Blinken calls out other countries for not demanding Hamas surrender and ‘stop hiding behind civilians’ | CNN Politics
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called out other countries for not demanding Hamas surrender.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called out other countries for not demanding Hamas surrender.

“What is striking to me is that even as, again, we hear many countries urging the end to this conflict, which we would all like to see, I hear virtually no one saying – demanding of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that,” Blinken said during a press briefing at the State Department Wednesday.

“How can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only demands made of the victim,” Blinken went on to say.

The strong comments from Blinken come as the United Nations Security Council continues to negotiate a resolution calling for a suspension in fighting and encouraging more humanitarian aid into the beleaguered Gaza Strip, and as the United States’ support for the resolution remains unresolved.

    • SCB@lemmy.worldEnglish
      49·
      11 months ago

      I understand quite well how terrorist organizations work

      How do you think Hamas wins this war, or survives it with any degree of their operating infrastructure intact? If Hamas is non-viable going forward, Iran will just send the money elsewhere, meaning Hamas ceases to exist even if they survive.

      In what universe are dead martyrs better than living ones, assuming you’re trying to galvanize people into supporting your organization?

      Perhaps you just meant “no sane human being joins a terror org so of course they won’t surrender” in which case yeah that does describe the reality.

      • lingh0e@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        32·
        11 months ago

        I understand quite well how terrorist organizations work.

        You say that, then you say

        In what universe are dead martyrs better than living ones…

        A terrorist is literally only martyred by dying for their cause. There’s no such thing as a living martyr.

        So no, you absolutely do not understand how terrorist organizations, specifically terrorist organizations like Hamas, actually work.

        • SCB@lemmy.worldEnglish
          22·
          11 months ago

          You clearly don’t know how terrorist organizations use the term “martyr” but I assure you Hamas considers every Gazan a martyr already. It’s in their charter

          • lingh0e@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            11·
            11 months ago

            By which they mean they will sacrifice as many people as they must to accomplish their stated goals, thereby actually martyring them. There’s literally no such thing as “a living martyr”.

            How are you not getting this? You cannot be considered a martyr until you have died in service or your religion, either by righteous sacrifice or by capital punishment for actions of faith.

            Look, I get where you are coming from. You’re trying to apply logic and reason to a situation where there isn’t much of either. Religious zealots and unscrupulous nationalists are doing terrible things to each other, and there’s a shitload of innocent civilians stuck in the middle. But your oversimplification of “hamas should surrender without condition” conveys a tremendous lack of understanding of what either side hopes to accomplish.

            For the record, I don’t necessarily disagree with you. I believe Hammas could do much more good in the long run by surrendering, thereby ending the conflict… but then the eyes of the world would be on Israel as they continued to bulldoze Gaza and make life for innocent Palestinians even harder. But that’s still a shitty take because the innocent still suffer, and the world would likely just turn away and ignore it until the next time a terrorist does something terrible.