S10.E17: Israel-Hamas War

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Main topic:  Israel-Hamas War

Also: Tuesday's election results; hamster Gatsby living its best life; Rachel Campos Duffy really, really needs you to know that her husband was once in Congress; update on the New Zealand Bird of the Century contest

Original air date 2023.11.12

[Annber03]

"We are doomed to live here together, and we have to choose whether to share this land or share the graveyard under it." 

Damn. That is a hell of a powerful sentence. 

To that Florida congressman who was trying to talk about how we don't speak of "innocent Nazi civilians"., setting aside the rather obvious, "Holy shit, that is about the idiotic comparison you could possibly make" reaction that Oliver pointed out...uh...is he sure about that? Maybe he should check in and listen to how some of his colleagues and their supporters have been talking about Nazis in recent years. Just saying. 

That video from the hospital of people, including the doctor, literally shouting down the government officials who stopped in, to the point that they were forced to leave, was indeed VERY intense. But good on them for that. Why should they accept this visit from government officials who clearly didn't have the civilians' best interests at heart? They're not there for sincerity, they're there to try and make themselves look good and argue their case to keep the war going. 

And given the kind of coalition Netanyahu has surrounded himself with, let's just say, it explains a LOT about the support from certain corners here in the States. A. LOT.

We're not even going to get into the guy insisting there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It's a war zone, you moron. The very idea of war alone constitutes a humanitarian crisis. 

But yeah, I really appreciate Oliver pointing out that the vast majority of Palestinian and Israeli civilians did not ask for this, do not want this, and would very much love this insanity to stop and for peace to finally reign. That should be such a simple, basic, "no duh" statement, but evidently, way too many have failed to get that rather obvious memo. The clips of the children talking about their fears and hopes were utterly heartwrenching. It's so maddening that so many innocent people's lives can be upended like this because a bunch of men really need to play out the most violent version of a dick-waving contest. I do hope there will be a cease-fire soon and we can get people to get some legitimate peace talks going, but, yeah, sadly, I think that's going to be a long, uphill battle, to say the very least. 

On a significantly lighter note, I do appreciate the good news about the election results this past week :). I'm especially cackling at how the whole "leave abortion up to the states!" argument has been backfiring so spectacularly against those who've been making it. Almost like everyone is trying to send these people a rather pointed message or something. Hm. 

I would watch "New Zealand Tonight" :D. 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Annber03

[Lantern7]

What can I say about John's analysis of the current war in the Middle East? Nothing, because I feel that I don't need to stick my foot in my mouth. John was spot on about how this is a crisis most people never wanted.

And then we transitioned to the current Bird of the Century ruckus via a sequence of Rachel Campos-Duffy namedropping her husband. Oy. That one. Annoying since 1994. I may have shouted "Puck kisser" at the screen. I can neither confirm nor deny that.

Nice that John has taken the Pūteketeke backlash with grace. I figure that it's far worse for John to criticize your country instead of make fun of it, and he's loving the shit getting flung at him by New Zealand bird lovers. I forget . . . did they show footage of John campaigning while cosplaying as a Pūteketeke? Here it is in case you missed it.

[Spartan Girl]

9 hours ago, Annber03 said:

 

"We are doomed to live here together, and we have to choose whether to share this land or share the graveyard under it." 

Damn. That is a hell of a powerful sentence. 

 

Indeed. That man has a better understanding of the whole situation than anyone. Too many people are acting like one group just needs to vacate the country entirely for peace, and that’s not going to happen.

I’m hesitant to say more because the discourse around this whole mess has gotten so toxic, but bless John Oliver for pointing out that Hamas does not represent the majority of Palestinian people and Netanyahu doesn’t not represent the majority Israeli people. Not to mention that the Israeli hostages and casualties should not be downplayed in favor of the Palestinian ones, and vice versa. Both governments are basically destroying innocent people instead of doing anything to actually help them.

[peeayebee]

11 hours ago, Annber03 said:

"We are doomed to live here together, and we have to choose whether to share this land or share the graveyard under it." 

Powerful and eloquent.

To be frank, while I basically know what's going on there, I don't seek out news or photos about it. It's too upsetting. Still, I appreciated John's story about it. I hadn't heard what that Florida congressman said. All I can do is shake my head.

On to happier stuff... The Bird of the Century contest! Loved it, esp John's lines about the one bird looking like a pigeon in a tank top -- So true! -- and the other about the bird looking like a green cat toy.

[Lugal]

Not much else I can say, just tragic all around.  But I will say to Brian Mast, shitbag from Florida: No innocent civilians is was the same reasoning that led to 9/11.

Also Brian Mast was the same guy that wore an IDF uniform to Congress.  Not going to get into sides, but just say that no elected official should wear a foreign military uniform to their job supposedly serving the American people.

[Annber03]

9 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Powerful and eloquent.

His words felt very Serling-esque. Like, that's a quote I could've heard in one of Serling's monologues on "The Twilight Zone". Fitting, as I feel that show becomes more and more relevant with each passing year. 

10 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I’m hesitant to say more because the discourse around this whole mess has gotten so toxic

I liked the bit with John talking about how everyone suddenly has a hot take of some kind on this conflict, and how you're seeing some really surprising (and not always for the better) comments from people you'd never expect to weigh in on such things. It's amazing how so many people fancy themselves foreign policy experts all of a sudden (or economic experts, or social policy experts, or so on). 

The bit about "TMZ" commenting on the conflict reminded me of the segments I'd see on it whenever my mom would be catching a bit of "Inside Edition". They'd go from that to some story about a celebrity showing off their new body online or something and...yeah. Talk about whiplash. I can honestly say I have never once wondered what "TMZ"/"Inside Edition"/et al thought about these sorts of international news stories. 

[vibeology]

It occurred to me that its already Wednesday in New Zealand and we have a winner.

[peeayebee]

WOOT!

[Bklyndeb]

Perhaps John might have shown some traumatized Israeli children who saw their siblings and parents massacred on their kibbutz.  Or some friends of the kids at the concert who were slaughtered, raped and dragged through the streets.  Maybe they think it's shitty too.

[iMonrey]

16 hours ago, vibeology said:

It occurred to me that its already Wednesday in New Zealand and we have a winner.

That's hysterical. Did the Forest & Bird group allow voting from all over the world? That was probably a mistake if so. I loved the pundits John showed who were all salty about his intervention. And John mockingly taunting them that the Puteketeke would win and there was nothing they could do about it.

[Hanahope]

Unfortunately, the people who have seized control of Israel and Gaza care more about their own power than the people.  

John provided a lot of good information about the history and current situation.  i wish more people would listen and do something other than wring their hands. 

 

[andromeda331]

John did a really good job talking about the war. I like him pointing out the most Palastinians are not Hamas and most Israeli are not Netanyahu.

[swanpride]

Honestly this was the best segment about this war I have seen so far. Good job not vilifying either side but still making clear that the Hamas are terrorists and what Netanyahu stand for. 

[marina to]

I appreciated that despite what some people seem to have taken from this episode, he repeated again and again that what Hamas did was terrible. I've saw people say he was minimizing what Hamas did but I don't see it at all.

For me, I've never understood why terrorist attacks are considered justification for wars. Isn't Mossad considered one of the best intelligence and special operation forces in the world? Why aren't small task forces being talked about? Why does the response always seem to to kill 3 times the amount of innocent people the terror attack killed?

Edited November 21, 2023 by marina to

[JustHereForFood]

9 hours ago, marina to said:

For me, I've never understood why terrorist attacks are considered justification for wars. Isn't Mossad considered one of the best intelligence and special operation forces in the world? Why aren't small task forces being talked about? Why does the response always seem to to kill 3 times the amount of innocent people the terror attack killed?

I don't know about "always", but the numbers in this case are because of the massive and unsustainable overpopulation in Gaza. If they had a regular number of people for that size of area, the numbers of the casualties would be much smaller.

[Lugal]

14 hours ago, marina to said:

Why aren't small task forces being talked about? Why does the response always seem to to kill 3 times the amount of innocent people the terror attack killed?

Small task forces can take heavy casualties in urban warfare.  As for the other answer: "The emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy." - Daniel Hagari, Israeli army spokesman.  Since October 7, Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tons of bombs on Gaza.