The Middle East Thread

Reportedly so - Hamas for some reason handed him over to some other group, which also doesn’t look good.

I reckon he might have ended up adopted already by some Palestinian family. Atleast this alternative is better to than the other.

The armed wing of Hamas said on Wednesday that 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his four-year-old brother and their mother, who were being held hostage, were killed during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army said it was checking the claim by al-Qassam brigades. Reuters, who reported it, could not immediately independently verify the claim.

What a PR gift for Netanyahu. How many children have been harmed or killed since October 7, and the one that gets a face and name in the American media is an Israeli baby. Hamas were foolish to take him.

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That’s interesting because my take was the exact opposite. To the point that I questioned if this, the world facing up to how indiscriminate Israel are in their response with news of them killing their own, was part of Hamas’ purpose in this.

I don’t think that is wrong either. Something of an inkblot test, but one that produces a more intense response - which may indeed have been Hamas’ purpose. But it is now going to be very politically difficult for Biden to escalate with Israel.

I expect the next round of hostilities to be rather more intense. Both sides have given back the ‘charismatic’ hostages/prisoners. Israel has largely released the women and children Hamas asked in exchange for roughly similar (elderly, etc). Now Hamas has largely military prisoners left, and the Hamas prisoners has are roughly the equivalent if not leadership figures. Neither side are going to come back to the table lightly.

Maybe kidnapping and bombing babies are both evil acts?

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It’s a PR fail for both sides. No one comes out looking good in this.

I doubt the persons who kidnapped them are Hamas members. They surely aren’t as dumb to do this.

This most likely is done by other groups or even civilians riding into attack after Hamas broke through the military lines.

There are more than two sides here, and it is not bad for all of them. Netanyahu in particular reaps real benefit.

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The Pause hasn’t been extended yet. :pray::pleading_face:

Wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for it to get extended.

See my comment above about a PR gift for Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s internal critics are holding fire, where just five days ago there were (dead end) discussions about the basis for ending the conflict by having Israel’s Arab neighbours take a role in administering Gaza.

I think the idea that Israel needs PR is laughable. They’ve slaughtered 12k innocent civilians and destroyed half of Gaza already, and still widely supported. They don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks

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The world isn’t the audience, and it is not really Israel that needs the PR - it is Netanyahu. Politically, he now needs this conflict to go on, and on, and on. When he loses power, there is a real likelihood that he goes to trial for felony corruption charges.

To the extent that he needed to reach a constituency outside Israel, it is in the US. There is some shockingly murderous stuff circulating American social media in the past two days.

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Why do the West keeps giving Israel a carte blanche even when their own citizens are subjected to such atrocities.

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https://twitter.com/pressfreedom/status/1730279134402666714?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1730279134402666714|twgr^1db1317b0e8430acdd8a6b485d25b1a3b27ea632|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2Flive%2F2023%2Fnov%2F30%2Fisrael-hamas-war-live-updates-news-ceasefire-ending-gaza-palestine-hostage-deal-palestinian-prisoners-released

Details here

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2003…yet this still seems surprising to ‘the West’

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Because of The Holocaust.

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How does that even make any sense?

How does supporting (morally and materially) Israeli apartheid on Palestinians help mitigate the sufferings of the Jews decades ago, in Europe, by White Supremist? All the while when the same White Supremist are inciting anti-Semitism, in Europe (and USA)?