I don't know if anyone actually believes this. We still have videos of Hamas leaders repeating their "wipe out Israel" mantra, and they haven't updated their charter to reflect their change of heart due to "internal reasons".
They may have had a 'change in heart', but i'm not sure anyone (governments) is convinced and this conflict hasn't done anything to cement that 'change of heart'.
Oh, give me a fucking break, with using this tired, intellectually dishonest excuse to justify the slaughter that's going on now, and purposely leaving out all context. You think senior Israeli officials and lawmakers don't say the same thing? And if they did, would that justify a slaughter of Israelis in your mind? You know what the difference is? Israel actually has the capability to act on these statements, while Hamas does not. Here are a couple recent quotes from those in the Israeli gvt:
On the eve of Abu Khudair’s lynching, Member of Knesset (Israel’s parliament) and government faction whip Ayelet Shaked issued a call over Facebook to ethnically cleanse the land, declaring “the entire Palestinian people is the enemy.” She advocated their complete destruction, “including its elderly and its women,” adding that these must be slaughtered, otherwise they might give birth to more “little snakes.”
If that isn't incitement to genocide, what is?
Just yesterday: Moshe Feiglin, The deputy speaker of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party:
“After the IDF completes the ‘softening’ of the targets with its firepower, the IDF will conquer the entire Gaza, using all the means necessary to minimize any harm to our soldiers, with no other considerations,” Feiglin writes in one of several calls for outright war crimes.
Following the reconquest, Israel’s army “will thoroughly eliminate all armed enemies from Gaza. The enemy population that is innocent of wrongdoing and separated itself from the armed terrorists will be treated in accordance with international law and will be allowed to leave,” Feiglin writes.
“Gaza is part of our Land and we will remain there forever,” Feiglin concludes. “Subsequent to the elimination of terror from Gaza, it will become part of sovereign Israel and will be populated by Jews. This will also serve to ease the housing crisis in Israel.”
Not sure how much more clear a call for ethnic cleansing can be.
Regarding some Israelis:
Since the beginning of July, raging crowds of Jewish Israelis just like these have marched through Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Nazareth and Beer Sheva, chanting “Death to Arabs” and “Death to Leftists,” swarming and attacking vulnerable victims. While a tiny contingent of radical Israelis have formed a loose “anti-fascist” network that tries to patrol city streets and prevent additional lynchings, they are extremely few in numbers and cannot be everywhere at all times.
There has been MANY such examples in the past, of Israel leaders calling for genocide of Palestinians and the desire to either wipe them out or kick them all out of the area. Don't you see the hypocrisy of condemning all Palestinians to death and belittling their lives because of what Hamas has said in the past, while there's no shortage of that from the Israeli side? What a weak, cowardly argument in order to justify the killing.
As for Hamas, Israel has never recognized them as legitimate government, and from day 1 they punished all Gazans by imposing a blockage in order to suffocate the population and restrict the flow of basic supplies that is needed for a functioning, economically viable society.
Anyone who thinks this merciless assault against Gaza has anything to do with defence needs to inform themselves, and anyone who isn't strongly condemning Israel for its actions needs to check both their objectivity and basic humanity.
In what despicably twisted is the slaughter of 450+ (and rising by the minute) mostly civilians, tens of thousands of injured, the displacement of 50,000+ people who are now refugees, the decimation of entire neighbourhoods, the shelling of multiple hospitals, the dropping of bombs on extremely dense populated areas justified? Hamas "rocket attacks" managed to kill a SINGLE Israeli 11 days after the bombings started. Entire families in gaza have been wiped out. Bodies of women and children are piling up in the hundreds. But thats fair game, to those people that believe Palestinian blood is worth absolutely nothing compared to Israeli blood- and that a life of a single Israeli is worth more than every Gazan combined.
But let's assume for a second you think that way- that Palestinians are worth nothing, but as much blood as needed should be spilled for Israel's "security" (and if many of you are honest with yourselves, you should admit thats exactly what you believe). Ok, fine. In what world could these kind of attacks POSSIBLY be a net positive for Israel's security? Taking out a few rockets outweighs the extreme hatred, desire for vengeance towards Israel that all Gazans now feel, while more and more of their friends and families are being slaughtered and their homes destroyed? That will suddenly entice them to want to be friends with Israel and be reasonable? No, it will radicalize everyone, and Israel absolutely knows this. Anyone who can rub 2 braincells together knows it, and its all part of the plan. Any damage Israel is doing to Hamas is negligible to the damage they're doing to their own future security with the bodies piling up, and the families they are destroying- many whom have nothing left to live for beyond the desire for vengeance- a feeling that's utterly normal and natural.
This is genocide, no ifs or buts. The "human shield" excuse is utter and absolutely horse-shit, as if Israel doesn't' know that they will kill scores of civilians by dropping massive bombs (sorry, "targeted strikes") on dense areas. These deaths are already factored in, they're not surprising for Israel, nor accidental. They just don't care, regardless of the PR they keep repeating, and which many (including those in this thread) simply parrot. The facts do not support that PR. It's a cowardly thing, to never hold themselves accountable for the carnage dropped from thier own bombs, and instead try to put the blame entire on Hamas. Not surprisingly, people eat that up.
The most depressing thing from the mainstream media is how they're reporting this in a vacuum, ignoring the fact that even before this latest ongoing massacre, Gazans have been living in an open-air prison, under a brutal occupation. Israel has never stopped bulldozing homes and expanding their settlements, stealing land, water and resources from Palestinians and denying them the most basic building blocks to building a future. It's not a shock that in conditions such as these, there WILL be the environment for groups that resort to violence. However, the biggest magic trick that Israel has pulled is convincing the world it is threatened by the Palestinians or Hamas. Israel has never been in danger from Palestinians, and never will be. It has used this false pretense to continue expanding its settlements, and keeping the Palestinians in a state of utter hopelessness and torment.
Who knows what the body count will be at the end of this latest massacre, (a term like "lopsided" does not begin to describe a 400-to-1 ratio) but whatever it is, there will be many claiming that it was "worth it". These people should take a deep, hard look into that statement and what lies they're repeating to themselves to condone such carnage. This is not a "war"- it never has been. The term is utterly laughable in its ridiculousness. Israel does not want peace, and has never wanted peace, undermining the possibility at every opportunity- anyone who has actually followed the events of the last few years closely, instead of mindlessly swallowing the PR narratives of Israel and the media would see this blatant, obvious fact. Its why they were so, so enraged by the formation of the united government, while pretty much every other country in the world saw it as a good thing. The narrative of always "being under attack" and in an "existential crisis" is the only thing keeping the country from falling apart from internal strife. Again, anyone who knows a damn thing about whats going on inside Israel in terms of both politics and economy can see this.
