Mehdi Hasan vs Eylon Levy on Gaza, FULL DEBATE -With Comments

 

It's pretty clear that Levy almost immediately broke the agreed to rules and took the low ground so I think it was entirely justified for Hasan to respond in kind.  

I'm not a huge fan of formal debating because it's almost never really going to be held to and I think reality can't be effectively dealt with in a fixed format with a fixed time limit, even when you limit the topic.   I've never heard one where everyone followed the rules since I was in high school, and that one devolved into pat generalities that solved nothing, it was an exercise in following a format.   

I think it's pretty obvious that Levy was the less honest of the two which is why I think Israel has lost so much support over its conduct of not only this war but all of the various wars it has conducted since 2000.  I was so shocked and disgusted with its conduct in Lebanon during the Bush II regime that this one doesn't surprise me one bit.   I think the U.S. should seriously restrict any aid it gives to Israel, including an understanding that no more will be given to the present regime or one like it in the future.   Considering Israel's attack using pagers this past week, it could certainly have done something against Hamas than its genocidal war in Gaza.   I like Mehdi Hasan, support all of those prosecutions for war crimes he challenged Levy to support and which Levy refused to.   

You don't have to love the Israeli government to oppose Hamas or any other criminal regime, setting it up so that you're demanded to support one or the other is sort of the ultimate loaded question, which is hardly ever put as a question.   As The Reverend William Sloane Coffin pointed out during the so-called struggle for hearts and minds in a response to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, they didn't have to choose either the Soviets or the United States, that they could hate both of us.  I have the same opinion of the Hamas regime and the Netanyhu regime. though I think it's a serious question to bring up.  I'd never accuse the Hamas regime of democratic legitimacy but I can't absolve the voters of Israel for keeping a criminal as the head of its government longer than David Ben Gurion held that position.  

If Kamala Harris become president, I hope she will drastically change U.S. policy towards Israel,  it is my most serious criticism of President Biden, who I think is the best President we've had since Lyndon Johnson left office, that he has given the support to the Israeli government that he has, though even he has gone beyond what Johnson did in public in criticizing the conduct of Israel's war and occupation in Gaza.