Discussion about this post

User's avatar
AE's avatar

Of course, you knew the comments would attack you from both sides, and also those in the middle who don’t know much, who appreciate “nuance.”

I write this with a rock in my heart.

I deeply appreciate your work. And a lot of this is very informative on different areas providing background.

But I don’t understand how you can write Israel has been wanting to settle the land of the Palestinians. Palestine was not a sovereign country for hundreds of years. It had no currency. There was no ethnic Palestinian People: Anyone in the region, whether Jew, Muslim, or Christian, was called Palestinian. Surely, you know was a wasteland before Zionists immigrated and started working the land. Many Arabs immigrated there when it seemed like a better economic opportunity than what they had. So no, there was no Palestinian People who ruled themselves.

In 1947, the UN gave the Arab Palestinians a choice - a beautiful state, and to accept Israel as well. The Palestinian Arabs rejected this. Surrounding Arab countries told them to leave their homes, that they would obliterate Israel, and then the Palestinians could return.

Against all odds, fighting for its very survival completely alone (other than God), Israel won.

Throughout the last 75 years Israel has fought many wars. Wars they did not instigate (please tell me you have read this history). And yet, when they gained land in these wars they did not instigate, they were told to give it back. When they retaliated in these live-or-die wars and started winning, all of a sudden the world called for restraint.

In the early 2000s was the second Intafada, when Israelis were blown up on busses, in cafes, and at weddings. In 2005, in the greatest peace gesture in its history, Israel gave the Palestinians the Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers forcibly removed Israeli families from their homes, for Palestinians to live there.

Hamas razed these homes, and the big productive greenhouses left behind. And now, to thank Israel for its offering, Israelis are routinely showered with rockets from this area, and occasionally kidnapped.

And yet we play by the world's rules.

The world says Israel is an apartheid state, even though many Arabs are integrated into Israeli society. They are doctors, judges, and even in the parliament. Arabic is an official language in Israel.

Rules that say: Yes you’ve given concessions - well, that’s proof that the Palestinians deserved all of that. They’ve murdered you - well, that’s proof that you’ve done something that justifies their anger.

Rules that say, even though Gaza rules itself, and spends its aid money on weapons rather than its poor - it's an open-air prison and it's Israel's fault.

Rules that say Israel should provide free electricity and other care to Gaza. No matter that Egypt also shares a border with Gaza but wants nothing to do with them.

Rules that say even when they infiltrate your communities and smash your baby's head in front of you before killing you too (2008) there must be something you can do to appease them.

Rules that say: Although they dance in the streets when you are kidnapped, tortured, and killed, and their children learning hate with their mother's breastmilk, all you have to do is negotiate more.

Rules that say: Although they chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," it doesn't really mean that. They want to live side by side with you, of course.

Rules that say: Even though they laughingly went into your homes and butchered complete families, even though Israel gives detailed instructions for Palestinian civilians to flee, Israel is still in the wrong.

A world that condemns Israel more than China, Iran, and North Korea combined.

The fascinating thing about Jew-hatred is that it can take the form of whatever one doesn’t like. Over the centuries, Jews have been hated for nearly every trait known to man.

If people resented welfare, they found poor Jews to hate. If they resented capitalism, they found wealthy Jews to hate. If they resented communism, they found socialist Jews to hate. If they resented elitism, they found intellectual Jews to hate. If they resented depravity, they found immoral Jews to hate. If they resented morality, they found religious Jews to hate. If they resented weakness, they found submissive Jews to hate. If they resented perseverance, they found successful Jews to hate. If they resented colonialism, they found victorious Jews to hate.

Right now, Israel is expected to somehow respond to an enemy that would celebrate Israel's total, anguished destruction. An enemy that hides behind its own children. An enemy that sees might as a sign of glory and compassion as a sign of weakness, in a world that sees compassion as a sign of virtue and might as a sign of evil.

You write that “One of the most common things which breeds fundamentalism and wars has been poor living conditions.” Please take a look at Brigitte Gabriel’s story. She is a Christian from Lebanon, and told of how radical Muslims indescribably tortured those who disagreed with their way of life. The country devolved from a Christian beacon to a Muslim war pit. Hers is a fascinating story. https://www.c-span.org/video/?194639-1/because-hate

Please realize what you have contrasted.

On the one hand, the extreme Palestinian views says “some have felt that Israel should not exist, to the point many are willing to give both their lives and their children’s lives in the hope it will destroy the Israelis.”

While the Israel extreme view says, “the two state solution represents an extreme danger to Israel and Palestinian statehood must be restrained in order to protect Israeli (e.g., not provided with the autonomy that a single state gives) in order to protect Israeli lives.”

So one wants its enemy destroyed, while the other wants its enemy kept at bay.

It’s much more than you have wrote, that one side places higher value on the lives of its citizens. Israel goes out of its way to try targeting only military bases, while Hamas hides behind children and hospitals. Israel places higher value on Palestinian lives than Hamas does. This distinction is crucial.

They have voiced this out loud, just this week. “The difference between us and them, is that for them they think life begins. For us, we believe that death begins.” https://twitter.com/emily8275/status/1712489784453779794?s=46&t=t9yvoFCjS9phCwIVYtu9lg

So yes, there are many peripheral points to know, which I do appreciate your article for. But the most important factor cannot be overlooked.

Thank you.

Expand full comment
A Midwestern Doctor's avatar

Hi, it looks like Substack's comments fixed themselves, so there is no longer a need to reply to this comment (you can leave a new one).

Expand full comment
226 more comments...

No posts