Recently, Prime Minister Trudeau has maintained that the consensus of nations is wrong: Hamas did not destroy that hospital in Gaza and take 500 lives; Israel did it. After eight years of broken promises, numerous vanity projects (including lately an $8 million barn: see https://nationalpost.com/news/ncc-paid-8-million-to-replace-barn-rideau-hall), fear-mongering, virtue signaling, hiding the truth, an amazing string of scandals, avoiding direct answers to simple questions (which Liberals may think is rather clever of their leader, but which magnifies the general stench of his reputation), and all-around ineptitude, now that Trudeau has declared Israel guilty, it would be easy --- even natural --- to conclude that if he said it, the opposite must be true. Yet, I’m starting to think he may have called it correctly this time. Even a stopped clock tells time correctly twice a day.
The missile seemed to have hit during a missile attack upon Israel, a circumstance that created the sense that an errant missile accidentally exploded by the hospital. President Biden said they need to learn to shoot straight. The damage inflicted by the explosion over the hospital parking lot is outside what Hamas has previously been able to project, and so far as I know, it is very unlike the damage caused by those other missiles that were falling at the same time. It simply does not seem like Hamas’ weapon. Put that with the observation that Israel holds to the doctrine of collection punishment (Palestinians should be punished for being part of a people that support Hamas, which I find to be contrary to the Tanakh, as the Jewish Bible is called), and with Israel’s targeting churches and mosques, and it isn’t a stretch to think that Trudeau may actually be right.
Israel has been threatening to invade Gaza, and yet they have not done so. Part of the problem is that the Israeli military is mainly reservists. Even though Israel has called up over 300,000 of them, people don’t leave their regular jobs and suddenly know how to conduct meter by meter guerilla warfare in an urban area. It takes time to convert their thinking into the killing mode and to teach them basics. Even something simple such as not reflexively reloading a gun when it runs out of ammo, but first seeking the protection of cover so as not to die while reloading, has to be taught and made to be a habit. This takes drills --- doing it over and over until it is reflexive. Even with training, Israeli casualties would be alarming if they launch a ground invasion. Hamas has the cover of ruins Israel has made. Hamas also has the protection of tunnels 200 feet underground. Of course, Israel has thermal weapons that can clear tunnels, but many will die trying to access the openings.
Moreover, an Israeli invasion would result in huge numbers of civilian deaths, easy when Gaza has no military. Even Hamas are civilians. The world --- most of it --- will unite against Israel. The goodwill built with Egypt (Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ran for election with Israeli money, plus Egypt ran Gaza from 1947 to 1973 and is sick of the Palestinians, plus Hamas assassinated Anwar Sadat), with Saudi Arabia (the Abraham accord), with Jordan (sort of a client state of Israel) and many nations further away, will be shattered.
I think Bibi Netanyahu is posturing with threats of invasion. He wants to look strong to avoid losing office so he doesn’t have to face criminal charges. He’s kicking the can down the road.
It is my hope that Palestinians will finally get their own state where they can be first class citizens. Hopefully, emotions will cool --- a big task since what Hamas did on October 7 was medieval and inexcusable --- and Israel will come to see the need for a separate nation for the Palestinians. The need is there. Many people of my age were born in a Palestinian ghetto and have never left it. I am not blaming Israel. It’s a tough problem they have faced, similar to what whites in South Africa faced and tried to resolve with the apartheid policy. There are no simple answers, but there is the least of the evils, which I think is a Palestinian homeland.
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