Gallup's Poll on Transgender Athletes

 Gallup has released a poll done in May of 2023 that reports that 69% of Americans hold the opinion that "birth gender" should dictate sports participation. I assume what they actually mean is birth sex.

This is up 7% from 2021. This doesn't surprise me given the number of cases of trans athletes dominating female competition.

More Democrats are starting to get the message as now they agree with everyone else by a slim 48%-47% margin. In 2021 it was 55%-41% in favor of athletes competing in sports based upon their gender identity.

This strikes me as a no brainer. We segregate based upon sex and not gender. Athletes that have gone through puberty as a male should not be competing against athletes that went through puberty as a female.

That 75 Year Number

When discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict people keep throwing around 75 years. While that may mark the birth of the state of Israel it's not really accurate.

75 years would be 1948 and the war of 1948 in which an Arab coalition attempted to destroy the newly declared nation of Israel. Now it doesn't matter whether one believes that war was justified or not. What matters is who controlled what at the end of it. 

The UN had voted to kick the British out (see Mandate for Palestine) and partition Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state. That plan fell apart pretty quickly as the Arabs rejected the plan and the Jews declared the existence of the state of Israel. What was a Palestine civil war spread as Egypt, Jordan and Syria joined the conflict. 

Once the war ended Jordan controlled the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza and Israel controlled everything else. 

Jordan annexed the West Bank in 1950. Egypt set up a puppet Palestinian government in Gaza which never really had any authority. Things remained that way until 1967. 

 In 1956 the Egyptians nationalized the Suez Canal because, why not, it's on their territory. They also closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. This led to an invasion of Egypt by British, French and Israeli forces which captured the canal. After both the Soviet Union and the United States expressed opposition to the invasion the British, French and Israeli forces withdrew essentially with their tails between their legs. 

In 1967, Egypt again closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping despite warnings from Israel that this would be viewed as a casus belli. The resulting war saw Israel capture the West Bank from Jordan, Gaza from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria. 

Jordan relinquished all claims to the West Bank in 1988 and recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization as "the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people." 

Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 and the Golan Heights in 1981. In 2005 Israel withdrew from Gaza and Northern Samaria. 

The West Bank is currently divided into three zones A, B and C. Zone A (18%) is administered by the Palestinian Authority. Zone B (22%) is administered by the Palestinian Authority but with joint Israeli security control. Zone C (60%) is administered by Israel, contains all of the Israeli settlements and divides Zones A and B into hundreds of separate areas.

The Israeli-Gaza War Continues

The Israelis have invaded northern Gaza and continue to use airstrikes against targets. The casualty are rising and reportedly have exceeded 11,000.

This is urban warfare and civilians are caught in the crossfire. It's also the type of war where it's difficult to tell the difference between Hamas fighters and civilians. In other words it's a mess.

Two incidents stand out in particular.

The first was a bombing by Israel of a refugee camp where a Hamas senior commander was reported to be located. The attack killed about 50 people and the last I heard it was unclear whether the senior commander was killed.

The other is actions around the Al Shifa hospital which is Gaza's largest hospital. This is the stuff nightmares are made of. The hospital has no power and almost no supplies. Newborn premies are dying because there is no electricity to run their incubators.

There has been fighting near the hospital and the Israelis have entered the hospital grounds in search of Hamas fighters, weapons caches and tunnels. The IDF has claimed they have located a tunnel, a vehicle with weapons and the body of one of the Israeli hostages.

The hospital has effectively been occupied by the IDF and isolated from the outside world. This means that every day that goes by will result in the death of more patient including babies.

Israel is walking a fine line here. Two wrongs don't make a right and you can't avenge an atrocity by committing another atrocity or at least hopefully we're better than that.

Now I'm going to capture some history here for future reference.

The Palestinians have had Gaza since 2005. They have had total autonomy. Instead of focusing on building a decent life for themselves they voted to give Hamas control and Hamas has used Gaza as a staging ground for attacks against Israel. 

This has led to a blockade of Gaza by both Israel and Egypt and hardships for the people living there.

 Jordan controlled the West Bank from 1948 until 1967. They could have established a Palestinian state. Instead they decided to annex the territory in 1950. Jordan renounced claims to the West Bank in 1988 recognizing the PLO as "the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people." Of course they lost control of the West Bank to Israel in 1967. 

 Egypt controlled Gaza from 1948 to 1967 and set up a puppet Palestinian government which never really had any political power. Egypt could have established a Palestinian state but chose not to. Israel took Gaza from Egypt in 1967 and withdrew in 2005.