I expect Israel to do two things. Defang Gaza permanently, either by pushing all the residents who survive their retaliation into surrounding Arab countries like Jordan, Egypt, or Lebanon, and leaving it mostly depopulated, or by doing this and annexing Gaza into Israel. To not do this would be irresponsible and suicidal. Second, they finally have a justification to obliterate Iran's nuclear capability. To not do this would also be irresponsible and suicidal.
On the other hand, three things make it hard to have as much sympathy for Israel as it I otherwise would. I figured the Israeli people were armed to the teeth, like the Swiss, where most civilian men are armed and now how to use their weapons. I mean, that's the ultimate no-brainer. I was shocked to read their gun laws are draconian and civilian gun ownership is abysmally low, I read 2%. Their population is defenseless unless police or IDF is on hand. They rely on their own people, but don't trust them with guns? Pretty hard to fathom.
Second, they forced experimental Pfizer jabs on their people. Their leadership is either stupid or has no regard for their people to do such a destructive thing to themselves.
Third, their expats and other Jews in the USA continue to vote overwhelmingly Democrat. I mean, WTF?? Again, where does this self-destructive bent come from? Sure there may be some historical reasons for their voting patterns. But unless they're hopelessly stupid, it's suicidal to continue voting this way.
Like so much, it's mind-boggling, hard to figure out the reasons for such self-destructive behavior from a people who in many ways seem very good at looking out for themselves.
Well, the citizens sort of expect the Military to guard the prison fences and prevent the Gaza prisoners from crossing over. Inexplicably, they were deployed elsewhere leaving the border open. Like you say, now they have the justification to do what they wish.
As for guns, every citizen may have one. Everyone has served in the IDF due to mandatory conscription. I guess they felt safe because the non-citizen Palestinians are kept in open air prisons.
As for voting in the US, both parties bow to Israel and hand them $4 billion a year in military assistance. Obama started a war in Syria, and Clinton bombed the hell out of Saddam, and LBJ looked the other way over the USS Liberty
Everyone may have one? Can you link to that? If that's true Israeli's must be fatally stupid. I typed "civilian gun ownership in israel" into duckduckgo and the very first hit:
says civilian gun ownership is 2.6%, they are NOT allowed rifles (WTF??) and civilians may have no more than 50 rounds of ammo. Over here it's common to buy 9mm, 7x39, and .223 ammo in 1,000 round boxes. Maybe this web site is garbage, but it's the same as I've read elsewhere.
What's not said is whether IDF vets, which is most Israelis (I think) are able to carry more effective weapons, and enough do to make the 2.6% figure in the article moot. It's complicated and as with most issues journalists are too stupid, incompetent, lazy, or compromised to present the true picture.
As to voting in the U.S., sure both parties suck, but the Republicans are light years better and generally (not universally) much less likely to empower Israel's enemies. Yet the Jews vote blue. Reminds me of disintegrating cities voting bluer and bluer as they self-destruct. I guess American jews are about as smart as inner-city residents.
The applicant for a firearms license must be a citizen or permanent resident of Israel, who has lived in Israel for the past three years or had completed his national / military service. A person who has served in IDF can receive a firearms license in Israel as of the age of 18. Anyone who has served in the National Service may receive a license starting at the age of 21. Someone who has never served can only receive weapon license after reaching the age of 27. The applicant must be fluent enough in Hebrew to understand instructions and pass an interview.
Thats pretty much everyone, but
In order to obtain the license, one must
show a need. This is the biggest obstacle but with so many armed people on the streets (police, security guards, many feel little need for a gun)
In 2021 , 65 per cent of all license applications are granted, and 35 per cent are either denied or pulled by the applicants.
Bibi government relaxed the criteria before the Hamas attack
Anyways, they had a nice big fence to keep the bad guys out, with all kinds of sensors, drones, remote machine guns all paid for with our $4 billion a year military assistance. So pardon me for being somewhat amused at the blame being directed at the low gun ownership
Low gun ownership isn't to blame entirely. It way more complicated than that. But it's a part of the solution to defending a civilian population. I guess Israelis never heard of Murphy's law. They look around, see some armed police and service members, and assume they're protected. Are those protectors guaranteed to be there when needed? I guess not, since they weren't, certainly not in sufficient numbers. Did it never occur to them that doubling or tripling the number of armed Israelis would be more effective? More guns, more firepower = more dead attackers and fewer dead Israelis. Simple, no? It's apparently a mindset. Jews vote blue, they mandate untested jabs from corrupt corporations pushed by corrupt, incompetent officials, that any reasonably intelligent person would refuse. My wife, me, and millions of others never considered such a stupid idea as taking that "vaccine". They prefer their citizens be excessively submissive. And they submit. I thought they were better, nice to know the truth. When I found out their level of civilian gun ownership, my opinion of Israelis changed.
The Kibbutz settlements along the Gaza border are walled settlements with armed security guards and they have they own armed response squads. I don't know the gun ownership rate there but I would think given their proximity to Gaza they would be more likely to get a license.
Besides which Israel had a billion dollar wall covering every inch of the border with sensors, guards and remote controlled machine guns.
Once Hamas broke through in 15 separate points it tool the IDF over 6 hours to respond. So what happened on 10/7 goes way beyond gun ownership rates
As for Israel voting blue, Bibi was in charge during COVID and he is far right. Bibi is in charge now and responsible for Israels 9/11. There is no way they had no warning and we know now that they did
Not to beat a dead horse, but to be fair, it's good to note that 20% of Israel's citizens are Arab, predominately Palestinian. Unless they overtly discriminated against them, allowing more unfettered gun ownership would have a huge 5th column walking the streets armed to the teeth. Enemies, as well as protectors would be armed, which complicates the situation. What differentiates us (the good guys) from the "progressives" (definitely NOT liberals, not all leftists, still not sure of the best term for our enemies) is we try to be honest and see everything - no blinders.
Inbar Lieberman, the security coordinator of Kibbutz Nir Am hailed as a hero for mobilizing her 12-member civilian security team and fighting off the terrorists and saving her village had to unlock the armory and distribute the weapons to her security team. It worked, they had time. How many didn't have time and wished the guns were already in the hands of the defenders? All the rest apparently since she's the only such hero I've heard of. She had more than a little luck to get those guns in the right hands in time. They don't trust their citizens, if they did we'd have more live Israelis and more dead terrorists. Instead they had to cower and hope for mercy, which didn't work very well. Jews vote blue in the U.S., for the party least likely to stick up for Israel. I'm aware Israel vacillates between left and right. Sure it goes way beyond civilian gun ownership. That's only one piece of the self-defense puzzle. It's more effective to have plenty of trained soldiers with heavier weapons than a bunch of civilians with AKs, ARs, and handguns. Didn't happen, so fall-back plans are essential. In my business, computer support, you never assume things work as planned, that's why you have backups and redundant backups. Some don't have those backups, those are the foolish ones. Murphy's law as I said.
I expect Israel to do two things. Defang Gaza permanently, either by pushing all the residents who survive their retaliation into surrounding Arab countries like Jordan, Egypt, or Lebanon, and leaving it mostly depopulated, or by doing this and annexing Gaza into Israel. To not do this would be irresponsible and suicidal. Second, they finally have a justification to obliterate Iran's nuclear capability. To not do this would also be irresponsible and suicidal.
On the other hand, three things make it hard to have as much sympathy for Israel as it I otherwise would. I figured the Israeli people were armed to the teeth, like the Swiss, where most civilian men are armed and now how to use their weapons. I mean, that's the ultimate no-brainer. I was shocked to read their gun laws are draconian and civilian gun ownership is abysmally low, I read 2%. Their population is defenseless unless police or IDF is on hand. They rely on their own people, but don't trust them with guns? Pretty hard to fathom.
Second, they forced experimental Pfizer jabs on their people. Their leadership is either stupid or has no regard for their people to do such a destructive thing to themselves.
Third, their expats and other Jews in the USA continue to vote overwhelmingly Democrat. I mean, WTF?? Again, where does this self-destructive bent come from? Sure there may be some historical reasons for their voting patterns. But unless they're hopelessly stupid, it's suicidal to continue voting this way.
Like so much, it's mind-boggling, hard to figure out the reasons for such self-destructive behavior from a people who in many ways seem very good at looking out for themselves.
Well, the citizens sort of expect the Military to guard the prison fences and prevent the Gaza prisoners from crossing over. Inexplicably, they were deployed elsewhere leaving the border open. Like you say, now they have the justification to do what they wish.
As for guns, every citizen may have one. Everyone has served in the IDF due to mandatory conscription. I guess they felt safe because the non-citizen Palestinians are kept in open air prisons.
As for voting in the US, both parties bow to Israel and hand them $4 billion a year in military assistance. Obama started a war in Syria, and Clinton bombed the hell out of Saddam, and LBJ looked the other way over the USS Liberty
Everyone may have one? Can you link to that? If that's true Israeli's must be fatally stupid. I typed "civilian gun ownership in israel" into duckduckgo and the very first hit:
https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/02/27/firearm-licensing-in-israel-how-strict-are-the-jewish-states-gun-laws/
says civilian gun ownership is 2.6%, they are NOT allowed rifles (WTF??) and civilians may have no more than 50 rounds of ammo. Over here it's common to buy 9mm, 7x39, and .223 ammo in 1,000 round boxes. Maybe this web site is garbage, but it's the same as I've read elsewhere.
What's not said is whether IDF vets, which is most Israelis (I think) are able to carry more effective weapons, and enough do to make the 2.6% figure in the article moot. It's complicated and as with most issues journalists are too stupid, incompetent, lazy, or compromised to present the true picture.
As to voting in the U.S., sure both parties suck, but the Republicans are light years better and generally (not universally) much less likely to empower Israel's enemies. Yet the Jews vote blue. Reminds me of disintegrating cities voting bluer and bluer as they self-destruct. I guess American jews are about as smart as inner-city residents.
Ok, maybe not everyone
The applicant for a firearms license must be a citizen or permanent resident of Israel, who has lived in Israel for the past three years or had completed his national / military service. A person who has served in IDF can receive a firearms license in Israel as of the age of 18. Anyone who has served in the National Service may receive a license starting at the age of 21. Someone who has never served can only receive weapon license after reaching the age of 27. The applicant must be fluent enough in Hebrew to understand instructions and pass an interview.
Thats pretty much everyone, but
In order to obtain the license, one must
show a need. This is the biggest obstacle but with so many armed people on the streets (police, security guards, many feel little need for a gun)
In 2021 , 65 per cent of all license applications are granted, and 35 per cent are either denied or pulled by the applicants.
Bibi government relaxed the criteria before the Hamas attack
Anyways, they had a nice big fence to keep the bad guys out, with all kinds of sensors, drones, remote machine guns all paid for with our $4 billion a year military assistance. So pardon me for being somewhat amused at the blame being directed at the low gun ownership
Low gun ownership isn't to blame entirely. It way more complicated than that. But it's a part of the solution to defending a civilian population. I guess Israelis never heard of Murphy's law. They look around, see some armed police and service members, and assume they're protected. Are those protectors guaranteed to be there when needed? I guess not, since they weren't, certainly not in sufficient numbers. Did it never occur to them that doubling or tripling the number of armed Israelis would be more effective? More guns, more firepower = more dead attackers and fewer dead Israelis. Simple, no? It's apparently a mindset. Jews vote blue, they mandate untested jabs from corrupt corporations pushed by corrupt, incompetent officials, that any reasonably intelligent person would refuse. My wife, me, and millions of others never considered such a stupid idea as taking that "vaccine". They prefer their citizens be excessively submissive. And they submit. I thought they were better, nice to know the truth. When I found out their level of civilian gun ownership, my opinion of Israelis changed.
The Kibbutz settlements along the Gaza border are walled settlements with armed security guards and they have they own armed response squads. I don't know the gun ownership rate there but I would think given their proximity to Gaza they would be more likely to get a license.
Besides which Israel had a billion dollar wall covering every inch of the border with sensors, guards and remote controlled machine guns.
Once Hamas broke through in 15 separate points it tool the IDF over 6 hours to respond. So what happened on 10/7 goes way beyond gun ownership rates
As for Israel voting blue, Bibi was in charge during COVID and he is far right. Bibi is in charge now and responsible for Israels 9/11. There is no way they had no warning and we know now that they did
Not to beat a dead horse, but to be fair, it's good to note that 20% of Israel's citizens are Arab, predominately Palestinian. Unless they overtly discriminated against them, allowing more unfettered gun ownership would have a huge 5th column walking the streets armed to the teeth. Enemies, as well as protectors would be armed, which complicates the situation. What differentiates us (the good guys) from the "progressives" (definitely NOT liberals, not all leftists, still not sure of the best term for our enemies) is we try to be honest and see everything - no blinders.
Inbar Lieberman, the security coordinator of Kibbutz Nir Am hailed as a hero for mobilizing her 12-member civilian security team and fighting off the terrorists and saving her village had to unlock the armory and distribute the weapons to her security team. It worked, they had time. How many didn't have time and wished the guns were already in the hands of the defenders? All the rest apparently since she's the only such hero I've heard of. She had more than a little luck to get those guns in the right hands in time. They don't trust their citizens, if they did we'd have more live Israelis and more dead terrorists. Instead they had to cower and hope for mercy, which didn't work very well. Jews vote blue in the U.S., for the party least likely to stick up for Israel. I'm aware Israel vacillates between left and right. Sure it goes way beyond civilian gun ownership. That's only one piece of the self-defense puzzle. It's more effective to have plenty of trained soldiers with heavier weapons than a bunch of civilians with AKs, ARs, and handguns. Didn't happen, so fall-back plans are essential. In my business, computer support, you never assume things work as planned, that's why you have backups and redundant backups. Some don't have those backups, those are the foolish ones. Murphy's law as I said.