Jack Tame: Another bleak milestone in the appalling war in Gaza

I like to try and kick things off on Saturday mornings with a bit of cheer, but I tell you what, it’s hard to look beyond yet another bleak milestone in the appalling war in Gaza. Overnight, the UN-backed food security body has confirmed famine in Gaza City. It has officially reached that threshold, the first time famine has ever been declared in the Middle East. 

As the UN Secretary General declared, this is a man-made catastrophe. There are many, many third party countries that want to get more aid into Gaza. A shortage of food is not a problem, access is. 

Two years ago, immediately after the October 7th attacks, I said a few things on this show. I want to share with you again a few words from that day. 

“Israel has the right to exist in peace. Palestine should have the freedom of statehood. Both of those things can be true. The deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians is an appalling, utterly inexcusable act of violence. The systematic flattening of Gaza, no water, no power, no food, is an unacceptably brutal collective punishment for a huge civilian population where almost half of people are children. Both of those things can be true, too.” 

As the war has progressed, the scale and nature of Israel’s reprisals has made it obvious to many millions of fair-minded people that a country born from the gravest atrocities last century is now also responsible for them. Figures from a leaked Israeli database this week suggest 83% of those killed in Gaza have been civilians. 

Of course, Israel denies genocide and war crimes. But independent verification is nigh impossible, as no journalists are allowed in and many of those on the ground have been killed in Israeli attacks. 

One of the many great tragedies for all of this is that it has become increasingly clear that Israel has played into Hamas’ hands. Evil as the strategy might have been, Hamas wanted to spur an extreme and disproportionate response. Motivated by their own agendas and self-preservation, Israel’s leaders fell for it. And now we have kids, mere minutes from the Mediterranean, with ribs sticking out of their skin, dying of malnutrition. 

The thing I still don’t understand is how any Israeli leader thinks this will ultimately make their people safer. Maybe in the short-term Israelis can sleep easy at night, but every innocent person killed in Gaza breeds hate in five other survivors. The war in Gaza has condemned generations of Palestinians and Israelis to insecurity. 

I’ll finish with a line I wrote and shared with you immediately after the October 7th attack, which sadly feels just as relevant today. 

“It’s a cycle. Hate and violence is a cycle. There is no way for any party to kill and fight their way to a lasting peaceful resolution. Hamas’ attack has spurred the Israeli reprisal. The reprisal will spur Palestinians into violence in the future, which in turn will spur an Israeli reprisal. Rinse the blood and repeat. Hate breeds hate breeds hate.” 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to this Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at be You know.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
That I like to try and kick things off on
a Saturday morning with a bit of chair, a bit
of sunshine. But I'll tell you what it is hard
to look beyond yet another terrible bleak milestone in the
appalling war in Gaza. So overnight, the UN backed Food

(00:35):
Security Body has a very long name, a very long acronym,
but it's confirmed famine in Gaza City. It's officially reached
that threshold, the first time that famine has ever been
declared in the Middle East. As the UN Secretary General declared,
this is a man made catastrophe. There are many many
third party countries that want to get more aid into Gaza.

(00:57):
A shortage of food isn't the problem. Access and distribution is.
Two years ago, immediately after the October seventh attacks, I
said a few things on the show, and I went
back and looked up my editorial from that day. I
just want to share with you again a few words
that I wrote that day. Quote, Israel has the right

(01:19):
to exist in peace. Palestine should have the freedom of statehood.
Both of those things can be true. The deliberate targeting
of Israeli civilians is an appalling, utterly inexcusable act of violence.
The systematic flattening of Gaza no water, no power, no
food is an unacceptably brutal collective punishment for a huge

(01:42):
civilian population where almost half of people are children. Both
of those things can be true too unquote. As the
war has progressed, the scale and nature of Israel's reprisals
has made it obvious to many millions of fair minded
people that a country born from the gravest atrocities life

(02:06):
last century is now also responsible for them. Figures from
Elaked Israeli database this week suggest that eighty three percent
of those killed in Gaza have been civilians, eighty three percent,
more than four out of five. Of course, Israel denies
genocide and war crimes, but independent verification is nigh impossible

(02:26):
as no journalists are allowed in and many of those
on the ground have been killed in Israeli attacks. But
one of the many, many great tragedies in all of
this is I think has become increasingly clear that Israel
has played into Hamas's hands. Evil as the strategy might
have been, Hamas wanted to spur an extreme and disproportionate response,

(02:51):
motivated by their own personal agendas and self preservation. Israel's
leaders fell for it, and now we have kids mere
minutes from the Mediterranean with ribs sticking out of their skin,
dying from malnutrition. The thing that I still don't understand
is how any Israeli leader thinks this will ultimately make

(03:13):
their people safer. Maybe in the short term, sure, Israelis
can sleep easy at night, protected by their military, But
every innocent person killed in Gaza breeds hate in five
other survivors. The war in Gaza has condemned generations of
Palestinians and Israelis to insecurity. I'm just going to finish

(03:36):
this morning with it with a line that I wrote
and shared with you immediately after October seventh, which sadly
feels just as relevant today. It's a cycle. Hate and
violence is a cycle. There is no way for any
party to kill and fight their way to a lasting,
peaceful resolution. Hamas's attack has spurred the Israeli reprisal. The

(04:01):
reprisal will spur Palestinians into violence in the future, which
in turn will spur and Israeli reprisal rinse the blood
and repeat. Hate breeds hate breeds hate.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen live
to News Talks at B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio