3 ms·

Given the numbers who voted for Hamas I guess its a pretty high proportion. I think (from the perspective of having lived in a country undergoing a civil war f

Given the numbers who voted for Hamas I guess its a pretty high proportion. I think (from the perspective of having lived in a country undergoing a civil war for many years) one of the problems the West has in dealing with issues like this is that people imagine that there is a bad side to oppose, and a good side you want to win. Very often the impacts on societies of lengthy conflicts means that there are no clear good guys to back. If a significant proportion of one side wants to drive out or wipe out the other, that will encourage the other wide to believe that their best option is to be the ones doing the wiping out. It is very likely that a conflict like this will only end when one side wins to that extent.

sillyfluke 1y ago
>Given the numbers who voted for Hamas You mean of course, 20 years ago in 2006 when the last election was held in Gaza. In which they didn't even manage to break 50% I might add and with the Israeli government's blessing as Netanyahu was fond of boasting before Oct 7th --- a far lower number than the number of Israelis that still support the IDF's current military actions.
- tptacek 1y ago
  Yes. Last I looked, a plurality of Gazans literally aren't old enough ever to have voted.
- graemep 1y ago
  Do you think it likely Hamas support has declined since 2006? This suggest Hamas is still supported: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/26/g-s1-12949/khalil-shikaki-palestinian-polling-israel-gaza-hamas https://www.npr.org/2024/07/26/g-s1-12949/khalil-shikaki-pal... > In which they didn't even manage to break 50% Less than 50% has dropped to around 40%. Still a very large chunk of the population, and still makes them by far the largest party. It is very common for parties to win elections without an outright majority, in many countries. The current British government had only 33% of the of the vote at the last election.
  - sillyfluke 1y ago
    >Do you think it likely Hamas support has declined since 2006? Ah yes, why have any elections in any country for the next century when you can just have a couple of randos like you and I on the internet call those elections for the next 20 years for those hapless pesky fuckers based on our horseshit hunches and save everyone the trouble. What an elegant solution. You'd think that autocratic Hamas government on the ground in Gaza would be as confident as you and have an election just for show if they thought they could break the 50% threshold they couldn't even manage to break in 2006. Who would give up free PR like that? Well I guess someone who couldn't guarentee that'd do better the next time, no? 64% of the current Gaza population wasn't even born at all or at most under the age of 5 in the last election (ages 0-24 now) . Of the remaining 36% of the current Gaza population at least half were under the age of 18 in 2006 (ie between the ages of 24-38). So less than 20% of the current population was eligible to vote in 2006. Of that 20%, only 44%% voted for Hamas, so like 10 percent of the current population of Gaza actually voted for Hamas in an election bygones ago. But hey, I guess you're saying it's obvious that any child who was subjected to two decades of occupation in an apartheid state would naturally vote for terrorists to free themselves from subjugation. So let's go with your gut cause fuck it, those people only live once.

sillyfluke 1y ago

>Given the numbers who voted for Hamas You mean of course, 20 years ago in 2006 when the last election was held in Gaza. In which they didn't even manage to break 50% I might add and with the Israeli government's blessing as Netanyahu was fond of boasting before Oct 7th --- a far lower number than the number of Israelis that still support the IDF's current military actions.

tptacek 1y ago
Yes. Last I looked, a plurality of Gazans literally aren't old enough ever to have voted.
graemep 1y ago
Do you think it likely Hamas support has declined since 2006? This suggest Hamas is still supported: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/26/g-s1-12949/khalil-shikaki-palestinian-polling-israel-gaza-hamas https://www.npr.org/2024/07/26/g-s1-12949/khalil-shikaki-pal... > In which they didn't even manage to break 50% Less than 50% has dropped to around 40%. Still a very large chunk of the population, and still makes them by far the largest party. It is very common for parties to win elections without an outright majority, in many countries. The current British government had only 33% of the of the vote at the last election.
- sillyfluke 1y ago
  >Do you think it likely Hamas support has declined since 2006? Ah yes, why have any elections in any country for the next century when you can just have a couple of randos like you and I on the internet call those elections for the next 20 years for those hapless pesky fuckers based on our horseshit hunches and save everyone the trouble. What an elegant solution. You'd think that autocratic Hamas government on the ground in Gaza would be as confident as you and have an election just for show if they thought they could break the 50% threshold they couldn't even manage to break in 2006. Who would give up free PR like that? Well I guess someone who couldn't guarentee that'd do better the next time, no? 64% of the current Gaza population wasn't even born at all or at most under the age of 5 in the last election (ages 0-24 now) . Of the remaining 36% of the current Gaza population at least half were under the age of 18 in 2006 (ie between the ages of 24-38). So less than 20% of the current population was eligible to vote in 2006. Of that 20%, only 44%% voted for Hamas, so like 10 percent of the current population of Gaza actually voted for Hamas in an election bygones ago. But hey, I guess you're saying it's obvious that any child who was subjected to two decades of occupation in an apartheid state would naturally vote for terrorists to free themselves from subjugation. So let's go with your gut cause fuck it, those people only live once.