What's the significance of calling it "Israel-Hamas War" vs "Israel-Gaza War"?
What's the significance of calling it "Israel-Hamas War" vs "Israel-Gaza War"?
I'm in the US.
I haven't discerned a pattern, by the media, in the titling of the horror currently underway.
I've seen Al Jazeera use both phrasings. I haven't determined that other media sites are hardlining their terminology either, but I notice the difference as I browse.
Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but these days people seem extra sensitive about names.
Hamas is elected via a minority of Gaza as a result Hamas doesn't act with the will of the majority and calling this the Israeli-Gaza war is disingenuous to the people of Gaza.
Hamas were elected in January 2006 and have refused new elections since.
The average person in Gaza was somewhere between "way too young to vote" and "didn't exist yet" the last time an election was held
And as half the population of Gaza is under 18, they for sure didn't vote for them.
On top of that, Nethanyahu has greatly supported Hamas and sabotaged moderate political alternatives
Isn't Gaza losing more people to this so called war than either Hamas or Israel?
This feels like saying there was a fight between two people and not mentioning that the biggest fighter only seemed to really be attacking a third smaller, less-aged person for some odd reason.
To me it's who's trying to kill who. Hamas (the group) wants to destroy Israel, Israel in turn wants to destroy Hamas, not Gaza (this part is actually very subjective)
It's a good way to frame things. As an outsider, the subjectivity of the IDF's target is why I wonder if people are choosing one term for the war over another. Some see the intentional bombing of refugee camps, ambulances, and aid convoys as targeting the civilians of Gaza in what amounts to a systematic extermination of Palestinians. The casualty numbers seem to heavily favor that interpretation. So could this be one reason for some news outlets to frame the conflict as Israel vs Gaza itself? Or is the word choice more nuanced than that, given how it seems as though the two names are being used interchangeably on both sides of the line?
Israel is definitely attacking Gaza, but Gaza isn't an entity with the ability to fight back. Thus 'Israel–Gaza war' is a false equivalence.
Similarly, 'Israel–Hamas war' is troublesome because both are also attacking people not part of the conflict.
Maybe it's 'a series of Israel & Hamas terrorist attacks in the region of Gaza' 🤷
Yeah the last point being so subjective is why many call it Israel vs Gaza and or Hamas. I find that Israel vs Hamas is more fitting however. This is because many civilian casualties are because Hamas officials use the population as their meat shield. Many of those schools, hospitals and other civilian centers often contained a cowardly official of Hamas. It's important to acknowledge that this does not make it any less tragic but it does demonstrate Israel's main objective is destroying Hamas and their leaders rather than Gaza itself. It's all about intent
Hamas is holding hostages and Israel’s deciding to kill those hostages.
It's a nice bit of doublespeak.
Imagine if the UK started carpet-bombing major cities in Northern Ireland, and called it UK vs the IRA, as opposed to UK vs NI.
See, we're not killing people, we're killing terrorists. It's fine, stop complaining, just let us do it.
One might even say its how language works nowadays... Newspeak if you will
Hamas is the organization that runs gaza. Theyre the largest political party in Palestine, they collect taxes, and they have an army. Imagine if the US Army was on the election ballot, and ran the East Coast.
Its essentially the same thing, just "Hamas/Israel" reminds you of what Hamas does, and "Gaza/Israel" is trying to erase that.
It matters very little. It's performative, trying to justify the conflict by framing it one way or another. The reality on the ground will remain the same no matter what the media calls it. Ultimately, it will be historians that name the war.
The combatants are Israel and Hamas. The location is Gaza. Conclude from that what you will as far the "proper" name for the conflict.
The combatants are the IDF and Hamas. The location is Gaza. But if the ones dying aren't soldiers but rather ordinary civilians, and if those civilian deaths aren't tragic accidents but rather the intended outcomes of the attacks, some might believe this isn't a war between militaries. This is a slaughter of populations. This is terror. This is genocide.
Hamas attempted such an act on Israel. But right now, the IDF is bombing refugee camps, targeting ambulances, blocking humanitarian aid convoys, and murdering men, women, and children - civilians - by the literal thousands.
Israel-Hamas, Israel-Gaza, it's all performative. You're right. But there's a lot of subtext behind each performance. Is this a war against a small terrorist cell, or an extermination of a territory and all those who call it home? I can't speak to the motives of newscasters using either wording, but just like OP, I do wonder what they're trying to convey.
The first is ideologies, the second is location.
Seems to be like a more accurate description would be the Israeli perpetrated Gazan genocide. Calling it a war is like taking a flamethrower to your backyard because you stepped on a nettle and then calling it lawn care
"Israel-Hamas War" vs "Israel-Gaza War"?
Both are pure propaganda - Israel, and the western countries that backs it, wants to pretend that this is some "new" conflict and not the very same one Israel has been waging non-stop against Palestinians since 1949.
"explain why I should be offended".. fixed the title for you.
Gaza was given to Arabs for self rule and determination in 2005, all Jews left Gaza, even Jewish graveyards were dug up and moved, it was theirs to do with as they liked.
They've spent the last 18 years making into a terrorist Disneyland with a dozen Islamofascist terrorist organizations with the stated goal of killing Jews and destroying the state of Israel, they've fired hundreds of thousands of missiles into Israel indiscriminately targeting civilians, and launched countless cross borders attacks against Jewish civilians, including one that caused the largest loss of Jewish life in any single day, anywhere, since the Holocaust on October 7th.
They were given Gaza to live in freedom and self determination, they used it to kill Jews. They were warned. They chose to ignore the warnings.
These acts of terrorism were perpetrated by the entire Gazan community, they voted for Hamas, and allowed Hamas to rule their government for the last 17 years, Hamas and all the other Islamic terrorists in Gaza are not outsiders, they were born in Gaza of Gazans, they were raised in Gaza, they were educated in Gaza, they married and had children of their own in Gaza, their Parents, teachers, mosques, hospitals, are all in Gaza, from which they use to hid and store weapons to attack Jews, Hamas, PIJ and all the other Islamic terrorist in Gaza ARE Gaza, there has been no uprising in Gaza, there have only been attacks on Israel. This is what Gazans have supported and sacrificed for in every way they possibly could.
And now it's here. I do hope they enjoy what they've worked generationaly to achieve.
There will be no ceasefire this time.
Who is they? Hamas didn't win a majority in the 2006 election. Then they fought a civil war and took autocratic control in 2007. So what are you talking about when you say they? It certainly isn't all Gazans or Palestinians.
You're championing genocide and the wholesale slaughter of civilians. Do you honestly believe that a terrorist attack allows the unrestrained murder of civilians?