I'm an Israeli. These people are not the mainstream, they are extreme religious fundamentalists. They are similar to the terrorist movements on Palestinian side and their actions are often referred to in the Israeli news as "Jewish terrorism".
Most of them also can't join the Israeli army because of their dangerous views.
Don't let these terrible people taint your views on Israel.
Yes it does seem unfair doesn’t it? The Israelis have an open democratic process so it’s recorded that people have disagreements with the governments actions. However, Hamas ended democracy in Palestine so we can never hear of any opposition, even though surely it must exist.
But then it should be the other way round from what it is right now. For Israel, even though the government represents the people, I keep hearing "don't hold Israel responsible for the bad things Bibi does" -- when the election was a year or two ago.
For Gaza, I keep hearing "but they elected Hamas, so they're responsible for all the bad deeds". That election was in 2006, close to two decades ago. Many (most?) people who live in Gaza now werent even alive back then.
About 43 percent of the Gaza Strip population is under 18.
I understand your point but I don’t think its very fair because even if an election were held tomorrow, these children could not vote.
But in the heat of the moment I would be wary of drawing equivalence between any people and its war time government. Remember how swiftly all doubt vanished from common discourse in America after 9/11? People tend to wholehearted support their militaries during war, and wait until peacetime to determine if they made any mistakes.
The government in the West Bank also strangely holds the notion that they operate in unity with the Gaza Strip but Hamas says they are independent. This stopped the 2018 elections from happening because Hamas won’t agree that its candidates should adhere to treaties signed by Fatah.
The West Bank government also claims they can’t have elections unless it includes all Palestinians, including the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem residents. This stopped the 2021 elections because Israel wouldn’t enter any agreements ensuring the East Jerusalem residents could vote, and would not be penalized or disrupted from doing so.
I am largely more sympathetic to this waffling because the West Bank is relatively peaceful, and I can see an election that doesn’t include all Palestinians could create the precedence that the current divisions are valid.
First of all I don't. I'm pro-peace and I'm sure that there are many great people in Palestine too. I lived outside of Israel for the last decade and had Palestinian friends.
Though there is a big difference between the opinions of fringe groups (in Israel), and the official position of the government (Hammas in Palestine).
Why shouldn't I? The actions of Israel speak much louder than words. If Israel on the whole cared the least bit about Palestinian lives they wouldn't have done a fraction of the things they've done in the last 60 years.
Like what? What has Israel done? I'm talking about hard facts not propaganda sensationalism. Israel vacated Gaza, signed peace treaties, vacated Sinai, gave power and water to Gaza, agreed to many ceasefires (all broken by the other side), gives the people of Gaza jobs (that's how they got the intelligence for the attack, gazans working in Israel with work permits), etc.
Sure the settlements suck, hut that's not the state of Israel's doing.
Edit: just to add an interesting fact. The "disaster of 48" (as it's called in Palestine) is when the UN declared the creation of Israel (two state solution) but the Arab neighbors didn't like that so they all attacked Israel at once. As part of the war Palestinians both fled and (no official records, but probably too) got kicked out, at least the ones that supported the Arab nations (many Arabs never left). So it was just self defense by Israel. Now you may say "oh well, they got kicked out, they should get the land back" and to that I'll remind you that the Jews of Europe were slaughtered and kicked out just 3 years prior (the Holocaust). Do you hear anyone calling to give them back their property? War is an ugly thing, but Israel is definitely not the oppressor in the region.
> Sure the settlements suck, hut that's not the state of Israel's doing.
When illegal settlements start being built, and complaints are raised/filed against it, I imagine that it takes quite some time for the settlement building projects to finish. I also imagine that there are laborers and companies involved who execute the building project over a certain period of time.
- During that whole time from the start of the settlement being built, to its completion, the state of Israel simply does not notice it happening (despite filed complaints) and is unable to do anything about it?
- Israel cannot arrest those people and suspend the license of the company building the illegal settlement that is complicit in the illegal action?
- Israel cannot put repeat offenders in prison for a very long time?
- Even if a settlement is somehow built without the knowledge of the Israeli government (impossible for a building poject), Israel cannot simply demolish it and heavily fine everyone involved?
You don't sneak a building project behind the government's back, especially when it's built on land that belongs to other people who will surely report it. Either Israeli government is absolutely incapable of doing basic government things, or there is no political will to stop such illegal settlements from being built and the Israeli government does not actually mind them, even though it publicly says that it does.
So yes, the settlements are absolutely the doing of the state of Israel if it is doing nothing to prevent them from being built.
I’m very ignorant on this topic. Why doesn’t Israel (the government or its people) do more to stop these “extremists”? Hasn’t the government given them some support over the years?
They send them to prison, the same way they do with Hammas terrorists. The Shin Bet (Israeli security services) has a whole section dedicated to "Jewish terrorism" that is in charge of dealing with these extremists.
Most of them also can't join the Israeli army because of their dangerous views.
Don't let these terrible people taint your views on Israel.