The political reasoning is to get back the tens of thousands of Israelis that have been evacuated from Northern Israel, and hence the likely goal is to "destroy Hezbollah" altogether. — ssu

Exactly. If they were really concerned with getting the Israelis back and saving the hostages in Gaza (which are probably completely doomed so much as they are still alive) there was an easy way out which Bibi refused to take.

As for the land invasion itself, if history is any indication a ground invasion wouldn't be a quick and painless operation. If there is any reason why Netanyahu doesn't want to start a war with Iran right now it would be because Israel thinks it is necessary to defang Hezbollah as a threat altogether before doing anything else (at least if Kushner's statement is anything to go by). They can still bomb Israel hard even at this stage.

Yes, because you do not care about police action in the Netherlands only to raise it in a thread where it has zero bearing. The subject is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict not what some police officers might think of it. I can assure you that for every police officer not wanting to protect Jewish locations they are in the minority compared to the pro-Israeli officers and they are not out there beating protesters as has happened with pro-Palestinian protesters. So, quite frankly I don't care as it is a non-issue.

As for the land invasion itself, if history is any indication a ground invasion wouldn't be a quick and painless operation. — Mr Bee

Yet this fact of life is hardly given any thought now. Bibi's transformed into a wartime leader. He doesn't have to face the earlier political problems or an inquiry just how Hamas did get away with overcoming a billion dollar wall as long as Israel is in war. So he doesn't care a shit about just how "Peace for Galilee" turned out. But he can remember that after Yom Kippur war was over, Golda Meir was ousted.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s popularity, which was battered after the Hamas attacks on 7 October, has been boosted by his country’s military successes against Hezbollah, a new opinion poll suggests.

A picture has been widely shared of the Israeli PM in New York giving the order for the biggest of these - the assassination of the Lebanese armed group’s long-time chief, Hassan Nasrallah.

A poll for Israel’s Channel 12, released on Sunday night, indicates the Israeli PM's Likud party would win more seats than any other if a general election was held.

Even if this was prior to the Iranian missiles, it still shows the benefits of being a wartime prime minister. People will rally to the flag and support the leadership of the country.

A long war in Lebanon can be a double edged sword though. It helps Netanyahu extend his forever war and stay in power for the time being, but it can eventually become a mess which would hurt him politically especially if it results in alot of Israeli casualties and it doesn't help get people back to their homes. Hezbollah isn't Hamas and they still haven't completely eliminated the latter after a year of constant fighting.

Even if this was prior to the Iranian missiles, it still shows the benefits of being a wartime prime minister. People will rally to the flag and support the leadership of the country. — ssu

It will take time to know all the truth about October 7th. But given the fact that Israeli intelligence is one of the most advanced in the world, it seems strange the great defensive errors during the attacks of Hamas. So, they can trick the beepers of Hezbollah members, but they cannot prevent a bloody attack by Hamas. Hmm... we will see how responsible for all of this is Netanyahu in the future.

Even if we don't know the full story what we do know already paints Netanyahu in a bad light. He was warned by the Egyptians of an attack on Oct 7. Netanyahu in his arrogance ignored those warnings and he's been trying to make this crisis worse in an attempt to save face ever since.

Netanyahu in his arrogance ignored those warnings and he's been trying to make this crisis worse in an attempt to save face ever since. — Mr Bee

He ignored those warnings, or maybe he deliberately didn't listen to them because he, as a clever warman, saw the perfect opportunity to focus on a conflict with the neighbours rather than having Israelis voice out against his business practices and arrogance.

In a way the two can be seen as related as since 10/7 we've seen a huge uptick in anti semitism which just goes to show you the world doesn't recognize a clear boundary between Israel and the world's Jews. Pro-Palestine protests also tend to be more prone to criminality than pro-Israel ones which explains the more heavy-handed treatment.

:up: :up:

Israel doesn't even make the laws in Gaza, but why should that inconvenient fact matter to you? It's ideology that matters to you and you side with weak. And as long as you side with the weak you're righteous and laudable.

Never let facts get between you and your support for the weak.

Like Trump, your accusations are confessions. :sweat:

We can support the poor, innocent Palestinian all we want and that starts with getting rid of Hamas and de-radicalizing the population. Not teaching them to hate. Once violence and hatred wane, Israel can ease up in turn.

Israeli occupation-oppression has radicalized generations of the Palestinian population. Likud's (Bibi's) zionfascist forever war is the goal. Stop lying to yourself.

If it's the occupation of Jerusalem they're mad about, they can stay mad. Israel has offered them half in several peace deals and it's been rejected. To want it all, as the Hamas charter demands, is pure greed.

I hardly believe it is a question about greed but revenge. After assassinating 42K Gaza civilians, I don't think their next generations would like to be diplomatic with Israel. As well as Israel wanting to wipe out Beirut and Teheran, the resistance wants to erase Tel-Aviv. 

The Middle East is in a perpetual war zone that benefits a big ass weapon industry.