John Oliver accused Israel of “Fucking War Crimes”. Tom Aharon (Israel’s own John Oliver) decided to retaliate
Posted May 20, 2021, 1:56 AM UTC
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If this is a war, as Israel calls it, isn’t the IDF also essentially using human shields? IDF assets are embedded in dense urban areas; they broadcast from the tops of residential towers. I realize that the Hamas rockets are indiscriminate, but how should they go about fighting this “war” in a way that is as respectful of civilian casualties as Israel claims to be?
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Hamas has targeted these cities in Israel (by aprox. quantity of attacks):
- Sderot - which houses no military bases
- Ofakim - which houses no military bases
- Netivot - which houses no military bases
- Ashkelon - which houses no military bases
- Ashdod - which houses no military bases
- Be'er Sheva - which houses no military bases, but one military museum
- Gush Dan (Tev Aviv, Ramat Gan, Jaffa, Givataim etc) - which houses the Kirya military base (the command center of the IDF) and a several others
- Kiryat Malachi - which can be argued as close to a logistics military base
- Kiryat Gat - which houses no military bases
- and the list goes on to include tens of cities and towns
However, Hamas has neglected to fire almost any rockets that the Negev - Israel's southern area which is literally packed with military bases and is MUCH closer to Gaza strip than, say, Kfar Saba which has been attacked tens of times, despite having no appreciable military targets.
Take a look for yourself:
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That would have been a point unless Hamas wouldn't have targeted cities without any military targets.
Read about Ashdod, or any kibbutz around Gaza.
Don't be so ignorant.
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Ignorant? Well, sorry for engaging with your post and having questions.
It seems like you’re admitting that Israel uses its own population as human shields in places like Tel Aviv if this is your response.
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First, Hamas is attacking places without military in it, yet you still don't hold it accountable for commiting war crimes?
Second, Israel doesn't build military buildings inside or close to civilians, yet Israel is tiny and sometimes army bases (like the Kirya) were there before cities were built around them. Some wer bases of the British before Israel was made, and now are Israeli bases.
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Maybe Hamas needs a drone program and fully funded intelligence apparatus so they can know where the IDF is, that way they could do a better job of reducing civilian casualties?
Sounds ridiculous, right? If this were a “war” it wouldn’t.
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You take their homeland, kill them, and treat them like second class citizens and it's okay because, you know, the holocaust? Really man that's your come back for the U.S sponsored war crimes? Get the fuck out of here.
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This comment has nothing to do with the video.
I guess it's easy to attack arguments no one made.
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Let me guess, whataboutism and pretending to be perpetual victims? Right wing never fails to rely on same old tropes, because they annoyingly do still work for the uneducated. Yup, watched first half of it. Stopped when he compared missiles to a virus.
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Nope. I have no idea how you understood that from the video.
This guy is left wing, not even a moderate.
I guess your bias blinds your understanding.
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Cringe jokes don’t mask bad arguments. I’m actually amazed someone would watch this video and find it compelling.
My guy really just said ‘the Holocaust just happened’ as a reason not to criticize Israel.
I honestly can't believe someone is THAT dense as to not realize this was a joke. He's joking about how so many Israelis say "Omg why do you criticize us didn't you know the holocaust happened? Are you antisemitic?".
I can't believe I seriously had to explain that one... look up "sarcasm" in the dictionary next time before you post anything.
Salty. I don’t think this is a very funny laughing matter. Quite frankly his ‘jokes’ were a little grotesque given that he was using them to defend a rogue war criminal state ethnically cleansing Arabs.
"Rogue war criminal state ethnically cleansing Arabs."
I'm guessing you didn't even pay attention to the entire video? He's literally talking about how you guys have no idea what you're talking about when you're thousands of miles away sitting in your comfy chairs. And yeah, I'm salty, if you saw people talking shit about your country without having the tiniest idea of what's really going on, while a good friend of yours calls you every night on the verge of tears as she's hiding in a shelter while rockets are exploding above her head - you'd probably be salty too.
Not to mention, why are you not criticizing China for doing that to the Uighurs? Or Russia for doing that in Ukraine? Or Turkey doing that to the Armenians and bashing countries who recognize it officially? The U.S. for their too-many-to-count war crimes? India and the farmers? Basically every damn country in the world?
All I can say is that you're both ignorant and a hypocrite. Believe what you will.
And one last thing, the fact your own humor isn't dark doesn't mean everyone has to conform to it. Lots of people here in Israel have this kind of humor 'cause if we don't laugh about this stuff we can only despair about it.
That's a joke, obviously.
He literally said anyone can criticize Israel and he does it for a living.
Jeez
It didn’t seem like a joke to me. He said something along the lines of ‘it’s okay if you want to criticize Israel, I mean the Holocaust just happened, but you can criticize Israel if you want’. I get that not all attempts at jokes are actually funny so maybe I’m just underestimated how bad of a comedian he is.
It's a joke, we Israelis do this joke often.
It's not a joke if it doesn't make any (historical) sense and is merely the most blunt defense one could come up with.
It's a joke because it's not meant as an argument, just for a laugh.
He's great.
Okay you don't like his style.
He has arguments, address them.
So you really need me to spell then for you?
Yes, I would actually love if you would spell them out in plain English point by point just so everyone here can see how silly they are. I was considering doing just that but I am too lazy.
Let's start.
Oliver: the conflict is not fair, Israel is much stronger than Hamas and because there are much more dead in Gaza than in Israel, Israel is bad
Aharon: no, the stronger side isn't bad just because it's stronger. There mustn't be a bad and good side it's over simplifying a complex issue. Israel tries to minimize civilian casualties and sometimes doesn't do it as good as it should. Hamas tries to maximize civilian casualties on both side, uses humans as shields.
I hold Isreal to a different standard not only because of the blatant power dynamic but because Isreal is a democracy and I want the government to live up to the ideals of what that means. The power dynamic is not a complex issue. An ideal democracy would not be occupying land in apartheid like conditions while commiting war crimes. Nothing Hamas does or will do will ever justify this. That's not to say Hamas shouldn't be condemned but clearly the steps towards peace start with the ones with the most power in this situation. It's pretty clear who the agressor is.