this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I disagree that state actions can't be considered terrorism, even given the overwhelming power differential. Israel has and continues to conduct terrorist acts in this "war", which makes them a terrorist state in my thinking. Just because they give press conferences in the nightly news, or conduct air strikes, or poses advanced weapons my taxes paid for doesn't make it less terroristic.

They've wrapped a terrorist campaign in the trappings of a traditional war to convince us they're not terrorists, but I believe they are. If their actions are not terrorism, what do we call it? It's clearly not a war as you point out. It's also more than just state violence, the entire campaign is genocidal but at the same time their tactics are those of terrorists.

Incidents like killing civilians waving white flags in the street with impunity highlight this. It's not just in Gaza this is happening in the west bank as well. It's not about a specific political group, many Israelis just hate all Palestinians and kill them where they find them. That's how terrorists behave.

I'd argue that not distinguishing between regular forces and civilians is another classic tactic of terrorists. Israel is famous for this, their penchant for collective punushment bears that out. Blowing up apartment buildings to get one Hamas commander, knocking down your family home and annexing your land because your cousin launched a rocket or whatever other atrocious shit they've done this week.

Concocking false pretenses to commit war crimes is another terrorist tendency, although I'm sure the IDF will find that command bunker under a hospital any day now.

Another example stands out to me in this conflict, if you starve a single ethnic or religious group because they don't believe in the same imaginary sky god you do, that's terrorism. When you operate an apartheid state and your population subjugates a different ethnic group in every aspect of life due to their beliefs, that's terrorism. When you conduct a "war" that kills mostly civilians, women, and children, that's terrorism.

All of these terrorist tactics set the pretext for genocide, which is what we're witnessing I agree fully on that. My take on Israel is you gotta call a spade a spade, and Israel is a terrorist state.