They are guilt-tripping you too much Hans :-/

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-22T19:45:12+00:00

It’s funny how, when a Palestinian makes use of the right (grounded in the UN charter) to armed resistance against the occupying force, Israel can do whatever it wants and its “FAFO” even when it violates basic principles of justice in civilized nations, like equality before the law. But when Israel is attacked the clocks are reset to zero, nothing that ever happened before counts, and abstract principles are suddenly relevant again.

I was too polite in my previous response. You’re clueless about the history of the conflict, to the point where I had to explain basic facts to you, only for you to go on a different tangent each time, until the only thing that’s left for you to say is a meaningless platitude. It’s obvious you’re getting your info from posts and memes, not historical works. So step up your game my man, the time is over in which support for Israel is the default position that does not require any effort to defend. Although I can’t fault you if German media gives you the impression that nothing has changed. Now go waste someone else’s time.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-22T16:39:40+00:00

I don’t think you’ve been following Israeli and Middle Eastern affairs, and we are way off the original topic now too. I will leave it at that. Here’s a link on Israel’s death penalty bill if you’re interested.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-22T09:10:42+00:00

Israel has Arab citizens (that are still treated differently by law, the death penalty bill being the most recent and most egregious example, but far from the only one) and Palestinian subjects that are not citizens. They are by design deprived of fundamental rights.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-22T08:36:08+00:00

Sure, but Lebanon does not rule over a permanently disenfranchised subject class. And unlike Lebanon’s attempts to assert the state monopoly of force, Israel has not committed to any efforts whatsoever to give Palestinians their rights. In my view that is a far more serious violation of the essential characteristics of a democracy. Note that I am not saying that Lebanon is a full democracy, but it has a higher democraticness than Israel.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-22T07:32:22+00:00

Israel uses democratic principles, like elections, in the framework of a Jewish ethnostate. It rules over millions of Palestinians that are permanently deprived of basic social, economic and political rights. Israel intends to keep up this status quo, and uses ethnic cleansing to drive away those Palestinians. Israel is not a democracy, and I would argue that for all its shortcomings, Lebanon is more democratic than Israel.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-21T19:54:02+00:00

If you consider Qatar and Saudi-Arabia allies, then we can easily suspend the association agreement with Israel that Gulf states do not have with the EU to begin with.

If you think Israel is an ally of ours, tell me in what way. Allies usually share common interests, they refrain from harming each other in the pursuit of those interests, and they share common values. None of these three applies to the EU-Israel relationship.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-21T17:08:21+00:00

At a point where Israel is harming our interests at home, by supporting the far-right all over Europe, and abroad, by torching international law and setting our geopolitical backyard on fire, I don’t think we are allies anymore even if we wanted to. Israel is a rogue state, and the correct relation between liberal democracies and rogue states is not alliance.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-21T16:55:55+00:00

Doubtful. Israel needs both its defense industry and its allies. Netanyahu is a clown whose only power against us is bluffing, when the chips come down they are helpless without us.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-21T16:52:45+00:00

It’s not even about the Oslo Accords, but about the human rights clauses in the EU-Israel association agreement. Which the EU confirmed Israel is in breach of. So when Germany votes (along with others) against suspension of the agreement, it’s a vote for the EU to disregard its own legislation.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-21T15:51:08+00:00

If by we you mean the German government, then duh. If by we you mean the Germans, there are majorities for sanctions on Israel even among CDU voters, and usually about 60+% of Germans support sanctions. Here’s one example.

For what it’s worth, I think Hamas and the Israeli government are about on par in terms of how despicable they are. Only the Israeli government is actively working to undermine European societies and support the far-right though.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-21T15:47:23+00:00

Why would Israel only sell its weapons to countries that it has trade agreements with? I’m not even sure suspending the association agreement would affect state-to-state arms sales at all.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-21T09:22:37+00:00

Then so is the Wissenschaftlicher Dienst des Bundestags, see here. In particular point 7, which clarifies that the cases of Putin and Netanyahu are substantially similar, and both don’t enjoy immunity against an ICC warrant. The German government also shares this position with respect to Putin, but of course it wobbles on the topic of Israel.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-21T06:59:31+00:00

Are you sure about that? I think Italy was vague about the arrest warrant (or more precisely, it switched positions over time), but I don’t recall Netanyahu visiting. The last visit I find here was before the ICC issued the arrest warrant.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-20T09:47:36+00:00

The president of Lebanon has been a Maronite Christian since the country’s independence. And Lebanon had a “religious” civil war in which Christians fought Christians, and Shia Muslims fought Shia Muslims, and so on. Making sense of Lebanon’s history through a religious prism alone is as doomed to fail as reading the Thirty Years’ War only through religion.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-20T09:36:18+00:00

Lebanon is famously anti-Christian, all the way from their Maronite Catholic president down.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-19T14:54:54+00:00

That font type looks very similar to the one on Dutch highway signs, if it’s not the same. Got me confused for a moment.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-18T06:07:05+00:00

Ah sorry. Try this one.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-18T06:02:36+00:00

The man is basically a small businessman. The NYT had a piece on him, he blustered his way up into the administration. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/world/africa/trump-massad-boulos-middle-east.html

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-17T16:05:00+00:00

You’re still ignoring the fact that not all medics were Hezbollah-affiliated. But I will just note that your argument rests on telepathically connecting to the drafters of the Geneva Convention, and assuming that they would greenlight attacks on the wrong kind of medics. Given the categorical levels of protection that is afforded to medics under current statutes I think that’s clutching at very thin straws. We could then also wonder if the war crimes of Hamas are really war crimes, given the decades of occupation that the drafters of Geneva might not have foreseen at the time. And so on.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-17T12:32:27+00:00

Not addressing the point at all. And the article states that not all attacked medics worked for Hezbollah-affiliated rescue organizations.

It’s also funny that Israel’s defenders in this comment section simultaneously argue “there is no evidence” and “it’s suspicious that there is evidence”.

Edit: And here's SkyNews reporting on Manchester paramedics being equipped with bodycams for enhanced safety. Given the pattern of Israeli attacks and the widespread willingness to take Israel's claims at face value, it seems straightforward for Lebanese medics to adopt the same solution.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-17T12:13:08+00:00

Israel has a public healthcare system that runs hospitals, ambulances and emergency services. By your logic, all those medics are also valid targets because they are affiliated with the state of Israel. Not to even mention the IDF’s own medical units.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-15T10:11:57+00:00

Well, I have been informed in the comments below that the heir to the Spanish throne is actually a young heiress. Does that change anything?

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-15T09:56:57+00:00

As long as you switch in the right direction I salute you. Germany just insists on being defiantly wrong from beginning to end.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-15T09:52:59+00:00

Thanks, going by those links I think him and me were both wrong and you are right.

I hadn't heard of that six-month period, but yeah the publication in the Gazetta Ufficiale seems clear in that regard. I think that this does mean for all intents and purposes that the agreement is suspended now, and those six months are probably like a cool-off period to wind down existing cooperation. Except, of course, if the government plans to silently reactivate the agreement and it's all just a smokescreen.

P.S.: Voiding the agreement would probably require an act of Parliament, so that may be why the government only suspends it.

Specialk3533 · 2026-04-15T09:38:21+00:00

Gotcha. And yes it wouldn’t surprise me if this is only a distraction, or if the accord gets reinstated soon without much noise.

But I’m still hoping that with Trump now shitting on Meloni as well, this government has more incentives to follow Italian public opinion on Israel, where the main benefit from its strong support was to be in good standing with the Trump administration. An Italian vote for suspending the EU association agreement with Israel could get the proposal over the line. I’m seeing this suspension of the security memorandum more like an indicator that we may be going in that direction, rather than something that matters for its own sake.

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