> If anything negative you can say about Israel is equated to antisemitism then Israel gets a free pass.
I am not arguing this. Everyone is free to criticize Israel; when it becomes antisemitic is when you hold Jews to a different standard than you hold everyone else.
> but Israel's response was out of proportion
Why do you say this? What would a proportionate response have looked like to an attempt to conquer your country by firing 5,000 rockets while 6,000 people invaded and murdered everyone they could find? Bear in mind, that immediately afterwards, Hamas leaders promised to repeat October 7th again and again until Israel was annihilated.
> when it becomes antisemitic is when you hold Jews to a different standard than you hold everyone else.
And where it gets disturbing is when you make the claim of different standard without any evidence, and launch accusations of antisemitism.
Not everyone in Gaza is Hamas. As of January 2025, at least 46,707 Palestinians have been reported killed, including about 18,000 children. Israel has a right to annihilate Hamas, but those 18,000 children were not Hamas.
> Israel has a right to annihilate Hamas
How should they go about this? What rules should they follow? And when other countries violate these rules, are you commensurately outraged?
Not committing genocide would be a good start. And yes, I am opposed to all genocide.
Well I obviously don't believe they are committing genocide.
If Israel wanted to commit genocide, why are there more Gazans alive today than this time two years ago? Israel could turn Gaza into a parking lot overnight; why didn't they?
Please backup your claim of more Gazans alive today. Gaza is a parking lot. In fact it is worse than a parking lot... it is not possible to park many cars there because of all the fallen buildings. (I am going by what I see on TV... not a single building is seen still left standing.)
Save The Children estimates 50,000 births in Gaza in the first 9 months of the war, when the fighting was the most intense: https://www.savethechildren.net/news/women-self-inducing-lab...
Unless there have been zero births since this article was published, even if you take the 50,000 death estimate from Hamas at face value, the population has increased since the start of the war. Of course, there is reason to suspect the Hamas figures, since they have been systematically manipulated, don't distinguish combatant deaths, don't separate out deaths from natural causes, and don't call out deaths caused by misfired Palestinian rockets.
The central camps have been almost totally untouched since the hostages are being kept there: https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-804993 (article is a few months old but this is still true). And even outside of these camps, 16+ hospitals remain operational in Gaza despite serving as terror HQ.
> 16+ hospitals remain operational in Gaza
No, the last fully functional hospital of Gaza was just bombed yesterday [1]
> despite serving as terror HQ
This remains to be proven and sounds more like propaganda.
> The central camps have been almost totally untouched since the hostages are being kept there: https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-804993
This is not what the article says at all. An in any case, if the IDF knew where the hostages were held, why wouldn't they surround these areas and liberate them, instead of terrorizing civilians over and over again on all the territory?
> if you take the 50,000 death estimate from Hamas at face value
Looking at the following:
* the scale of destruction visible on satellite images, drone footage - shown by both parties in the conflict * the quantity of bombs (29,000+ air-dropped bombs according to US intelligence, plus the tank and artillery ammunition) * the population density in the whole Gaza strip * the lack of resources and safety to rescue people and recover bodies from under the rubble after bombing * the lack of food, water, medical supplies, medical staff, ambulances
Can we realistically think that the number of casualties could be that low?
[1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr7l123zy5o
This is the second time you write a comment where you argue that stable birthrate/population numbers contradict genocide.
The ICC issued a warrant for Netanyahu on (among others) the grounds of using starvation as a method of warfare [0]. Starvation as a method of warfare is consistent with genocide [1]. These are international legal facts/definitions.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court... [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation_(crime)
1) Hamas run health ministry numbers are not trustworthy
2) You do know that Hamas uses children soldiers right?
3) Not everyone in Gaza is Hamas true, but most of them (pre war) and most west bank Palestinians (currently) support them
4) If Egypt allowed non combatants to flee, they would be safe, however they closed the door or asked 1000s of dollars in bribes, but then they couldn't be used against Israel like the Arab nations always do.
>I am not arguing this. Everyone is free to criticize Israel; when it becomes antisemitic is when you hold Jews to a different standard than you hold everyone else.
What different standard is being applied?
>Why do you say this? What would a proportionate response have looked like to an attempt to conquer your country by firing 5,000 rockets while 6,000 people invaded and murdered everyone they could find? Bear in mind, that immediately afterwards, Hamas leaders promised to repeat October 7th again and again until Israel was annihilated.
A proportionate response is not denying food, water, and medical aid to civilians. It's not destroying every school and hospital in the region. It's not committing genocide. You look at the situation as a zero sum game where only Israelis or Palestinians can live. Hamas is not all Palestinians and destroying their homes and families does not make them righteous or productive.
Maybe taking some effort to address the issues that have created the circumstances of the attack in the first place would be the better option. Like giving Palestinians either their own country or at least equal status in Israel. Maybe not taking their land and settling it. One cannot maintain inequality and peace. 50,000 Palestinians lost their lives for 1,000 Israelis. Does that seem proportionate to you?