The first Caliph, abu Bakr, is reported to have said thus on the eve of a battle;

“Stop, O people, that I may give you ten rules for your guidance in the battlefield. Do not commit treachery or deviate from the right path. You must not mutilate dead bodies. Neither kill a child, nor a woman. nor an aged man. Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire, especially those which are fruitful. Slay not any of the enemy’s flock, save for your food. You are likely to pass by people who have devoted their lives to monastic services; leave them alone”

I have a saying; “always compassion, never mercy”.

None of the settlers in Israel were born fascists. The 18 year old kids in the IDF were raised in an totalizing propaganda environment, surrounded on all sides by messages telling them that they are constantly under siege, that Palestinians are lesser, that the violence of the state is necessary and just.

Most of those kids never had a chance. Propaganda works. We see how effective it is in our own societies as we’re surrounded by profoundly ignorant people with terrifying beliefs.

I don’t want those rank and file IDF dorks to die. I want them to wake up tomorrow, realize that they’re complicit in terrible crimes, and shoot their officers in the head. I want them to mutiny and join the fight against the Israeli state. I want to see them cast off the hate their parents infected them with when they were too young to defend themselves.

I am a student of Sun Tzu. One of the key concepts Sun Tzu emphasizes, again and again, is that it is always better to subdue your enemy without fighting. And it is better still to convert your enemy to your side and convince them to fight for you.

What do we gain when a fascist is killed? The world is a little safer, but we have also lost a precious bullet. But if we convert a fascist, we gain a soldier for our cause and a bullet we can use to kill a fascist who won’t renounce their ideology.

Sun Tzu emphasizes over and over again, hammers on the idea, that the goal of warfare is not to win battles, or to kill enemy soldiers, or to burn enemy supplies. The goal of warfare is victory. Victory.

I do feel remorse for the death of these IDF soldiers and settlers. Not because they deserve pity, but because they deserved a chance to be good people, and it is our duty to create a world where that is possible. I have compassion for the people they could have been. But the people they are must be fought mercilessly, by whatever necessary means.

“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality […] We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity will be transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force.”

• Comrade Che

Look to how Hamas conducts itself; We have seen Hamas soldiers reassuring non-combatant settlers that they will not be harmed, because devout Muslims adhere to the ancient laws of Islam which prohibit harming non-combatants and the mistreatment of prisoners. We have seen Hamas release hostages on compassionate grounds. We have seen that they have brought settlers to hospital to be treated.

If the Palestinian soldiers of Hamas, who have lived their whole lives under the guns of the genocidal Israeli state, can conduct themselves in this manner then we must honor their example. Even in the most horrific of conditions they have held on to their humanity and honor the laws of their religion. We must remember that the goal is not to kill fascists, but to kill Fascism. Armed conflict is a means to that end, not an end unto itself.

I know how hopeless we all feel, and how we are filled with justified rage and anger. But I ask you to hold on to your humanity, not for the sake of our enemies, but for ourselves and our own conviction to our beliefs. Socialism and Anarchism are borne out of a love for humanity and a desire to liberate the world from oppression. To do that we must often be ruthless and merciless. But after this darkness, in our lifetimes or long after, the sun will rise. We must remember we are fighting for all humanity. Even the fascist was a child once. Remember, when you are standing over the corpse of the enemy; We are fighting for the child they once were, and the person they could have been.