Is Sam Harris becoming a pariah for the anti-religious cause?

[Napoléon]

You to know what would stop the slaughter of civilians? If all hamas started wearing uniforms, and stopped shooting from civilian areas like schools

Oh c'mon. Get real.

Like Al Qaeda or Boko Haram will just suddenly start caring about civilians. They're terrorists.

Also, your suggestion that they stop shooting from civilian areas is fucking hilarious. You do know what Gaza is right? A fucking city. And a city is filled with, nay, entirely comprised of what? ... CIVILIAN AREAS.

Here's the thing you guys seem to keep missing, it's Israel who are the ones who have more responsibility in all of this. They control the borders. They are the ones who have been systematically oppressing the Gaza strip for years. They are the ones who have blockaded the city and are holding it at siege, committing humanitarian crimes in the process. They have a vastly more advanced military. They are being funded by the richest country in the world. They choose when to bomb. They choose where. They are the ones who are effectively supposed to be in control of this city.

Do you honestly not think here, with all this in mind, that Israel doesn't have a bit more responsibility when it comes to bombing one of the most densely populated places on Earth? This isn't a case of Israel fighting back against an equivalent power that genuinely threatens its survival. This is a case of one of the most advanced militaries in the world attacking a single city, a city occupied by terrorists all the same, but still just a city.


Don't get me wrong I'm not sympathising for Hamas. They're absolute scum and just as much accountable for innocent deaths as Israel. They're using Palestinian people as human shields, and in many ways the Palestinians only have themselves to blame because they unanimously 'elected' them. However, it's Israel who can decide whether or not to fire back, and they're the ones in control of the kind of force they use. So far, it's undeniable that the force they've used in response has been massively disproportionate. How anyone can sit there and say they're simply defending themselves is beyond me. No, the only people I am sympathising for are the innocent kids who are being blown to pieces.


Ultimately both sides are in the wrong. But it comes down to: who is in the actual position to de-escalate conflict and prevent civilian casualties? Hamas could put down their weapons and stop firing rockets sure, we'd all love to see that, but terrorists aren't exactly known for great moral decisions, so anyone suggesting this is being unrealistic. Israel however are in a position to stop firing rockets and stop killing people. At the very least they can control how hard they fight, and reduce the death toll. They can stop blockading the Gaza strip and stop creating a humanitarian crisis there. These aren't unrealistic propositions, and if anything Israel are the ones who have more of a moral responsibility as they are the vastly larger power and in control of more factors than Hamas.

The thing that really pisses me off in this though, are people who sympathise with Israel when it is they who have been compounding this problem year after year. They systematically oppress and blockade and force Gaza into a humanitarian crisis then play the victim when an extremist organisation pops up and wants to shoot rockets at them. What is it here that I'm missing? Why don't you people get it? Israel has compounded these problems, arguably created them. They are still the only ones who can realistically change the way things are playing out. But everyone just jumps to blame Hamas and forgets about all the Israeli responsibility.

*edited grammar