Despicable Deeds

What Hamas did was horrific. Israelis are justified to demand punishment. But, invading Gaza will not punish the Hamas murderers. Instead, it will end up hurting more innocents.

Please subscribe; please share. This blog will always be free but worthy reading.

There is one invariant in all Middle Eastern conflicts. Innocents die.

-+-+-+-+

What happened?

On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian group Hamas launched an unexpected attack on Israel. Unprecendented in its scale and tactics, the offensive began with the firing of thousands of rockets into Israel, followed by coordinated attacks from the land, air, and sea. Fighters from Hamas managed to penetrate deep into Israeli territory during these operations. Within four days, over 1,200 Israelis had been killed. Israel responded with thousands of strikes on cities in the blockaded Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,000 Palestinians and destroying dozens of buildings, as of 11 October. It is said that IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) is preparing for a ground assault.

-+-+-+-+

Important Observations

📅 The Hamas attack is unprecedented because it included rocket attacks, coordinated assaults, and infiltration; all at the same time, and with total intelligence failure on the Israeli side.

💔 The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a blood feud fueled by a desire for revenge, perpetuating a cycle of violence. There is no right side to take in a blood feud only the side of peace.

🕊️ Emphasising the need for peace should not stop us from condemning Hamas in the strongest terms. Israel’s truly reprehensible past atrocities are no excuse for savage Hamas murders.

🤝 Israel is justified to demand punishment but I am hoping it will choose to form an international coalition to do this instead of taking actions that will result in deaths of many more innocents

🇺🇸 Some compare the situation to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the USA. The US response to those attacks were badly formed and destroyed the global consensus that was forming in symphaty with US at that time. Israel should take lessons from this experience.

👵 In blood feuds, there is usually a metaphorical "evil grandma" grooming her young grandchildren into tools for revenge. Iran has consistently been behind Hamas in the past therefore can be described as one of the evil grandmas in this conflict but I do not think this last act was an Iranian initiative because they have nothing to gain from it.

🌍 In fact, I am finding it difficult to identify a country that will benefit from the Hamas massacre.

⏳I will continue next week.

-+-+-+-+

A blood feud

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a blood feud. It started almost a century ago. I use the term “blood feud” advisedly. Blood feud murders used to be common in Turkey. Even in 1990s, Icli(1994) says that about 10% of all homicides in Turkey at that time were due to blood feuds.

Blood feuds are driven by a desire for revenge. Both sides believe they've been wronged and by trying to correct this wrong they perpetuate a cycle of violence and retaliation. There is no right side or wrong side in a blood feud. The original cause of the dispute is usually long forgotten. Taking sides in a blood feud further escalates the conflict. Therefore, the best advice is always to ask for the violence to stop. It does not matter who the last perpetrator was because there is always a prior act of violence and one before then and it is impossible to balance the death sheet.

You probably can tell that I am not taking the Palestinian side nor the Israeli side. Honestly, I do not much care for either side given the mess they mutually managed to create for themselves and for their children. I take the side of peace. I take the side of the future generations, both Palestinian and Israeli. The fighting should stop now.

-+-+-+-+

Despicable deeds

What Hamas did last week was horrifying. If Hamas fighters had only targeted uniformed Israeli officers, this probably would have been a justifiable act of war. Abducting and killing innocent civilians including children is not war, it is not an insurrection, it is savage murder.

Israelis have every right to demand punishment. Still, Israeli invasion of Gaza will not punish the murderers but will end up hurting more innocents.

What is to be done?

Would the Israeli government have the foresight to forego a quick response in favour of an international coalition to punish the perpetrators of the violent acts of last week? This would be a slow process and would not be as satisfying as sending bombers but it is the only way to stop the blood feud. Killing more might quench the pain of some of last week’s victims but it will not stop the violence. Today’s killers become prey tomorrow and the cycle continues.

Some people suggest this is the 9/11 moment for Israel. If Israeli government thinks so, they should remember how badly USA responded to their 9/11 moment. If USA had sought an international alliance after the 9/11 attacks instead of blindly following the neocon militarist agenda, inventing lies on WMD, and indiscriminately attacking Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, the world would probably be a different place today and US would have a much more respected place in this world — and also it would be in a much better fiscal position.

-+-+-+-+

Who is the evil grandma?

I will stretch the analogy of blood feud a bit more. In the old Turkish movies on blood feuds, old women maintained the rage in ther feuding families. There would usually be an old crone grooming a young boy; she would keep reminding the boy how the foe took the lives of his father (or uncle) and would instruct him to take vengeance by spilling the blood of the other side. In some movies, the evil grandma succeeds in brainwashing the young boy to take the gun and use it. In other movies, the boy resists the impulsion and it becomes a different movie.

I am using this metaphor of an evil grandma because otherwise the Hamas operation makes no sense. Even then what happened last week is unintelligible.

Were there other countries aiding and abetting Hamas?

I find it very difficult to answer this question because I cannot identify any country that would positively benefit from the Hamas massacre. I will continue next week and try to explain why I think this way.

References

Icli, T. (1994). BLOOD FEUD IN TURKEY: A Sociological Analysis. British Journal of Criminology, 34(1), 69–74. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjc.a048384

-+-+-+-+

Short Takes

The Voice Referendum in Australia failed with a wide margin as I predicted it would six weeks ago. On Saturday, Meliz and I went to the local primary school and wrote YES on the referendum ballots. To win, the YES vote should have been above 50% across Australia and at least in four states. As you see below, this did not happen:

My state, Queensland, registered the highest NO vote ratio.

-+-+-+-+

You Tube

A month ago I wrote on the Turkish freshwater crisis. I did not know at that time that the situation in Turkey’s eastern neighbour was as bad if not worse. This video tells it as is:

I found one of the comments underneath the video on the You Tube page very illuminating and I copy it here verbatim:

I'm Iranian and pretty much everything he said is on point. One thing I want to add is that building dams has also increased the rate of desertification. Around 20 years ago a river flowed around 10 kilometers from where I live. As long as this river flowed and it always did, several natural springs flowed water to lands that had little rainfall. When I was a child I remember how many trees and animals were around us. The land was alive and beautiful. So many different bird and animals. I used to go among the trees and just sit for hours in summers. Now a dam is keeping all of the river water for agriculture around the dam. The river no longer flows down river and the springs have long dried out. When the springs dried All the trees died. Birds didn't come back from migration and other animals are nonexistent. Land has become a desert. It is dead where there isn't a deep well to pump water. It's truely depressing.

-+-+-+-+

Pascal - Hagi

It is 5 in the evening. I took Pascal and Hagi inside and gave them fresh lettuce leaves. They are munching on lettuce while I am typing these lines.

Pascal and Hagi afternoon snacks

-+-+-+-+

Diary

Two weeks ago we celebrated Eleanor’s 1st birthday in the closest family: Eleanor, her parents and parents of the parents. This weekend, we had another party with more family members: Meliz’ parents, her three sisters and their families and children.

Below you see my knife holding hand slicing the burek I bought from the Bosnian Bakery I mentioned in last week’s post.

Eleanor’s best friends were also in attendance waving on the poster:

and the birthday cake of course. It was delicious:

-+-+-+-+

Zika Bread Statistics

I bought sourdough rye bread again this week. I think it was the second week of the sourdough culture which I deduce from the bread height. See my last week’s post if you do not understand what I am talking about.

And here are the measurements for the last two weeks:

.