If Hitler were invading Poland in 2024, it would look like this. Tucker Carlson would fly to Germany to marvel at the aroma of freshly-baked German bread before nodding along as the Führer blamed Poland for being “uncooperative.” Goebbels would show up on talk shows to insist that
This is unfortunately one of the few essays that reflect what a tragedy the never ending war between Palestinians and Israelis truly is. Both sides believe their terrible actions are completely justified by the terrible actions of the other. But instead of ratcheting the violence down, as happened in Ireland, both sides keep raising the level of violence.
At the moment, Israel is far stronger militarily than the Palestinians, but with every bomb it drops on the Palestinians, Israel destroys more of what made it a unique country.
To maintain your humanity, you need to set aside ideas of justice, what's happening is a matter of revenge. “𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴.” -𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘶𝘴
I think for a lot of the people arguing in favour of the continued bombardment this is about revenge. And fear.
But I actually think it goes a step further for Netanyahu and his fellow extremists. For them, Hamas provided cover for them to do what they've been wanting to do for decades: wipe out Gaza, kick all of the Palestinians out, and eventually settle the land.
We've already seen the pace and brazenness of settler brutality pick up in the West Bank. 400 Palestinians there have been killed. There's no way to justify this (or even the indiscriminate nature of the response in Gaza), by talking about Hamas' attack. As despicable as it was. But it makes perfect sense if your goal is ethnic cleansing. Slowly but surely, I think the people who blindly defended it are realising that.
I think you're right. Netanyahu and his even more right wing crazies are taking a play from whoever said "Never let a crisis go to waste."
And unfortunately, Biden's too mired in the old story of "poor Israel, surrounded by enemies" to push back against them. Think of how embarrassing it is that we had to resort to airdrops to get trivial amounts of food into Gaza because our supposed *ally* won't cooperate in preventing the mass starvation of civilians in plain view of the world. And the levels of aid we're sending are far too low to actually change anything anyway.
I fear we may be too late to answer your last question. The moral high Ground is such a coveted place, and people will commit all sorts of amoral acts to lay claim to it.
The fact that Jews have faced ethnic cleansing in the past does not mean that Israel is incapable of doing the same to others. Or should be exonerated when it does so.
Yet, when it happens to Jews…crickets…or the continual victim blaming. Not to mention the indiscriminate targeting of Jewish people worldwide for the actions of Israel—a sovereign nation.
The majority of the world body has a fetish-like obsession with Israel, and Jews by proxy. If you don’t believe there’s a double-standard placed on Jews, what evidence would convince you otherwise? Are you familiar with the “Antisemitism tax” faced by Jewish communities worldwide?
"Yet, when it happens to Jews…crickets…or the continual victim blaming"
God, this persecution complex is so gross and tiresome. There are genocides taking place, right now, in Myanmar and Sudan to name but two. There are crickets from the media there too. The attention of the world can't be everywhere at once. And certainly not on examples of ethnic cleansing that happened 70 years ago. Otherwise, we'd hear a lot more about the Nakba.
And yes, I stand as firmly against the persecution of Jews worldwide for the actions of Israel as anybody else. This is absolutely wrong and is done by idiots and bigots.
But the reason Israel comes under scrutiny, as it should, is A) because it has the fourth strongest military in the world and regularly uses that military to commit and abet breaches of International law, and B) because many countries in the West are sending Israel weapons and money and therefore have a direct interest in whether it's using them to commit genocide.
And also, speaking of victim blaming, because Israel and its blind defenders are trying to place the entire blame for this mess on the Palestinians instead of recognising the enormous role it's playing in the violence in that region.
I'll refer to a frequent theme from me; dehumanization of "the enemy." When the problem is the warmongers within a government, but the enemy becomes the people governed by it. A balm for the conscience when you seek to kill them all. They are [dehumanizing slur goes here].
The victim/oppressor thing has become so extreme that it is becoming indistinguishable from insanity.
“God, this persecution complex is so gross and tiresome."
Persecution complex. That’s a very disappointing and really low blow—hard-core gaslighting. I respect your writing and general approach to objectivity, but this statement shows an utter disregard—borderline contempt—for 1700+ years of combined embedded, systemic religious-based oppression between the gears of Christianity and Islam that still impacts Jews. This a reason it was so easy for the holocaust to happen in throughout Europe, and why it would have happened throughout the middle east and north Africa had the Nazis maintained control over the region. Jews in the middle east and north Africa were rounded up and sent to death camps in Europe in the places the Nazis were present.
It wasn’t until the 1960s that the Catholic Church changed course and stopped blaming Jews for the death of Jesus.
In the U.S, where I am, Jews are 2% of the total population and experience about 60% of all religious based hate crimes. The rates of Anti-Jewish hate crimes in England continue to skyrocket. Jews are being attacked on a daily basis throughout Europe for being visibly Jewish.
We’re under continuous assault from White Supremacy and Jihadism (the latter being a fast growing problem in the west)
Primary schools, college/universities, and even corporations are being bombarded with discrimination suits because of their failures to address incidents of Antisemitism. They let it happen. Where were the “allies?”
So please don’t Jew-splain my experience and history to me or any other Jew. My history is Jewish history—not white, black, asian, or any other history—it goes back much further than 75 years and spans multiple continents.
"There are genocides taking place, right now, in Myanmar and Sudan to name but two. “The attention of the world can't be everywhere at once.”
Right. You are an incredible writer/influencer/thinker with a significant following. You certainly have the power and influence to bring attention to the other horrible issues that deserve as much, if not more attention. You could have easily chosen any other example to better prove your point than piling on to the Arab/Israeli noise.
“And yes, I stand as firmly against the persecution of Jews worldwide for the actions of Israel as anybody else. This is absolutely wrong and is done by idiots and bigots.
Yes, you made explicitly clear when you mentioned how “this persecution complex is so gross and tiresome.” It’s like you’re dripping with empathy.
Many of those idiots and bigots you mention above are in DEI leadership positions and educators/indoctrinators in universities. Hence the inaction on addressing antisemitism. I’ve experienced some of them first hand in the various trainings I’ve attended. They mask their Jew-hatred as social justice.
Based on my experiences, and those of fellow Jews, very few people, if any know that there’s a difference between Jewish and Israeli. People who should know better, like those in DEI industry don’t.
“There are crickets from the media there too. Certainly not on examples of ethnic cleansing that happened 70 years ago. Otherwise, we'd hear a lot more about the Nakba.”
Not sure who which “we” you’re talking about. The U.N. certainly recognizes it and brings awareness, as do lots of Anti-Israel college campus groups. Perhaps a reason you don’t hear as much about the Nakba as you think appropriate is because its premise is that Israel’s existence is equal to Palestinian genocide. That’s why it’s on the same day as Israeli Independence day.
"But the reason Israel comes under scrutiny, as it should, is A) because it has the fourth strongest military in the world and regularly uses that military to commit and abet breaches of International law…
Yes, Israel, should be held to account. But why is Israel held to a much higher level of scrutiny that nations that have far worse records on human rights. And why are known Jew haters allowed to be a the helm of committees that draft human rights resolutions and run the inquiries? The U.N. is the world’s largest anti-Jewish organization. And again, given the broadly assumed conflation of Jewish identity with Israeli, it creates hostile environments for Jews worldwide.
Try holding North Korea, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Russia, Myanmar, China, Libya, Algeria, etc. to the same international laws, standards on human rights, racism, political freedom, or any other rights and liberties you take for granted living in a western society. Better yet, try boycotting all the products that are made in those countries.
"B) because many countries in the West are sending Israel weapons and money and therefore have a direct interest in whether it's using them to commit genocide."
And Russia has been feeding their Arab League nation clients, their guerrilla proxies, and Iran and its proxies, with weapons and money for them to continue their attempts at genocide of Jews.
With the exception of France, the U.S. and its allies did not start providing offering military aid to Israel until the 1960s, and even that was begrudgingly. This a strategic decision to keep the Soviet Union in check. The Arab nations were flooded with the latest Soviet military hardware, and Soviet military advisors. The Middle East region was/is as much as cold war proxy as South East Asia, and a money maker for the Russian arms industry.
When the Arab nations attacking Israel with best Soviet hardware and tactics were repeatedly defeated militarily, it was an embarrassment to the Soviet Union. That caused the Soviets to switch tactics from military to PR. Inspired by anti-black racism in the U.S., this gave birth to the "Zionism is racism" movement. Far more successful and enduring than anything militarily.
All that said, should the U.S. and western allies stop supplying Egypt and Jordan with the equal amounts of aid they give Israel? Egypt and Jordan, the previous occupiers of Gaza and West Bank respectively share the burden of containing Palestinians at their borders and restricting access.
"And also, speaking of victim blaming, because Israel and its blind defenders are trying to place the entire blame for this mess on the Palestinians instead of recognising the enormous role it's playing in the violence in that region."
I think you’re omitting the enormous role that Iran, Qatar, and even Russia play in the violence in the region. And yes, Israel certainly shares the blame for its missteps.
Anyway, this is all the time and energy to respond for the moment. Writing is not my primary profession (obvious from the typos and grammar). But for real real, that was a super shitty thing you said about persecution complex. I am certainly tired and beaten up from the double-standards applied to Jews, being in the cross fire of White Supremacists and Islamist Extremists, and being expected to be an apologist for Israel because I’m Jewish.
Steve, maybe you should learn more about Jewish history, and the multitude of Jewish identity beyond a western lens and the holocaust. I’d be happy to provide some recommendations.
“ That’s a very disappointing and really low blow—hard-core gaslighting.”
If you’re familiar with my writing, you’ll know that one of my core principles is that you don’t get to hide behind group oppression forever. I don’t indulge this for black people invoking Emmett Till and slavery every time they want to justify some stupid idea about persecuting white people, I don’t indulge it when terrorism apologists use the Nakba to try to justify Hamas, I don’t indulge it from trans people when they ignore women’s rights and safety, and I don’t indulge it from Jews when they want to justify something atrocity Israel is committing.
As I said above, and as you seem to want people to have the intelligence to do, I don’t blame Jews in general for Israel’s actions. That would be antisemitic and stupid. But the flip side of that is I don’t allow Israel or Israelis to use Jewish oppression throughout history as cover for atrocities. Again, every holocaust survivor I’ve heard speak on the topic shares this view.
So I’m not denying that millions of Jews, none of whom were you, have been horribly persecuted at various points throughout history. I’m saying that none of that, NONE of it, excuses what Israel is doing right now.
None of it justifies the Israeli politicians and journalists calling Palestinians “cockroaches” and worse. Or the Israelis screaming “Death to the Arabs” and other horrible racist epithets (https://youtu.be/b0faSzYcmbM?si=De1hI8f7CXC4ENJJ). As the Israeli defence minister said at the time, “it is inconceivable that one could hold the Israeli flag in one hand and shout ‘death to the Arabs’ at the same time. This is neither Judaism or Israeliness…these people are a disgrace to Israel.”
None of it justifies the Israeli citizens who are forming human barriers, right now, to prevent aid from reaching the starving, innocent people in Gaza (https://youtu.be/pyGyrz06ljg?si=PZTr3Z8iqCB4YpXe).
None of it justifies the settlers and their prolonged, despicable campaign of violence against innocent Palestinians on their own land. Or the IDF and Israeli government for supporting it.
So I’m sorry if you find it disappointing. But I simply can’t stomach people talking about things that happened 1700 years ago, or even 80 years ago in another country, to justify this brutality. I don’t have any patience for people who use the Nakba to try to justify Hamas’ actions either.
So I understand the instinct to defend Israel if you’re Jewish. Truly. But there has to be a limit to the atrocities you’ll justify. And I’m increasingly saddened, and honestly, a little sickened, to discover there seems to be absolutely no limit to what some people will defend.
To your credit, you are the only writer who has compelled me to comment anywhere on the internet.
Things that happened 1,700+ years ago are stilling impacting Jews today—that’s why they are systemic. That is the ongoing, and mutating legacy of millennia of Jew-hatred. It’s not a sole identity, but it is what we carry. It's what we've adapted to in the diaspora to survive as a people.
To be clear, I am not defending what Israel is doing, its government, or policies. Like many American Jews, supporting Israel is about supporting it's right to exist as a Jewish homeland in a small fraction of its biblical footprint, along side a sovereign Palestinian nation.
I live in the U.S. There's more than enough crap to fix here, and opportunities to be an example of how people can live peacefully as neighbors, regardless of their differences.
Anyway, I'm closing out with this post. Hit me up for sushi and beverages if you're ever in the Baltimore/DC area.
"To be clear, I am not defending what Israel is doing, its government, or policies. Like many American Jews, supporting Israel is about supporting it's right to exist as a Jewish homeland in a small fraction of its biblical footprint, along side a sovereign Palestinian nation."
This, in one paragraph, captures what I think is the entire problem.
First, when your first and only instinct when somebody talks about the atrocities Israel is committing is to indulge in whataboutism and cite examples of Jewish persecution throughout history, yes, you are defending what Israel is doing.
I've had so many conversations about his topic, with people who I can tell are decent, caring, otherwise reasonable people, but they allow themselves to turn all of that machinery off when it comes to this issue because they are determined to defend Israel at any cost. As I say above, the hard part is refusing to look the other way when the stories, or indeed the facts, no longer flatter our friends.
So again, I understand the instinct to defend Israel. But part of loving something is being willing to admit when it's wrong. To demand that it demonstrate the best, not the worst of itself.
And the second part, though perhaps off topic, is that I think the concept of a Jewish homeland is extremely shaky morally and practically and I don't think it can hold. At least without the cruelty and oppression that Israel is currently practicing. I say this as someone who's been to Israel, who has close friends there, and who fully supports its right to exist. I'm just questioning the sustainability and justness of its current concept.
For example, imagine if, after slavery, a "black" state had been created. In Texas, say. And the black people there set up various policies to ensure there would always be a black majority that would always vote in black interests and maintain control of black land. Imagine, as would inevitably be the case given racial attitudes at the time, the majority white states around them occasionally attacked them, but thanks to support from other powerful nations (perhaps the British empire, feeling guilty for their role in slavery and resentful of the U.S. for its rebellion), this black state was militarily powerful enough to fight them off.
Imagine if, emboldened by this military strength, this state began to encroach on surrounding states; stealing pieces of territory, running white farmers off their land, establishing control over movement and resources over the dangerous racists in Louisiana, perhaps.
Lest we forget, black people are still impacted by slavery today. The foundation of the racism that black people face today is the idea, created during slavery that black people are a "race' and are inferior to white people. That's how slavery was justified. But would you consider this to be a just or sustainable state? Would you think the horrors of slavery justified this state's actions, however terrible, in perpetuity?
Anyway, again, this is a very different conversation. Just food for thought and perhaps an insight into how more impartial observers view this situation. I'd be delighted to chat about it (and far lighter topics) over sushi one day.
Perhaps a better way to articulate my issue is to refer to the book, “Jews Don’t Count” by David Baddiel. You may be familiar with him, if not the book. It addresses the double-standards and omission of Jewish identity within historically oppressed groups—conflating Jewish identity with white supremacy/white supremacists (based on a singular Jewish ethnicity)—and how it’s fomented a lot of the Jew-hatred we are seeing today under the guise of social justice. So it’s not about being anti __________. It’s about being white-washed, alienated, and vilified. This is the justification for blaming all Jews for whatever Israel does.
I don’t believe I denied Israel was doing something wrong. My defense is of its existence. While the Arab league nations have largely given up on their attempts to remove Israel from the world map (genocide), groups like Hamas—and the Iranian government—maintain that goal. So I see what’s happening as an extension of the original Arab/Israeli conflict, using proxies and PR tactics.
The partition plan that created Israel, and what would have been a Palestinian Arab homeland was not unique to the Jews. A year prior, the model was very notably used to create India (Bharat) and West and East Pakistan (Bangladesh as 1971) to help quell violence between Hindus and Muslims. I believe more recently, there was the creation of North and South Sudan to stop the genocide. And then there are the vast majority of Muslim nations that have Islam as their official state religion. Couldn’t those be considered Muslim homelands?
So as much as the idea of a Jewish homeland seems shaky to you, there’s precedent and on-going practice for other oppressed groups. I don’t believe it’s a big ask for you or anyone else to apply equal application of this practice to Jews.
Maybe another way of relating the meaning of Israel to Jews is something like this: even though you are English, it’s safe to assume your ancestry traces back to Africa. What does Africa mean to you? Is there a spiritual, emotional, or other underlying connection to those roots? Does it give you any comfort knowing that having Black skin in Africa is just normal—even if you never planned on living there? For many Jews, the idea of Israel brings some sense of psychological safety that there is a homeland—that we are not at the mercy of the whims of any other religious, racial, or other persecution for being a Jew—even if we never plan to move there. Jews have been run out of every place they dwelt in the Christian and Muslim world at some point in history. This is including the Spanish, English, and Dutch colonies of the "New World." Your home country of England has even apologized for ethnically cleansing its Jews 800+ years ago. Memories are long.
Or how about this…humans don’t learn from history and keep replaying the same tape on a loop. The Levant has been conquered and colonized repeatedly for millennia. To some it’s a holy place, to others, a strategic military and economic cross-roads. And probably something else to someone else. But everyone wants it.
Anyway, I am planning to pull down my posts and move on with my actual real life. These are conversations I prefer to have in person and removing the posts is the best way I can think to cut through this Gordian knot of a topic.
"I don’t believe it’s a big ask for you or anyone else to apply equal application of this practice to Jews."
Haha, if you'd like me to stop replying I will. I'll restrict myself only to addressing the above point, because it's important. But happy for this to be my last reply.
Yes, I agree completely. The application of any principle should be consistent. And I'm consistently opposed to the creation of ethnostates on the basis of religion or ethnicity or any aspect of group identity. I'm not singling out Jews here at all.
To my knowledge, Israel's legal and often illegal enforcement of the Jews' alleged God-given right to a piece of land is unique. But if not, as I said above, I'd object exactly as strongly to a "black" state or a "Christian" state or a "Muslim" state.
Not least because, in each of the cases you mention, there was enormous death, brutality and suffering, both at the time, and in many cases, still years later, as a result of the creation of these states. There's a reason why both the partition of India and the expulsion of Arabs are known in their native languages as "The Catastrophe." There's a reason why there's still a genocide happening in Sudan. There's a reason why Jews and Muslims are still dying in the Middle East.
If outsider military might is used, I think it should be used to unite people, most of whom, I'll remind you, were already living in peace. Jews and Muslims have lived in that part of the world, largely without incident, for centuries. It was European anti semitism, the British empire's God complex, and religious extremism on both sides that led to the mess we see today.
So yes, I sadly agree with you that we don't seem to learn from history. But we should. And Israeli Jews have more reason to have learned from history than most. Indeed, as I've pointed out, the Jews who experienced the worst of that history *have* learned from it. I'm just praying that nobody, Jewish or Muslim or anything else, has to experience those same horror before they learn too.
Quick follow-up. I am deciding to keep my posts up. Regardless of the topic, I hope our exchange here can serve as an example of how to have a civil dialogue online. Lofty ambition?
“To my knowledge, Israel's legal and often illegal enforcement of the Jews' alleged God-given right to a piece of land is unique. But if not, as I said above, I'd object exactly as strongly to a "black" state or a "Christian" state or a "Muslim" state.”
The Crusades were EXACTLY about a religion’s God-given claims to the holy lands. Religion was used as a “justification” taming the “savages” and “infidels” of all the places conquered and colonized by the Christian and Islamic worlds. Religions were the umbrella political system that united pfeifdoms, sheikdoms, tribes, etc., prior the to the development of political nation states as we know them today.
More specific to Israel/Palestine (and applicable to India/Pakistan), this is exactly the Arab Islamist claim to the land—and 1,300+ years later written in Hamas’ charter. I believe it’s called the “ummah,” and it basically states that any land conquered by Islam can never be given up or surrendered to non-Muslims. The Islamic Empire was a conquering and colonizing force that originated in the Hijaz (Saudi Arabia post WWI colonialism). They didn’t build the pyramids of Giza or the Roman aqueducts and amphitheaters in the Levant. The didn’t build the Byzantine church that became the Hagia Sofia Mosque in Istanbul (which was once Constantinople).
A guess here: the author of this article is another soft hands professional opinion haver who’s never served in a military ground force. His hypothetical wreaks of notional nonsense uninformed by blood, sweat and tears.
Haha, guilty as charged. Well, my hands aren't soft, but I do get paid for expressing my opinions. And no, I've never served in the military. Of course, nor have most people speaking about this conflict. Historians, politicians, your run-of-the-mill grifters. Many of whom you likely agree with. So do you have a point? Or are you resorting to ad hominems because you don't?
Yes, my point is this. If I came at you with a hundred men, to kill your extended family, and we killed 10, then retreated, your family would be wise to pursue us and either get our surrender or kill us all, thus ensuring that we could never do it again. That’s what Israel is doing, knucklehead. Go chop some wood and build those callouses.
Germany in WW2? They really did have concerns for the Germans living outside the borders of the Reich. But that was heavily co-mingled with a desire to restore the borders of the old German Empire (and more). The Germans arranged a false flag attack on a German radio transmitter on the border with Poland, to justify their invasion of Poland. I don’t see evidence of Israel creating a false flag operation that killed ~1200 of their own citizens. But hey, you can write anything on Substack.
"If I came at you with a hundred men, to kill your extended family, and we killed 10, then retreated, your family would be wise to pursue us and either get our surrender or kill us all, thus ensuring that we could never do it again"
Of course! I couldn't agree more! But that's not quite what's happening here is it?
To improve your analogy, this is like 30 men coming from the next town over and killing ten members of my family, and me responding by indiscriminately killing three hundred of the people in that town, maiming around seven hundred more, destroying countless homes, cutting off access to food, water, medicine and power, and making videos on TikTok mocking them while 150 of their children starve and die.
But it gets better!
The people in that town? I've trapped them in there! I blockaded them there by land, air and sea for 17 years, subjected them to oppressive, international law-breaking military rule, and have killed tens of times more members of their family over the past 75 years than they've killed of mine.
And let's not forget their extended family in the nearby town of "West Bankia." Since the attack, I've killed 400 of them too! Why? No reason, they weren't involved, but I've been systematically stealing land from them for decades too, killing them as needs be, and this seems like a good excuse to crack down on them.
*That's* what Israel is doing.
I have no problem with Israel destroying Hamas. I have a problem with tens of thousands of innocent people who *aren’t* Hamas being wilfully slaughtered. And I have a problem with people acting as if the history of this conflict started on Oct 7th. The goal for any sane person here is a lasting peace. I wish both Israelis and Palestinians every success in this. But you can't demand peace while your foot is on somebody's neck.
p.s. Seems like you didn't understand the point being made in the introduction. But hey, anybody can read articles on Substack.
I did not deploy. Did you go to Ranger School (and lose 30 pounds)? Did you serve in a light infantry unit? Did you sleep on the ground under your ‘cho liner and wake with snow accumulation on top of you? Do not test me - I am not going to stand for it. I put my butt on the line, suffered, and had no guarantee on how it would turn out.
No, it’s due to my understanding of history, culture, & religion. Hamas is in the grips of an honor culture downward spiral (think Hatfields and McCoys), and like a fever breaks after holding some exceedingly high value for a time, I am hoping that the downward honor culture spiral will also break (or exhaust itself), at which point they may be open to creating a justice culture (with justice meaning the Judeo-Christian notion of honoring God’s judgment, not the judgment of men - obviously a large hurdle for Muslims to clear).
The roots of the current global Zeitgeist can be found in the "survival of the fittest, there isn't enough to go around" ethic that was popularized by Darwin and others of his time. Standing on the premise that the "earth is the result of random events," the science of war proceeded for two hundred years with a scientific endorsement.
When people realize they are eternal beings engaged in a brief mortal experience; when they grasp the fact that they are Gods in microcosm, just like the beings that created this earth, perhaps a global awakening will be upon us.
This is unfortunately one of the few essays that reflect what a tragedy the never ending war between Palestinians and Israelis truly is. Both sides believe their terrible actions are completely justified by the terrible actions of the other. But instead of ratcheting the violence down, as happened in Ireland, both sides keep raising the level of violence.
At the moment, Israel is far stronger militarily than the Palestinians, but with every bomb it drops on the Palestinians, Israel destroys more of what made it a unique country.
To maintain your humanity, you need to set aside ideas of justice, what's happening is a matter of revenge. “𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴.” -𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘶𝘴
I think for a lot of the people arguing in favour of the continued bombardment this is about revenge. And fear.
But I actually think it goes a step further for Netanyahu and his fellow extremists. For them, Hamas provided cover for them to do what they've been wanting to do for decades: wipe out Gaza, kick all of the Palestinians out, and eventually settle the land.
We've already seen the pace and brazenness of settler brutality pick up in the West Bank. 400 Palestinians there have been killed. There's no way to justify this (or even the indiscriminate nature of the response in Gaza), by talking about Hamas' attack. As despicable as it was. But it makes perfect sense if your goal is ethnic cleansing. Slowly but surely, I think the people who blindly defended it are realising that.
I think you're right. Netanyahu and his even more right wing crazies are taking a play from whoever said "Never let a crisis go to waste."
And unfortunately, Biden's too mired in the old story of "poor Israel, surrounded by enemies" to push back against them. Think of how embarrassing it is that we had to resort to airdrops to get trivial amounts of food into Gaza because our supposed *ally* won't cooperate in preventing the mass starvation of civilians in plain view of the world. And the levels of aid we're sending are far too low to actually change anything anyway.
Completely agreed. But there’s hope. Kamala’s public call for a ceasefire is huge.
I fear we may be too late to answer your last question. The moral high Ground is such a coveted place, and people will commit all sorts of amoral acts to lay claim to it.
Well said.
Hear, hear!
Thank you for this.
This is ethnic cleansing.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-refugees-from-arab-countries
https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/the-expulsion-of-jews-from-arab-countries-and-iran--an-untold-history
https://unwatch.org/algeria-jews-hillel-neuer-u-n-human-rights-council/
Yes. These are also examples of ethnic cleansing.
The fact that Jews have faced ethnic cleansing in the past does not mean that Israel is incapable of doing the same to others. Or should be exonerated when it does so.
Yet, when it happens to Jews…crickets…or the continual victim blaming. Not to mention the indiscriminate targeting of Jewish people worldwide for the actions of Israel—a sovereign nation.
The majority of the world body has a fetish-like obsession with Israel, and Jews by proxy. If you don’t believe there’s a double-standard placed on Jews, what evidence would convince you otherwise? Are you familiar with the “Antisemitism tax” faced by Jewish communities worldwide?
"Yet, when it happens to Jews…crickets…or the continual victim blaming"
God, this persecution complex is so gross and tiresome. There are genocides taking place, right now, in Myanmar and Sudan to name but two. There are crickets from the media there too. The attention of the world can't be everywhere at once. And certainly not on examples of ethnic cleansing that happened 70 years ago. Otherwise, we'd hear a lot more about the Nakba.
And yes, I stand as firmly against the persecution of Jews worldwide for the actions of Israel as anybody else. This is absolutely wrong and is done by idiots and bigots.
But the reason Israel comes under scrutiny, as it should, is A) because it has the fourth strongest military in the world and regularly uses that military to commit and abet breaches of International law, and B) because many countries in the West are sending Israel weapons and money and therefore have a direct interest in whether it's using them to commit genocide.
And also, speaking of victim blaming, because Israel and its blind defenders are trying to place the entire blame for this mess on the Palestinians instead of recognising the enormous role it's playing in the violence in that region.
I'll refer to a frequent theme from me; dehumanization of "the enemy." When the problem is the warmongers within a government, but the enemy becomes the people governed by it. A balm for the conscience when you seek to kill them all. They are [dehumanizing slur goes here].
The victim/oppressor thing has become so extreme that it is becoming indistinguishable from insanity.
“God, this persecution complex is so gross and tiresome."
Persecution complex. That’s a very disappointing and really low blow—hard-core gaslighting. I respect your writing and general approach to objectivity, but this statement shows an utter disregard—borderline contempt—for 1700+ years of combined embedded, systemic religious-based oppression between the gears of Christianity and Islam that still impacts Jews. This a reason it was so easy for the holocaust to happen in throughout Europe, and why it would have happened throughout the middle east and north Africa had the Nazis maintained control over the region. Jews in the middle east and north Africa were rounded up and sent to death camps in Europe in the places the Nazis were present.
It wasn’t until the 1960s that the Catholic Church changed course and stopped blaming Jews for the death of Jesus.
In the U.S, where I am, Jews are 2% of the total population and experience about 60% of all religious based hate crimes. The rates of Anti-Jewish hate crimes in England continue to skyrocket. Jews are being attacked on a daily basis throughout Europe for being visibly Jewish.
We’re under continuous assault from White Supremacy and Jihadism (the latter being a fast growing problem in the west)
Primary schools, college/universities, and even corporations are being bombarded with discrimination suits because of their failures to address incidents of Antisemitism. They let it happen. Where were the “allies?”
So please don’t Jew-splain my experience and history to me or any other Jew. My history is Jewish history—not white, black, asian, or any other history—it goes back much further than 75 years and spans multiple continents.
"There are genocides taking place, right now, in Myanmar and Sudan to name but two. “The attention of the world can't be everywhere at once.”
Right. You are an incredible writer/influencer/thinker with a significant following. You certainly have the power and influence to bring attention to the other horrible issues that deserve as much, if not more attention. You could have easily chosen any other example to better prove your point than piling on to the Arab/Israeli noise.
“And yes, I stand as firmly against the persecution of Jews worldwide for the actions of Israel as anybody else. This is absolutely wrong and is done by idiots and bigots.
Yes, you made explicitly clear when you mentioned how “this persecution complex is so gross and tiresome.” It’s like you’re dripping with empathy.
Many of those idiots and bigots you mention above are in DEI leadership positions and educators/indoctrinators in universities. Hence the inaction on addressing antisemitism. I’ve experienced some of them first hand in the various trainings I’ve attended. They mask their Jew-hatred as social justice.
Based on my experiences, and those of fellow Jews, very few people, if any know that there’s a difference between Jewish and Israeli. People who should know better, like those in DEI industry don’t.
“There are crickets from the media there too. Certainly not on examples of ethnic cleansing that happened 70 years ago. Otherwise, we'd hear a lot more about the Nakba.”
Not sure who which “we” you’re talking about. The U.N. certainly recognizes it and brings awareness, as do lots of Anti-Israel college campus groups. Perhaps a reason you don’t hear as much about the Nakba as you think appropriate is because its premise is that Israel’s existence is equal to Palestinian genocide. That’s why it’s on the same day as Israeli Independence day.
"But the reason Israel comes under scrutiny, as it should, is A) because it has the fourth strongest military in the world and regularly uses that military to commit and abet breaches of International law…
Yes, Israel, should be held to account. But why is Israel held to a much higher level of scrutiny that nations that have far worse records on human rights. And why are known Jew haters allowed to be a the helm of committees that draft human rights resolutions and run the inquiries? The U.N. is the world’s largest anti-Jewish organization. And again, given the broadly assumed conflation of Jewish identity with Israeli, it creates hostile environments for Jews worldwide.
Try holding North Korea, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Russia, Myanmar, China, Libya, Algeria, etc. to the same international laws, standards on human rights, racism, political freedom, or any other rights and liberties you take for granted living in a western society. Better yet, try boycotting all the products that are made in those countries.
"B) because many countries in the West are sending Israel weapons and money and therefore have a direct interest in whether it's using them to commit genocide."
And Russia has been feeding their Arab League nation clients, their guerrilla proxies, and Iran and its proxies, with weapons and money for them to continue their attempts at genocide of Jews.
With the exception of France, the U.S. and its allies did not start providing offering military aid to Israel until the 1960s, and even that was begrudgingly. This a strategic decision to keep the Soviet Union in check. The Arab nations were flooded with the latest Soviet military hardware, and Soviet military advisors. The Middle East region was/is as much as cold war proxy as South East Asia, and a money maker for the Russian arms industry.
When the Arab nations attacking Israel with best Soviet hardware and tactics were repeatedly defeated militarily, it was an embarrassment to the Soviet Union. That caused the Soviets to switch tactics from military to PR. Inspired by anti-black racism in the U.S., this gave birth to the "Zionism is racism" movement. Far more successful and enduring than anything militarily.
All that said, should the U.S. and western allies stop supplying Egypt and Jordan with the equal amounts of aid they give Israel? Egypt and Jordan, the previous occupiers of Gaza and West Bank respectively share the burden of containing Palestinians at their borders and restricting access.
"And also, speaking of victim blaming, because Israel and its blind defenders are trying to place the entire blame for this mess on the Palestinians instead of recognising the enormous role it's playing in the violence in that region."
I think you’re omitting the enormous role that Iran, Qatar, and even Russia play in the violence in the region. And yes, Israel certainly shares the blame for its missteps.
Anyway, this is all the time and energy to respond for the moment. Writing is not my primary profession (obvious from the typos and grammar). But for real real, that was a super shitty thing you said about persecution complex. I am certainly tired and beaten up from the double-standards applied to Jews, being in the cross fire of White Supremacists and Islamist Extremists, and being expected to be an apologist for Israel because I’m Jewish.
Steve, maybe you should learn more about Jewish history, and the multitude of Jewish identity beyond a western lens and the holocaust. I’d be happy to provide some recommendations.
“ That’s a very disappointing and really low blow—hard-core gaslighting.”
If you’re familiar with my writing, you’ll know that one of my core principles is that you don’t get to hide behind group oppression forever. I don’t indulge this for black people invoking Emmett Till and slavery every time they want to justify some stupid idea about persecuting white people, I don’t indulge it when terrorism apologists use the Nakba to try to justify Hamas, I don’t indulge it from trans people when they ignore women’s rights and safety, and I don’t indulge it from Jews when they want to justify something atrocity Israel is committing.
As I said above, and as you seem to want people to have the intelligence to do, I don’t blame Jews in general for Israel’s actions. That would be antisemitic and stupid. But the flip side of that is I don’t allow Israel or Israelis to use Jewish oppression throughout history as cover for atrocities. Again, every holocaust survivor I’ve heard speak on the topic shares this view.
So I’m not denying that millions of Jews, none of whom were you, have been horribly persecuted at various points throughout history. I’m saying that none of that, NONE of it, excuses what Israel is doing right now.
None of it justifies the Israeli politicians and journalists calling Palestinians “cockroaches” and worse. Or the Israelis screaming “Death to the Arabs” and other horrible racist epithets (https://youtu.be/b0faSzYcmbM?si=De1hI8f7CXC4ENJJ). As the Israeli defence minister said at the time, “it is inconceivable that one could hold the Israeli flag in one hand and shout ‘death to the Arabs’ at the same time. This is neither Judaism or Israeliness…these people are a disgrace to Israel.”
None of it justifies the Israeli citizens who are forming human barriers, right now, to prevent aid from reaching the starving, innocent people in Gaza (https://youtu.be/pyGyrz06ljg?si=PZTr3Z8iqCB4YpXe).
None of it justifies the settlers and their prolonged, despicable campaign of violence against innocent Palestinians on their own land. Or the IDF and Israeli government for supporting it.
So I’m sorry if you find it disappointing. But I simply can’t stomach people talking about things that happened 1700 years ago, or even 80 years ago in another country, to justify this brutality. I don’t have any patience for people who use the Nakba to try to justify Hamas’ actions either.
So I understand the instinct to defend Israel if you’re Jewish. Truly. But there has to be a limit to the atrocities you’ll justify. And I’m increasingly saddened, and honestly, a little sickened, to discover there seems to be absolutely no limit to what some people will defend.
To your credit, you are the only writer who has compelled me to comment anywhere on the internet.
Things that happened 1,700+ years ago are stilling impacting Jews today—that’s why they are systemic. That is the ongoing, and mutating legacy of millennia of Jew-hatred. It’s not a sole identity, but it is what we carry. It's what we've adapted to in the diaspora to survive as a people.
To be clear, I am not defending what Israel is doing, its government, or policies. Like many American Jews, supporting Israel is about supporting it's right to exist as a Jewish homeland in a small fraction of its biblical footprint, along side a sovereign Palestinian nation.
I live in the U.S. There's more than enough crap to fix here, and opportunities to be an example of how people can live peacefully as neighbors, regardless of their differences.
Anyway, I'm closing out with this post. Hit me up for sushi and beverages if you're ever in the Baltimore/DC area.
"To be clear, I am not defending what Israel is doing, its government, or policies. Like many American Jews, supporting Israel is about supporting it's right to exist as a Jewish homeland in a small fraction of its biblical footprint, along side a sovereign Palestinian nation."
This, in one paragraph, captures what I think is the entire problem.
First, when your first and only instinct when somebody talks about the atrocities Israel is committing is to indulge in whataboutism and cite examples of Jewish persecution throughout history, yes, you are defending what Israel is doing.
I've had so many conversations about his topic, with people who I can tell are decent, caring, otherwise reasonable people, but they allow themselves to turn all of that machinery off when it comes to this issue because they are determined to defend Israel at any cost. As I say above, the hard part is refusing to look the other way when the stories, or indeed the facts, no longer flatter our friends.
So again, I understand the instinct to defend Israel. But part of loving something is being willing to admit when it's wrong. To demand that it demonstrate the best, not the worst of itself.
And the second part, though perhaps off topic, is that I think the concept of a Jewish homeland is extremely shaky morally and practically and I don't think it can hold. At least without the cruelty and oppression that Israel is currently practicing. I say this as someone who's been to Israel, who has close friends there, and who fully supports its right to exist. I'm just questioning the sustainability and justness of its current concept.
For example, imagine if, after slavery, a "black" state had been created. In Texas, say. And the black people there set up various policies to ensure there would always be a black majority that would always vote in black interests and maintain control of black land. Imagine, as would inevitably be the case given racial attitudes at the time, the majority white states around them occasionally attacked them, but thanks to support from other powerful nations (perhaps the British empire, feeling guilty for their role in slavery and resentful of the U.S. for its rebellion), this black state was militarily powerful enough to fight them off.
Imagine if, emboldened by this military strength, this state began to encroach on surrounding states; stealing pieces of territory, running white farmers off their land, establishing control over movement and resources over the dangerous racists in Louisiana, perhaps.
Imagine if black extremists found their way into the government, writing in their charter that "from sea to shining sea there will be only black sovereignty (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likud#:~:text=The%20original%201977%20party%20platform,the%20realization%20of%20Zionist%20values.)."
Lest we forget, black people are still impacted by slavery today. The foundation of the racism that black people face today is the idea, created during slavery that black people are a "race' and are inferior to white people. That's how slavery was justified. But would you consider this to be a just or sustainable state? Would you think the horrors of slavery justified this state's actions, however terrible, in perpetuity?
Anyway, again, this is a very different conversation. Just food for thought and perhaps an insight into how more impartial observers view this situation. I'd be delighted to chat about it (and far lighter topics) over sushi one day.
If you keep replying I won’t shut up.
Perhaps a better way to articulate my issue is to refer to the book, “Jews Don’t Count” by David Baddiel. You may be familiar with him, if not the book. It addresses the double-standards and omission of Jewish identity within historically oppressed groups—conflating Jewish identity with white supremacy/white supremacists (based on a singular Jewish ethnicity)—and how it’s fomented a lot of the Jew-hatred we are seeing today under the guise of social justice. So it’s not about being anti __________. It’s about being white-washed, alienated, and vilified. This is the justification for blaming all Jews for whatever Israel does.
I don’t believe I denied Israel was doing something wrong. My defense is of its existence. While the Arab league nations have largely given up on their attempts to remove Israel from the world map (genocide), groups like Hamas—and the Iranian government—maintain that goal. So I see what’s happening as an extension of the original Arab/Israeli conflict, using proxies and PR tactics.
The partition plan that created Israel, and what would have been a Palestinian Arab homeland was not unique to the Jews. A year prior, the model was very notably used to create India (Bharat) and West and East Pakistan (Bangladesh as 1971) to help quell violence between Hindus and Muslims. I believe more recently, there was the creation of North and South Sudan to stop the genocide. And then there are the vast majority of Muslim nations that have Islam as their official state religion. Couldn’t those be considered Muslim homelands?
So as much as the idea of a Jewish homeland seems shaky to you, there’s precedent and on-going practice for other oppressed groups. I don’t believe it’s a big ask for you or anyone else to apply equal application of this practice to Jews.
Maybe another way of relating the meaning of Israel to Jews is something like this: even though you are English, it’s safe to assume your ancestry traces back to Africa. What does Africa mean to you? Is there a spiritual, emotional, or other underlying connection to those roots? Does it give you any comfort knowing that having Black skin in Africa is just normal—even if you never planned on living there? For many Jews, the idea of Israel brings some sense of psychological safety that there is a homeland—that we are not at the mercy of the whims of any other religious, racial, or other persecution for being a Jew—even if we never plan to move there. Jews have been run out of every place they dwelt in the Christian and Muslim world at some point in history. This is including the Spanish, English, and Dutch colonies of the "New World." Your home country of England has even apologized for ethnically cleansing its Jews 800+ years ago. Memories are long.
Or how about this…humans don’t learn from history and keep replaying the same tape on a loop. The Levant has been conquered and colonized repeatedly for millennia. To some it’s a holy place, to others, a strategic military and economic cross-roads. And probably something else to someone else. But everyone wants it.
Anyway, I am planning to pull down my posts and move on with my actual real life. These are conversations I prefer to have in person and removing the posts is the best way I can think to cut through this Gordian knot of a topic.
"I don’t believe it’s a big ask for you or anyone else to apply equal application of this practice to Jews."
Haha, if you'd like me to stop replying I will. I'll restrict myself only to addressing the above point, because it's important. But happy for this to be my last reply.
Yes, I agree completely. The application of any principle should be consistent. And I'm consistently opposed to the creation of ethnostates on the basis of religion or ethnicity or any aspect of group identity. I'm not singling out Jews here at all.
To my knowledge, Israel's legal and often illegal enforcement of the Jews' alleged God-given right to a piece of land is unique. But if not, as I said above, I'd object exactly as strongly to a "black" state or a "Christian" state or a "Muslim" state.
Not least because, in each of the cases you mention, there was enormous death, brutality and suffering, both at the time, and in many cases, still years later, as a result of the creation of these states. There's a reason why both the partition of India and the expulsion of Arabs are known in their native languages as "The Catastrophe." There's a reason why there's still a genocide happening in Sudan. There's a reason why Jews and Muslims are still dying in the Middle East.
If outsider military might is used, I think it should be used to unite people, most of whom, I'll remind you, were already living in peace. Jews and Muslims have lived in that part of the world, largely without incident, for centuries. It was European anti semitism, the British empire's God complex, and religious extremism on both sides that led to the mess we see today.
So yes, I sadly agree with you that we don't seem to learn from history. But we should. And Israeli Jews have more reason to have learned from history than most. Indeed, as I've pointed out, the Jews who experienced the worst of that history *have* learned from it. I'm just praying that nobody, Jewish or Muslim or anything else, has to experience those same horror before they learn too.
Quick follow-up. I am deciding to keep my posts up. Regardless of the topic, I hope our exchange here can serve as an example of how to have a civil dialogue online. Lofty ambition?
I lied…you are too irresistible not to reply.
“To my knowledge, Israel's legal and often illegal enforcement of the Jews' alleged God-given right to a piece of land is unique. But if not, as I said above, I'd object exactly as strongly to a "black" state or a "Christian" state or a "Muslim" state.”
The Crusades were EXACTLY about a religion’s God-given claims to the holy lands. Religion was used as a “justification” taming the “savages” and “infidels” of all the places conquered and colonized by the Christian and Islamic worlds. Religions were the umbrella political system that united pfeifdoms, sheikdoms, tribes, etc., prior the to the development of political nation states as we know them today.
More specific to Israel/Palestine (and applicable to India/Pakistan), this is exactly the Arab Islamist claim to the land—and 1,300+ years later written in Hamas’ charter. I believe it’s called the “ummah,” and it basically states that any land conquered by Islam can never be given up or surrendered to non-Muslims. The Islamic Empire was a conquering and colonizing force that originated in the Hijaz (Saudi Arabia post WWI colonialism). They didn’t build the pyramids of Giza or the Roman aqueducts and amphitheaters in the Levant. The didn’t build the Byzantine church that became the Hagia Sofia Mosque in Istanbul (which was once Constantinople).
A guess here: the author of this article is another soft hands professional opinion haver who’s never served in a military ground force. His hypothetical wreaks of notional nonsense uninformed by blood, sweat and tears.
Haha, guilty as charged. Well, my hands aren't soft, but I do get paid for expressing my opinions. And no, I've never served in the military. Of course, nor have most people speaking about this conflict. Historians, politicians, your run-of-the-mill grifters. Many of whom you likely agree with. So do you have a point? Or are you resorting to ad hominems because you don't?
Yes, my point is this. If I came at you with a hundred men, to kill your extended family, and we killed 10, then retreated, your family would be wise to pursue us and either get our surrender or kill us all, thus ensuring that we could never do it again. That’s what Israel is doing, knucklehead. Go chop some wood and build those callouses.
Germany in WW2? They really did have concerns for the Germans living outside the borders of the Reich. But that was heavily co-mingled with a desire to restore the borders of the old German Empire (and more). The Germans arranged a false flag attack on a German radio transmitter on the border with Poland, to justify their invasion of Poland. I don’t see evidence of Israel creating a false flag operation that killed ~1200 of their own citizens. But hey, you can write anything on Substack.
"If I came at you with a hundred men, to kill your extended family, and we killed 10, then retreated, your family would be wise to pursue us and either get our surrender or kill us all, thus ensuring that we could never do it again"
Of course! I couldn't agree more! But that's not quite what's happening here is it?
To improve your analogy, this is like 30 men coming from the next town over and killing ten members of my family, and me responding by indiscriminately killing three hundred of the people in that town, maiming around seven hundred more, destroying countless homes, cutting off access to food, water, medicine and power, and making videos on TikTok mocking them while 150 of their children starve and die.
But it gets better!
The people in that town? I've trapped them in there! I blockaded them there by land, air and sea for 17 years, subjected them to oppressive, international law-breaking military rule, and have killed tens of times more members of their family over the past 75 years than they've killed of mine.
And let's not forget their extended family in the nearby town of "West Bankia." Since the attack, I've killed 400 of them too! Why? No reason, they weren't involved, but I've been systematically stealing land from them for decades too, killing them as needs be, and this seems like a good excuse to crack down on them.
*That's* what Israel is doing.
I have no problem with Israel destroying Hamas. I have a problem with tens of thousands of innocent people who *aren’t* Hamas being wilfully slaughtered. And I have a problem with people acting as if the history of this conflict started on Oct 7th. The goal for any sane person here is a lasting peace. I wish both Israelis and Palestinians every success in this. But you can't demand peace while your foot is on somebody's neck.
p.s. Seems like you didn't understand the point being made in the introduction. But hey, anybody can read articles on Substack.
Where did you deploy for your combat experience?
I did not deploy. Did you go to Ranger School (and lose 30 pounds)? Did you serve in a light infantry unit? Did you sleep on the ground under your ‘cho liner and wake with snow accumulation on top of you? Do not test me - I am not going to stand for it. I put my butt on the line, suffered, and had no guarantee on how it would turn out.
"Do not test me - I am not going to stand for it. I put my butt on the line, suffered, and had no guarantee on how it would turn out."
Why don't you chill out William. We're quite a nice bunch here. Nobody's going to "test" anybody on the internet.
I was just curious if your attitude toward Arabs/Muslims was because of your combat experience.
No, it’s due to my understanding of history, culture, & religion. Hamas is in the grips of an honor culture downward spiral (think Hatfields and McCoys), and like a fever breaks after holding some exceedingly high value for a time, I am hoping that the downward honor culture spiral will also break (or exhaust itself), at which point they may be open to creating a justice culture (with justice meaning the Judeo-Christian notion of honoring God’s judgment, not the judgment of men - obviously a large hurdle for Muslims to clear).
The roots of the current global Zeitgeist can be found in the "survival of the fittest, there isn't enough to go around" ethic that was popularized by Darwin and others of his time. Standing on the premise that the "earth is the result of random events," the science of war proceeded for two hundred years with a scientific endorsement.
When people realize they are eternal beings engaged in a brief mortal experience; when they grasp the fact that they are Gods in microcosm, just like the beings that created this earth, perhaps a global awakening will be upon us.