Hamas

Hamas To Bibi

Cjones05202021

Like Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu is desperate to cling to power and he’ll do so through violent means. Other than losing power if he leaves office, like Trump, Netanyahu faces possible prison time for corruption. Trump mostly created boogeymen out of thin air while Bibi actually has one in Hamas, who are very willing to play the part.

Israel has had four elections over the past two years with Netanyahu barely clinging to power while failing to put together a government. Fighting Bibi also helps keep Hamas in power on their side. Netanyahu is the boogeyman to Palestine. Voters normally doesn’t remove a leader during wartime.

Hamas was formed with a “death to Israel” mantra. Bibi has always operated with a “death to Palestine” philosophy and has adamantly refused to include Israeli Arabs in his government. Israel has always been a U.S. ally, but during the Obama administration, Netanyahu treated our president as an enemy. With Donald Trump, he found a nationalistic hateful partner. There were no real attempts by the U.S. and Israel to negotiate in good faith with the Palestinians during the Orange Shitgibbon era. Moving the U.S. embassy squashed any chances of that.

Israel is an Apartheid state. Even when it’s not being bombed by Israeli airstrikes, Gaza experiences power outages daily between eight to twelve hours. The Gaza Strip has been under a U.S.-led economic boycott since 2006. The strip is 25 miles long and seven and a half miles wide. It’s the third-most densely populated area in the word and an Israeli buffer zone leaves a lot of the land off limits to Palestinians. The population is not allowed to leave or enter the strip or import and export goods, but the Israeli military is free to enter at will. Gaza is dependent on Israel for power, water, telecommunications, and other utilities. The people in Gaza are second-class citizens living in poverty. The Israeli government, Netanyahu in particular, does not care about them.

To preserve its Jewish majority in Jerusalem (which is not in Gaza), with both Israel and Palestinians claim, the Netanyahu government was preparing to evict up to a thousand Palestinian families from the holy city. This is what Jared Kushner would call a real-estate deal. After weeks of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police, Hamas started firing long-range missiles at Jerusalem and other cities. In response, Israel has hit Gaza with airstrikes.

Neither Hamas or Netanyahu refrain from hitting civilian targets. Even if Hamas only aimed at military targets, their rockets are wildly inaccurate. Over the weekend, Netanyahu hit a building containing offices for news outlets which he has justified. Hitting news outlets with air strikes is probably something Donald Trump would be down with.

The Associated Press reports that at least 200 Palestinians have been killed in the strikes, including 59 children and 35 women, with 1,300 people wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Eight people in Israel have been killed in rocket attacks launched from Gaza, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

At some point, Hamas will stop firing rockets and Israel will stop delivering airstrikes…until next time. Netanyahu and Hamas will both cling to power while using the other to do so. This conflict will continue indefinitely. I hate to be negative but I don’t ever expect to see a change.

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Freedom, Fear And Hummus

cjones12072015

I’m exhausted. I’m tired of the militant gun crowd screaming for more guns. I’m tired of Republicans who believe it’s OK to sell guns to people they put on the no-fly list. Mostly I’m tired of bigotry and the support it’s gaining.

Obama issued a rare Oval Office address Sunday night in attempt to beef up confidence in his handling of ISIS. He also appealed for the public to be rational toward those of the Islamic faith.

While the public has very little faith in the president’s handling of terrorism, the Republican candidates are scaring the Hell out of those who are more pragmatic.

The GOP candidates aren’t just selling fear. They’re selling hate, bigotry and outright racism. Most of them are calling for the rejection of Syrian refugees entering the country (though there hasn’t been any acts of terrorism by anyone who entered the country through the refugee process). Trump says we should kill the terrorists’ families and put mosques under surveillance. Ted Cruz wants to strip citizenship of suspected terrorists and responded to the latest mass shooting by holding a rally at a gun range. Even the most mainstream of the candidates, Jeb Bush, says we should only accept Christian refugees. Worst of all, they’re selling the fear that you’re not safe unless you own a semi-automatic weapon and carry it with you at all times.

The candidates bigotry wouldn’t be so alarming if it wasn’t gaining so much support. That’s what I’m tired of. I’m tired of people blaming Muslims and trying to smear the entire faith as violent. I’m tired of people who are only concerned with Muslim killers, but not white killers, or Christian killers.

In other news, many of the Republican candidates spoke to the Jewish Coalition. Of course they pandered. Every candidate, Republican and Democrat pander to whatever group they’re speaking to at the time. But some of these guys really got into the stereotypes. Jim Gilmore (yes, he’s still in the race) said he’s seen Schindler’s List. Jeb Bush informed the crowd that he knows what Hannukah is. Ted Cruz said a vote for Hillary is a vote for the Ayatollah to nuke Israel. John Kasich said if you want a good friend, find one who’s Jewish. Rick Santorum mentioned he worked with a Jew in the Senate. Donald Trump told them he knows how much they like their money and how good of negotiators they are. I’m shocked none of the candidates referred to Obama as a schlemiel.

The funniest part was Ben Carson who seemed to be reading directly from a Wikipedia entry. In referencing Hamas, Ben Carson pronounced it “hummus.” Apparently the good doctor has never had a conversation in his life about the Middle East and heard the proper pronunciation. Let’s just hope he never orders an appetizer of Hamas with flat bread.

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