NewsVine_Mariyam
Platinum Member
This quote by Friedrich Nietzsche has been repeatedly cropping up in my mind recently although I first became aware of it 10 years ago because it's posted in one of the training classrooms at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC). And while it had a profound effect on me then, it seems even more applicable today especially since the latest memory was triggered by a news reporter speaking with a senior member of the Israel Security Forces (IDF) who was blaming Hamas for the IDF brutalizing so many Palestinian civilians. The reporter agreed with this IDF member that Hamas is indeed "horrible" however she asked (paraphrased) "surely you're aware that the majority of the people you all are killing and who are suffering are NOT Hamas and have nothing to do with the organization or any terrorism". The response was essentially "yeah, that's how bad Hamas is" (that HAMAS doesn't care that Palestinian civilians are being killed in the IDF's effort to wipe them out).
Then the news story switches to scenes of death and devastation and points out how Israel demanded that the Palestinian abandon their homes if they valued their lives but then turned around and to this day, continue to bomb the so-called Safe Zones wiping out entire families at times.
Just as it is pointed out that the Israeli people are not the same as their government, the same is the case with the Palestinians and Hamas. If Hamas is indeed the terrorist organization that the Israeli government claims they are (and this is not in dispute) then by definition, they don't care who they use or what they have to do in order to achieve their goals, including hiding behind innocent Palestinian civilians.
Of course I don't have the answers on how to solve this conflict without so much unnecessary killing of civilians but I do know that the IDF members who are carrying out the wholesale slaughter of innocent Palestinian civilians have indeed become the very thing they claim to be fighting against, and hence, perhaps the reason for the repeated reoccurrences of this quote in my mind. If to no one else than the Palestinians who have lost loved ones who have been killed, or homes that have been lost or have been forced to relocate again and again and again only to still be bombed out and haved more love ones killed, Israel and the IDF are the terrorist.
"Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster..." indeed. They have control over this and this is what they choose.
Then the news story switches to scenes of death and devastation and points out how Israel demanded that the Palestinian abandon their homes if they valued their lives but then turned around and to this day, continue to bomb the so-called Safe Zones wiping out entire families at times.
Just as it is pointed out that the Israeli people are not the same as their government, the same is the case with the Palestinians and Hamas. If Hamas is indeed the terrorist organization that the Israeli government claims they are (and this is not in dispute) then by definition, they don't care who they use or what they have to do in order to achieve their goals, including hiding behind innocent Palestinian civilians.
Of course I don't have the answers on how to solve this conflict without so much unnecessary killing of civilians but I do know that the IDF members who are carrying out the wholesale slaughter of innocent Palestinian civilians have indeed become the very thing they claim to be fighting against, and hence, perhaps the reason for the repeated reoccurrences of this quote in my mind. If to no one else than the Palestinians who have lost loved ones who have been killed, or homes that have been lost or have been forced to relocate again and again and again only to still be bombed out and haved more love ones killed, Israel and the IDF are the terrorist.
"Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster..." indeed. They have control over this and this is what they choose.
