I don’t think “they hate Jews” is a meaningful simplification from “the idea of living peacefully next to a Jewish state is abhorrent.” If your argument is more nuanced, you are doing a poor job communicating it.
Anyway, I’ll play ball. First of all, Israel controlled Palestinian movement into and out of the Gaza strip for years before Hamas came into power.
In 2000, during the Second Intifada, Israel closed Yasser Arafat International Airport — the only international airport in Gaza. The next year they destroyed it.
In 2005, Israel withdrew all settlements from Gaza out of concern that if the Palestinian population kept growing, it would threaten Israel’s ability to be a Jewish state.
In 2006, Hamas was elected in Gaza with a plurality of the vote. After the U.S. and Israel backed the previous incumbents Fatah in an attempted coup, Hamas seized full control of the Gaza strip. This is about when Israel imposed the full blockade.
> This is about when Israel imposed the full blockade.
about is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Let's walk through more slowly.
Israel withdrew from Gaza when? Then imposed a blockade when and in response to what?
I'm hearing that Netanyahu supported Hamas, now I'm hearing from you Israel supported Fatah. Which is it? Either way, or both, it sounds pretty nefarious of these wiley, shifty Israelis. They do this simply because they are evil or is there a charitable interpretation that they are addressing a a specific concern?
This is all well documented. But it seems like you are intent on finding charitable interpretations for Israel’s actions while not searching further than “they hate Jews” for Palestine’s. So unless that stance changes, I don’t really see any point in further discussion.
You: Did you know that Israel supported a coup against Fatah?
What would get me interested:
You: The blockade came in response to a serious of tunnel attacks and is an attempt to limit materials that could be used to attack Israel. But there is important context that's missing. Hamas came to power after an attempted coup, and...
I'll check into your 2 allegations and report back.
Ok. I read the first part of the Vanity Fair article and of the Times article and I think I get the gists. Asking if I have them right:
Regarding "the Israeli government supported Hamas", from the NYT:
For years, the Qatari government had been sending millions of dollars a month into the Gaza Strip — money that helped prop up the Hamas government there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel not only tolerated those payments, he had encouraged them.
... Allowing the payments — billions of dollars over roughly a decade — was a gamble by Mr. Netanyahu that a steady flow of money would maintain peace in Gaza, the eventual launching point of the Oct. 7 attacks, and keep Hamas focused on governing, not fighting.
...Mr. Netanyahu’s critics disparage them as part of a strategy of “buying quiet,” and the policy is in the middle of a ruthless reassessment following the attacks.
Is that a fair excerpt?
Regarding "Israel and the US attempted a coup against Hamas" the gist appears to be that Bush the younger (really, as an aside, the worst President the US has had in my lifetime and I'm old enough to have been alive during the Nixon administration) supported a coup against Hamas in an incompetent attempt to create conditions for a the formation of a Palestinian state during his Presidency.
Is that fair? Probably not, because I don't have much patience for Bush shenanigans and it was hard to read.
Anyway, I’ll play ball. First of all, Israel controlled Palestinian movement into and out of the Gaza strip for years before Hamas came into power.
In 2000, during the Second Intifada, Israel closed Yasser Arafat International Airport — the only international airport in Gaza. The next year they destroyed it.
In 2005, Israel withdrew all settlements from Gaza out of concern that if the Palestinian population kept growing, it would threaten Israel’s ability to be a Jewish state.
In 2006, Hamas was elected in Gaza with a plurality of the vote. After the U.S. and Israel backed the previous incumbents Fatah in an attempted coup, Hamas seized full control of the Gaza strip. This is about when Israel imposed the full blockade.