Friendly fire

[Abhidevananda]

In the Israel-Hamas war, the killing of hostages by friendly fire was
always inevitable. And even the killing of three hostages while they
were waving a white flag is not very surprising. War is hell. But when
these things actually happen, then we may hope that bloodthirsty hawks
may take a step back, looking for a better solution than mere vengeance
and looking for a more long-term solution than just a few years of
fragile security. So while it is somewhat sad to note that most of the
world has quickly forgotten the horrors of the Hamas attack on Israel of
October 7, the global outrage at a heavy-handed Israeli military
response may lead to some good for both Israelis and Palestinians. If,
on the other hand (and as may be more likely) it only leads to a simple
ceasefire and prisoner exchange (an implicit victory for Hamas), then
that would be highly unfortunate... but also in large part the fault of
Netanyahu's mismanagement of the Israeli Government and the Israeli war
effort. In short, the one certain lesson to learn from this tragic war
is that both Palestinians and Israelis require new and better leadership.

--
Abhidevananda Avadhuta