Reply to How to handle this difficult situation with a friend

Forum Index » Off-Topic

Reply to "How to handle this difficult situation with a friend"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm an academic who works on the Middle East. I'm not super lefty but I believe the current Israeli military response is extremely counterproductive. I also think the doxxing of 18-22 year olds is obnoxious and threatening. Still, I was shocked by that Columbia faculty letter - it goes way too far in excusing the horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas. If the OP is still reading, I can totally understand why your DH is disillusioned with your friend. I have a few acquaintences who've become extremely strident in one direction or the other and I've lost respect for them. I certainly wouldn't go on vacation with someone who believes that terrorist attacks are [b]legitimate military operations[/b].[/quote]

The letter doesn't say that. In fact, it says the opposite. [/quote]

No it doesn’t. [/quote]

From the letter:

[quote]One could regard the events of October 7th as just one salvo in an ongoing war between an occupying state and the people it occupies, or as an occupied people exercising a right to resist violent and illegal occupation, something anticipated by international humanitarian law in the Second Geneva Protocol.  [b]In either case armed resistance by an occupied people must conform to the laws of war, which include a prohibition against the intentional targeting of civilians.[/b]  The statement reflects and endorses this legal framework, [b]including a condemnation of the killing of civilians[/b].[/quote]

Because the Hamas attack intentionally targeted civilians, the attack was not legitimate.
[/quote]

+1, and I'll also note the student statement said the same. Neither document refers to the Hamas attack as legitimate or justified. Both documents express grief over the loss of life. The main point of the student statement is that the Hamas attacks should be viewed in context, and not in a vacuum. You can be horrified by the attacks and the loss of life while acknowledging and understanding that these were not terror attacks that emerged out of the ether. They are part of an ongoing conflict. Again, that doesn't justify them. But to express grief and horror over the 10/7 attacks, without even acknowledging the fact that hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli military forces this year alone (well before the Israeli response to the Hamas attacks) is hurtful to Palestinian students. It doesn't mean they are glad Israelis died or don't care about those deaths. But obviously they care about the ongoing conflict and the loss of Palestinian lives, and they were bothered by responses to the 10/7 attacks that simply ignored that context, and that loss of life.

That's not anti-semitic. It's pro-Palestinian.

And yeah, the pro-Palestine student groups don't like Israel. Is anyone actually surprised by that? Would you expect an Israeli student group to endorse the government of Iran?

I know people are upset about the students' choice to frame the Hamas attacks as a military action rather than a terror attack. I personally do not agree with that statement. But I read their statement and I understand why they are framing it that way. I did not find their statement anti-semitic. I do not equate Israel with Jews and I personally find the current Israeli government to be abhorrent, and Netanyahu to be on par with Putin as a foreign leader. The didn't say it was a legitimate military action, I don't get why that word keeps being thrown around. It wasn't legitimate -- it targeted innocent civilians and is abhorrent.

But there are many examples of the Israeli military targeting civilians in Gaza. Those are military actions, no? Are they legitimate? It's complicate, isn't it?[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics