Quote:
Originally posted by taxwonk
Again, to clarify, my comments were addressed to Hamas in
Gaza.
Although I will take a moment to address your point about assasination being "terribly difficult and terribly dangerous." The assassins would be either IDF or Mossad. Either way, they would be military men who knowingly and voluntarily undertook to risk their lives fighting in defense of their country. The same cannot be said for Lebanese, Palestinian, or Israeli civilians currently caught in the artillery war.
I realize it's quite fashionable to consider Arabs to be less than human and not deserving of the measure of respect for human life that is normally professed by you and Sidd. I've never really been a slave to fashion.
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MAYBE Israel could devote a few years and the lives of some its best agents to killing individual Hamas members, in the sort of killings you see "Hit Man - Silent Assassin".
And maybe not.
And in any event, that is an enormous cost. If I am an Israeli general, I would prefer to have my best agents trying to figure out where the Iranian bomb facilities were, or where the Hezbollah Frog missiles are, or when the next big suicide attack is coming. And I'd rather use a rocket attack or bombing run to take out the Hamas leaders.
Because, let's face it -- the Palestinians have not exactly applauded Israel when it has killed its enemies in exactly the way that you propose. Instead, such killings have simply brought new recruits to the cause. And because they are painless for the people who might not personally volunteer for suicide attacks, they only increase support for the militants who do.
And yes -- civilians will die, including some who do not support the militants. That is very sad, and unfortunately inevitable when military men -- including Palestinian militants -- put their fighters, their bases, and their weapons in civilian areas.
As for the suggestion that, by advocating for Israel's right to defend itself, I treat Arabs as "less than human," I would only suggest that you go fuck yourself.
Personally, I think the problem is that Hamas and Hezbollah treat Arab civilians as less than human (perhaps that is not particularly, when one of their main backers is not an Arab state) by using them as shields.
