Argumentative Penguin
2 min readJan 9, 2024

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I'm not convinced the two are as similar as you suggest and you have overlooked some key differences here. Myanmar is one state persecuting its own citizens - many of whom have fled the borders. Israel and Palestine are (notionally) two separate states on disputed territory currently engaged in war. Israel has decided that the Hamas Government (in Gaza) must be removed, it is not attempting to rid Israel of its internal Arab-Israeli population, nor has it attempted to carpet bomb the West Bank. If it wanted to (and given it seems to give zero fucks about what the rest of the world thinks) Israel has arsenal to absolutely level Gaza and kill everyone inside. It could commit a genocide of all Palestinian civilians within a three day period, it has not done this. It would become a pariah state, but it COULD be done.

Does Hamas have genocidal intent? Absolutely. They wrote it down in their manifesto, which they did roll back a bit on more recently they simply lack the capacity to enact it. Does ARSA have genocidal intent? Not really. Both groups seem to be predominantly run by operatives outside of the disputed territories - most of Hamas leadership being millionaire families in Quatar and ARSA being run by a collection of Saudis - but only Hamas has achieved a quasi-elected status and can therefore officially say it can act on behalf of its people.

I think Myanmar and Israel are different beasts. I think what both countries are doing is fundamentally wrong - but I'm not convinced by your binary argument that it's both or neither. I think Myanmar would be happy for the removal of all Rohingya and that's why it's six years and counting, I think Israel will be happy with the removal of Hamas as a political force in the quickest way possible. Hamas and surrounding nations (that aren't Israel) could alleviate some of the issues but have elected not to do so. Egypt could open the borders and Hamas could encourage inspections of disputed military buildings such as hospitals and schools - but neither of these things is happening.

I suspect that is because this was always the game plan. https://medium.com/p/c1ba95f35093

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Argumentative Penguin
Argumentative Penguin

Written by Argumentative Penguin

Playwright. Screenwriter. Penguin. Fan of rationalism and polite discourse. Find me causing chaos in the comments. Contact: argumentativepenguin@outlook.com

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