Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said “it may be just and moral” to starve 2 million Gaza residents until Israeli hostages are returned, but “no one in the world would let us.”
In a speech on Monday at the Katif Conference for National Responsibility in the town of Yad Binyamin, the far-right minister said Israel should take control of distributing aid inside Gaza and claimed that Hamas was in control of distribution channels within the strip.
“It is impossible in today’s global reality to wage war – no one in the world would let us starve and thirst two million citizens, even though it may be just and moral until they return our hostages,” he said, adding that if Israel controlled aid distribution instead of Hamas, the war would have ended by now and the hostages would have returned.
“You cannot fight Hamas with one hand and give them aid with the other. It’s his (Hamas’) money, it’s his fuel, it’s his civilian control of the Gaza Strip. It just doesn’t work,” he said.
🤔
So, do Judaism and Islam not put much stock in converting non-believers?
Christianity does, maybe that also averts some violent conflict
Jews I thought are mostly born Jews (as opposed to non-Jews, or Gentiles, rather). So those not born Jews are already “the other” for them. I have heard of people converting, but is it not the same? I ask because there doesn’t seem like much idea that the Palestinians could be converted and become Jews.
Likewise, what’s up with Islam’s approach to conversion? I thought people can convert to Islam… so why do they have so many radicals dedicated to (violent) jihad against infidels? Rarely do I hear Muslims say that the solution is for Israel to convert to Islam (do they say this?).
Muslims do believe in converting people but I think they put less stock in it than Christians because their religion is more fatalistic and also actually relatively quite fair to non-believers… It’s also highly legalistic, IMO, and this makes it feel more like a burden on Muslims and less like something that is this holistic, universal philosophy that improves the world. Of course, that is just my criticism of it.
Jews I thought are mostly born Jews (as opposed to non-Jews, or Gentiles, rather). So those not born Jews are already “the other” for them. I have heard of people converting, but is it not the same? I ask because there doesn’t seem like much idea that the Palestinians could be converted and become Jews.
Jews are like an entire ethnocultural group with many variations that also has a religion attached to it. So, one of the important aspects to them is that they can be Jews without believing in their religion. This is perhaps 45%+ of Jews. Many of the religious Jews tend to be very liberal, reformed Jews who do not believe in the necessity of converting anybody because their deity is very much a therapeutic, happy God who will not strike down Christians and Muslims who have good hearts and do the right things even if they are wrong.
The conservative Jews often view their own religion in a not entirely dissimilar way and feel very little inclination towards converting others, either.
Correct me if I am wrong, any Jewish readers…
Likewise, what’s up with Islam’s approach to conversion? I thought people can convert to Islam… so why do they have so many radicals dedicated to (violent) jihad against infidels? Rarely do I hear Muslims say that the solution is for Israel to convert to Islam (do they say this?).
The perspective of the Islamic terrorists is usually that they are at war with the West broadly as they see it as a force that constantly tries to kill and manipulate them which is… not inaccurate, lol.
They do not want to kill Christians for being Christians, or non-Muslims just for being non-Muslim. That is the common misconception. It just all goes back to the politcial situation - which is exactly why you don’t hear about Muslism showing up in Colombia or Japan and commit acts of terror.
