261 Comments

I stand with Bari and her Free Press. God bless!

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While you asked the question "But what about the Palestinians in Gaza? Aren't they suffering?" you didn't give an appropriate answer. If fact, they whole article is skewed to an Israeli point of view and is all the less for that. It is possible to condemn the terrors that Hamas inflicted on innocent Israeli victims while also questioning the behaviour of Israel, prior and after the recent horrific Hamas attack.

I am going to focus on the suffering of the Palestinians because you have covered the suffering of the Israelis - neither side has a monoploy on suffering.

Over 3000 innocent Palestinians are now dead since the events of two weeks ago. This is only the start for Netanyahu and his extreme right win government - that number is likely to go well over 10,000 by the time the land assault on Gaza finishes. By turning off the water and electricity to Gaza they (the Israeli government) are collectively punishing all Gazans in direct contravention of the Geneva Convention (art. 33).

Palestinians in Gaza live in conditions that no American or western reader would tolerate. They can't leave Gaza without the permissions of the Israelis, very few get permits to leave. The skies are controlled by Israel, the border is fenced up and the sea is patrolled by Israel and no one from Gaza can, say, take a ferry to Cyprus os some local country. It is an open-air prison.

If Israel kills more innocent Palestinians it will just radicalize more young muslims to commit heinous acts of violence against Israel and Jews. It's a vicious cycle of violence that has to be stopped.

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“ Israel can hardly strike back at Iran, even if it wanted to, because Iran is now under the protection of the United States, which feeds the regime with regular shipments of cash and has promised to protect its nuclear program.”

Never thought I’d live to see the day this sentence could be written. It happened under our noses, while we were all Navel-gazing about how racist we are and how drilling for oil is bad for owls and reindeer. I feel sick.

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This sentence is pure nonsense: “ Israel can hardly strike back at Iran, even if it wanted to, because Iran is now under the protection of the United States, which feeds the regime with regular shipments of cash and has promised to protect its nuclear program.”

Iran is not under the protection of the US. Seriously, if there are people who read that sentence and believe it then they have a very confused understanding of the world.

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If Gaza is blockaded, how do they get access to rockets, etc.?

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This was exceptionally well communicated, breaking down a complicated history of conflict in the Middle East. My heart breaks for the victims and their families living in Israel.

On Sunday, one day after the massacre, I walked the Freedom Trail in Boston for the first time with my teenage daughter, feeling so grateful to be American, born into a country where our first leaders designed a government based on enlightenment ideals. Then, we took a short detour to pass through the Holocaust Memorial. We could not have chosen better timing for the visit. It was impossible not to hold back tears. We reflected on the sharp contrast of the Freedom Trail and the Memorial. Our freedom is a gift. It's precious and fragile and must be protected and valued.

The following day, I learned about the reaction of those around the world, particularly academics and university students, celebrating this massacre. The response from educated Americans terrifies me. I fear that we have moved so far in the wrong direction. Here we are, a couple generations after WWII, witnessing the terrors of evil and the disgusting celebration of evil on American soil. How do you stay hopeful in such a world when students, thinking that they are enlightened, support terrorists at rallies and in writing? How have our values shifted to the extreme? How have the universities failed?!

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I think it is a major exaggeration to say that university students and academics were "celebrating". They were supporting the rights of the Palestinians - they do have rights even if Israel ignores them. You may disagree with what they said, that is your right. The First Amendment to the US constutution guarantees you and those pro-Palestinian protesters freedom of speech.

One can (and should in my opinion) condemn the brutality of Hamas and their horrific actions against innocent Israelis while also standing up for the rights of innocent Palestinians.

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Iran is not an ally of the USA. In that regard - this article was BS. The USA did release 6B of Iran's frozen money in exchange for a hostage- but Israel also released over a thousand Palestinian prisoners for a single soldier a few years back. Hostage trades are a reality in this world. If Israel attacked Iran - the US would not be in conflict with Israel.

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I've seen lots of comments about the mainstream media - and they often do a less than stellar job when it comes to Hamas - but as of tonight (Oct 10, 9pm) I was relieved to see that the New York Times seems to have gotten it right. At least for now. Top headline in bold letters: "Hamas Leaves Trail of Terror in Israel". Left side secondary headline: "Village by Village, Scale of Atrocities Becomes Clear". Right side secondary headline: "It's not war or a battlefield; it's a massacre". I couldn't find any equivocations, excuses or justifications, even in the smaller articles. BCC seems to have it right (for the moment) as well. Main headline on their website reads: "Inside Israeli border village where Hamas killed families in their homes". Again, no instances of excuses or justifications. I hope this sensible approach continues.

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Where might journalism be found? The Free Press.

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Thank you for this amazing comprehensive piece. I do believe Hezbollah however has now officially gotten involved.

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Since the supporters of Hamas act so righteous and proud, why are they covering there faces with masks?

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Prayers. God will judge those who committed these heinous acts - not even war crimes - and the people in New York City saying they deserved this. We all have the same God, my God doesn’t tolerate this behavior.

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“In the cruel logic of the region where Israel is located, and has been located for several thousand years,”

There is so much bias in this statement and really misses the complexity of the reality of Middle East tensions. It saddens me TFP is taking such a one-sided approach to this reporting. I feel like posting this will be like criticizing critical race theory or questioning sex assignment surgery for a 12 year old, but I guess I’ll test out the Freedom in this Press.

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I am glad you said it.

The whole article is very bias and mis-informed. It completely overlooks the rights of Palestinians or the long term roots of the problem. One can be deeply sympathetic to the suffering of the innocent Israelis who died on Oct 7th while also sympathising with the plight of millions of innocent Palestinians.

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Surely many have heard about the conspiracy theory sweeping across the Earth that goes like this:

Of course Mossad, the greatest intelligence service on Earth, was not duped and that Israel used the attack as a pretext to now level Gaza in the ultimate final solution: a parking lot. In this speculative scenario, if there was a miscalculation, it was the extent of damage that Hamas could inflict in a matter of hours. What do you say to those who wonder whether a cold calculation was made that an initial horrendous incursion of evil could permit/ justify the complete assault and destruction of Hamas forever? Is there an absolute zero chance of such a play?

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Anyone who believes that probably believes that the Earth is flat and that the Easter Bunny is real. Apparently, Hamas used old-school communications (runners, paper etc) and avoided the electronic surveillance carried out by the Israelis. Egypt appear to have had some knowledge of the impending attack. But no, Israel did not 'allow' this to happen.

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The administration explaining that the billions given to Iran is for "humanitarian" needs and is not being used to subjugate the Middle East is the pathetic height of political naivete on a par with Neville Chamberlain's efforts in Munich in 1938.

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(Laugh) Iran will spend the money how ever it wants and what it wants is to wipe Israel off the planet.

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The reason that Iran is ascendent in the Middle East is because the US invaded Iraq and got rid of Saddam Hussain. This was an act of spite to our detriment.

The US military hardware going to Ukraine is depleting our stores. Add military hardware going to Israel, soon the US military stocks will be exhausted. Not enough to support Taiwan if China attacks.

America has knee capped itself by voting in a mentally and politically limited administration and voting out the head of the majority in the House of Representatives.

A perfect storm.

Qui bono? Who benefits. Russia fighting in Ukraine. China wanting to "repatriate" Taiwan.

Iran as the regional hegemon.

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I partially agree with you but your current administration, despite its limitations, is a hell of a lot more effective and intelligent than the one under Trump. He (Trump) emboldened Putin, North Korea and undermined Nato, that's just for starters.

That said, Russia and the Chinese must be delighted at what is happening. The US would benefit more if it 'encouraged' Israel to find a long term peaceful (two state) solution to the Palestinian problem.

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