#that rejecting a ceasefire in this situation is tantamount to facilitating genocide

[curiouslyodd]

If there is anyone left who doesn't see this useless, lying, power-hungry cunt for what he is, I despair.

Fucking... 'stopping the violence will lead to violence'...

His entire argument is that if Israel stops indiscriminately bombing Palestine, Hamas might have enough time between dodging bombs to attack Israel again. Oh, and that a ceasefire would stop Hamas from releasing hostages (despite the fact that Israel rejected the request for a prisoner exchange including Palestinians that are being held indefinitely without charge).

Hamas aren't blameless here - the initial attack on Israel was monstrous, make no mistake. At no point should civilians have been targeted, and it is clear that many people were subjected to horrific cruelty during the attack. But while not justifying it, the cause for the attack lies directly in the hands of Israel's leadership. Decades of blockading Gaza, allowing only the barest trickle of aid to enter the area and preventing people from leaving. Constant harassment of Palestinians, often resulting in deadly violence. And direct funding of violent extremist groups to sabotage chances for peaceful resolution. Even if Israel completely switched tack and actively worked towards peace and integration, the wounds are so deep that such a process would take a long time.

But Starmer's solution to this is to say that the fighting has to continue, with the implication that it shouldn't end until Hamas has been eradicated. While senior figures in Israel have said that they consider all Gazans to be Hamas, and have been consistently targeting civilians since this current phase of the conflict began. And Netanyahu has actively called for genocide. I fully believe that even if all members of Hamas formally surrendered and gave themselves up, the bombings would continue uninterrupted.

In a way, Starmer is could be right. If there isn't a ceasefire, the violence in Gaza will eventually stop. Because the people who might have retaliated against this horror will be as dead as the civilians who didn't want to fight.

Can't commit violence against the dead. Certainly not if there's no one left to mourn them.