Israel

maddyfour

Thank you again for your helpful and informative response at 09.05.
Stay safe.

You are very welcome, maddyfour. Happy to share my perspectives and voice on the ground here.
I have 4 grandkids nearby who cannot leave the house because we are expecting massive missile attacks any minute.

Well said Philippa60
I sometimes think ‘can I be bothered’ to constantly refute all the pro Palestinian and even at times it seems pro anyone else except Israel comments on here, but it’s important to at least try.

Exactly right, maddyfour. We have shelters, safe rooms (reinforced) in all homes built more recently. And we have the air defence systems. That's why there are fewer casualties here. But huge damage to property. Interesting that is not shown.
Yes, Israel targeted Hizbollah HQ which was purposely located underneath a residential building.
Gloves are off now and Israel successfully eliminated Nasrallah, head of Hizbollah.
Not sure if you've seen but people in Syria are handing out sweets and cakes celebrating this - crazy but there you go.

Thank you again for your helpful and informative response at 09.05.
Stay safe.

Thank you for informative comments Philippa.
I think we all hate the death and destruction which started on 07/10/23 but I see no way for Israel other than to defend itself and try to destroy its enemies. Very sadly there are civilian casualties in the process, but Hamas and now also Hezbollah have left little choice. As has been said many times, Hamas have vowed to repeat what happened on October 7th last year again and again.
Yesterday Israel bombed the headquarters of Hezbollah In Lebanon causing a lot of damage. Unfortunately the headquarters were placed under a residential building, which meant that civilians were inevitably involved. What kind of regime builds headquarters underneath residential buildings? Or hospitals or schools? The answer is terrorist regimes, for which there is widespread support worldwide unfortunately, although I’m not certain that those who condemn Israel realise that they are indirectly supporting terrorism. Meanwhile Israel, which provides shelters for its civilians, and targets its use of weapons is condemned worldwide.

Well said Philippa60.

Galaxy

There arent many statements that sum it up as well as 'Its not just Israel's war'. The problem is those who hate the west and its values cant possibly see that.

Yes, Galaxy. It is important to look at this through a global geo political lens. It goes way beyond Israel vs the Hamas or Hizbollah terror organizations.
Most of the non-radical Palestinians and other moderate Arab (Suni) states are cheering Israel on, hoping they get the work done of freeing the Middle East of the scourge of the Shi'ite terror affiliated organizations funded by Iran, and supported by Russia and China by the way.
Only if that happens will there be peace for us all here, Israelis and Palestinians.
If you knew anything about Israel and its people, you would know that all we want is to live in peace inside our tiny borders. In return for peace with Egypt, Israel returned a massive amount of territory, and that has proved to be a wise and enduring decision.
Israel returned Gaza to the Palestinians in 2005 and what did it get? Not a moment of peace, endless rocket fire, culminating in October 7th.
As we speak I am sitting in my home in a quiet town in the center of Israel staying close to the shelter as rockets from Lebanon are fired into nearby towns.
No military targets here! They are targeting me and my family - that is the difference

Thanks for your input Philippa.
It feels as if a different stage of war is now approaching. Please keep us informed. Stay safe.

All, I am happy to share information / views / perspectives from someone living here. I was born and grew up in London but now live here.
I am a peace-loving person, most definitely don't hate anyone, including not those whose government (Hamas) seek to kill me. I weep at innocent people killed in this dreadful war.
I have plenty of criticism of Netanyahu and particularly his far-right wing coalition. That being said it is not Netanyahu's intention to kill innocent civilians.
You should also treat the numbers coming out of the Hamas controlled authorities with a lot of doubt. They claim that more than half of those killed are children and according to their information almost none of them are terrorists. Not true!
Remember at the beginning of the war when they claimed that Israel bombed a hospital? How everyone jumped on this information as if it was a fact. It was of course proved to be a Hamas rocket that mis-fired and fell on their own hospital, but hey, who cares about the facts, let's just jump on the "blame Israel" bandwagon.
Please feel free to ask me questions.
I really appreciate the supportive comments on here, and welcome anyone who wants to challenge me / Israel.
What I won't do is accept blanket, slanderous comments about Israel's intentions from people who don't understand the situation.

There arent many statements that sum it up as well as 'Its not just Israel's war'. The problem is those who hate the west and its values cant possibly see that.

Galaxy

I think you will find that faith in UN decisions is not particularly strong, the Saudi Arabia women's rights decision was comical. They are no longer an organisation I respect.

Just an expensive, jobs for the boys, useless article as far as I’m concerned.
Where were they in Bosnia? 😡

Phillippa thank you

Iam64 Israel will never concede. Nor should it. Please explain.

this is not just Israel’s war
That’s an excellent point Philippa60. As with Ukraine, there are world wide implications. This makes seeking peace even more important. That means some kind of concession which I fear is expected and more likely to come from the victim state

Philippa60,that is so interesting and insightful, thanks.

The attack in Beirut last night was against the entire leadership of Hizbollah. Terrorists are Israel's targets, not citizens, ever.
Those of you who complain about Israel trying to take out the Iranian-funded terror organizations like Hizbollah and Hamas should realize that these groups are radical and are against all peace-loving, liberal people wherever they live, note the attacks in Europe, the US etc.
This is not just Israel's war.

paddyann54

Israel has been landgrabbibg,herding Palestinians into a small area killing civilians and putting CHILDREN in jails LONG BEFORE Hamas existed .Take off your blinkers The Israeli state is rotten to the core and has been for decades .
Israel can’t play the victim for ever though it has done successfully for over 60 years by ignoringUN resolutions time after time after time .
Netanyahu is just the latest who wants to rid the area of Palestinians ..people who lived on and farmed that land for centuries.SAdly the world is still on their side. Even though the facts show they are totallly in the wrong .Theyshould all be brought to book for their war crimes against INNOCENT people .Netanyahu should be in jail NOW!,

paddyann54 I do not know you or how you can possibly conclude that "the Israeli state is rotten to the core" but I find your comments about the country I live in despicable and slanderous.
Please learn more about this country before coming out with such ridiculous statements.
Believe me, as a citizen, I too have my criticism of the current right wing government, but your statement is just above and beyond.
I'll just give you ONE example but honestly I don't believe anything will sway your views...
Prior to October 7th, Gaza was entirely separate from Israel after its withdrawal in 2005. It could have been a paradise on earth. But Hamas was elected, and chose to use all their aid money to build up their tunnels and weaponry to attack Israel. Why? Not clear.
But never mind, I digress.
Good citizens of Israel helped Gazans in need to medical help by driving them to the far superior medical centres in Israel to get treatment. Numerous Gazans had life saving medical treatment in these places. And now we know that those same wonderful people were the ones murdered and taken hostage by Hamas (how? because the families passed on information about the people). How cynical is that?!
And I personally worked as a mentor for several young Gazan high tech entrepreneurs, helping them gain a network and opportunities in Israel.
There are endless stories like this.
Sadly this all ended on October 7th.
Please do not spew your horrible comments about the country I now call home.
This country is most definitely not "rotten to the core"

I have asked my husband why is Iran involved and he said Sunni Saudi Arabia is supporting Israel (or it was) and Shia Iran clearly not. So fighting a proxy war when they should be fighting each other.

Well that sounds a bit weird too. But in the circumstances, and with Iran holding power in the UN, I am at a loss to see any kind of settlement.

Good to see maddy trying to put some context and balance into the summary of history thst starts in 1918, continues in 1947 and seeks to blame the British for the current intractable war.
The history is complex and there are no easy answers. What’s needed is for the key protagonists to genuinely want to live in peace. There’s no sign of that with either the terrorists or Netanyahu’s government and supporters. Of course they have the right to defend their country but at what point does basic humanity become more important than destroying a terrorist organisation by slaughtering children?

Nor me Galaxy.

As for Israel, it has many enemies all over the world, as do Jews. It’s a tiny country
surrounded by enemies. It has to fight for survival. Both Hamas and Hezbollah rain rockets into Israel by the thousands whenever they feel that they want to. Israel has tried to protect its citizens by the building of shelters, absolutely everywhere. Hamas and Hezbollah provide no shelters for their people, despite their funding coming from Iran. That of course is because they have little care or regard for their citizens.

As for Palestinians not having full citizenship and rights in Israel, they do! It’s a fact. However many didn’t wish to live in Israel and consequently the West Bank and Gaza were allocated for the Palestinians to live. They are not governed by israel and normally the Israelis do not enter these areas. During war they do, because they have been attacked. Between 1993 and 1999 Israel transferred to the newly elected Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civilian responsibility for the Palestinian populated area of the West Bank, as well as the Gaza Strip. The final settlement and disengagement plan was implemented in 2005. The West Bank is still run by the Palestinian Authority but Gaza is run by Hamas. Those Palestinians who were already living in Israel, or moved into Israel, enjoy full citizenship of Israel with all the same rights as any other citizen of Israel (citizens of Israel includes Jews, Christians, Arabs/Palestinians and other minorities.)

I think you will find that faith in UN decisions is not particularly strong, the Saudi Arabia women's rights decision was comical. They are no longer an organisation I respect.

Israel has many enemies in the UN so am not surprised.

Babs03

Massive bombardment of Lebanon, 500 killed, 1,800 injured. Already it is starting to look like Gaza. Hospitals asking for blood donations.
So I suppose the IDF cheerleaders must be ecstatic.
A good day at the office.

Offensive

35 children dead so far, more bodies being pulled from the rubble so the number of dead will be much bigger.

Large number of people in the UN walked out when Netanyahu made a speech.
Hmmm but they’re all wrong of course, yes?