) body that had non democratic members.

    • @wolfylow@lemmy.world
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      142 years ago

      Man, if I could upvote this comment more than once I would.

      Expresses my sentiments exactly.

      I visited Israel years ago - shortly after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin - and remember coming across a class (girls, around 7-8 years old) out on a school trip … and they had 3 guys carrying assault rifles to protect them. And I remember thinking: “whatever it is you’re fighting for … isn’t worth it if you have to live like this”

      And sadly I think it’s only got worse since that time.

      • IninewCrow
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        132 years ago

        It still begs the question.

        Who would want to buy real estate and settle into a home right next to a militarized border that separates you from a country that has many individuals that want to murderously destroy you and your entire family? In an area that might at any time turn into a war zone?

        • @the_wise_wolf@feddit.de
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          52 years ago

          I guess that applies to the whole of Israel, though. Gaza is the most dangerous hot spot right now. But I don’t know if that has always been the case. Hamas came to power in 2006. I guess people just carried on, hoping for the best and trusting in the security forces. But honestly all of that is speculation. My point was just, that the reasons for people living there are complicated.

    • @Aceticon@lemmy.world
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      112 years ago

      Yesterday on TV over here, they showed a satellite picture of an area of Hamas’ incursion across the border were you can see both sides of the border line and the border itself.

      And the commentator said: “Here you can see the destruction caused by the attack”

      And it’s only after a few seconds of looking at the area that looks like a junkyard and a mess and thinking “yes indeed, it’s all trashed” that you notice that actually the black smoke is all on the opposite side of the border, the one with lots of space and nature, with little villages, which would look idyllic if not for the smoke.

      The overpopulated slum on the left side that looks like a junkyard on a satellite picture is the Gaza side and just a wall away on the right side is this idyllic area with lots of space and nature, a place were the people from the left side will never be allowed to live or even just visit.

      How could anybody ever imagine that it would be safe to live in spacious homes and comparative luxury, right next an area were people are forced to, since the day they were born, live in what’s basically an overcrowded slum?

    • andrew_bidlaw
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      42 years ago

      Why it should happen to us, exactly? People build up tolerance to accept this kind of gambling-as-a-routine, especially if the rules are obfuscated and conditioned by other things. Consider now how suicidal is a process of driving a car to work – but you can’t avoid it this morning and there are many safeguards at place to make it less risky. They just go with it, they rationalize it before they stop giving a fuck. And it is layered, as many parties approved such a thing to be.

      Politicians push to approve construction there and guarantee it’s safe because their career depends on it, like one of safety-promising Benj. Companies buy a plot and develop this place into housing because high risk => high reward and FOMO. Young people and re-pats buys them because they need a house, it’s their best affordable option and two other parties said it won’t get them killed. Such a snowball, growing bigger at each turn, and each next party has less agency there. And it could be stopped at any of them, I guess?

      I’ve seen that with Crimea: occupiers waving a hand to their rich oligarch friends in the biz, companies taking random bits of land to develop, building apartments in the middle of nowhere, people buying property there. I knew some of the latter. They had a fascinating list of reasons why to buy it and none of them thought that there’s any chance of water and energy limiting, escalation and, for sure, Ukrainian advancement. But at the time they’ve settled there, these phantom risk were outweighted by Crimea’s good climate and them not getting any housing otherwise for that price.

      Frugal person pays twice, as our saing goes.

      • IninewCrow
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        62 years ago

        And it’s not like they are talking about cheap real estate either

        The new houses, each sitting on a 500 square meter (5,380 square foot) plot, go for between NIS 1.2 million ($335,000) for 90 square meters (970 square feet) to NIS 1.8 million ($500,000) for 180 square meters (1,940 square feet).

        By comparison, a 94 square meter (1,012 square foot) first floor apartment in Rishon LeZion in central Israel sold last week for NIS 1.96 million ($546,000) while a 184 square meter (1,980 square foot) house with a 247 square meter (2,660 square foot) garden sold in the same city for NIS 2.7 million ($752,500), according to the Globes business newspaper.

        https://www.timesofisrael.com/despite-rockets-arson-balloons-israeli-communities-on-gaza-border-keep-growing/

        If I had access to half a million dollars to purchase or invest in real estate … I wouldn’t want to invest in a location that could be destroyed by war or risk me and my family to violence or death.

    • @flossdaily@lemmy.world
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      22 years ago

      “None of it is justified by any side …“

      Strong disagree. Israel has a right to exist and a right to defend itself.

      • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin
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        42 years ago

        Israel doesn’t have a right to exist, but the Hebrews have a right to live on the land and to defend themselves from attack. The problem comes from people refusing to accept that Palestinians have a right to live there too and to defend themselves from attack too.

        The borders have to come down, a new South Levantine Confederation must be established with equal rights, freedom of movement, and an absolute ban on supremacism and separatism as unassailable, reparations to all war victims must be paid out of a combined fund taken from Israel, Hamas, and the Fatah, and Northern Israel which features thriving mixed demographic communities must be used as a model to integrate the rest of the new state peacefully.

    • @ChrisLicht@lemm.ee
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      -32 years ago

      The Palestinians didn’t do anything. Hamas, the chosen enemy actively propped up by Netanyahu, did something terrible.

    • MxM111
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      -102 years ago

      Did you see what happened? I mean all the killing of civilians, just targeting women, elderly and children on purpose? And you are not surprised in any way that humans can do that?

      Ignoring the aspect that you might think that one of the best army in the world guards the border, do you expect human being to do such atrocities, especially if you are a person advocating for their rights?

      • Blackbeard
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        242 years ago

        That’s quite literally not what they said. You’ll get better responses if you don’t argue against what people are not saying.

      • GONADS125
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        2 years ago

        If you’ve paid attention to the conflict in the region and you’re intelligent, yes, I would expect one to anticipate such a group could carry out such monterous acts.

        Atrocities like this happen all over the world all the time. There’s just differing levels of media coverage/social interest.

        This should sicken and disgust people to their core. But it really shouldn’t be surprising for a terrorist organization to commit evil acts.

        Before all the crazies jump to conclusions about me, I don’t support Isreal’s expansionism or ethnic cleansing or Hamas and their terror attacks.

      • IninewCrow
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        32 years ago

        I agree … It’s absolutely atrocious.

        But if you have a crazy person threatening to kill you or your family, do you just ignore that and believe that they will never carry through with their threat? How about if that person or group of people shouted that threat in a regular basis for years? Would you want to build your house next to them?

        There’s a reason why there are laws against uttering threats.

        None of the death and destruction is justified, it’s absolutely abismal that humanity can sink this low but both sides are guilty of fanatical followers that want the other side dead.

        In the context of the hatred and fanaticism, we shouldn’t be surprised at the violence.

  • Cyborganism
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    222 years ago

    Hamas isn’t Palestine. They don’t represent the Palestinian people. It’s not because Hamas took her that she was betrayed by Palestinians.

    • MxM111
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      182 years ago

      Hamas was elected in 2006. The destruction of Israel was clear on its agenda. They are representing people of Gaza.

      • @P1r4nha@feddit.de
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        182 years ago

        The problem with that argument is that the Israelis have also voted for the fascist, corrupt leader Netanyahu who needed to change the law to not land in prison and completely failed to protect Israel or to deescalate the situation in any way. You wouldn’t want to justify the killing of Israeli civilians either, so you shouldn’t try and do that with Palestinian ones.

        • @steltek@lemm.ee
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          162 years ago

          A lot of people are trying to justify the killing of Israeli civilians however.

          If there’s going to be an “open air prison”, we should make one for the far right nationalists of every country so the rest of the world can live in peace.

          • @P1r4nha@feddit.de
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            42 years ago

            Yeah, unfortunately that’s nothing new… in fact it seems older than all of us and some of our cultures and languages. I think the only moral high ground you can get to in this conflict is to completely reject any notion of killing or hurting civilians.

        • MxM111
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          32 years ago

          Do you honestly think if free elections were held today in Gaza, (or week ago, does not matter) then Hamas would not be re-elected?

      • Cyborganism
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        -22 years ago

        That was a looong time ago. And it was also during the middle of a conflict involving the entire region, Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon. Israel was ruthless and went on a murderous rampage against all these countries.

      • Cyborganism
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        22 years ago

        No I guess you’re right. I mean if they represented no one, there wouldn’t be a Hamas. But I’m fairly certain that’s a minority. The rest, the regular people, just want peace and a normal life.

        • Historical_General
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          -12 years ago

          It does not matter in this case whether they have support or not. Israel funded Hamas against the PLO, hoping to deter a two state solution by pointing to the angry Islamists they funded. Netanyahu openly said it, and bragged.

          They even assassinated other leg secular leaders. Netanyahu and the Mossad are responsible for tying the fate of the Palestinians to Hamas. And they share responsibility for the slaughter too.

    • bufalo1973
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      52 years ago

      The more I read the more it seem Hamas works for Bibi.

      Bibi was having a popularity problem. Now it doesn’t matter.

      The targets are mostly from the opposition to Bibi.

      This gives him the excuse he was waiting to level Gaza.

      Too many timely coincidences.

      But maybe I’m just being paranoid.

    • @Elric@lemmy.world
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      32 years ago

      They enjoy very wide support amongst the populace so they do represent many Palestinians, probably a majority?

      • Historical_General
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        22 years ago

        Because they control the infrastructure, hospitals etc. This is the result of Israel assassinating other political leaders and funding Hamas. Netanyahu and the Mossad did it on purpose. Its their own fault.

  • TigrisMorte
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    132 years ago

    Hamas isn’t in any way working for Palestinian rights. Hamas is not a synonym for Palestinian.

    • @SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
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      52 years ago

      If this were true, then there would have been no point in supporting emancipation or civil rights as a white person. No point supporting women’s suffrage, even though that was passed democratically with the help of voting men. LGBTQ people do not hate allies, they hate people who actively oppose their right to exist.

      I think this pop psychoanalysis doesn’t apply to questions of social justice. What Palestinians need is not just “a sense of self worth”, as if this is just a question of having the right attitude. They need rights.

      • @dustyData@lemmy.world
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        42 years ago

        This thread is conflating support with “savior complex”. Black people, women, LGBTQ, etc. Don’t need a savior. An ally or supporter is not a savior figure.

        The problem is that a lot of these Israeli “supporters” want to project the idea that the Palestinians need to be saved. Sometimes as a product of complex self-hatred and historical guilt. Sometimes out of a superiority complex, where they see themselves as the righteous vessel to save humanity. Which is actually a hurtful stance to those who need support and help the most.

        Then, you’ll notice that the comment above explicitly says, “those with an inferiority complex”. Not all humans are the same. I bet that most Palestinians are grateful for any external help they can get, given the conditions they’re on. But it only takes one religious nutjob radicalizing young men to promote this kind of hateful mindset to others.

        Finally, not all allies are made the same. As an LGBTQ person myself, I can accurately tell you that not every self-proclaimed ally is accepted. There’s self-righteous assholes who want to project themselves as saviors or that try to instrumentalize the Queer movement for political clout. There are predators who use their ally stance to access victims for abuse and exploitation. You might think “well, they are no true allies if…” but that’s not what this point is about. The truth is that not all self-appointed allies will be automatically accepted as such, and the marginalized and oppressed people are 100% in their right to decline or denounce ally status to whoever they feel like it.

        • @SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
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          12 years ago

          OK, those distinctions exist, but I’m not seeing anything that suggests this situation has anything to do with a “savior complex” or “inferiority complex”. I don’t get any sense that this woman was a “self-righteous asshole” or that her support was hated or rejected. The idea that being strongly supportive of human rights is pointless or just serves one’s own “self-satisfaction”, as OP suggested, sounds a lot like when the right dismisses everything as “virtue signaling”.

          I think she’s just swept up in a war zone. Hamas obviously didn’t attack this settlement to specifically target people like her.

          • @dustyData@lemmy.world
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            02 years ago

            Yes, but we are arguing abstracts not specifics. To suggest that all allies will be accepted by default, that inferiority complex, or that savior complex, don’t exists, is just plain ignorance. Just because virtue signaling is used as a right wing argument, doesn’t mean it is false. True things are used by bad faith actors all the time, and it doesn’t change their value as truth.

            You’re creating a reductio ad absurdum argument that has no bearings in the discussion of the specifics either. But that doesn’t matter now, because the comment doesn’t exist anymore.

    • @the_wise_wolf@feddit.de
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      2 years ago

      I was under the impression that the border was extremely well guarded and secure. At least at some point it must have been. It seems like the government recently moved troops to the west bank in order to protect settlers instead. https://lemmy.world/post/6616736

      Edit: Oops, I replied to the wrong comment

      • TigrisMorte
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        62 years ago

        Settlers in illegal settlements on land seized from occupied People.

  • @Lucent@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Maybe don’t vacation in or move to an occupied colonial outpost apartheid state.

  • @erranto@lemmy.world
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    -222 years ago

    Being a settler in an occupied territory =/= advocating for Palestinians rights.

    So much cognitive dissonance in this world making the bad guys now the good guys.

    • drphungky
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      192 years ago

      The article didn’t say she was a settler in an occupied territory though, she was in a Kibbutz on the border of Gaza. The settler problem is in the West Bank. The article DID say she advocated for Palestinian rights, which I don’t understand why you’d deny unless you have some proof otherwise? Hamas killed civilians indiscriminately - they were bound to kill some very good people. I don’t understand why someone who advocated for Palestinian rights is so hard to believe. It’s just super sad.

      • @erranto@lemmy.world
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        -202 years ago

        Why should a US citizen be given the right to someones else’s land. it is a stolen land from the Palestinians. every Israeli citizens is a settler. the were given the freedom to live and buy land that used to belong to its rightful owners, while the last are being caged-in in an open air prison

        • Dr Cog
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          2 years ago

          Where do you live? Because I doubt you are the original settler of your land.

          If you’re an American (North or South), you are not responsible for the reprehensible actions of your ancestors towards the Native populations just because you now live there. Similarly with Russia, China, most of Africa, Australia, Europe… basically the entirety of the world has a history of war and settling on conquered land. And you don’t deserve death for the actions of your ancestors.

          • @erranto@lemmy.world
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            -82 years ago

            Typical westerner settler response.

            my ancestors have been living here for thousands of years . they went through many colonizers and we are still bitter about the ones that are left.

            death to colonialism everywhere in the world.

    • @Astroturfed@lemmy.world
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      -32 years ago

      Hey, don’t question the biased media narrative or look up statistics on the number of people killed by each side and realize Israel is terrible as well. That would distract from massive military industrial complex socialism.

    • @myslsl@lemmy.world
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      202 years ago

      Helping “bad people”? There’s nothing inherently more bad about Palestinians than any other nationality.

        • GONADS125
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          142 years ago

          Was she supporting Hamas, or the Palestinian people?

          Do you understand the difference between the two?

              • @steltek@lemm.ee
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                32 years ago

                That someone would be creating a strawman.

                The KKK is not the ruling government of the US. The KKK has next to nothing for popular support. The KKK does not claim to be working in the best interests of all Americans.

              • @Seventhlevin@lemmy.world
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                2 years ago

                Would that not be a fair question if the KKK had been the democratically elected, ruling party in the U.S. going on two decades now? E.G. asking a german in the early 1940’s why they love the Nazis?

          • bioemerl
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            02 years ago

            Doesn’t really matter. The people largely and enthusiasticly support Hamas. Have we not learned this lesson from Russia and China and every other authoritarian state? They will have to be literally reprogrammed similar to the denazification of Germany.

            • GONADS125
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              22 years ago

              You are just talking out your ass…

              The Palestinian people are just like us. Most of them just want to exist in peace.

              I thought Conan did a good job humanizing the very real Palestinians who are regular, peaceful individuals.

              In the full episode, he goes around a market telling people their prices are “bullshit” as a ‘negotiation technique’ and they reacted better than many of my fellow Americans would have.

              • bioemerl
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                2 years ago

                The Palestinian people are just like us

                Yeah, and people are stupid, easily manipulated, and forged by their environment and religion. We aren’t special, we’re just rich and live in nations whose cultures are organized in part to stomp out hate.

                I’m sure there are good people in Palestine who are truly opposed to the idea of purging the Jews. I’m also sure they’re a minority.

                But if you want to be all empathetic and go help the Palestinian people…

                You’ll be kidnapped and possibly killed because you don’t align with their fantasy sky God.

                • GONADS125
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                  2 years ago

                  You seem very sure of things you know little about. Blatantly jumping to conclusions.