Tenchu's Thoughts: Why I Don't Give A Brandon About the Residents of Gaza
We see it all over the world, especially here in America. Even students at Harvard are saying it.
fReE pAlEsTiNe!!!
iT's aLl iSrAeL's fAuLt!!!
They claim that Israel has no reason to be surprised at Hamas' brazen attack because anyone pursuing "apartheid policies" in occupied territories should have expected it.
Some of their points have merit. Definitely this attack is the result of failures among Israeli intelligence as well as Israel's current policies regarding Gaza and the West Bank. I think even the residents of Israel can agree to that.
Whether Israel had any better options on the table is another question, though. But this really isn't the time to think about that.
Those Poor Palestinians: A Thought Experiment
Instead, I'm going to perform a thought experiment.
I'm going to put myself in the shoes of a Gaza resident and see what I deserve, what a raw deal I'm getting from The Powers That Be, and what options are available to me and why I might not want to take them.
First of all, what do I deserve? Obviously I deserve to live, to raise a family, to work and support my family, and to be treated like any other human being.
Did I have that in Gaza (before the current war, obviously)? I'm pretty sure I did, despite whatever oppressive policies the Israeli occupiers pursued. A city of 2M people, densely packed into a small area, couldn't have existed without some semblance of normalcy that existed for decades.
Am I getting a raw deal from The Powers That Be? Of course I am, but what other choices do I have? Israel certainly doesn't regard me as an equal citizen compared to one of their own, but I'd be a fool to think that Israel will one day go away. That fantasy has been around for decades with almost no hope of it ever becoming a reality.
Hamas the "Good Guys"
Meanwhile Hamas, who has been duly elected as governors of Gaza, claim to be on my side. And for the most part, I believed them. They are my soul brothers. They care for my children. They claim to fight for me, and I believed them to be sincere. I still do.
So when they built rocket launchers on top of school buildings, when they built tunnel and underground bunkers and ammunition depots, when they sent off my sons and my nephews to go train for battle and all that, I said nothing.
And I'm no fool. I knew what they were doing.
But I said nothing because I thought they were doing all of that to defend against an Israeli invasion. I thought we had the right to defend ourselves, just like any other human on the face of this Earth has.
Darn the Bad News
Then this attack happened.
And Hamas became no different than Al Qaeda, ISIS, or some other terrorist group.
Suddenly I realized why Hamas built all of this military infrastructure right underneath our noses. Of COURSE it was to defend against an invasion.
What they didn't tell us was that they were going to punch Israel in the nose and incite an invasion that way.
Or maybe I did know. Everyone in Gaza is pretty close-knit. You'd have to be to survive and thrive in an occupied city like this.
So when my sons and my nephews and my friends' sons and nephews went off to train, and they came back and told us what type of training they received, I assumed that they were preparing for an insurgency that could happen if our hand were forced and Israel started the "final war" against us.
Well, our hand was indeed forced, but not by Israel.
Instead, it was our own "defenders" who forced our hand. And they claim to have done it to protect us.
S#!T
So now what? Israel is PISSED. They want to level Gaza into the ground. And they've already started.
I need to GTFO, but I can't. Because reasons.
Now I just have to survive. I need to be in areas that Israel isn't likely to shell. Maybe I should just set up a tent on top of a pile of rubble. Maybe Israel won't "waste" a rocket on an area that they already successfully struck.
What about my sons and nephews? I can't worry about them anymore. They chose to do whatever they thought was best.
Hindsight
So while I sit with the water and electricity out, no Internet (obviously), and me having to rely on whatever humanitarian aid Hamas has set up (which I doubt is all that much, to be honest), I have some time to think between the explosions.
Who should I blame for all of this?
Israel? Everyone tells me to blame them, but that's useless. They haven't gone away in 70 years, and there is no chance of them going away in the next 70. Anyone who tells me otherwise is a damned fool.
Hamas? But they are the only ones who are fighting for me, or claim to be.
Still, they were the ones who started this recent war. Anyone who believes otherwise is once again a damned fool. And now because of that, Israel is going to come in, and they won't stop. And I have serious doubts that our Hamas defenders will be able to resist them.
By the way, I don't give a Brandon about the outside world, especially those naive Americans attending Harvard and giving their "thoughts and prayers." They have NEVER been successful in changing American policy toward Israel.
Was I a fool in trusting Hamas? Maybe. Maybe I even voted for them to run our provincial government. Maybe I should have said something when I saw all those defensive preparations being built right in our city. But I certainly didn't want to betray my brothers and sisters, so instead I STFU like any reasonable person would.
Was I a fool in staying in Gaza? Perhaps, but did I have a choice?
Maybe I could have moved to Egypt or Lebanon or Jordan, but none of those countries seem all that stable, much less willing to take me in.
What about Europe? I'd have to be a refugee, and in this day and age, asylum seekers aren't exactly welcome around the world.
So instead, I stayed put, because up until now that was the path of least resistance. Now I see it was a path toward death and destruction.
And no one is really going to give a Brandon about me. It seems this ended up being my fate.
Conclusion
So after this thought experiment, why have I arrived at the conclusion that I shouldn't give a Brandon about the residents of Gaza?
Because quite frankly, they are and continue to be used as human pawns.
Hamas used them as pawns.
The rest of the Jew-hating Middle East uses them as pawns.
Even the sophists from Harvard are using them as pawns in their own virtue-signaling political antics.
Israel didn't treat them as human beings, but why should they when the rest of the world clearly doesn't, either?
Because of this, I refuse to give a Brandon about the residents of Gaza, because I don't want to play any of their games.
Sorry if I seem heartless, but for the life of me I can't see any resident of Gaza as being naive. They KNEW what was going on, but they chose to go along, either because of denial, or because of the position their own "defenders" put them in.
Disclaimer
As usual, I reserve the right to change my mind and change it often.
Tenchusatsu |
