I am NOT leaving DU...

[BlueCheeseAgain]

49. Let's not pretend it's all coming from one side.

Your own post includes quite a few aspersions and broad brush criticisms of people you disagree with. You describe your position as "pro concern about war crime againts [sic] Palestinian civilians" as if those who lean towards Israel don't care about war crimes, and caricaturize the other side as saying "Israel can do whatever it wants"-- a position, that as far as I can tell, is held by exactly zero people on DU. Then you say that most of the nastiness is from that group of people. I think there are a lot of pots and kettles here on every side of this debate.

One might also say it takes a psychic toll to be constantly, and falsely, called pro-genocide, pro-war crimes, bloodthirsty, indifferent to death and destruction, and racist.

Now, on a more personal note: I know you're talking about me. Earlier today, in a heated moment, I replied badly to another DUer. That DUer had responded to a claim that Hamas had broken a ceasefire on October 7 by pointing out that Israel has killed a few hundred Palestinians in the West Bank from 2021-2022, and said that maybe there was no ceasefire in place on October 7. To me, this felt like a claim that it was Israel that had started this war, not Hamas-- in fact, maybe even saying that the October 7 attack was just a legitimate battle in a long war. Why exactly actions on the West Bank would break a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza, wasn't made clear.

To me, this sounded like an argument that Hamas's attack was not unprovoked and was a "legal" military action. I meant to say that it was the argument a lawyer would make to a court about who was responsible for the current war. I didn't intend to imply the other person was in fact, Hamas's lawyer, or pro-Hamas, but rather had made one argument that a pro-Hamas person would make. Instead, it came out as something like "you're doing a good job being Hamas's lawyer," or words to that effect. That comment was interpreted, perhaps reasonably, as a personal attack, and was removed.

I know from some of your previous comments to me that you have a pretty low opinion of me, but I still respect you, and wanted to give you that explanation. Please take it for whatever it's worth to you, which may be nothing.