Do you agree that Israel needs to respect the Hamas is the lawful government of the Gaza Strip and must have a cease-fire?

[Anonymous]

[BCA6010]

There's a major problem with your argument: Israel does recognize Hamas as the governing faction of Gaza, which has had total autonomy since 2007. That's kind of the point... The October attack was an act of war, and pretending Hamas isn't ruling the Gaza strip is objectively wrong, but would instead make it a terrorist attack.

Israel would be very stupid to accept a cease-fire. They will never have a shred of peace in Gaza until Hamas is made an example of, and Hamas does not and never has had any interest in being benevolent stewards of their own subjects in the region.

[Avicenna]

Regardless of whether one thinks that Hamas is "the lawful government" of Gaza, Israel's obligation is to end the repeated attacks, mass murders, hostage-taking and rapes committed by Hamas, which are not things that anyone should expect to be "respected", nor is Hamas' "governance" within Gaza (which is brutal, corrupt and violates human rights) anything to be respected.

What Hamas needs to do is surrender completely and face trial within Israel and Gaza depending on where the relevant crimes occurred, release all hostages and dead Israeli bodies, demilitarize, and put stolen aid funds under international administration so that hopefully it reaches the people of Gaza, not Hamas' leaders' bank accounts. No one should be demanding that Israel give up its right to self-defense against mass murder, rape and hostage-taking, which is what idiotic and unjustified cries for a ceasefire (made only to protect Hamas) are made.

[KostasKouvalis]

It's not lawful, since the Palestinian territories aren't recognized as a sovereign state. The lawful government is Israel, though I will admit, they aren't doing a very good job of establishing their theirness of the region. The government in Gaza and the West Bank should be 100% Israeli citizens, and there should be no checkpoints or freedom of movement. So in practice, the Palestinian Territories aren't really part of Israel.

[jshm2]

No. Hamas cannot deal with criminals like Netanyahu. Nor with illegal occupying states like Israel.

It has a good reputation to keep, after all.

[NamerOfStars]

They DO respect that it's the lawful government; that's why they're invading.

[DryGermanGuy]

Absolutely not. The lawfulness of their government went overboard with the first rocket.

[RavVid]

Whether Hamas is the lawful gov't is not relevant. Most wars have been fought by lawful gov'ts.

[jahaims]

How does hamas being legally recognized as a government negate the fact that they invaded another country lol

[trellbrown84]

I don't give a fuck about the Palestinians or the Jews leave me alone with this shit I don't fucking care

[exitseven]

No, you cannot negotiate with terrorists.

[Forceinhand]

Not even close.

[ColHathi]

I do not.

[Anonymous]

Lol no.