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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   2638 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 31, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Does anyone have a good explanation for why the Republicans don't make a bigger deal of the fact that Hamas have US citizens as hostages? Even for an isolationist who doesn't care about what's going on in the ME, it would seem like a good political move if your aim is to hurt Biden. Either he's made to look weak for not trying to rescue Americans held by terrorists or he's forced to defend or even emphasise his assistance to Israel in wiping out Hamas, further driving a wedge between him and the progressive left.

Admittedly, they might be doing this and I'm just not seeing it - I don't live in the US so it's a somewhat curated selection of news items pertaining to America that I'm exposed to.

(This might be more suited for the culture war thread but I didn't feel it was a substantial enough topic).

The US is giving everything Israel demands and more. What can one accuse Biden of not doing to help Israel?

Also an unknown but likely substantial numbers of those hostages have died/will die due to Israeli bombardment and starvation. It might backfire big time if some documents end up leaked tying IDF action to deaths of American passport holding hostages.

It supports the narrative that most Israelis can just "go back where they came from."

I don’t follow.

Holding Americans hostage doesn’t seem like it would reassure anyone.

There's a lot of potential for a backfire. Highlighting one very good reason to back Israeli's efforts to defeat Hamas may drive that wedge between Biden and the pro-Islamist wing of the party, but for middle-of-the-road people that haven't thought about it much, they're apt to hear that and realize that it makes sense to support Israel.

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