I do of course have answers to those questions. They might even be answers you would be satisfied with. But I’m not sure I really want to answer if you’re going to be so aggressive about responding. Feel free to use your imagination and assume the worst of me, I’m sure it will be very productive. Maybe consider cooling your rhetoric a few degrees.

The US was the world police. It was often joked about, but it had some legitimacy. Particularly after the fall of the Soviet Union, their unquestioned military hegemony kept the awful parts of the world cowed into Pax Americana. Every time the US shows weakness, dictators and warlords and terrorists become bolder. Putin’s seizure of Crimea and the Donbas and Trump’s Afghanistan withdrawal all made America look very weak, and they started preparing their own plans.

Now, with Trump dismantling the US from within, in ways that are probably irreparable in most of our lifetimes, the age of Pax Americana is certainly dead. The world will return to widespread conflict until somebody else steps up with enough military power to police the world to some approximation of their standards (maybe Europe, maybe China), or until it fractures into relatively stable rival groups at cold war with each other (Putin’s much desired “multi-polar world”) or until conflict becomes so violent and/or widespread it is simply the new normal which we’ll probably call World War 3, or some combination of these possibilities.

There is right and wrong in the world and sometimes it is complex and hard to tell the difference. Let me help.

If you find yourself in a position where you are deliberately withholding food from people until they starve to death, you are on the wrong side. Food is not a weapon, food is a basic human right. You might wish to weaponize it, because sometimes it would be awfully convenient and even powerful as a weapon, but if you do that, you are on the wrong side.

What makes you believe that? Sensationalized unverified nonsense is just as bad as fake news, in fact it’s worse because people like you think “well it’s a big official news outlet what they say must be happening for real as I’m sure they’ve researched it” but their only motivation is money and being “first to report”. Explain your analysis of the quality of the fact-checking, access to legitimate sources and on-the-ground reporting of any not-directly-involved media organization that’s reporting on this and I’ll give you a pass. There’s nothing from Al-Jazeera, and not even any opposing propaganda available because as they admit, “This claim could not be independently verified by Al Jazeera. The Indian government has yet to comment.”

So far, I don’t see a single corroborating source with any sort first-hand information at all. It’s very easy to copy and paste what government propaganda says and present it as news, and when it’s sensational it can get lots of clicks and ad money. That doesn’t mean it is real and I can’t see any reason you would have to believe any of this, and if you do, maybe you’d like to buy this bridge I’ve got for sale.

I have never understood why people are so unequivocal and quick to take sides in this conflict. Either people insist on “No criticism of Hamas” or “No criticism of Israel”. It has always seemed clear to me that both the Israeli people and the Palestinian people are victims of their and each other’s respective warmongering hardline governments. It is possible for both sides to be completely in the wrong, and arguing about which is “more wrong” and trying to tally up historical injustices to debate who has the biggest total is fruitless and counterproductive. Until both sides are willing to admit they’ve been wrong and done wrong to each other and accept that very justified criticism, the violence is never going to end. Criticism of both sides is not only deserved it is necessary and probably the only answer. Both sides need to be forced to take responsibility for what they’ve each done wrong instead of justifying and defending it and acting like they’re completely innocent before this is ever going to have a chance at resolution.

The only conclusion I can draw is that some people REALLY don’t want it to ever have a peaceful resolution, and I think that’s probably closest to the actual truth of the situation. Really sickening and sad, for everyone victimized by this conflict. And I’m not even going to start getting into all the various foreign governments “supporting” both these sides. These are the ones who don’t want it to ever have a peaceful resolution, I suspect.

I am hoping that maybe these protests are at least a sign that Gazans are willing to start vocally criticizing Hamas’ role in perpetuating this violence. Now for us to be getting somewhere we’d need to start to see the same from the Israeli people too. But I’m not holding my breath. These protest efforts may be too little too late. Israel is clearly the better equipped and supported regime here; globally we seem to be returning to the horrible principle of “might makes right”. As we know history is written by the victor, and genocide is an unfortunately practical and well-tested way of silencing your critics.