I wouldn’t be so sure. Because the people of Gaza are very much aware that there’s something Hamas could do that would end all this immediately: surrender and release the hostages.
It would be the rational thing to do. They’ve picked a fight with a hopelessly superior enemy, have no chance of victory, and their entire plan is to sit in tunnels while their people suffer above ground, take no responsibility for what is happening and pretend Israel started all this, steal the bulk of the humanitarian aid sent in, and then prepare to declare a perverse victory just by not having all died while their senior leadership profits handsomely from Iran’s largesse sent their way from safety in Qatar.
The people of Gaza aren’t blind. They know their misery is being used as foil by Hamas, and they do not love their erstwhile masters for it.
I'll give you a historical example. In WWII, Nazi commanders would execute a dozen random civilians in a village for every German solder killed by resistance fighters in that village.
The "appropriate" response would have been to identify the actual culprit and punish the resistance operative for espionage (operating in enemy territory without a uniform violates the rules of war).
Now, do you think the villagers held the resistance fighters morally responsible for the execution of their peers? Or the Nazi commanders?
I wouldn’t be so sure. Because the people of Gaza are very much aware that there’s something Hamas could do that would end all this immediately: surrender and release the hostages.
It would be the rational thing to do. They’ve picked a fight with a hopelessly superior enemy, have no chance of victory, and their entire plan is to sit in tunnels while their people suffer above ground, take no responsibility for what is happening and pretend Israel started all this, steal the bulk of the humanitarian aid sent in, and then prepare to declare a perverse victory just by not having all died while their senior leadership profits handsomely from Iran’s largesse sent their way from safety in Qatar.
The people of Gaza aren’t blind. They know their misery is being used as foil by Hamas, and they do not love their erstwhile masters for it.
I wouldn't be so sure about that reaction.
I'll give you a historical example. In WWII, Nazi commanders would execute a dozen random civilians in a village for every German solder killed by resistance fighters in that village.
The "appropriate" response would have been to identify the actual culprit and punish the resistance operative for espionage (operating in enemy territory without a uniform violates the rules of war).
Now, do you think the villagers held the resistance fighters morally responsible for the execution of their peers? Or the Nazi commanders?
That is a great analogy. Try out this one:
During WWII over 25000 non Jews in Europe risked their lives to save Jews.
SInce Oct 7th, not a single Palestinian has lifted a finger to help the hostages.
Now, do you think the Palestinian civilians or European civilians hold more moral responsibility for the torture and starvation of those hostages?