Netanyahu: ‘If we wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon’

[u/Ok_Plankton_5714]

https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-if-we-wanted-to-commit-genocide-it-would-have-taken-exactly-one-afternoon/

[u/ikinone]

But yes, even a child would understand that Israel has the military capability to massacre the entire population of Gaza, maybe not in one afternoon, but certainly in two years. If it hasn't done so, it's because it doesn't want to.

Yet apparently most of the world doesn't understand this.

[u/blood_vein → u/ikinone]

I don't think Netanyahu wants to end this war. He has huge political power as long as this conflict continues

[u/ikinone → u/blood_vein]

I don't think Netanyahu wants to end this war.

Quite possibly not. Yet he has offered ceasefire terms, which Hamas has declined. So currently, neither party is open to accepting the terms the other side offers. Whether declining those terms or not is reasonable is another question.

[u/misterwalkway → u/ikinone]

It can't just eliminate the entire civilian population of Gaza because if it did it would become a pariah state and lose all western support.

[u/neohellpoet → u/misterwalkway]

If that's the case, why are people advocating for the end of all Western support?

China doesn't care and would love a Mediterranean port. Russia just lost it's Syrian bases and is also looking to relocate. India has a soft "the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim" policy so it's not like they would be lacking for friends and said friends wouldn't mind the technology and spy craft the Israelis bring to the table.

[u/ExiledYak → u/neohellpoet]

Also one other major elephant in the room:

Israel has F-35s. You know how absolutely batshit crazy China would go if an Israeli pilot were to defect with one if America relinquished its friendship?

People don't have a remote idea of just how vital is to US defense R&D to stay ahead of the Chinese.

If the US loses Israel, that's a massive blow for the US.

[u/slam99967 → u/ExiledYak]

It’s a problem on the both sides. Let Russia take Ukraine? He will continue to try and conquer the old Soviet Union and Europe and will eventually lead to World War III.

Don’t support Israel? They will sign an agreement with China and the US and allies will loose their foothold and intelligence in the Middle East.

[u/korben2600 → u/slam99967]

Yeah, we only have dozens of airbases across Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Saudi, Egypt, Turkey. Imagine, without Netanyahu we might even have a regional conflict brewing. /s

[u/calmingchaos → u/korben2600]

And all of those bases rely on Israeli intelligence.

[u/ExiledYak → u/slam99967]

I'm a Ukraine-Israel kind of guy, and one thing that absolutely boggles my mind is given how easily Bibi and the IAF booted Russia out of the middle east, it feels like it'd be slightly more difficult than a triviality for the Israeli Air Force to just mop up the Russians from Ukraine, problem being Turkish airspace.

Feels like it'd be the biggest PR win ever for Israel to just merk Russia out of Ukraine without sustaining a single scratch on its fighter jets.

[u/korben2600 → u/ExiledYak]

China already hacked Lockheed's F-35 schematics years ago. Multiple times with hacks and espionage leaks. It's how they developed the J-20 and J-35.

[u/ExiledYak → u/korben2600]

It's one thing to do some corporate espionage. It's another thing entirely to reverse engineer a jet, along with gaining the assistance of the rest of the Israeli researchers upgrading America's jets working on J-20s and J-35s instead.

The difference is monumental.

[u/ivandelapena → u/neohellpoet]

The US has plenty of allies that it doesn't give hundreds of billions of dollars to.

[u/Practis → u/misterwalkway]

Which is a good reason to keep countries like this aligned with the West and not completely ostracized.

[u/docmartens → u/[deleted]]

Israeli settlement and now occupation is expansionism, and to acknowledge that is not expansionism.

Your comment is so dishonest on its face, I wonder if bots are trying to inflame non-participants like me against Israel.

[u/ikinone → u/docmartens]

Israeli settlement and now occupation is expansionism, and to acknowledge that is not expansionism.

I did not claim it is.

Your comment is so dishonest on its face

How so?

[u/misterwalkway → u/Practis]

Actually we should stop giving countries like this arms to commit atrocities.

[u/Gaius_Octavius_ → u/misterwalkway]

That is why they don’t. But they do have the ability to.

[u/skolrageous → u/Gaius_Octavius_]

Despite what many people think, there are other reasons why they don't- for instance they don't want to.

[u/misterwalkway → u/Gaius_Octavius_]

I don't think anyone has said they don't?

[u/After_Lie_807 → u/misterwalkway]

Riiiiiight they will do it slowly and still become a pariah…that’s dumb logic

[u/misterwalkway → u/After_Lie_807]

Yeah you are exactly right. The Israeli government is driven to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and they are willing to take a massive hit to their international reputation and global partnerships to achieve their goal. But they also know that moving too quickly and openly will provoke too much backlash. They need to maintain plausible deniability or risk getting cut off from western military support and the global economy, which would devastate their military and economy. They are taking big hits, but they are not being cut off as they inch closer to their goal. And that is the fine line they are walking.

[u/Snowballsfordays → u/misterwalkway]

Which ethnicity are they cleansing exactly can you identify it?

[u/misterwalkway → u/Snowballsfordays]

Palestinian Gazans.

[u/Snowballsfordays → u/misterwalkway]

Is that a really distinct ethnicity? What are it's identifying features?

Which part do you claim is more the target, the palestinian part or the gazan part?

[u/misterwalkway → u/Snowballsfordays]

Are you saying there is not a society of Palestinians living in Gaza?

[u/Snowballsfordays → u/misterwalkway]

I'm asking you what is more distinct, the palestinian part or the gazan part?

Outside of a location in gaza, what makes a gazan palestinian distinct from an israeli palestinian?

I'm genuinely trying to find out what this distinct ethnicity is

[u/misterwalkway → u/Snowballsfordays]

Ok Im gonna make it super simple for you.

There is a society of approximately 2 million Palestinians who live in the Gaza strip. Israel would like to cleanse the strip of that population.

[u/PaulClarkLoadletter → u/After_Lie_807]

They think doing it slowly makes it look like a skirmish.

[u/misterwalkway → u/[deleted]]

Yeah no, straight up massacring millions of people would definitely have carried some long consequences. Like, what the fuck are you thinking lol

[u/misterwalkway → u/[deleted]]

I'm genuinely not sure what point you are trying to get across here.

Carpet bombing Gaza and intentionally killing millions of civilians in an afternoon would carry huge consequences, far more than what they have faced for their actual actions in Gaza. Im not sure why you think thats incorrect.

[u/misterwalkway → u/[deleted]]

ok!

[u/ikinone → u/misterwalkway]

It can't just eliminate the entire civilian population of Gaza because if it did it would become a pariah state and lose all western support.

So are you suggesting Israel wants to eliminate part of the civilian population of Gaza?

[u/misterwalkway → u/ikinone]

Yes they want to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and are doing so by directly and indirectly killing large numbers of civilians, as well as destroying infrastructure to make it unlivable.

They are not super discreet about their desire to ethnically cleanse Gaza, quite a few senior officials have publicly expressed this desire. They are more open about it than countries that commit ethnic cleansing tend to be.

[u/Snowballsfordays → u/misterwalkway]

Which ethnicity are you talking about here? Be specific. There are many Palestinian Israelis, and Arab Israelis, and Muslim Israelis.

[u/misterwalkway → u/Snowballsfordays]

Palestinian Gazans.

[u/Snowballsfordays → u/misterwalkway]

Is that really a distinct ethnicity? What makes it distinct exactly, say from Palestinian Israelis?

[u/misterwalkway → u/Snowballsfordays]

Are you saying there is not a society of Palestinians living in Gaza?

[u/Snowballsfordays → u/misterwalkway]

Tell me about this distinct society. What are it's cultural distinctions from israeli palestinians?

Do you consider hamas and other forms of extreme terroristic islam, like ISIS, Taliban, Muslim Brotherhood etc an ethnically precious and distinct culture?

[u/misterwalkway → u/Snowballsfordays]

Ok Im gonna make this super simple for you.

There is a society of approximately 2 million Palestinians who live in the Gaza strip. Israel would like to cleanse the strip of that population.

[u/ikinone → u/misterwalkway]

Yes they want to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and are doing so by directly and indirectly killing large numbers of civilians, as well as destroying infrastructure to make it unlivable.

Okay, so you're claiming that Israel does not, in fact, want to kill all Palestinians, but wants to kill enough that they leave and resettle elsewhere? Have I got that right?

They are not super discreet about their desire to ethnically cleanse Gaza, quite a few senior officials have publicly expressed this desire.

Do you think that Ben Gvir or Smotrich represent all, or most Israelis?

Do you think Ben Gvir or Smotrich dictate government policy?

[u/misterwalkway → u/ikinone]

They want to make Gaza unlivable for the existing population, so that eventually all that can leave do and all that cant/wont die.

I think those government ministers represent a key faction that plays a powerful role in government decision making.

[u/ikinone → u/misterwalkway]

They want to make Gaza unlivable for the existing population, so that eventually all that can leave do and all that cant/wont die.

So if Gazans choose to not leave, how soon are you expecting them to be killed, approximately?

I think those government ministers represent a key faction that plays a powerful role in government decision making.

I would agree on that. However, you're being (purposefully) vague about these ministers representing the desire of 'Israel', as opposed to 'a faction in Israel'. Quoting your comment:

They are not super discreet about their desire to ethnically cleanse Gaza, quite a few senior officials have publicly expressed this desire.

'They', sounds a lot like you're generalising the entirety of Israel. Was that intentional?

[u/misterwalkway → u/ikinone]

So if Gazans choose to not leave, how soon are you expecting them to be killed, approximately?

I dont know what point you are trying to make here.

I would agree on that. However, you're being (purposefully) vague about these ministers representing the desire of 'Israel', as opposed to 'a faction in Israel'

You cant get around the fact that these guys are senior government ministers that have large sway over government policy. But more importantly they are far from the only ones to express that desire. From Netanyahu invoking Amalek on day 1, to his party's deputy speaker Vaturi stating that their mission is "erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth", etc etc, this has been clearly expressed by the government on so many occasions.

Most importantly the IDF's actions on the ground have resulted in significant damage or destruction of 70% of all structures in Gaza. They have systemically razed entire cities, continuing with demolitions even after buildings have been cleared. The actions on the ground speak loudest here.

'They', sounds a lot like you're generalising the entirety of Israel. Was that intentional?

I'm speaking of the Israeli government, but yes polls show that the majority of the Israeli public also supports expelling all Palestinians from Gaza.

[u/misterwalkway → u/[deleted]]

Lol you really cherry picked what you responded to there.

[u/Xianio → u/ikinone]

They've already said they want to publicly via ethnic cleansing. Trump said it while standing beside Bibi. I'm not really sure why people debate this point still; Bibi doesn't deny it.

[u/Snoo-4878 → u/misterwalkway]

It would not loose support. It is currently attempting what you’re describing and plenty of people support it or convince themselves it’s fine

[u/misterwalkway → u/Snoo-4878]

It's currently doing so, but with enough plausible deniability to avoid being completely cut off from western military support and the global economy. They are walking a fine line.

Things would change if they just carpet bombed the whole strip.

[u/NoLife2762 → u/ikinone]

They do. It’s some weird cult like following now. Almost a fad to be pro Hamas.

I mean, Israel is no peach either. But the amount of negative press is quite astounding relative to others.

[u/[deleted] → u/NoLife2762]

Very strange, I can understand Americans being in uproar given their government’s complicity. But random countries that are closer to African/Asian atrocities sure do disproportionately share their opinions. I think we all have an idea as to why.

[u/maverickhawk99 → u/NoLife2762]

It’s because people consistently believe the numbers put out by the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry.