How do you solve a problem like cyclic Terror?
DailyDeepDive began a tweet like this today: In a grim unfolding of events, a joyous celebration turned into a horrific scene of terror in Israel. Could anyone have imagined a music festival becoming a battlefield?
It went on to state that an Israeli rescue service recovered 260 bodies of the festival attendees. The music lovers were certainly shocked by the dawn attack, as is most of the world.
It did remind me of another event… on US soil. Six years ago on October 1, 2017, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas. He fired over a thousand bullets, killing 60 people and wounding at least 413. Additional injuries in the ensuing panic brought the total to 867 wounded.
To this day, his motive remains unknown. The only government response was a ban on bump stocks that had increased his firepower. And that took 14 months to achieve because of the ludicrous concerns of some gun owners and NRA lobbyists. Nearly 5 years elapsed before the SCOTUS refused a hearing to determine the constitutionality of that ban in 2022.
One guy. With 60 dead. One fix applied that took nearly 5 years to be fully legal.
Now we’re shocked by a larger toll, 260 dead at another peaceful music festival. There were a lot more shooters and their motives are well understood. As are many others, I’m sickened by that carnage. And by my awareness of the retaliatory outcome ahead.
Traditionally, Israel responds by killing 20 for every Israeli death. For the music festival alone, that means it’s likely that at least 5200 Palestinians will die. More, in fact, since many more were killed in the terror attacks.
The thought of that gruesome pending death total also sickens. It’s supposedly to send a message of deterrence to Israel’s enemies. But in practice, it’s never achieved that desired deterrence. Neither massacre can ever be justified.
DailyDeepDive also noted: Reports suggest at least 700 Israelis and 413 Palestinians were killed in the ensuing violence.
I haven’t been able to confirm that, yet.
Actor/comedian George Takei tweeted this today.
Whether the policy is ‘an eye for an eye’ or ‘20 eyes for an eye’, revenge never stops the violence or the needless deaths. It’s wholly ineffective for any positive result with people more protected.
Israel has already cut off the electricity for the entire Gaza strip. All the Palestinian families and citizens will suffer this and worse because of the much smaller group of killers and other Hamas foot soldiers. They will suffer deaths and great wounds too. Their electricity is gone and their food supplies will be sharply curtailed.
Some of the biggest US warships are headed to the region. Social media is abuzz with anti-Muslim sentiment, though again, the vast majority of Muslims in the world had no part in this and decry it. The rightwing extremists on Twitter are blaming all of the HAMAS terror on Biden. Per usual without a shred of evidence.
Military experts claim the attack was intended to disrupt negotiations underway to create a peace and trade pact between Saudi Arabia and Israel. And that the Biden administration is facilitating the endeavor with Saudi Arabian leaders promising to boost oil production that will lower gas prices in the US.
Iran’s government might be behind it all, as they are constant foes of Israel and hate Saudi Arabia as well. They have a long history of funding and arming Hamas and Hezbollah so there’s merit in that assessment.
The idea has floated on social media today that Israel will also attack Iran and might even consider launching a nuclear strike against them. Yeah, that’ll accomplish nothing more than greater condemnation of Netanyahu. And tens of thousands of Iranian civilian bodies.
We retaliated against innocent Japanese Americans in WWII. FDR and Supreme Court members came to regret that too. And 21 years ago, the Bush/Cheney administration launched a war against Iraq because of 9-11. More than half a million Iraqis died even though its crappy leader wasn’t involved with the 9-11 attacks in any way. Both retaliatory responses were ineffective and unwarranted.
A military response from Israel is warranted here to this week’s Hamas attacks. However, since Netanyahu is embroiled in corruption probes and an effort to stack and weaken its top court, he’s likely to seize on this with added fervor to demonstrate how tough he is. How much blood will he try to spill? Too damn much and completely ineffective in any effort to stop the violence.
While Netanyahu has approved lots of new Israeli settlements in areas of heavy Palestinian presence, those Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinians hundreds of times in recent years. What has that achieved for anyone? It achieved more blood on each side.
Israeli intel (Mossad) was caught completely unaware and some will be fired for this. A key difference the Israeli government has to consider: Hamas took many hostages, including tourists from other countries. It’s expected that many will be hidden in the more than 60 miles of tunnels that Hamas controls.
Israel has to make every effort to find and free them before the deadliest retribution begins. That’s why Netanyahu predicted it would be a long war.
Netanyahu’s own political aims are similar to Trump’s. He wants unlimited autocracy which would decimate that democracy. I certainly hope enough Israeli citizens understand that and thwart his aims. Then there might finally be a chance to limit the bloodshed with leaders committed to forging a path to a just peace.
The planners of the Hamas attack deserve all that they reap. But the Palestinian people and the Israeli people deserve better. It’s time.
If there is any strategic error in our own military readiness to thwart future terror attacks, we definitely need to consider that:
- The US does not have a U.S. Ambassador in: - Israel - Egypt - Lebanon - Oman - Kuwait
-No confirmed top USAID official for the Middle East for nearly 3 years
-No State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism for nearly 2 years
These appointments haven’t been confirmed because Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has been blocking them.
And more than 300 military promotions have been blocked by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) including the head of Navy operations. In the wake of the Hamas attacks, he refuses to lift his blockade.