Reflecting on his presidency, Obama posed the question, “Well, was there something else I could have done?”

Former President Barack Obama cautioned against ignoring the complexities of the Israel-Hamas war, warning that “all of us are complicit.”

“If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth. And you then have to admit nobody’s hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree,” he said in an excerpted interview with Pod Save America released Saturday.

  • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
    2917·
    1 year ago

    Terrorists consider civilian casualties to be a scorecard. Hamas benefits when there’s Israeli civilian casualties. Hamas also benefits when there’s Palestinian civilian casualties.

    That’s the whole point of taking hostages isn’t it? To force Israel into a ground campaign which will cause Palestinian civilian casualties.

    The military forces of civilized nations don’t consider civilian casualties to be a victory no matter which side it’s on. They have an objective and need to achieve that objective while minimizing civilian casualties. The objective of the IDF is to free the hostages. They will make an effort to minimize civilian casualties. But they must achieve that objective even while know civilian causalities are a certainty even when they make an to keep those casualties to a minimum.

    This is the nature of war. And this is a war Hamas started. And remember there could be significantly fewer casualties (and a humanitarian ceasefire) if Hamas released the hostages.

    But they won’t do that because their objective is to maximize the number of Palestinian casualties because many people look at those casualties and become angry and want to support them.

    Netanyahu will lose power because of 1400 Israeli deaths. Both Israeli and Palestinian civilian casualties are considered to be a failure by Israelis.

    Both Israeli and Palestinian civilian casualties are considered a success by Hamas. They are psychopaths that know how people react to these numbers.

    • coffee_poopsEnglish
      239·
      1 year ago

      Constantly bombs refugee camps, schools, and hospitals This is just war, bro. Yeah we have the 4th most sophisticated and accurate military on earth but we just can’t help hitting civilians who just happen to be a minority in their own land…

      Dude, the logical hoops you’ll jump through to justify a genocide is extremely concerning.

      Holocaust scholars all over the world have even condemned the bloodshed.

      This isn’t the cost of war. It’s punishment. It’s imperialism.

    • jarfil@lemmy.world
      54·
      1 year ago

      The objective of the IDF is to free the hostages. They will make an effort to minimize civilian casualties.

      When a legitimate target is hiding among civilians, there are two possible responses:

      • Civilized nations: “F%ck, guess we’ll have to wait until they move”
      • Non-civilized nations: “Collateral damage”

      But they must achieve that objective even while know civilian causalities are a certainty

      No “buts”. Like it or not, defend it or not, that’s what non-civilized nations do.