Tuesday, June 10, 2025

the rule against collective punishment, like all rules, has limitations and exceptions.

israel is a collectivized culture. they don't live in kibbutzes right now, but they are a people with an extreme level of collective culture and identity. an attack on one jew is an attack on all jews, and you will get a response from all jews if you attack one jew. they don't operate on this level of rugged individualism inherent in the western european rule against collective punishment.

this is brutal and hard to interact with and vicious and terrible, but it's real life and the message it sends is crystal clear - if you attack any of us individually, we will respond collectively. that is the right message to send and the palestinians need to understand it and adjust to it. they need to be traumatized and frightened and abused to the point that they will not do this again.

there is only one way to end the impasse, and it is for hamas to immediately release the hostages. it must understand that this response is intentionally a collective response, and that it is correct that it is a collective response.

there are still no reports of actual famine; unlike hamas, israel is keeping it's hostages alive, if barely. two wrongs don't make a right, but they make a response in the real world, where right and wrong is not of much importance, in the face of years of bad behaviour by everybody that cannot be undone, but only be mitigated and moved on from.

it's hamas' choice how this ends.