The way you put it, it sounds like Israel got up in the morning one day and for reasons no one can understand, decided to start inflicting civilian casualties on Palestinians.
Someone else might say the same about the Hamas attack on October 7th.
As the UN Secretary-General said, "This most recent violence does not occur in a vacuum. It stems from a long-standing conflict, a 56-year-long occupation, and the absence of a political solution in sight."[1]
Whichever side you are on (if any), responding to atrocities with further atrocities is not justifiable. It doesn't matter who commits these atrocities
Do you know Israel was trying to strike peace deals with the Palestinians multiple times and faced stagnation and rejection from their leadership? Also, the only reason Hamas exists is Israel completely pulled out from the Gaza Strip in 2007 letting it be self governed like an independent state. So no, it doesn’t matter what happened 56 years ago. Things have changed, there were many, many opportunities to change course and nothing justifies the horrific vicious terror attack of October 7th.
Your scare quotes are super condescending, but yes, it truly is notoriously complicated. Thousands of books have been written on it, and millions of hours have been spent debating it. Denying that Jews have any legitimate claim to land in the Levant is partisan and false, and it pours fuel on the fire. The only possible lasting solution will acknowledge that both Jews and Palestinians have a rightful claim to (and a need for) a state.
What is so complicated about admitting that Israel is stealing land as we speak, with its colonies in the west bank? Even Israel has no issues with colonizing its neighbors, so it's amazing to see you argue otherwise. It's not a secret.
Also it's amazing how nuance is needed when it's to discuss Israel's war crimes, land grabs, and everything else. But none is required when it's about Palestinians. Do you also say that "it's complicated" when someone talks about Hamas?
Many of the Israelis commenting here are not supportive of the West Bank settlers including myself.
Israel is not colonising anyone. Even the West Bank was occupied in ab existentixal war against proper state armies and violent civilians groups in 1967.
How are they not colonizing anyone when they are literally settling territory that even the state of Israel does not consider to be theirs prior to said settlers taking it? What does a war in 1967 have to do with colonizing in 2023? Or more importantly, why does Israel get to use that as an excuse for being allowed to be aggressive and do whatever it wants? Do you extend that logic to Palestinians too? Are they allowed to use armed resistance since they got kicked out in masse from their homes in the 1940s?
Yes you did. You said Israel was created by "forcefully stealing land." The vast majority of Jewish migrants in the late 19th century bought the land. If you're talking about the 1949 war... well, it was a war, in which the Israelis agreed to the fair UN partition plan, and the Arab states did not. At the very least, "stealing" is a very reductive way to summarize it.
> by saying it’s complicated, are trying to paint a simple picture
But is is complicated! That is actually true, and that's OK!
> in which Israel apparently didn’t do anything wrong
Of course Israel has done things wrong.
> That’s actually incredibly partisan
I am trying my absolute best to make comments in the spirit of HN. If you think it's too partisan to engage with, then I'm sorry, but you should know that I really did try.
