I predicted this in my last rant, and now here we are. The progressive left has come out in full force to defend the actions of Hamas – a terrorist organization and also Gaza’s duly elected government – in spite of the unspeakable horror that they have committed specifically against Israeli civilians. Pro-Palestinian protesters, celebrating the Hamas attack on Israel chanting “Free Palestine from the River to the Sea” were in full force in New York City (and elsewhere) with vocal and public support from the Democratic Socialists of America, led by Bernie Sanders, who immediately accused Israel of committing the war crime of targeting civilians, regardless of the fact that it has not happened.
Excuse me Senator (and Cornel West and Black Lives Matter, and Harvard, Columbia, Stanford students among others) but since when is doing what it takes to keep your civilians from being murdered, beheaded, raped, and abducted a “war crime?” Ah, when Israelis do it.
Well, sorry, but that’s just plain bullshit. While I feel for the “average” Gazan, let us remember that Gazans elected Hamas as their governing entity – in 2006. That’s the last election held in Gaza. Have you heard about any protests in Gaza against the Hamas regime, the lack of elections, the persecution of LBGTQ+ people, the second-class status of women? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Me either. Because Gazans have not protested, at all. So, as much as I feel for the “average” Gazan (and I do believe they have gotten the very short end of the stick), I see no movement at all that would lead me to believe they are ready to toss Hamas over and negotiate a peace plan. P.S. I see the same lack of will and movement from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
The world’s leftists scream that Israel deserves what happened last Saturday because they are “occupiers.” Israel turned over the Gaza strip to the Palestinian Authority in 2005. The Israelis have not been “occupiers” in Gaza, in any sense of the word, since then. Hamas, elected by Gazans in 2006, was provided billions of dollars in aid from Arab countries, the European Union, and yes, the United States, along with Iran and Russia. That aid was not spent on alleviating Gazan poverty, or infrastructure improvements, or education for the young. It was spent on rocket-making materials, ammunition and arms, building tunnels under the Israeli border and otherwise encouraging and leading attacks on Israeli civilians. And while, yes, Gazan civilians have – unfortunately and tragically – lost their lives in this conflict, there has never been an Israeli Defense Force action aimed at civilians. Never, not once. When you use your population as human shields, tragedy ensues. Why are those progressive left voices not complaining that Hamas has abandoned its people, put them in harm’s way, and ignored their plight in their pursuit of this truly psychotic jihad against Israel and Jews in general?
Immediately upon their political takeover of Gaza, and right after forcefully expelling the Palestinian Authority from Gaza, Hamas began terrorist activities against Israeli civilians, funded by the misuse of funding from the West and direct funding from Iran and the Qataris. Between the terrorist and rocket attacks on Israel and Egypt, both countries closed their borders with Gaza. An open border simply means more dead Israelis. I can’t emphasize this enough. When leftists like Bernie Sanders and the other so-called “pro-Palestinian” Hamas supporters describe Gaza as an “open air prison” they conveniently ignore the reason why Gaza’s borders have been sealed by both Israel and Egypt. Because Hamas, Gaza’s elected leadership, has sworn to destroy Israel and has been attacking and killing civilians in Israel and Egypt for decades. This is not hyperbole. Read the Hamas charter – it is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jewish civilians.
And over on the West Bank, Israel turned over internal security to the Palestinian Authority, leaving IDF to secure the border, protect against terrorism, and ensure the safety and security of legitimate Jewish settlements. I have no idea what the Palestinian Authority wants other than to continue to be in charge of the billions provided to them in aid. To be generous, let’s just say there is no unanimity of purpose between the various groups/factions within the PA.
Admittedly, the current Israeli government (which I do not support for a myriad of reasons) has not been particularly energetic about negotiating a two-state solution. But seriously, who would they negotiate such a solution with? Neither Hamas (who rejects any accommodation with Israel) nor the Palestinian Authority (who has stood on the brink of agreeing to peace with Israel many times but has always rejected the solution at the last moment) appear to be legitimate or trustworthy negotiating partners.
The narrative that “the Jews took our land” is old, tired, and factually incorrect. I have recounted the history before, no need to repeat all of it now. Israel’s borders were determined just like those of India/Pakistan, India/China, China/Vietnam, Haiti/Dominican Republic, Northern Ireland/The Irish Republic, Azerbaijan/Armenia, Russia/Ukraine, Ohio/Michigan – either by war or by negotiations following wars or by UN/League of Nations mandate. As were the borders of neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen. And the borders of most African nations. Does the world want to revisit those borders as well, or just Israel’s?
The truth is that the “Palestinian people” have been ill-used – by their Arab neighbors who abandoned them, by their governments who ignored, manipulated, lied to them, and stole from them. They have been the excuse for horrible acts of despicable violence and now, there is an entire generation of Palestinians raised under an unreasonable lie – a lie perpetrated by the Palestinian cause as led by Hamas and Fatah (the major wing of the Palestinian Authority) that they can cause Israel to cease to exist. Continuing the mantra that “Palestine will be free from river to the sea” deceives their people about the reality on the ground and creates an environment where any negotiation is seen as capitulation. Moreover, when you raise an entire generation or two with such lies and the murderous vitriol that accompanies those lies, you have primed the pump for utter disregard for Jewish lives. That utter disregard became an appalling, horrifying reality last Saturday.
And yet, the West continues to expect Israel to believe that the Palestinians (as represented by Hamas and Fatah) want peace. Look at the map. The River is the Jordan River; the Sea is the Mediterranean. Now consider what is really being said here: there is no room for Israel, and no room for the Jews. You tell me: given Hamas’s rhetoric, where would Israel begin to negotiate?
Part of me believes that, if the Palestinian State were to hold truly free and fair elections, it is likely that both Hamas and the PA would disappear. I do not for a minute believe that the average Palestinian mother or father wants to continue the status quo. My guess is they want the same things we all want….a better life for our children, safety, security, and the ability to continue the pursuit of happiness, a meaningful and productive job, a quality life. They have none of that now. But that requires a massive populist effort in defiance of an armed and extremist and/or entrenched leadership in the Palestinian world.
Such an effort would be the equivalent of the fight against apartheid in South Africa, for civil rights in the US, or peace in Northern Ireland or Kashmir (still not achieved). It is not something the Israelis can negotiate for or “give” the Palestinian people. They have to do that themselves and it would be a hard, bloody, long, painful process if it happens at all.
Why (and yes, it is a rhetorical question) does the anti-Israel crowd insist on using such charged words like apartheid and genocide. The Palestinians do not live in an apartheid state. Those Palestinians who chose to live in Israel are Israeli with equal rights. Those in Gaza and the West Bank control their own lives, provide their own security, and govern themselves. That is not anything close to apartheid. Genocide? The Armenians know about genocide, so do the Syrian Christians, and Tutsis and Jews. The Palestinians are not facing genocide, far from it. And those using those charged words know that.
So, let me return to the beginning. To blame Israel for the murder, rape, and abduction of their own people – to accuse them of apartheid and genocide in response to trying to keep their people safe is simply a way to excuse the extreme violence perpetrated by Hamas. How can people like the Democratic Socialists of America, university students, members of the US House of Representatives like Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Corrie Bush of Missouri utter those statements? They have bought into the myth that the “white Jewish colonizers” who make up Israel are oppressors of people of color like the Palestinians. To make that assumption, to use those words, not supported by facts, quite simply makes them antisemitic. What other conclusion can one come to?
A few questions for you:
- If you do not think this is an apt description of antisemitism, then I ask you why are synagogues defaced and Jews targeted in places like Buenos Aries, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Paris, and other places not in Israel when “anti-Israel” or ‘anti-Zionist” groups are angry?
- More than half of Israeli Jews are Mizrahi – Jewish people of color from North Africa and the Middle East. Are these Israelis considered “oppressors”?
- Why does the progressive left and others turn a blind eye to the decades of terror committed by Hamas, Fatah, and Hezbollah against Israeli’s and Jews but only call for “proportionate” response from Israel?
- Why are there no Jews in Gaza, or in the West Bank other than Jewish settlements surrounded by barbed wire? Why do those desirous of a Palestinian State insistent that it be “Jew-free?”
- Why all this Western left-liberal progressive angst over “the Jews took their land” when it comes to the Palestinians who, in 1948 (for the most part) went to war to prevent the creation of the State of Israel? Why do they not also demand a “right of return” for the 800,000 Jewish refugees forced out of Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Syria in 1948 and 1967?
- Why do detractors excoriate Israel, a democratic country with free elections, a country where Israeli Arabs (people who, if living outside of Israel, would be considered “Palestinians”) are citizens, where LBGTQ+ rights are recognized, where women have equal rights, where abortion is legal and one is free to worship as one wishes, while at the same time they support Hamas and Fatah, under whose leadership, none, I repeat none, of those conditions exist?
You know the answer and so do I. It is antisemitism, pure and simple. And antisemitism is as evil as Hamas because it is and has been used to justify the most vile and evil crimes against humanity.
If you are a Republican, you have your own issues with antisemitism on your right wing. Deal with it or risk alienating every person of color and non-Christian in this country because antisemitism is never without its brother and sister, racism, and Christian exclusivity. It will make Republicans a perpetual minority party.
If you are a Democrat, it is time to purge the party of this terrible disease. It is causing (or a result of) blindness to the facts on the ground and is causing immeasurable harm to others and your party. Being liberal does not mean being anti-Israel or anti-Zionist or antisemitic. It means being anti-hate. Start doing something about that.
If you support the Democratic Socialist of America, stop. They have just demonstrated that they have no moral center. Nor do any of the voices like Tlaib, Omar, the 30 Harvard student organizations, etc. These folks need to look in the mirror and ask if they really believe that murdering babies is justified, that rape is justified, that hostage-taking is justified.
If that answer is yes, you have no moral standing and thus cannot be trusted with anything – you believe your ends (which are evil) justify the means (which are even more evil). That makes you someone without a soul.
Adult Language Is Possible 