Watching the Families of Those Kidnapped in Israel Speak Live

 

Super disappointed in the press, who are using their time thus far to repeatedly ask the families what the Israeli government plans to do :(

So essentially, it's like,"Your kids were taken hostage - so what's your country's military strategy?"

???

Um ...No. 

And the question was asked twice, answered both times that they don't know, they are here to discuss their children and families held hostage. 

Come on, guys - they don't know and they don't care - all they want is to get their family members back :(

Even if they did know what their country's government was going to do - which I doubt they do - I doubt they'd tell you on live TV, giving Hamas a heads up.

Seriously - I support freedom of the press, but now you're exploiting the victims and their families to get a name for yourself in journalism and a scoop and it needs to stop!

Show some respect for them and what has just happened?!?

Otherwise, I want to be clear - I openly condemn what Hamas did in Israel - there is no excuse for it, it was a terrorist act.

Having said that, we should not blame all Muslims and Palestinians for what one terrorist organization does - there are bad apples in every bunch, in every group of people - Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. 

It's become very clear that especially currently, not a single person at that level of politics and power, who waves around their faith and their flag like weapons, as if the two are inseparable  - Christian, Muslim, or Jewish - is acting according to their scriptures or faiths, and even twists scripture to their advantage - all three religions. 

Now, having said that, we need to think very carefully about our involvement rather than knee jerk - because I believe Hamas timed this now for a reason - to take advantage of the chaos in Congress over military spending and aid to the Ukraine.

Though the underlying reasons for the attack are likely multifactorial  (and inexcusable regardless), they supposedly include the deal Biden was making with Saudi Arabia in which Saudi Arabia would finally recognize Israel as a state in exchange for military aid, which the Hamas never wants recognized - but again, the timing itself was likely taking advantage of Congressional chaos over aid to the Ukraine.

For the record, I am wary of an alliance with Saudi Arabia myself, but for different reasons - none of them being their religion.

Now, when I say Saudi Arabia, I mean their royalty/government, not everyday people. I know some lovely Muslims, including living in my own neighborhood - some from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, even some from Iran.  

I also know some very lovely Jewish people as well; in fact, 25% of the high school I went to was Jewish, and some of my dearest childhood friends were Jewish.

So I am not speaking of the everyday person, here or in these countries, I'm speaking of their current governments and/or their royalty.

I just don't trust Saudi Arabian royalty and government, whom I believe actually funds much of the terrorism elsewhere in the Middle East, using poorer countries and poorer people, whilst they keep their own noses clean - and I cite the 9/11 bipartisan commission report as one of my reasons for this, as well as what happened to Khashoggi. 

Also, when will we ever learn with this "backscratching" diplomacy never works? 

Since after World War 2, whenever we have backed another leader from a country that we have a semi-adversarial relationship with, in the hopes of either an informant relationship or a military alliance, that person or country has turned around and bitten us in the ass, as well as murdered their own citizens  - the Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Manuel Noriega of Panama, Pinochet of Chile, Quaddafy if Libya, and some journalists have obtained  information that Osama bin Laden and the Afghan Arabs did work with the ISI, and thus directly benefitted from CIA funding for information initially - just to name a few. 

This kind of back-scratching diplomacy has never once worked since World War II, we've been burned several times since, and though I voted for and still support Biden, I think he's making a huge mistake with Saudi Arabia and still thinking like an old-school politician that miraculously, one day it's going to work, though it hasn't since World War II.

As for Israel, in addition to public condemnation of Hamas (which Biden has done), I do believe that at a minimum, we should work to get those kidnapped back, which include not only Israeli citizens, but American citizens, as well as those with dual Israeli-American citizenship - and I would say the same if the situation were reversed and this was Muslims being attacked and held hostage.

Other than that, I will leave it to people smarter than me to figure out what to do, and ultimately Congress to vote on - if/when they can stop fighting over petty stuff and retaliating over Trump and find some unity, as well as stop making military spending about healthcare for trans people and Trump's legal woes and other nonsense, and look at the bigger picture and grand scheme of things.  

We need our military and we don't need it defunded over petty stuff, particularly not Trump - period. 

Whatever we decide, this is just one example of what will happen in the world if we keep publicly displaying how much we can't get our sh*t together and get along - act in unity and as a united front, in congress, realizing that to defund our military over stupid, petty shit or over one narcissistic politician is helping our enemies out at dividing us!