We all know what happened on October 7, 2023. Hamas launched a savage and sustained attack on Israel. It was deadly and it was an attack on mainly unarmed civilians. It was certainly a surprise, although the Egyptian government says it warned Israel beforehand.
In hindsight it appears to have been launched as a somewhat despairing blow, designed to achieve little in strategic terms, but to inflict maximum short term pain and suffering. It can be seen as some sort of ‘payback’ for years of oppression within both Gaza and the West Bank.
That does not excuse it. It was stupid and self-defeating, and needlessly cruel. To target non-combatants, out of a clear blue sky, on a national religious holiday plays to every prejudice against Muslims, against Arabs, against Palestinians. It was never going to achieve anything but condemnation and disgrace. And now Hamas must bear the responsibility for the unfolding catastrophe raining down on its own people.
The damage it caused
The attackers killed 1,139 people: 695 Israeli civilians (including 38 children), 71 foreign nationals, and 373 members of the security forces. This was a co-ordinated attack, which included 5,000 rockets being launched into Israel, followed up by multiple small force assaults, spread over several different areas. These included two musical festivals, and several kibbutzim; the attack was launched on a Jewish religious holiday in Israel. The attacks have been described as massacres.
Many cases of rape and sexual assault reportedly occurred, but Hamas officials denied the involvement of their fighters. Of course they denied it, but that seems to be a default position for them to take; they did not express any shame or remorse for their organisation’s savagery.
Another chilling fact is that Hamas had signalled its readiness to attack, and had released videos in the preceding months showing its preparedness and its methods. Egypt had also warned the Israelis three days beforehand. Israeli leaders denied being warned, but they as a group have a mindset which doubted the capacity of Hamas to launch such an offensive.
Israel’s response
It also unleashed the dogs of war. Hamas has gained nothing apart from an embellishment of its reputation for thoughtless violence, and yet the people it represents have suffered, and continue to suffer. They have seen Gaza become uninhabitable, and it has become clear that there is no safe place for non-combatants. The numbers tell the tale.
Those numbers sit at roughly 75,000 dead, so far. There are estimates of up to another 10,000 buried in the rubble.
The retribution was always going to be one-sided, as Hamas must have calculated. This was an attack by a rag-tag ‘army’ of fighters, hiding in a vast network of tunnels, with small rockets and small arms, a volunteer force aware of the pulverising power of the Israeli Defence Force, and its ruthless determination to protect the Israeli homeland.
Mona Chalabi, a Guardian columnist, has cited reports that up to 186,000 Palestinians will probably end up dying, due to disease, unsanitary conditions, the weather, a lack of medical care, and starvation. Considering the lack of a safe place to go, anywhere, her report might be hopelessly optimistic!
Of course we, those forced to watch the catastrophe, instinctively know this. Children, the elderly, pregnant women, families who have lost all hope as they have lost, in some cases, dozens of family members: Many of them will die.
Who will stop this?
Well, it won’t be the Americans. Their president is more concerned with whether he can hang on to power, even as he struggles to remember the names of other world leaders. He is very cross with Benjamin Netanyahu however, but not enough to stop arming his troops. American presidents do not throw away the votes of Jewish Americans on a matter of principle.
Fighter jets and bombers, tanks and armoured personnel carriers, long range artillery and two thousand pound bombs have been supplied in seemingly inexhaustible quantities by the world’s only superpower.
It won’t be the Europeans. They are doing what Europeans do best. Navel gazing, and obsessing about internal Euro politics, and football. The French and the English, the original authors of the 1920s land-grab which caused this disaster, are busy with tennis tournaments.
It certainly won’t be the Australians, because they are too busy worrying about a lone Afghani woman standing up for the Palestinian people, against her own party, and the Trumpian opposition.
Both sides of the Australian parliament are caught up trying to say nothing which could possibly cause offence to the Israelis, because that might cause offence to the Americans.
Conclusion
Israel was obviously shocked at the scale of the invasion, the heavy loss of innocent lives, and the failure of its intelligence agencies. It appeared that complacency and hubris had undermined Israel’s vigilance.
Notwithstanding Israel’s early failures, Hamas caused this so-called ‘war’. Israel has responded, and then responded more. Israel has responded so brutally, and for so long, that one is forced to ask, “when will enough be enough?”
If there is any consensus emerging around the world, it is about the motives of Benjamin Netanyahu. Early on, righteous anger, an eye for an eye, return the hostages and remove Hamas from power.
As the months drag on, and the dead pile up, and the entire territory has been reduced to rubble, what is the slaughter achieving? Nothing, except the suspicion that Netanyahu persists in his mission because it is accepted political truth that war unites a nation. Countries involved in wars do not remove leaders, because it weakens the nation’s resolve.
Mistakes have been made but total destruction of living space, every school destroyed, hospitals and clinics, loaded with the sick and dying, ruthlessly bombed.
A whole generation traumatised, if they are unlucky enough to have survived thus far. The Palestinians cannot go back and start again. They have nowhere to go. They have no means to re-build.
Jordan is full, Egypt is a desert. Israel will never welcome them.
Netanyahu is still in power, and Israel is not going to stop until he is removed. If he is not jailed for his crimes in Israel, he should be tried for war crimes in Palestine.
As well as trying to eradicate the Palestinians as a people, he has trashed Israel’s reputation as a civilised democratic nation. All for the sake of a corrupt old man’s political survival.
This article was originally published on ASK BUCKO
Keep Independent Journalism Alive – Support The AIMN
Dear Reader,
Since 2013, The Australian Independent Media Network has been a fearless independent voice – holding power to account and delivering journalism that matters.
Running this site isn’t cheap. Rising costs mean we need your support now more than ever. Every donation, big or small, keeps our servers running, our writers working, and our stories free for everyone.
Donate here:
PayPal or credit card – just click on the Donate button below
Direct bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
We’ve also set up a GoFundMe as a dedicated reserve fund for hosting and future improvements.
Thank you for standing with us. We couldn’t do this without you.
With gratitude,
The AIMN Team
Several Israeli’s and “Israel apologists” that I know believe that the destruction of Palestine is not only justified, but needs to continue.
I’ve been “unfriended” by several because I’ve had the temerity to suggest that while the original attack was stupid at a minimum, the reaction by Israel has been way over the top.
My response — “See you later”.
Netanyahu has intensified a national attitude of murderous and thieving criminality, totally irrational, disgusting, uncivilised, brutal, supremacist and very NSDAP. Is he aware that he may be dooming his people beyond the evils they have suffered through time? Why do they so behave? The rottenness of entrenched superstition kills and maims, unreasoning.
The events that occurred at the hands of Hamas on October 7th at kibbutzim of Be’eri, Kfar Aza, and Nir Oz pale into insignificance compared with the atrocities that have been directed at Palestinians throughout “Israel” since 1947. When Israelis reflect on the Holocaust they should also consider the Nakba and compare the ongoing consequences of atrocious human behaviour that occurs when communities allow and enable psychopathic dictators to determine their future.
A BBC article re the death of an Isreali on the wezt bank, a settler was asked how many palestinian live would pay for one Isreali…. ten million was the answer.
The only lives that matter are Israeli lives , Jewish lives apparently.
Bert comments on an outburst of criminal intemperate violent threatening language. Can such insolent stupidity be tolerated? It encourages the modern upsurge of Third Reich admiring parties and policies, so vile. Seek PEACE.
Israel’s control and occupation of the Palestinian territories lasted for 56 years prior to October 7, 2023, dating back to the Six-Day War in June 1967. Broader displacement and conflict trace back 75 years to the 1948 Nakba. During this time, Israel controlled, oppressed, kidnapped, murdered and illegally imprisoned Palestinian men, women and children. Hamas was founded in December 1987. Hamas is a Resistance Force and has a right to defend itself. Israel has military operations and strikes recorded in at least 7 to 8 countries and territories since 1948, primarily including Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and the Palestinian territories. All Israel’s PMs during that time were hate-filled bloodthirsty brutes. Israel should get the hell out of the Middle East and give peace a chance.
Well said Jen, I agree totally.
It is a mistake to treat Oct 7th as the beginning, that is just plain wrong as Jen points out. What we’ve seen and read about the genocide over the past almost 3 years, the sadism and psychopathy directed at Palestinians is not the result of Oct. 7th, it is the reason for Oct 7th.
The murdering, kidnapping, torturing, terrorizing and daily harassment and humiliation of Palestinians was happening in the West Bank before Oct 7th.
In the year before Oct 7th something like 250 Palestinians were murdered, thousands were arbritrarily arrested and many disappeared of the streets, villages were raided and harassment by Israelis was systemic, as was torturing prisoners.
Gazans have lived in occupied terroritory since 1967, the occupying force simply moved to the border. Gazans tried to resolve this occupation peacefully with the March of the Return. Tens of thousands of Gazans, simply marching peacefully, were targeted and crippled by Israeli snipers that lined the walls. Gaza was an open air prison, with the prisoners almost routinely subjected to trauma by its guards – what Israel called mowing the grass.
“And now Hamas must bear the responsibility for the unfolding catastrophe raining down on its own people.
No, that’s like saying the protesters against the Herzog visit bear the responsibility for being kettled and bashed, for a little old lady having her bones broken, for a man with his hands in the air being repeatedly hit in the ribs, for a girl being repeatedly pepper-sprayed while she convulsed on the ground, for a man laying prone on the ground with two police on him being repeatedly punched in the head and kidneys, for people praying being tossed to the ground.
The facts are that Israel’s occupation is illegal, and it’s genocide is a crime against humanity – no one bears responsibilty for that other than Israel and Israelis.
There are a number of things missing from the ‘facts’as presented above: Israel commanders issued the Hannibal directive to allow Israeli forces to kill Israeli citizens in order to stop them being taken as hostages. The number of citizens killed by Israeli forces has not been publicly released, to the best of my knowledge.
Israel has refused steadfastly to allow any independent investigations of alleged rapes, let alone a UN investigation. Israel claimed to have thousands of picture and video evidence, but the UN found no evidence of rape; to the best of my knowledge, not one shred of evidence has been produced of rape.
October 7, by Hamas funded by Qatar with Israel directing payments (see Haaretz ‘Qatargate’), was manna from heaven for Netanyahu, Trump and Putin; many in Europe and some in Israel assume some collusion amongst ‘the three amigos’, but circumstantial.
Putin got a breather on his faltering Ukraine invasion, Netanyahu stayed out of court and in the US, with Fox News in the lead suppressed vote for Harris and the Dems for being ‘weak’ vs Trump prevailing as ‘strong’.
Fast forward fossil fuel Koch Heritage* and Evangelicals cooked up Project Esther 2024 to cash in on Oct 7 by targeting pro-Palestinians, the centre/left, universities, free speech etc, (familiar?); see locally right and left vs ALP govt. (one indie outlet, blames the ALP government for any offshore event esp MidEast, but follows US linked RW grifters….)
(*partnered with Hon. Tony Abbott’s Danube Institute workplace in Hungary; anti-Ukraine, anti-immigrant and anti-EU, the latter is viewed as a competitive threat, the ultimate target of US, Russia, Israel etc. to break up)
Then this last week CEUTA Spain/Morocco ‘migrant surge’ of which too many EU nations immediately blamed and protested to Spain, helped by a massive media surge too easily….the reality?
A set up with Morocco, Israel and the US, with Russia in the background to punish Spain and the EU for stopping arms sales to Israel, and another nudge at the EU’s unity (see Brexit & migrant caravans). Most of the ‘immigrants’ returned en masse to Morocco voluntarily….. now the rest.
Started from a social media campaign in Morocco to recruit ‘immigrants’ inspired by these nefarious actors in the background, post facto with Russia* central to flooding the media zone, before anyone knows what’s happening…..
*Become so common as part of Kremlin’s ‘hybrid war’ inc arson attacks etc. in Europe and elsewhere, plus PR eg. the ABC US got astroturfed the other day by Russian disinformation, too easily…..
” Hamas has gained nothing apart from an embellishment of its reputation for thoughtless violence, and yet the people it represents have suffered, and continue to suffer. “
That ignores the articles own heading.
I won’t pretend to know what was Yahya Sinwar’s motives for the attack on Oct 7th, but Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, the apartheid regime that is Israel, the systemic torturing, the mass kidnapping, the supremacist nature of Israel has been exposed – that’s not nothing. It wasn’t being exposed prior to Oct 7th.
“They have seen Gaza become uninhabitable, and it has become clear that there is no safe place for non-combatants.”
‘They’??? The quote this was taken from was preceded by “It unleashed the dogs of war” and the earlier quote that included ‘Hamas’ and talks of the suffering of the Gazans. Just who did ‘the dogs of war’ belong to? Who inflicted suffering on the Gazans? Who flattened most of Gaza? The only name mentioned is ‘Hamas’, but it was not the perpetrator. Who was the perpetrator? It has a name, ya know.
Continually avoiding naming a perpetrator of violence, is a technique used by some journalists to surruptiously infuse bias into an article. Let’s hope that’s not what’s happening here.
I S R A E L, it’s not difficult to name it. It is Israel that targets children, starved a population, shut down the water supply, destroyed hospitals, medical supplies, bombed churches, bombed indiscriminately, kidnapped people and tortured them, if that’s what was meant by ‘dogs of war’.
I S R A E L, that’s who has been inflicting suffering on the Palestinians.
I S R A E L, that’s who has flattened Gaza.
It wasn’t that difficult to name it.
“…..Palestinians will probably end up dying, due to disease, unsanitary conditions, the weather, a lack of medical care, and starvation.”
Another technique to surruptiously introduce bias into an article is using ‘dying’ rather than ‘killed’. Oh, these unlucky Palestinians, what was this disease? Did some wild bird introduce H5N1 into Gaza? ‘unsanitory conditions’, oh, they’re grubby too are they? ‘the weather’ FFS, how unlucky can you get, was it a cyclone? blizzard? heatwave? ‘a lack of medical care’ how negligent of the Palestinians; ‘starvation’ oh, was there a drought there? I bet it was a drought.
They will probably be ‘killed’ by Israel through disease, hyperthermia, and starvation, caused by Israel destroying the waste disposal systems, forcing the population into tiny areas with no sanitation, starving them, destroying their hospitals and medical supplies. Now, that wasn’t so difficult.
“Hamas caused this so-called ‘war’. Israel has responded, and then responded more. Israel has responded so brutally, and for so long, that one is forced to ask, “when will enough be enough?””
Again, this promulgates the false notion that this all began on Oct 7th.
Oh, there was no killing before Oct 7th, right? there was peace and tranquility on Oct 6th, right? From whose perspective does that come from, the Palestinians or the Israelis, or an independent observer? It’s the Israelis’ perspective.
“…one is forced to ask, “when will enough be enough?”” Well Bucko, how many killings, how much destruction would have been enough? One? ten? a thousand? ten thousand? a hundred thousand?
“If there is any consensus emerging around the world, it is about the motives of Benjamin Netanyahu. Early on, righteous anger, an eye for an eye, return the hostages and remove Hamas from power.”
So, the emerging consensus is of ‘righteous anger’, is it? How well that would fit in with the slave uprising in the USA. Oh, so you uppity slaves have risen up and killed some of your masters, so we will ‘righteously’ wipe out the lot of you.
There is nothing ‘righteous’ about genocide. Just where is this supposed ‘consensus’ coming from? Israel’s hasbara unit?
I would be surprised if the Global South has come to a consensus that Israel’s genocide was ever ‘righteous’.
The language we use can make a big difference in the message we send.
It might be worthwhile comparing the language used in regard to Hamas and Israel.
For Hamas,we get:
“…savage…attack”; “..attack on mainly unarmed civilians.” ;designed to …. inflict maximum short term pain and suffering.”; “target non-combatants”; “..needlessly cruel.”;”Hamas must bear the responsibility..”…launched on a Jewish religious holiday..” ; “The attackers killed”; “…described as massacres.”; “Of course they denied it,…”; “did not express any shame or remorse”; “..organisation’s savagery.”; “..reputation for thoughtless violence”; “…hiding in a vast network of tunnels …”; “caused this so-called ‘war’.”
Obviously I can only speak to the impression this language left on me. Whether it would be through subliminal messaging or not, the message, to me, is that Hamas are a bunch of thoughtless, cruel, untrustworthy savages that massacre innocent civilians then hide in tunnels. Was that the intention in using that language?
How did Israel fare?
Was Israel’s actions described as savage, cruel, thoughtless or violent? No, brutal, ruthlessly were used – my friends were ruthlessly brutal about my last haircut – bastards. Was there any mention of the sadistic, psychopathic depravity that Israeli soldiers and guards have meted out to Palestinians? No.
Was responsibility attributed to Israel? No, Netanyahu came in for blame, but not Israel.
Was the killing of Palestinians described using the language of a massacre, or a slaughter? No.
Were any of the victims of Israel’s killings described as unarmed civilians or non-combatants? No.
Was any of Israel’s statements qualified with the likes of ‘oh, they would say that, it’s their default position to deny things’. No.
That, despite Israel having been caught out lying about just about everything from beheaded babies, babies being cooked in ovens, children tied together and burnt to death, Hind Rajab’s death, the targeting of hospitals, the targeting of the press, the targeting of aid workers, the targeting of children, to the targeting of medicos, let alone the complete false narrative Israel has spun over the past 80 years, despite all that, it is Hamas that gets the “can’t trust these blighters as far as you can toss them’ treatment.
Instead we got ” Israeli leaders denied being warned, but they as a group have a mindset which doubted the capacity of Hamas to launch such an offensive.”
Let me get this straight, when Hamas denies something, they shouldn’t be trusted it would seem, but when Israel denies something, we get Israeli commanders mindset as an explanation. That, to me, is inverting reality.
Israel has a default position of lying, was that mentioned? No.
Then there is “Mistakes have been made but total destruction of living space, every school destroyed, hospitals and clinics, loaded with the sick and dying, ruthlessly bombed.”
Oh, of course, Israel makes mistakes, but Hamas does cruel, violent actions designed to inflict maximum suffering.
“The attackers killed…”When one reads this piece, does Israel kill anyone? No, Netanyahu tries to eradicate the Palestinians but Israel, apparently, all it does is respond. Palestinians just die in the vicinity in their tens of thousands, from ……….”the weather” amongst other things; heaven help us.
Has “shame or remorse” been expected in this article from Israeli’s, as it was of Hamas? No, funny about that.
And now Hamas must bear the responsibility for the unfolding catastrophe raining down on its own people.
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, you expected “chastisement” at some stage, Mr Buckley, and now you’re rightfully copping it. The Middle East was not a vacuum before 7th Oct. Palestinian people existed in those lands for milleni; they were evicted, robbed, marginalised, mistreated, murdered, just so the West could appease its own conscience over the Holocaust. And when that has consequences – the occasional resistance and/or retaliatory strike by some of those Palestinians, do the occupiers, the thieves and murderers get the blame? No – apparently all the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the dispossessed.
I agree with the criticism above, but in my defence this is the first article I wrote on the genocide in Gaza. My language was timid, because I was nervous about being ‘chastised’ by the Zionist lobby.
I am well aware of the history of Palestine, but I admit I had not followed the situation much until October 7. I admit that I was only vaguely aware of the Nakba, and the cruelty of the occupation, after October 7.
I will release further articles today and tomorrow, which better reflect my views. Anyway, my apologies for disappointing people, but judge me after you read my follow-ups.
Genocide is the ultimate hate crime as apartheid is the purest fotm of racism while terrorism is the most evil and heanous act of violent coercion perpetrated upon a people. This is Zionist Israel. Anyone who supports Zionist Israel is not a decent human being.
It seems everyone commenting on this piece is terrifically knowledgeable about the situation in Gaza, after the fact. I’ve got people suggesting I’m a Zionist, or a supporter of genocide, and even Thommo taking issue with my ‘coded’ use of language. Read the subsequent articles, and if you don’t like them, don’t read anything by me, on any subject.
I suggest some of my critics might like to pen something themselves, rather than take potshots.
As someone who is familiar with Mark’s work I can attest that his opinions on Gaza and the genocide are – on this very day – a mirror image of our own.
We all have opinions that have evolved over the past couple of years, and we have all arrived at the same spot. That is what is important.
Speaking of evolving attitudes…
In the space of a couple of years many of my American friends have gone from “We stand with Israel” to “We f***ing hate Israel”.
Thanks Thommo. Spot on. Shocking that these things even need pointing out. There is no excuse for ignorance.