8124

8124, 8 days ago

@rameshgupta of course it is not a carte blanche to commit war crimes, which have not been alleged, nor an immunity from or lack of commitment to international law. but it is absolutely one-way in terms of the US backing Israel in an existential war not of its own choosing. Israel's own responsibilities, the strategic benefits provided in return, are separate.

the weapons in question do not necessarily violate humanitarian considerations. if they are configured to detonate underground they tend to spare life, as long as their path is between buildings, which can be done. this allows targeting the tunnel infrastructure more directly to sever strategic lines of defense before an assault. they are used by the US as well. using less precise weapons would be deadlier to civilians, not safer.

the funds were already appropriated by Congress, so his constitutional authority to do this is unclear, leaving him subject to impeachment, not to mention the "high crime" of abandoning American hostages.

8124, 8 days ago

@rameshgupta i will admit to brushing off the Netanyahu point, because he represents Israeli political will, and is one member of the unity government war cabinet and does not have absolute power over decision-making.

i thought the point about world security was already addressed in the original post's remark about harm to alliance-making in the future, so i don't consider that point to have been brushed off.

i will now try to address all of the other points, and can return to any of the previous.

1. i agree, but when Iran attacked on April 13, Blinken described the commitment to Israel's security as 'ironclad,' and Biden has repeatedly said that hamas must be eliminated since October 7th. Israel's reply to Iran's attack was curtailed in exchange for US approval of the Rafah operation, a fact reported on in the press. previous concerns were over the need to evacuate civilians, but despite Israel drafting a plan for doing so and beginning to implement it...

8124, 8 days ago

@rameshgupta ...and despite exchanging approval for Rafah in return for a measured response to Iran calculated to restore regional deterrence without unduly escalating, and despite the fact that the Rafah operation is necessary for the shared goal of victory against hamas...

despite all that, only now Biden tells Israel in no uncertain terms that Rafah cannot proceed, or he will see to it that future weapons shipments are not delivered? yes, that constitutes a 2) waver, most assuredly.

3. maybe so, but they do not wield absolute power over Netanyahu, and if need be he will exchange their support for the support of centrists, as almost actually occurred in order to reach a hostage exchange agreement, were it not for the intransigence of hamas. Netanyahu was prepared to agree to terms utterly unacceptable to Gvir, having secured the support of Lapid and others to prevent the government collapse threat.

4. we do not know what lies in the hearts of men. a person could imagine Netanyahu...

8124, 8 days ago

@rameshgupta ...thinks only of political gain in the short term, but it could very well be the case that he is keenly aware of the existential nature of the moment and how his legacy will fit with that. we just do not know. i will not choose between Biden vs Bibi, but i do believe it is incumbent on every voter to read Section 3 of the 14th amendment and try to ascertain for themselves whether Trump is constitutionally eligible to be voted for. it would have been better to have guidance from SCOTUS, but just because they declined to do so does not absolve the voters of the responsibility, and i still believe personally that Trump is likely disqualified because of January 6th.

5. i don't think this point is worth exploring further, though it is interesting in the technical details, i will just note that i never said the bombs somehow can't harm civilians. of course they have massive potential for destruction.

6. i agree likely many people were involved in the decision, but that doesn't...

8124, 8 days ago

@rameshgupta ...change the fact Biden already signed it into law, and the purpose of the executive branch is to execute laws. it's not like a prosecutor's discretion, if he wanted to do this then he should have vetoed the bill when it was on his desk, or made the case against it instead of campaigning for it. he had multiple opportunities earlier in the process of the legislation becoming law.

7. yes, impeachment is often thrown about in a ridiculously reckless way. it truly is insidious, because impeachment is a vital check on the executive to hold evildoing leaders with special privileges accountable in a peaceful, regular, and orderly way.

but we should recall the first impeachment of Donald Trump. from Wikipedia: "Trump blocked payment of a congressionally-mandated $400 million military aid package in an attempt to obtain quid pro quo cooperation from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy."

i can't recall what the impeachment threat would have been Feb 4. this is different.

8124, 16 days ago

@NaturaArtisMagistra @serge @wolfsbruder for those who don't realize, PIJ participated in October 7th and are currently fighting in Gaza. this terror financier's wife is not a student or professor.

8124, 21 days ago

@Bam for real?

8124, 22 days ago

@csdummi Leader of Hezbollah, the group responsible for making northern Israel uninhabitable and causing the most casualties outside of Gaza.

If there is a ceasefire in several weeks, that will not cause the campus intifadas to disperse. They will only be satisfied with the destruction of Israel, if they are not deterred by consequences.

8124, 24 days ago

@Oeneus no you don't get it, because the universities aren't divesting, the anguish of the Gaza war leaves them no choice but to have antisemitic outbursts, it is very understandable and human and there is an easy solution, to just cave to the demands of the mob, and then they will stop being antisemitic pinky promise.

8124, 24 days ago

@TruthSandwich @Oeneus you have to divest from all money and dollars. universities should get it over with and move their billions of endowments to Qatar National Bank.

8124, 27 days ago

@lisamelton @sickmatter imagine defending today's protests and then telling Jews: no you are wrong, move along, no antisemitism to see here.

not gonna age well.