Lila9

@Raze and @zazen I hope that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza will end soon. I truly mean it. I gain nothing from starved children or innocents, believe me. This is a tragedy and I hope that this was not the case. The IDF is made up of all sorts of people: conservative, liberal, religious, secular, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian. Their opinions vary, their ideologies vary, and they are all very different people. What they have in common is that they live in Israel. They know they want and need to defend it because their entire life is in Israel. Considering that Israel is surrounded by Islamic radicals, this is a valid and realistic goal. Are they sadists who want to sadistically starve Palestinians? Hell no. In fact, the majority of Israelis are conflicted. On one hand, they want to weaken Hamas and similar groups because they pose a direct threat to life. You need to understand that Israel is a small country, and a terror attack like the one on October 7 is a huge trauma that revives old fears of the Holocaust. People in Israel learn about the Holocaust from a very young age. The first long book I read as a child was about the Holocaust at the first or the second grade. This is deeply ingrained in Israel's consciousness we always thought that we should never allow such a thing to happen again. In the beginning, Holocaust survivors were criticized by local Jews when they immigrated to Israel for not resisting Hitler and allowing themselves to be killed. So when we said "never again," we truly meant it. And now that there is a country, and we are strong, this shouldn't happen. But when "never again" turns into "again," despite everything, it brings up all sorts of emotions, fear and the collective feeling that the ground has disappeared from under our feet. Thousands of people in such a small population is a lot. And behind every person who has been murdered, there is a family, friends, and colleagues who are deeply traumatized. If we count all the IDF combatants who have been killed in the fight, their families and friends, and all the people who have lost loved ones in terror attacks or have survived such attacks, it turns out that every Israeli is traumatized to some extent. So, it is natural to be angry and want to eliminate Hamas and similar entities. And it is also natural for extremists like Ben Gvir and radical right-wingers to become more dominant. On the other hand, the very vast majority of Israelis don’t want to harm innocent people. They are not sadists, and there is no celebration of death. There is a deep value placed on life. The vibe is that we all just want to be left alone and want all the best for Palestinians. I have heard it from all sorts of people in Israel so many times. Israel does what it believes is effective in pressuring Hamas to release the hostages. This is part of its war strategy. Whether this is moral or not, or whether there are alternative solutions, is arguable. Do I personally promote it? No. But am I expert in war strategies to tell what should be done or not? No. There is a moral dilemma. In an ideal world, every problem would have a solution. But in reality, people and countries must face moral dilemmas. Sometimes the only way to fight immorality is by immorality. For now, it seems to be working because Hamas is now interested in negotiation. The pressure seems to be effective. I have read that Hamas is considering the "Hudna," a well-known Muslim strategy pretending to surrender to gain momentum and then launching a surprise attack again. But this time, I hope Israel’s authorities will be smarter, will not fall for illusions, and will no longer believe Hamas’s deception. And that the voice of those who oppose Hamas, in Gaza, will get stronger and stronger and that he rest of the world will be there to support them. Including the Arab world.

It says that IDF "refraining from action due to concerns that harm to aid workers could provoke international criticism".

Of course. And not only against humanity. Wars have never been otherwise.

Based on my experience, this is a male biased and patriarchal system and it is less easy for women there.

There is a lot of humanitarian aid entering Gaza, but you have to acknowledge that it is immediately taken by Hamas for their use, and the rest is sold to civilians at high prices. According to the testimonies of released hostages, their captors had grand meals and celebrations with the humanitarian aid.

Why Hamas steals humanitarian aid from civilians?

No, I already talked about what I think of Bibi, Jewish terrorism and Ben Gvir alike folks.

Israel is a nation-state, so of course, it will be biased, it has its own survival agenda and doesn’t claim to be neutral. But the UN is not a nation state. It presents itself as neutral and as a source of integrity, while this is not the case.

Yes, there are more anti-Netanyahu channels and news sources than pro-Netanyahu ones. Netanyahu often mentions this to portray himself as a victim and an underdog in the eyes of his supporters. He markets himself as a scapegoat lol. He presents this as if people criticize him not because he is a corrupt and Machiavellian leader, as he is, but because those who criticize him are evil and corrupt themselves.

The UN has its biases and agenda as well. Even the UN is not developed enough to be a truly unbiased, uncorrupted, truthful, and wise source of information. Aside from some UN employees participated in the October 7 attacks, whether directly or indirectly, UN peacekeepers literally can't keep their dicks in their pants, especially around children from vulnerable places, but women as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse_by_UN_peacekeepers In my opinion, they are actually white supremacists and racists, but covert. disguised under the guise of progressivism and wokeness.

This is the nature of news and media, being biased and presenting reality in a way that confirms their bias and political agenda, often by omitting important details or avoiding necessary critique. Some people don't realize it. Yes absolutely, the same goes for the US. That's why people shouldn’t rely on just one news source. It seems that many here rely too heavily on Al Jazeera as the ultimate source of truth about this conflict because it confirms their bias. However.... if they are serious in their attempt for a better understanding of the situation, they should at least acknowledge the pro-Hamas bias present in their coverage. Al Jazeera is like Channel 14 in Israel, the most right-wing news channel here, and most people in Israel don’t even take it seriously. It would be absurd to base my perception of the conflict on this channel. I'd end up more ignorant, misinformed, and radical by relying heavily on it. Even if the most right-wing channel in Israel is seen as relatively liberal in other countries because of how they frame their ideologies and present them in a way that appeals to liberals (like Al Jazeera does), it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a highly biased source.

The opposition to Hamas is still weak, with only a few hundred openly opposing them in the largest protest since October 7... However, as the war continues, more voices will emerge, tired of the conflict and angry at Hamas for leading them into this tragedy. They call for Hamas's downfall, with the slogan "Bidna Na3eesh" meaning "We want to live" Pro-Palestinian supporters should back these voices, as should every conscious person. Sadly, many are blinded by Hamas's ideology, believing terrorism against Israel is the only way to "liberate Palestine," even though innocent Gazans will suffer as a result. They sacrifice Gazans' lives to advance their ideology and justify terror attacks on Israel. When Israel responds, they feign concern for the casualties, but in reality, they care more about the ideology than the actual lives of Palestinians. They ignore the fact that Hamas hides among civilians in places like hospitals and schools and don't criticize it, despite claiming to care for innocents. These individuals are happy when Gazans die in Israel’s response, as it allows them to blame Israel and America, reinforcing their ideology. But when innocents are killed by Hamas or other Arabs, they remain indifferent. Pro-Palestinians support violent resistance from the comfort of their homes, far from Gaza or the West Bank, willing to sacrifice Palestinians for their cause. .

It does not mention that the protest is specifically against Hamas or that Hamas was shooting at the protesters. In reality, they were protesting against Hamas, and Hamas was shooting at them too. Al Jazeera has a clear pro-Hamas bias. What is so difficult to acknowledge? They never dare to say anything negative about Hamas, ever. Isn't it suspicious?

I agree 🙏

Poor elephants. They should be left alone, far, far away from us. https://www.treehugger.com/can-elephants-really-paint-4864229

You will not hear it from Al Jazeera. Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza are protesting against Hamas and for peace. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g71lk09npo They have been controlled for years by extreme right-wing, worse than Ben Gvir, terrorists (Hamas), who play with their lives and receive significant international support through manipulation. But unlike Israel who is currently fight to maintain its democracy, Gaza don’t have a liberal party to oppose Hamas, they are literally stuck between their extremists and Israel's extremists.

I’m sorry for your loss. Like you, I’ve tried to make sense of it, and I’m still trying. My best advice is to allow yourself to grieve. However long it takes, this is the only way to heal and make space in your mind for other aspects of life to enter. My interest in death has deepened, and I’ve become more curious about life after death. I came across the work of Raymond Moody and others, who studies near-death experiences.

I don't think that. My point is that evolution takes strange paths and can differ significantly between species, even relatively close ones. We are closely related to chimpanzees, yet our evolutions are different. I think that evolution is not very likely to completely remove primitive instincts from intelligent animals because they are so fundamental to survival. However, these intelligent animals can use their intelligence to manage their instincts wisely and avoid acting on primitive instincts when there is no survival threat. Humans do this to some extent, but I believe they can do better. They don’t use their intelligence wisely enough, often channeling it into the wrong things, like spending vast amounts of time and money on expanding to Mars while actively ruining our own planet, even though we still have the power to save it, but we doing nothing. Or creating guns and engaging in constant wars and destruction. And maybe, if some animals were given human intelligence, they would use it more wisely, or at least their period of unwise behavior would be significantly shorter and less destructive than ours. Who knows? This is all very hypothetical. Currently we are the biggest mess on earth.

This is exactly our tragedy and what makes us so devilish and so alien in comparison to animals. We have the potential to do better, yet we choose the path of intentional ignorance out of our grandiosity. Ironically, we suck because we think we are omnipotent and omniscient, and this grandiosity prevents us from actually getting closer to those ideals and from manifesting our potential. Once we overcome our grandiosity and start to look inward, then I would say that it is not an insult to animals to call humans animals. Animals are innocent, and their ignorance is truly unintentional. Art is important, as is creativity. But humans are not there yet on a collective level. Truly creative people are not appreciated in society and are often pushed back. We have so much potential to do even better art and be more creative, but we resist it. As an artist, I have learned that the biggest obstacle to creating is the ego. We are still collectively heavily controlled by it. Even if we save the planet, we will still need to do mental and spiritual work. Saving the planet is only the beginning.

I totally respect it.

It doesn't matter whether humans create art or not. As a collective, humans are highly irrational. How can a creature be so intelligent and so irrational at the same time? We have everything we need to make life peaceful and sustainable for the entire Earth's population, yet we choose to ruin everything, including ourselves, out of ignorance stupidity or greed. We have even disconnected from our animal instincts, if we were truly connected, we couldn't afford to destroy the planet we are fucking living on so heavily. Where our life instinct went to? Why humans as a collective prefer still objects and illusionary concepts like money over life, health, true holistic prosperity? No animal does that. Animals act in violence when they usually have no choice. But we do this out of ego and narcissism.

Perhaps, or maybe this is just what your fragile human ego wants to believe. Not all the evulsions are the same.

Calling humans animals is an insult to the animals.

How do you know? Do you speak from a direct experience?

Because reality is real. unlike dreams. There are real-life consequences in reality, unlike in night dreams. There are things you can do in dreams with 0% real-life consequences, but you can’t do them when you are awake without consequences. If you cut your hand in a dream, there is no real harm to your hand. But if you do that when you are awake, you may suffer from real consequences that affect you. Saying that there is no difference between a night dream and a waking state is not accurate. Just because reality is complex and susceptible to our subjective interpretation doesn’t mean that it is illusory. The illusion in reality is our subjective, biased, and corrupted view of it, our perception of it, but not reality itself, which we can’t even accurately or fully grasp. Our perception of reality is also limited by our biology, making it very difficult and even impossible to fully understand reality, as our senses may not perceive it fully accurately in the first place. Our senses perceive reality good enough to meet our survival needs, but not to fully understand it. We can only theorize and invent concepts to understand reality, but those concepts are illusory. Reality itself is just the playground in which all illusions happen. Reality is what there is. Illusions can’t exist without reality, there must be something real to create illusions and sustain them. It’s the same as light not being able to exist without darkness. If everything is light, then there is no light.