#israel is and always has been the aggressor

[news4dzhozhar]

So far Israel has bombed in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and now Yemen (and of course all areas of Palestine) but still claim to be the victim. It's even more sickening when Western countries and media repeat these asinine lies with a straight face.

#apartheid #save palestine #ethnic cleansing #israel is an apartheid state #seek truth #free palestine 🇵🇸 #genocide #illegal occupation #israel is committing genocide #israeli war crimes #yemen #jordan #syria #lebanon #israel is not the victim #actions have consequences #propaganda kills #israel committed war crimes by bombing iran's embassy in syria #israel lies while Palestine dies #the US is complicit in genocide war crimes and the starvation of countless innocent Palestinians #open your eyes #spread awareness #israel is a terrorist state #accountability isn't antisemitism #false accusations #iof terrorism #violation of international law #WWIII is gonna have Netanyahus name all over it #israel is and always has been the aggressor

[ding-dong-the-bitch-is-dead]

#Dex Spazzes #tiktok #free palestine #free gaza #genocide #stop the genocide #i stand with palestine #i stand with gaza #palestine #gaza #israel has always been the aggressor

[mylight-png]

You know how I know that the anti-Israel hate is deeply rooted in antisemitism, and not just "social justice" or whatever people are calling it right now?

Let me tell you a common situation I encounter:

So, being a college student away from home, I don't have a car here. This means that if I ever need to go anywhere, I need to get an Uber or Lyft or something along those lines.

I always tuck in my Bring Them Home tag, magen david, turn my "am Yisrael chai" pin to the inside of my clothes, etc. I hate doing it, but I have heard of violently antisemitic drivers, and I'd rather not risk it, considering I'm alone in the car with them.

Every time, I call my mom. It makes me safer to have someone on call. And every time, she makes the same two recommendations.

The first is to put in an address of a neighboring house for pickup, because the house I live in has my landlord's car out front, and his car has stickers in Hebrew on it.

The second is, if asked where I'm from, to say Russia. I don't get asked where I'm "really from" unless I'm with my parents usually (they both have strong accents). But it's a warning my mom repeats every time anyway. The choice of Russia isn't random, I was raised fluent and can back up the claim if need be with random knowledge. But I have never been to Russia, except for the airport once to catch a connecting flight to Israel. I was, however, born in Israel, and I've been there multiple times (unfortunately not since 2014 though). So to say I'm from Russia is a lie, and to say I'm from Israel is the truth.

Both are countries at war. Russia, unlike Israel, actually started the war. Unlike Israel, Russia actually does have a history of colonialism, genocide, imperialism, and worse.

So why is it safer for me to lie about being from an aggressor country than to tell the truth about being from a country caught in a war it didn't want?

Antisemitism. Anti-Russian hate crimes globally didn't spike, Russian women haven't been raped as "justice" for Ukraine. Russian businesses weren't commonly vandalized simply for being from Russia. Meanwhile, all of these things were done to Jews as a result of a war Israel did not start.

If this global response to the war wasn't antisemitism it would be equally safe or unsafe for me to give either answer.

But in reality, it's safer for me to lie about being from Russia than to tell the truth about being from Israel.

That's how I know it's antisemitism.

#jumblr #proud israeli #israel solidarity #antisemitism #russia ukraine war #israel hamas war #antizionism is antisemitism #antizionism

[meyhew]

You condone violence against innocent civilians?

i don’t “condone” it but i’m not condemning it in this context because apart from the actual babies and children, there are no “innocent civilians” in israel. the men, the women, the elderly—they’re all settlers and they’re all complicit in the crimes of their government. almost all of them have homes they can flee to outside of israel. they take their sweet time packing up their bags and going to the airport to fly elsewhere. a huge number of the israeli population also holds american citizenship because they are all settlers. they are living on very recently stolen land, in other people’s very recently stolen homes. they have in the past made it a celebration to watch missiles strike palestinian civilians. after facing decades of terror and brutalization, if palestinians are finally striking back violently, i 100% support it. and they have not intentionally targeted civilians i beg u to actually get news from somewhere that isn’t western media twisting the narrative. purposefully killing and torturing civilians is a tactic straight out of israel’s playbook. not palestine’s. everything israel is promising to do in retaliation, it has already done to the people of gaza. it has already killed and abducted women and children on purpose, for years on end. thousands of people jailed indefinitely without cause. countless residents bombed to rubble. where’s the condemnation from everyone for that

and once again, even if a handful of civilians were targeted by hamas, i don’t condemn it. because again: the civilians are fucking settlers. palestinians have been nonviolent in their resistance for a long time and an oppressed group can only be passive for so long before they start to hate their aggressor. all of this is a result of the israeli government terrorizing palestinians for decades and the israeli settlers choosing to be there. who would the israeli government do all this for if there wasn’t a population it was governing? only the children are absolved of that guilt because they haven’t had the choice to be there or move back to wherever the fuck they came from

open up a history book. decolonization is violent. and i will always be on the side of the oppressed, no matter how violently they fight back

#sorry if this makes some of u unfollow me i don’t care i am SICK of compassion everyone seems to suddenly have found #when none of you ever fucking even think about palestine and the horrors its people face every day #palestine #anonymous #answered

[thesituation]

wait are the attacks on israel a good or bad thing?

*firmly but not unkindly grasps your hand* anything bad that happens to the manufactured “state” of “israel” is a net good thing for the human race. hamas is an organization with awful, religious fundamentalist ideals for palestine, and they are backed by the taliban and other various islamic groups, but they are currently the only organization with the ability to strike back at israel in a way that matters. i always recommend researching the topic in an objective way to form an opinion, however in this case, most “reputable” western sources will be little more than propaganda and puff pieces for the fascist israeli government. this is because israel is in practice a western satellite state strategically placed to be a western presence and watchdog in the middle east, and as such have virtually the full power of the US military behind them. palestinians WILL suffer disproportionately in retaliation for this extremely small attack, and israelis will continue living in a comfortable bubble once the fear wears off. while israelis will rally behind the “war cause” against palestine and project the idea that the aggression is unwarranted, palestinian civilians, including non-combatants and children, will continue to be slaughtered indiscriminately, as they have been for decades. anyone with a grasp on the situation will be able to easily see that israel has been the aggressor the entire time, and is outraged that the palestinian people, who they see as little more than disposable nuisances, managed to hit back in any way after decades of being indiscriminately killed, imprisoned, and starved. it’s a complex topic but not in a moral sense, only in the sense that you need to disconnect yourself from what western media will try to sell you to justify the fact that they will funnel resources into this active genocide

#answers

[leandra-winchester]

This is such an immensely useful article, especially when you want to support your argumentation that Israel's statements on the 'conflict with' (i.e. genocide of) Palestine can't be trusted.

Israel is and always has been the aggressor; the occupation of the West Bank is and has been deemed violating international law and human rights, multiple times, by multiple institutions and organizations. As a settler-colonialist power, their claims always have to be taken with a grain of salt and put under the highest scrutiny. That is something that is usually applied in international law and international relationships.

Yet, when it comes to Israel, there is an extreme bias in the West - particularly the WW2 allied countries and Germany - to accept Israel's claims at face value and not apply the same level of scrutiny one would with other powers in similar situations.

If you get into an argument with friends or relatives over it, present the information in the article - which only mentions some of the most prominent examples of Israel's lies later exposed.

The information in the article is well-cited with links to publications by orgs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

#palestine #free palestine #gaza genocide #israeli misinformation #israel lies #watermelon

[hoonvrs]

this is not fiction related. I have been seeing news about the ongoing israel-palestine war. I know its been a while since it blew out on news outlets. I'm surely not a very political person and honestly from a country with so much issues too. But the news is devastating and inhumane. The civilians from both countries are suffering the consequences. Greed of people with power. Its not countries that are at war, its greedy people with power vs those who are in the way of that gain. Its always the civilians and innocent people who doesn't even get to give their cents on the matter who suffer when things dont work out. Im no expert neither have research enough to point fingers.  Regardless, no one should die or get hurt for whatever dispute or gains people are fighting for. I have no where else to put this. I'm sorry if im dropping it here, to you. Its frustrating not being able to do anything for those victims. Except pray this war end soon. For whatever religion, race and differences people has is not an excuse to be choosing sides now. 💔💔

you sound very uneducated on the topic so imma try to say this as nice as possible, there are two sides.

you have the oppressed and the oppressor, and if you don’t choose a side after seeing how israel has completely terrorised palestine then i think you should take a look into your own morals. palestinians don’t get to ‘choose a side’ that is a privilege to YOU which is so pathetic honestly i’m sick of people coming into my inbox thinking it’s a safe place to be ‘not involved’ or ‘not choosing any sides’ when i’ve stated so many times that i hate and will forever hate israel’s and zionist alike. if you’re not educated enough to ‘pick a side’ on a topic where there is clearly a victim and an aggressor idk what to tell you except shut up and keep ur opinion to urself cause it’s so lacking empathy and js sounds like a first world problem that i don’t really give a fuck about😁

this isn’t a governmental issue on both sides, it’s the israeli and us and all the other fuck off govs bombing and murdering innocent civilians of PALESTINE with no place to go. israelis are fucking comfortable on their ass and can easily go ‘im scared lemme move to the us for good🤓’ like genuinely kys.

#inbox — new msg! #anons pls think and do ur research before coming into my inbox #i’m so sick of it idc #i’m not gonna coddle u for being on the fence #( anons! )

[halalchampagnesocialist]

At times, I feel in two minds about the global reaction to Israel’s actions in Gaza. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very glad the world has woken up but I just hate it took until now. It took until these mass atrocities started happening… and don’t get me started on organisations and individuals that waited 3 months to call for a ceasefire! But in reality this is child’s play for Israel, it’s not anything it hasn’t done before except it’s doing it on a much greater scale.

Israel’s scale of actions have always been about pushing the limit and seeing how much they could get away with. Now they have October 7 as their excuse but also the backing of the world’s major powers theyre able to commit these atrocities.

And I’m not blaming the ordinary people who might’ve been uneducated about Palestine or rather not known the extent of the situation prior to Oct 7… but it’s precisely because major powers kept making excuses for Israel (not to mention funding it and backing it) that it has gotten to this level. This is not even including Zionist orgs and enablers that kept painting Palestinians as the prime aggressors or hindering pro-Palestine activism by contributing to its criminalisation in some aspects which has only enabled Israel even more.

Just to reiterate it’s heartwarming to see tens and hundreds of thousands come out in support of Palestine, it’s heartwarming to see people speaking up about Palestine and supporting Palestine, and it’s been incredible to watch the tide turn amongst the general public.

It just shouldn’t have taken until now. This isn’t to sound defeatist because our efforts in the past mattered, they still matter now, and will matter for years to come. Our end goal isn’t ceasefire but a free Palestine.

[cheriiyaya]

so recently i came across this post on the la times of someone saying that israel is not a colonial state and america and the west are right to support them. They brought up the multiple wars that have happened since the nakbah, saying that hamas is trying to dismantle the state of israel.

This argument is flawed in many ways, first off by the person's argument towards the author's piece they were criticizing. This columnist argues that author Rashid khalidi's article for the la times paints the war as a "colonial war that belittles jewish peoples ancestral ties to israel." (paraphrased.) Now, i read the article myself and found no traces of the author belittling jewish ancestral ties to as-shaam, rather the article talks about how america is prolonging and fueling the war. I would like to add as well that what is happening in gaza and the west bank is not only a colonial war, but also:

ethnic cleansing.

genocide

desecration of holy sites

illegal annexation

occupation

mass displacement

and many more war crimes

israel has always been the aggressor, and while hamas has done horrific things (such as the october 7th attack on a music festival), they are the only way the palestinians can defend themselves.

next, about the two-state solutions. If we're to be honest, they would've never worked and they were constantly rigged against the palestinians. Anyone who has come from a background or ethnic group who's people have endured colonization and the likes can see how these "solutions" have many loopholes that can be used for the exploitation of the palestinians and their lands. I could go on and on as there are so many examples of the horrific atrocities being committed, but i would not be able to fit them all on a tumblr post.

#free gaza #palestine #free palestine

[anamericangirl]

yo! i like your blog a fair bit and i think your handling of most issues is ideologically correct. what's been kinda off putting to me a bit recently is like, your recent support of israel in this entire thing. i don't support either sides, because one is a terrorist group and one is a shady government, but i feel a bit meh about like. anyone "justifying" either israel or palestine because it always comes off as insensitive to the lives being lost by focusing instead on sides. don't you think the primary focus should kinda on saving lives and mourning their loss rather than justifying who's on the right or who's misrepresenting information or whatever? i hope my sentences weren't too convoluted or aggressive and im sorry if i've misunderstood your posts. have a good day!

Thanks I appreciate the compliment!

I'm not trying to say Israel is entirely blameless or their government is the best or not worthy of criticism, because in this centuries long conflict there's enough blame to go around - but, I think if we look at where the conflict stands today, there's an obvious aggressor and it's not Israel.

You don't have to support Israel or like their government to acknowledge the reality of what is going on. Despite what the Israeli government is like, in this conflict right now one state is trying to exist and the other is trying to keep them from existing. One is trying to take out a terrorist group and avoid as many civilian deaths as possible and one is aiming just to take out an entire country and as many civilians as they can.

I think, when you get down to it, Hamas, as the terrorist organization that they are and the atrocities they commit is worse than a shady government. There should be a focus on saving lives but to do that you have to acknowledge who is responsible for the loss of lives and how these lives are being taken out. And the truth is the fault for these civilian deaths is mostly with Hamas - regardless of what side you support or don't support that's just an unavoidable fact. If we want the primary focus to be on the civilian lives then we have to be honest about what is happening.

There are several Arab countries in the world and most are in that area in the Middle East. There is one Jewish state on the planet. It has the right to exist and Hamas is not recognizing that right and is trying to obliterate them.

Whatever you feel about Israel itself, they have the right to defend themselves against the attacks and they are being unfairly represented in our media as the aggressor when the real culprit is Hamas. Every time there is any civilian lives lost on the Palestinian side Israel immediately gets blamed. A structure gets hit by a missile and all we hear is how evil Israel bombed it killing civilians and there's not a word about the missiles Hamas is constantly firing at Israel in a haphazard manner trying to hit whatever and whoever they can but the second Israel fires back then they are painted as the bad guy.

Even if you don't like the Israeli government it can't be denied that one side is trying to protect their citizens and take out a terrorist group while doing more than any other military in the world to avoid civilian casualties and one side is targeting civilians. Those aren't equal. One is worse.

#anon #answered

[marstonie]

MY THOUGHTS — i beg to read to the end. saying that zionism and israeli jews are epitomizing "white supremacy" has to be the worst fucking opinion i have ever had to witness. god, you fucking antisemitic pigs are unbearable. yes, antisemitic, not antizionist — believe me. if you would just spend one serious minute of your life to indulge yourself in the history of israel, in the history of HOW it came to be, and especially WHY it came to be, all of you naive, ignorant people would see pretty clearly that this isn’t an aggressive, "settler colonialist" (😭) state, but it’s the reaction to thousands of years of opression, to an ACTUAL genocide of over 6 million jews, to the fact that no place on earth wanted to harbour them in safety — so first question, where else to go? and please enlighten me, after you’ve spent actual time reading in a history book or attending a real school, how israel was the initial aggressor in this conflict? how jewish people back then were doing something bad or fundamentally different than what every single group of people had done in the history of humanity — to migrate and to settle. do we want to go over the settler history of arab states and nations together? do you want to enlighten me, what makes the arabs settling good, and the jewish settling evil? do you care to provide any information that isn’t solely based on bias or — how do i say — hatred for jews? one pattern i have been very much observant of, is that the majority of the pro-palestine movement is uneducated, and refuses to use any actual historic facts or historic depth as backup for their cries to eradicate the only safe home that jewish people have on this messed up world. and i, too, believe the expansion politics of israel to be wrong, and strongly believe that palestine should exist in a free, individual state — however, the pro-palestine movement is calling for palestine to demolish the jewish state. to eradicate and murder millions of israeli jews. they are saying things like "resistance isn’t terror", and believe this is a cry for peace — when the hamas terrorists raped women, murdered children, beat teenagers and elderly in blood and kidnapped hundreds — terror remains TERROR. you can acknowledge this terror, and still call for palestine to be free! i AM calling for palestine to be free! yet, i am asking you, how do you expect to have diplomacy, when the leading political force of gaza is currently, a terror organization. tell me, how? but you won’t want to tell me, because to you, the murder and rape of jewish, innocent people is resistance. i hope you fake and disgusting activists choke. i am a shockingly pacifist person, but this bullshit makes me feel rage and sadness beyond words. i hope you all wake up from this disgusting lunacy, and turn to actual activism, turn to actual advocacy for peace. i will always be advocating for peace and the freedom of both these states. you guys are doing neither.

#israel #am yisrael chai #free palestine #stand with israel #hamas is isis #israel hamas war

[butterflypark]

If you're in any way blaming Hamas for the current Gaza genocide you're playing right into the hands of the israeli propaganda

This isn't me saying Hamas is good or anything (every resistance group should have your critical support. You can discuss who's good and bad at politics under a free Palestine ), I just want to debunk some common misinformation

"There was a ceasefire on October 6th"

The ceasefire claim is completely baseless. You can look up images of Gaza and the west bank before October 7th but even if there were somehow no bodies, blocking what's allowed into Gaza, the fact that 97% of the water is unfit for human consumption, the fact that israel is the only developed "state" that keeps children in prison and the fact that people aren't allowed in and out is not a ceasefire. It's the conditions of a concentration camp.

"Hamas could release the hostages for a ceasefire"

Hamas has suggested this multiple times and it's always been rejected. Hamas is also unable to return the hostages while israel is bombing the entirety of Gaza. Also a lot of you seem to think the hostage thing is a baseless evil people do evil things. In 2011 Hamas traded 1 Israeli soldier for 1027 Palestinian prisoners.

israel refuses to negotiate with them and again, even if I'm playing devil's advocate, it's always of the aggressors and the more powerful party to enforce a ceasefire.

"Hamas is the reason why the idf bombs Gaza"

No, the reason for the bombing is because israel is a settler colony, seller colonies don't exist without violence. Hamas is the excuse they use to bomb Gaza (when they killed the doctor Razan, they edited a video of her saying "I am a human shield for Hamas"). In the west bank settlers constantly kill Palestinian civilians, israel does nothing about these illegal settlements. There is no Hamas in the west bank. There was no Hamas before 1987 and Gaza was still a concentration camp.

"we don't negotiate with terrorists"

Yes we fucking do. This phrase comes from the terrorist George W Bush, who used this phrase to justify his bombing campaign against Iraq. The only way to stop terrorism is to negotiate.

Dropping bombs on their country, killing their parents, siblings, friends and people who look like them is the best advertising you can do for a terrorist group

#palestine #free palestine

[chainsawpunk]

if one colonial power (whose non-native citizens have capacity to come and go as they please) has the capacity to shut off the WATER to the densely populated and completely captive population they are actively displacing, how can you in good conscience say that violent lash outs by the captive population are fueled by anti-semitism and not complete desperation/precarity. I cry every day for the death and violence in Gaza and want life and peace but it seems obvious that Israel has always been the aggressor in this conflict and there will be no peace until they wipe Palestine off the map and subjugate/displace Palestinians completely… in their own land!!!

[nicollekidman]

i just think that hamas being a terrorist group or not is very inconsequential, israel's claim that they are killing thousands and thousands of people ''looking'' for a terrorist group is still GENOCIDE. like in a smaller scale that argument is insane! like oh yeah a serial killer is hiding in this apartment building so we are blowing it up?!

for someone who is already doing the work of educating themselves and who understands that israel is a colonialist aggressor whose aim is to obliterate the palestian people, the distinction might not seem important, i agree. but you also have to recognize that while we are engaged in this work from a distance, and mostly online, accuracy of language (always one of the most important things in the world) has never been more neccessary.

you can say that it’s inconsequential bc no matter what isreal is still committing genocide (true), but it absolutely does matter because the general (white, christian) public only understanding what is going on in palestine through the lens of isreal = jews = good / gaza = hamas = terrorists = bad is doing so much heavy lifting in how the conflict is understood in this country. there is a reason they’re calling it the isreal-gaza war. there’s a reason they are sharing AI graphics of looney-tunes “tunnels” in gaza. there is a reason “hamas run” is put in front of words like “hospital” and “school”. every bit of the way these things are articulated is with purpose, specifically to call to mind our post-9/11 manufactured consent playbook where the Truth doesn’t matter because racism and islamaphobia and Terrorism are so much easier to peddle! right?

and truly on a larger level if all you know about hamas is that they are a violent group in gaza, then you don’t know as much as you think you do about what is happening. educating yourself on hamas is more than just saying “oh terrorism isn’t the right label maybe but that doesn’t change anything” because the more you learn about how they came to be the more you learn about the creation of isreal, the necessity of intifada, the lived reality of the people not only in gaza but all of those displaced, and the differences in palestinian resistance and endurance in all the places they have been scattered.

again it’s just. words are important, distinctions are important, and educating yourself as you engage in a conflict that isn’t yours is the bare minimum to do so responsibly and fully.

#no more questions it’s 2am love you all #palestine

[pretentiousbrownie]

They're calling it the Flour Massacre. The Flour Massacre. They were murdered getting food. Fuck, not even food; just the simplest, most basic ingredient to make food. They were starving, malnourished, emaciated people receiving the barest minimum of aid allowed to reach them. They were sons and daughters and fathers and mothers and friends and neighbors and people. They thought they were getting the briefest of reprieves to just collect some food and help them weather the war, to give them a fighting chance at survival, and Israel waited until the aid was there and the goods were being distributed before turning their weapons on people. Those people, those human beings, people just like you and I were killed in the coldest blood possibly imaginable.

How anyone can even remotely justify what Israel is doing as defensive when they are literally committing a genocide as brutal - if not fucking worse - as the one exacted on their own Jewish siblings under the Third Reich and Nazi Germany is well beyond me. Zionism is a cancer on this world, nationalism is a cancer on humanity, colonial occupation is a cancer on freedom and will and rights, and all of it together is Israel in its entirety.

I don't care what the fuck anyone has to say about hostages at this point, because it was not unprovoked. Israel has always been the aggressor and oppressor and occupier. Israel is a war machine with one of the most capable standing militaries in the world, one in which every citizen serves, and they have been killing people in a country that has no standing military at all, murdering people that are of a different ethnic and religious background from them, and wiping out the homes, the cultures, and the livelihoods for as long as they've been around.

This is beyond heartbreaking or reprehensible. Their acts are the gravest of all human indecency. They are nothing, they are not people, they are not soldiers, they are not a country, or a nation. No, they are monsters.

And at the end of the day, you know what’s even worse? They’re actively making the lives of their own so-called siblings worse. The Jewish community will suffer setbacks for generations because of what Israel is doing. Jewish people everywhere - already suffering from increased antisemitism and hate crimes - will face the same wrath and hate as Israel simply because they are. And that is too much. No one comes out of this okay.

#apollo rants #pretentiousbrownie #free palestine #flour massacre

[valueside]

Iran Strikes Israel...The Rest Of The Story

Modern information technology has put the globe at our fingertips. Today’s internet allows information to be gathered from the world’s four corners and instantly transmitted to us here in America. It has led most of us to believe we always have a complete worldview.

Consequently, in a situation like Iran’s attack on Israel yesterday, many of us believe that we’re getting the whole story of the conflict. Unfortunately, I’m here to say that isn’t the case. A review of most of the American News Services shows a slight variation of the same perspective.

In the American Press version of the story, it is detailed how Iran shot hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel. All of this is true, of course, and an accurate resuscitation of yesterday’s events. But few of the reports indicate that this attack was in response to Israel’s attack on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria.

Inevitably, the news reports quickly transition to describing Israel’s response to the attack and, many times, the statement by US President Joe Biden of unconditional support for Israel should the conflict escalate.

Most Americans are left with the impression that Iran, once again, committed a wanton act of aggression without provocation. I see dozens of “comments” from other readers. Many, but certainly not all, Americans see this as an attack on the United States’ principal alley in the Middle East, Israel. With that, many call for America’s immediate retaliation, falling in line behind President Biden’s call for complete military support of Israel.

If only those were the facts of the matter, I can see how that response would be justified. But there is much, much more to this story. The American reports on Saturday evening events do not provide a historical context.

The immediate trigger for Iran’s attack was Israel’s missile attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. 16 Iranians were killed in the strike, including one of Iran’s most senior Military officers, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, along with seven other officers.

The attack was an effort by Israel to expand the scope of the conflict now raging in Gaza. By taking out Iran’s military leadership visiting nearby Syria, it is presumed that Israel was attempting to mitigate any support these leaders may give to Hezbollah fighting in Gaza. At least, that’s the only logical reason I can see.

No matter the rationale behind the attack, it was an apparent expansion of Israel’s growing war with Hezbollah. A step toward a Regional, if not Global, Conflict. Israel is playing with fire.

In International Law, an Embassy is considered a sovereign part of the country it represents. It is a place where citizens of that country can seek asylum and are safe from arrest by the host country. An attack on the Iranian Embassy by Israel was a direct attack on Iranian territory and, thus, an act of war under International Law.

Universally, most expected that Iran would retaliate.

Do you see now how the limited perspective of the American Press distorted reality? The Iranian drone and missile attack on Saturday evening was NOT unprovoked. Instead, it was a response to an Israeli Attack on their Embassy two weeks earlier.

With this simple change of perspective, perhaps we can change how America should react. While the President’s call to unconditional support would have been warranted if, indeed, Iran’s attack was unprovoked, that is not the case today. A simple recitation of this recent history indicates that it was Israel that was the aggressor, at least regarding its attack on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus.

Much of the world sees these events in this alternate way. Experts in Turkey, Pakistan, and Yemen were quick to point out that Iran was justified in launching missiles and drones precisely because of the Israeli attack on the Iranian Embassy.

And that’s all understandable: allies support allies. We should expect the Muslim world to support Iran, just as the United States supports its ally, Israel.

The danger arises when we refuse to look at the other side of the conflict. When lines are drawn in the sand, and positions hardened, conflicts become intractable when we refuse to see the view from the other side. Local conflicts become regional wars and perhaps even worse.

That’s where we are today. Each side is digging in its heels, preparing its populations for what may follow — building the momentum for all-out conflict. Someone needs to step back and see the other side’s view. It’s time to pick up the phone and begin discussions.

Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening on the American side, where the US President sets the tone by declaring unconditional support of one side before the other side’s drones even reach the Negev Desert. It is a “quick-draw” foreign policy that risks World War III.

#Israel #Iran #Gaza #War #Peace