Audio Commentary on the Israel-Hamas War for Paying Subscribers
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Audio Commentary on the Israel-Hamas War for Paying Subscribers
“The Barricade” by George Bellows (1882–1925), an “oil on canvas painting inspired by an incident in August 1914 where German soldiers used Belgian townspeople as human shields.” Public Domain (from Wikipedia Commons)
There are more than 200 mostly civilian hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas — a war crime that Hamas leaders for which Hamas leaders need to be held accountable.
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It is unclear, however, how the Israeli government plans to win their release — or if they see the hostages as more than a rhetorical tool to win sympathy from the public. That sounds harsh, I know. But how else to read this from an ABC report on the war:
Hostages and civilian casualties will be secondary to destroying Hamas, Economy Minister Nir Barakat told ABC News, "even if it takes a year."
The argument here seems to be that the hostages can serve as rationale for the war, but that their release is not important enough to make other war-related issues secondary. In this way, as I argue in the audio commentary below, their rhetorical use is similar to what Israel is accusing Hamas of doing with the larger Palestinian population — using them as human shields.
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Author: hankkalet
Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.
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Hank Kalet 