#all the blame on israel and none on hamas

[noaluvs]

This never should've happened anymore , than Oct 7th should've happened !

Yet here we are .

I am sorry Israel 💔🇮🇱

[queer-geordie-nerd]

I currently have a lot of Jewish mutuals/people I follow and over the course of the last few months, almost Every. Single. One has talked about their mental health declining, that they’re exhausted and terrified, that they’ve become more closed off and lost their trust in people from outside their communities, due to being gaslit and ignored constantly on a society wide scale. Almost all of them have experienced antisemitic abuse or violence personally or had bomb threats to their synagogues and community centres or had swastikas and slurs graffitied on their properties.

The worst thing about this outrage is that none of them are really surprised by it - frightened, sickened, yes - but not surprised. They and their ancestors have had to deal with this shit for thousands of years. And all of them expect - no they *know* - it’s going to get worse.

It’s beyond fucking shameful. We are failing these people on a massive, society wide scale. Again.

So, I NEVER want to see a single one of my fellow goyim say shit like “Jews are just playing the victim,” “the rise in antisemitism is overblown and not as bad as they say because I haven’t seen it,” “it’s just a few extremists,” because NO, IT ISN’T - it’s systemic. Those who aren’t directly perpetrating it are mostly ignoring it. If you won't believe or listen to Jewish voices (if not, why not?) then the cold statistics cannot be waved away.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-antisemitic-incidents-up-about-400-since-israel-hamas-war-began-report-says-2023-10-25/

https://news.sky.com/story/more-than-4-000-antisemitic-incidents-recorded-by-jewish-charity-in-uk-in-2023-with-explosion-in-hatred-blamed-on-hamas-attacks-13071580

https://www.reuters.com/world/how-surge-antisemitism-is-affecting-countries-around-world-2023-10-31/

[funkopersonal]

Im quite literally so done with this shit. i keep on going back and forth between hiding all the i/p related tags, but then I realize that its seeped EVERYWHERE. It's in the motherhood tag, and jewish history tag, and everything else. I can't fucking escape it. I opened tiktok yesterday to see one of my favorite characters (iron man) weaponized to support the one group that wants to see me dead, the user saying that iron man would support palestine, and be an antizionist because he "spoke out against the public" and he wasn't like the sheep. It frustrates me to no end this horrible cycle of fucking misinformation that exists.

As a Gen Z, I simply do not understand how its reached this point? I can't even write all my feelings and information about how shitty this is in a single sitting because 1) it'd be too long and 2) my joints wont let me write that long. But how did it reach this point?

How did it reach the point where jewish/isreali stores are fucking marked to notify the public. Their windows are being broken and the stores are being robbed. How did it reach the point where jewish students on some campuses are told to stay home? how they're harassed out of specific areas, and campuses have been made unsafe? How did it reach the point that people literally have written "I ♡ Houthis & Hamas" and "no mercy for Jews."? How did it reach the point that there are nazi symbols, and hanging deadmans, and communist symbols being drawn on college campuses? How is it possible that students are calling for the end of jewish student unions and hillel international on campus? that'd be like calling for the end of the fucking muslim student organization, or disbanding an african-american affinity group. Which would never be acceptable, but apparently its fine when its jews.

I'm sick and tired of all the horrible conditions of palestenian cities being blamed on israel. Palestine is its own country. They had their own government until they elected Hamas to lead them. Hamas, who diverted all their funds to the military. Hamas, who uses hospitals and public spaces as their bases. Hamas, who built miitary tunnels under cities so that when they're invaded, the cities will collapse on itself. Hamas, who steals all humanitarian aid from its citizens. Hamas, who controls palestenian media and teaches hatred to its children. Hamas, who wants their citizens to become martyrs for their country, to die for their goal. Hamas, whose number one goal is to eradicate all jews. Hamas, who denies the existence of the holocaust. Hamas, who enlists children as soldiers and suicide bombers. Hamas, who has has never expressed an interest in a 2 state solution.

Is this the organization you consider freedom fighters? because i dont think they should ever, in any context, be called that. Hamas is nothing but terrorists.

Yes, the deaths and treatment of palestenian citizens is horrible. but no, this is not a genocide. Israel is trying to rid them of Hamas, because quite literally, no country should ever be forced to live in "harmony" with a terrorist group. Especially one who denies their existence and actively wants to kill them all. Israel has been letting palestenians get jobs in the country, has let palestine use their resources and water, all for years. They've let hamas continously bomb them, they've gotten used to a life of bomb shelters in every residence. Hamas has done nothing but crippled their country's own economy and society.

None of the surrounding coutnries want to let in palestenians, or live with palestenians. Egypt wants to annex Gaza, and Jordan wants the West Bank. In fact, they did own that land for a part of history! Yet Israel has let palestenians govern themselves for years, even when Hamas originally came into power, they didn't interfere. Not until they were provoked.

Yes, Israel has flaws. But welcome to the fucking real world, princess. Every country has flaws. Even America, you dipshits. This is not a little fandom for you to play sides on. its not some fictional world that has a black and white solution. Yes theres going to be deaths, just like in any other WAR. But you really can't call for the destruction of a country on the basis that they're trying to make sure they're allowed to stay a country? Because guess what honey bunchkins? "from the river to the sea" really doesn't mean what you think it does. It just means that you want to kill all jews, or at best, forcefully remove them and scatter them around the middle east. (to countries that have killed them in swaths in the past. To countries that have emprisoned jews for helping others escape. To countries that avidly hate jews and want them dead). I don't understand how that would mean peace in any way shape or form?

Not only that, but half of "protestors" and "activists" for palestine, haven't even done basic research. They dont know what river or sea theyre talking about. They dont know that "palestine" was not a palestenian state in 1948, but it was instead a BRITISH MANDATE, that was NOT fully occupied by palestenians. In fact, "palestenians" weren't a thing. Palestenians are just muslims and arabs from countries like syria, who lived alongside jews and christians in the same land (which was largely uninhabited for the most part). Yeah, you heard me right.

Honestly my thoughts on this issue are so scattered its so hard to make a solid points when I can just keep on going forever.

Fact is, Israel deserves to be a country. No one should be supporting Hamas. Everyone should be supporting the eradication of Hamas (and I mean Hamas not palestenian citizens). I don't get how these are debated, and seriously don't understand how citizens of america are so quick to support a terrorist group, to resort to antisemitism.

Im so done with this all. I cant believe we have to tell you gentiles that stoning a 13-year old kid for being jewish is horrible. That throwing a brick through an israeli-owned cafe in New York is horrible. That students not being able to be on campuses because of their religion or ethnicity is horrible.

This has to end.

Do your research, or don't speak (and terrorist-controlled propoganda channels don't count).

[qqueenofhades]

What do you think of the movement to vote "uncommitted" in the primary? Personally I think it's a good idea as a protest vote, while not "allowing Trump to win" since it's, ya know, the primary. You're voting for "the Democrat you want to be the candidate for president" not who you actually want to be president. Most of the arguments I've seen against it seem to forget primaries exist...

Well, since you came to me and presumably do want my honest opinion on this topic, I'll share it with you. However, this will also be very blunt and candid, including some things which I haven't yet said in the 4+ months since the whole Israel/Hamas situation kicked off, and therefore also frustrated. This frustration should not be read as/taken as being directed at you personally, but since you're the conduit for this question, that's just something I want to highlight.

So. Why should you vote for Biden in the primary, and not "uncommitted" or whatever else?

First of all, what I desperately want to ask all these self-righteous VOTE UNCOMMITTED IN THE PRIMARY TO SEND BIDEN A MESSAGE types is: what exactly the fuck do you want this message to be, and what action do you expect Biden will take as a result? Is this actually based on an expectation of what he can/and or will actually do, or is it just a froth of misguided Online Leftist "rah rah this Bad Thing Happening Is All Biden's Fault," as we also notably went through when Roe was overturned by the Trump-stacked SCOTUS selected precisely for the purpose of overturning Roe? My god, the amount of bad "THIS IS BIDEN/THE DEMOCRATS' FAULT" posts that appeared, and are still circulating on the particularly idiotic corners of this site. Nothing could ever be Trump/the Republicans' fault in that case; it was the same old same old "DEMOCRATS DON'T CARE ENOUGH TO STOP THIS!!!" puerile fantasy. That's what we are getting now with Israel/Hamas. This isn't Hamas's fault for attacking Israel on October 7 (god forbid; the online left loves Hamas) and it isn't even the state of Israel and Netanyahu's fault for responding with full-scale genocide on Gaza. Or it is, somehow, but not so much that Biden personally couldn't magically reach in and stop it "if he really wanted to." I'm sick and fucking tired of this bullshit sixth-grade bad-faith disingenuous approach to playing Super Moral Social Justice Yahtzee and refusing to acknowledge the thousands of complex factors at play, especially when it involves blaming literally anyone other than Biden, personally (just like the Trump cultists, for whom "IT'S BIDEN'Z FAULT" is the beginning and end of their political theory, just like the Online Leftists). I'm sure this will get me called a genocide apologist by the Very Smart Moral Twitter Thinker types, but I don't think "Biden has failed to magically single-handedly solve this crisis, which stems from one of the most major and long-running issues in post-WWII and indeed pre-WWII world history, in four months" is actually a good reason to vote against him.

Likewise: withholding your vote might make more sense as a strategy if Biden was still only blindly supporting Israel and refusing to do anything to pressure them, which is demonstrably untrue. I know it's hard for some of these people to actually read the news and/or anything outside their ultra-curated Twitter feed, but it's been well-reported and well-documented that he is. If the US was directly involved in the bombing campaign on Gaza, sure, tell Biden that you will vote uncommitted to increase pressure on him to pull out. None of that is actually true, and the "information" about Biden's action in re: Gaza on both Twitter and Tumblr is basically just entirely malicious lies. So again: what message are you sending when you decide to be all precious and announce you're not voting for him? You don't want him to pressure Israel? You're willing to blow this up entirely and increase the media nonsense about BIDEN WEAK DEMOCRATS DIVIDED and give Trump an opening to exploit? You really want to announce to the Trump/Putin/Netanyahu axis of evil that their anti-Biden propaganda is working (since all three of them are working as hard as they fucking can to get Biden out of office, and as someone who opposes all three of them, I think this is a good idea to vote for Biden!) and they need to hammer harder on this wedge issue? Because that's all your oh-so-moral Uncommitted vote is doing. It's not a protest. It's not leverage. It is the withdrawing of leverage. If you want Biden in office so he can be pressured to listen to you and take action that you agree with, you will vote for him. Yes, in the primary. Yes, when it's not directly against Trump.

You want a ceasefire, you say? GREAT! WE ALL WANT A CEASEFIRE AND/OR ACTUAL PEACE AND RECOGNITION OF A PALESTINIAN STATE! That's in fact why you should be busting your fucking ass to make sure Biden gets re-elected, and to give him a strong show of support in the primary. Biden is the only candidate with a credible long-term (and like, baseline functional sane adult) plan for Gaza. Biden is the one who has been pressuring Netanyahu in every single contact to tone it down and stop acting like an insane murderous maniac and therefore torching any remains of sympathy for the attack Israel suffered in October. Biden is the one who has his entire diplomatic team working on high-level contacts with the Israeli government and the Hamas representatives via Qatar, while sufficiently threatening Iran to back down from frothing at the mouth to destroy Israel (once again, just like the rest of the antisemitic western left). Biden is the one who is pushing for this not to be World War III, and yet we get Baby's First Social Justice Activist screaming at him for being GENOCIDE JOE and blaming him personally for not, as I keep putting it, shapeshifting into Netanyahu's body and making this stop. "He should publicly call for a ceasefire!" Or, and this is just a suggestion, he should DO HIS FUCKING JOB and continue to work on serious problems that don't have instant socially media marketable catchphrases and won't come with instant gratification. Also, please tell me how you plan to get both Hamas and Israel to accept the same terms for a ceasefire, abide by it, and do exactly what Big Daddy Biden told them, because you, the dedicated anti-western anti-imperialist, think that's the best course of action?

Like. I mean. As vice president and now as president, Biden is actually one of the least foreign-intervention-happy leaders the US has ever had. He was originally against the Abbottabad raid to take out Osama bin Laden in 2011; he wound down the overseas drone assassination program (at which the Online Leftists screamed bloody murder at Obama, ignored in Trump, and then refused to give Biden any credit for ending) to almost nothing, he pulled the US out of Afghanistan, and even though he's been supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia, he's also been extremely slow and cautious (in my opinion, too slow and cautious) at giving them all the military hardware they need, even before this latest blockade of aid in the House by Putin's favorite little bitch Mike Johnson. He has already presided over a historic shift in US policy toward Israel, in terms of conditioning the use of lethal aid, imposing reporting requirements, starting to criticize them publicly, and calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state and more humanitarian aid to get into Gaza. Yet in the Online Leftists' mind, because he is not personally out there Captain America-ing away the Israeli bombs and/or calling for Israel to be totally destroyed "from the river to the sea" as the Tumblr activists are fond of using no matter how often Jews ask them to stop, there is nothing he's actually doing! GENOCIDE JOE!!!!! Like, I thought the anti-western anti-American crowd thought all overseas American influence was evil (but all overseas Russian and/or Chinese influence is fine). When Biden actually doesn't recklessly intervene in foreign conflicts like Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon/Reagan/Bush 1/Bush 2/pretty much every American president in the latter half of the twentieth century, you'd think that would get him plaudits? NAH.

"Biden should stop selling Israel weapons without Congressional approval!" Okay, sure, he should. Which he did one time, and he also repeatedly promised to veto and/or not pass any only-Israel aid package that didn't also help Ukraine and Taiwan. He's also not beholden to the frothing antisemitic Online Leftists position that Israel should just lie down and let all of its citizens be killed and its state wiped from existence. Like. We also remember that Jewish voters exist in America, right? And that Jewish lives are something which are repeatedly and demonstrably under threat in the rest of the world, including from Hamas and the Houthis (who are genuinely terrible people and the western left's warm embrace of them as principled anti-Israel actors is all we need to know about their inherent brainrot and moral vacancy). We know that maybe going full masks-off antisemite (which Biden isn't going to do anyway, for any number of reasons) isn't the greatest plan and nothing to which you should be conditioning your vote? Likewise, please tell me how you plan to make Congress (especially the GOP-led clown car House) "do what Biden wants," since you're still beholden to that being the be-all-and-end-all of moral action? Or how you account for Congress at all, and not just think The President is An Almighty King?

Aside from all this, I am sick to my fucking back teeth of the Precious Moral Princesses (gender neutral) who have spent four years lying about everything Biden has done. We had the personally blaming him for Roe ending (he could unilaterally overturn SCOTUS if he really wanted!) We had the endless bashing about student debt, only to ignore him actually making the most major effort to forgive student debt in all the post-Reagan years. We have had a complete ignoring and/or distortion of his domestic policy accomplishments, which are some of the most momentous since FDR and LBJ. We have had an utter ignoring, revision, and downplaying of the damage Trump did in one term and how very much worse his second would be. We have had to endure "WELL YOU CAN'T ASK ME TO VOTE FOR BIDEN" at every single second for every single thing, because this is such a terrible onerous thing to ask them to lift one single fucking finger to give us some more time to come up with a better solution. And yet, as astutely pointed out by one of my anons yesterday, they utterly don't care whether the obvious outcome of this action is to help Trump get back into power. Apparently that's not a moral reach too far, but straining their delicate tender moral sensibilities to fucking do the goddamn bare minimum to help us out -- both in America and around the world -- no, no. We can't have that.

Like. These people allegedly want a ceasefire, and they want it to come about by asking literally nothing more of them then posting snide anti-Biden diatribes on social media. That's the extent of the effort they're willing to put in. They can't even trouble themselves to take the first step of voting for people who want to address this crisis in a constructive way. So yeah, I have a hard time believing this is anything deeply felt in regard to opposing genocide, and just wants what makes them look morally superior. Also: I don't care if your feelings are genuinely pure and strong and you obviously oppose what's happening in Gaza (we all do!) and want it to end. In that case, why the fuck aren't you throwing your support (yes! Even in the primary!) behind the one guy who's actually working to fix it and not just posting empty platitudes on Twitter? It likewise does not excuse you from the harmful consequences of your rhetoric and actions, if you decide that the best way to act on your deep-seated and genuine desire to stop the genocide is just to blindly bash Biden all day every day. Not voting for Biden in the primary does not excuse the fact that this election is against Trump and everything horrible that he represents, and that we are in this situation largely because the online left has learned literally fucking nothing from 2016 and is eager to do it all over again. Not voting for Biden in the primary does not give you a special Gold Star Moral Activist sticker announcing that you were too virtuous to engage in the process now, but if you're sufficiently placated, you maybe will do it in November. Miss me with that bullshit. I've spent eight years pleading with people to help us fix this mess, by -- yes! engaging with the flawed process that makes partial changes!!! -- and all I hear is that same fucking nonsense. That is a large part of why this response is so steamed.

Anyway. In short, I don't think voting "uncommitted" is a good idea, I think it only helps Trump in the short and long term, I think it protests nothing, I think it represents the same old tired anti-voting schlock that I have had more than fucking enough of, and I don't endorse it by any means. However, you will see that while I can strongly and unequivocally give you my opinion that it is a bad idea, I cannot actually reach through the screen, take control of your body, and force you to obey me one way or the other. So maybe, just maybe, Biden can't do the same with Netanyahu. Weird.

[fairuzfan]

What kills me about this person is that they admit the Palestinians are occupied and israel is an occupying force but they still manage to blame the occupied for the circumstances the occupier inflicts on them. And this is what drives me up a wall about liberal zionists. They admit that israel is occupying Palestine and and that the occupation must end but it's all just... buzzwords to them. They think the occupied and occupier need to work together to end the occupation and that occupation is some set of rules that a government imposes on people when it's a systematic violence that's perpetuated even by civilians who are determined a "higher class" than the occupied. Like they're willing to admit the occupation is bad and should not happen but that's as far as they're willing to admit. They are completely unwilling to even say that Palestinians are oppressed by Israelis (yes, all Palestinians are oppressed by all israelis, it's not a statement of morality its a statement of relationships between two groups of people) and are insisting that Palestinians are to blame for the occupation, on some level.

And this is not an exaggeration. Because they do say "israelis see the apartheid was as a security wall to stop the suicide bombings so you can understand how israelis feel about palestinians" but the occupied are constantly expected to make room for their occupiers' feelings. Like in every single instance. Even when talking about "peace" (which is never really peace, just a quieter occupation) Palestinians are expected to "hold up their side of the deal" in order to gain basic rights. Like they're constantly told "Well israelis are afraid that you'll kill them so you gotta promise to be nice and then we will stop shoving a gun in your face" as if the Palestinians hold any sort of meaningful structural power over israelis.

Like, I'm sorry but there's not a reality in which Palestinians oppress israelis in this entire world. None. We have no structural power compared to israelis. We will always be bottom rung compared to them, we will always be guilty before proved innocent, we will always have the gun in our faces, we will always be bombed and bombed and bombed and starved and bombed and no structural power will help us. Sorry if this is a hard truth to swallow but Palestinians are oppressed by israelis. Even HAMAS (the favorite israeli boogieman) is oppressed by israelis. Because that's the nature of the world. The occupied are, by definition, oppressed. The people who are blockaded and their food and water are controlled by an occupying entity are the oppressed people. So it's like, even if you want to argue the "shared humanity" route, you have to acknowledge that oppression is structural and enduring and that every Palestinian IN THE WORLD experiences oppression from israelis and those that ally themselves with israelis. Otherwise, your hollow statements of "wanting to end the occupation" just sound to me like you really don't understand that the occupation is present in every aspect of Palestinian life and that, unfortunately, israelis have to do more than tear down the apartheid wall and the settlements and the checkpoints and have to fundamentally reshape society if they want *real* peace.

But the sad part is, they don't really care about actually helping Palestinians, they care about seeming "moral" and "doing the right thing" but they've made up their minds about what doing the right thing is without even speaking to Palestinians about it. Or I should say, caring about speaking to Palestinians about it.

[matan4il]

People are claiming Israel is blocking baby formula from Gaza. Do you know where this rumor comes from and is there any basis?

Hi Nonnie,

I searched through journalistic sources, and while I have found a few reports in Amrican media, which say that baby formula is hard to find in Gaza (which is no surprise if Hamas steals about 60% of all humanitarian aid entering Gaza (this was happening even before the war, that donations were being stolen by Hamas), in part to sell it to Palestinians for much higher prices (again, something that happened before this war as well), in part to produce anti-Israel propaganda, that allows Hamas to falsely claim Gazans are being deliberately starved (but divert the blame away from themselves), but as far as I can tell, there's no fact checked source that says anything about it being completely blocked. My guess is that this rumor is exactly what so many of the other anti-Israel ones are: a libel, meant to help demonize the Jewish state.

Where did this libel originate? It might be tied to the reports about the baby formula being hard to find, once again using demonizing hyperbole (stretching it from 'hard to find' to 'none is being brought in') and taking it out of context (leaving out that humanitarian aid in general, including baby formula, is hard to find in Gaza, because Hamas steals it). Another option is that they're simply relying on the horror of the story. I've found a few cases with the same claims about babies not having food / baby formula in Gaza dating back to 2017, 2010 and 2009.

It seems like COGAT, the unit in the IDF that exists solely in order to coordinate help for the Palestinians, has already heard about this rumor, and has posted its own data about this, which refutes the rumor and specifies how much baby formula has been allowed in, and that there are no restrictions on any humanitarian aid (posted Mar 21):

But what if people don't trust the IDF's word? Well, then how about that of organizations which are def pro-Palestinian, ones which have been asking for people's donations to provide Gazans with humanitarian aid, and who claim that they've delievered baby formula inside Gaza? Since Israel approves of anything going in, this couldn't have happened (or be posted about publicly) if Israel were blocking all baby formula from entering Gaza.

Or how about the word of the Jordanians, fellow Arabs, who reported that their air drops of humanitarian aid in Gaza include baby formula? And again, nothing gets air dropped in Gaza without Israel's approval.

I hope this helps!

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[theroundbartable]

My position on the war in Israel/ Palestine

Below the cut, because this is my opinion, and you are, of course, not expected to share it, or even care about my position at all. You might not even like what I have to say.

This is for myself and for the people who decide whom to follow based on the flags I raise in my bio (which is none).

It's a bit long, sorry.

The war in Israel/Palestine has now been going on for over a year and I keep seeing blogs that are entirely pro palestine, and then others who are entirely Israeli, accusing each other of rape and murder and genocide, of antisemitism and zionism, etc. etc. Most of these accusations were fact checked and true. Some arguments I heard of people were quite obviously formed through what their government told them, might even lied to them about. I cannot blame these people for clinging to faith, to clinging to the vague idea that there is a sense to their suffering, or who are trying to deflect of their own guilt.

I am German. I know the arguments. I know why they exist and I cannot blame people who's life might be depending on that hope, who's sanity might depend on that faith.

So far, I have not really posted my own opinion on it and I understand that my position on this is not a common one. Nor is it one that many people will accept or find satisfying. Never the less, this is my point.

Under normal circumstances, I would never have made a post and I already am very late to the debate, but since elections in the US are up and more dangerous than ever, since the debates and the war lead to attacks on people online and world wide, since all this enables the same fascistic views that once dominated my country and are threatening to dominate the field once again, I think I should at least say something.

I need to, in order to make up the the past my grandfather took part in as a German soldier, to honor my grandmother's memory who welcomed refugees of war and "war criminals" who were stationed in the neighboring Arbeitslager in her home; in her home where she was all alone with her sick father and waited for the news of her brothers falling in the war while the polish captive cooked them dinner and taught her to read. I need to, as someone who's ancestors were both shooting and housing their enemies. As someone who carries both the guilt and the pride into the next generation.

This is not a football game.

I can't go and pick a side and root for their win. I can't go out on the street with other students and hold up "free palestine" signs, when I know that the words are war propaganda from a group of terrorists. I can't go and side with Israel and justify a genocide by telling people they are being antisemitic if they criticise the Israeli government.

It is the Israeli government under Netanjahu, it is the Hamas who are fighting this war, and to say that the people under their leadership aren't in on it is naive to a degree.

We are not talking about winning and losing here. Because there are no winners in war. I CANNOT debate on who's human rights are worth more than the other. I CANNOT ignore that the Hamas started the war, I cannot ignore that they abuse their captives, I cannot excuse that the Israeli government shoots back at hospitals and abuses their own captives as well.

I can't choose between the grays, because to me, they are the same shade.

But to say they are all supporting those leaderships, to say that not most of them are just trying to survive is terrifyingly cold. That would be like saying they deserve what is happening to them and that can never be the truth.

This doesn't mean I'm not judging between the two. I judge the obvious violence on both sides, I fear for the victims on both accounts, I hate the idea that categorises who is allowed to live where in the country, I despise the idea that Israel alone is to blame.

"You can't not pick a side."

I did. Because there is not just two sides to this war. There is three or four, perhaps even more than that.

There is the terror organisation, there is the government, and then there is the people stuck in the crossfire. I refuse to side with the criminals. I refuse to side with the abusers. They are both wrong, they are both murderous and violent, and siding with one would be - for me - like pointing the gun at the other.

That said, I do not believe that people who raise the palestine flags are wrong, neither do I judge the Israel one. Both sides deserve justice for what happend and what continues to happen. But to a German who only raises the flag once every four yeara at soccer games, worshipping the government that is doing all this, that feels wrong. I know that my view is distorted because of my family's Nazi history, but I can't help feeling that way.

If we're talking about violence, justice would mean that more violence is the answer. An eye for an eye is justice too, but this will never result in peace.

Quite honestly, I don't even think a two state solution would be the answer either. It could be, if Hamas and Israel wanted peace. If Natanjahus war wasn't a ploy to keep himself in power. As it is right now, with the war expanding, even if they managed to somewhat put down their weapons, they will continue to be neighboring enemies, they will continue to hate each other and they will continue to never forgive, to never forget, justifying future reasons to war.

Honestly, I'm not arrogant enough to say I know the solution. All I know is that I know where I stand. And I will never, under any circumstances, judge you if you live in Isreal or in palestine. Nor will I judge you for fighting for each of their rights. Because unless you wish for the complete destruction of the other, unless you justify a genocide, then I am on your side. Because you are, in this war, on your own. And I don't want to see you there alone.

And I will not raise your flag, I will not raise the flag of your enemy, I don't even raise my own flags because I'm honestly not that much into soccer. Because I separate you and your life from the system you live in.

All I can do is tell you that if you flee to Germany, I will be one of the people voting for your safety, for your right to stay, and for being properly integrated. I will not side with the right wing fascists that dominate this country. I will not side with people who simply picked their favorite oppressor. It's not enough to save you. But I'm not a hero. I can only refuse to be the villain.

This makes my position obviously debatable, to some even unacceptable, and I understand that it's not very satisfying to read this from someone who is lucky and priviledged enough to watch from the sidelines.

But I simply cannot support either of these systems. Because neither of them value human life, let alone human rights.

[eretzyisrael]

Israel’s Enemies Tell Five Big Lies

Following the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, antisemites mount a series of vicious attacks, threats and malicious lies against Jews and Israel

With no shame or sign of humanity, the enemies of Israel have doubled down on their insistence that Israel is an illegitimate state that must be destroyed and that the savage slaughter of 1,200 innocent Jews was justified—all based on five “Big Lies” about the Jewish state.

What are the facts?

The world for Jews and Israel will never be the same. Wellesley College students receive official messages saying Zionists (i.e. most Jewish students) are not welcome in the school’s dorms. Hamas official Ghazi Hamad in a TV rant swears Hamas will repeat October 7 over and over until Israel is annihilated. West Bank Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi says “What Hitler did to you was a joke—we will drink your blood and eat your skull.”

While Hamas’s October 7 atrocity shattered the hope of many Palestinian supporters, causing them to rethink their positions, the event only ignited an explosion of hate from other of Israel’s enemies. Tens of thousands of demonstrators made clear they no longer support two states living side by side in peace. Rather they demand “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free . . . by any means necessary”—meaning, clearly, slaughter of civilians.

Power of Big Lies: Though Israel was the victim of a mass murder of innocent Jews, its enemies blame the Jewish state—not only for the Hamas massacre, but also for responding in defense. The reasons many blame Israel for the atrocity are based on five Big Lies. Big Lies were used by Nazi leader Goebbels, who noted that if he told an outrageous lie often enough, people would begin to believe it. Alternatively, if you use truth as a basis for your judgments, you may these facts useful:

Lie #1: Israel is a colonial state that stole Palestinian land. A colonizer is a foreign nation that conquers and exploits another nation. First, the Palestinians have never controlled any land in Palestine: They were also never a nation. Nothing was stolen. Second, Jews are the indigenous people of the land of Israel. They have lived there continuously for 3,000 years and had two commonwealths for over 1,000 years: They are not foreigners. No colonial state.

Lie #2: Israel commits genocide. Genocide is the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members. Israel does not, nor has ever, targeted innocent Palestinian civilians for killing—no mass murders, no pogroms. All Palestinian civilian deaths have occurred as collateral damage while fighting terrorists who hide in residential or other public areas. Tellingly, the population in in and around Israel has mushroomed since Israel’s founding in 1948—from about 700,000 to seven million today: Zero genocide.

Lie #3: Israel practices apartheid. Apartheid is a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. Israel has no laws or policies separating or limiting the rights of any of its citizens—including two million Arab-Israeli citizens—nor any Palestinians outside Israel. Political and civil rights of all Palestinians outside Israel are controlled by their respective dictatorships, who allow virtually no freedoms, such as speech or the vote. No apartheid.

Lie #4: Israel is committing war crimes. War crimes include torture, hostage taking, acts of terrorism, rape and intentional targeting of civilians. While Hamas committed all these acts on October 7, Israel commits none. Though some media bristle at what they consider excessive civilian deaths during Israeli military efforts, in fact, Israel attacks only military structures and personnel—never civilian-only targets. Unfortunately, Hamas places its fighters in dense residential areas or in tunnels beneath them, endangering civilians. No Israeli war crimes.

Lie #5: Israel brutally oppresses the Palestinians daily. Oppression is the malicious exercise of power to discriminate against some groups. Because Israel completely exited Gaza in 2005, it has no power over of the daily lives of Gazans. However, because of Hamas’s continuous terror, especially efforts to kill Jews and destroy the Jewish state, Israel and Egypt have placed Gaza under a strict blockade to prevent terror attacks. Likewise, because of the Oslo Accords, Israel and the Palestinian Authority share governance of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Thus, Israel plays virtually no role governing Palestinians daily lives and only enters Palestinian-controlled areas when terrorists flee to and hide in them. No oppression.

Above all, Israel and the U.N. have made numerous offers of land for an independent Palestinian state. Unfortunately, the Palestinians have turned down five offers of land for peace since 1948, three of them over the last 23 years. Apparently, their dream of conquering Israel “from the land to the sea” is more important.

The bestiality of the October 7 massacre shocked us—beheadings, incineration, rape, torture, heartless executions, brutal kidnappings. Even worse, the gates have opened to unlimited Jew hatred on American streets and campuses—to condoning savagery with the excuse of Palestinian liberation . . . based on utter lies about the Jewish state. But Hamas and the haters should know that “Never Again,” means fighting and defeating evil forever.

[laineystein]

i personally don’t support war and find blindly serving any military awful. I don’t mean to be rude i just wonder why you think that defending israel is the only way to garuntee jewish safety? that feels like taking responsibility off of other countries and leaving diaspora jews vunerable. im really just anti military but this conflict has been awful and i hope for the safety of all jewish people israelis muslims and palestinians but no safety to a government of right wingers

I admire your bravery in reaching out when I don’t have anon turned on. Few would, so good on you.

First off, I’m not serving blindly. None of the soldiers I’m serving with are serving blindly. We all believe in what we’re doing and we’re going to keep doing it until the mission is done and all of our people are safe again. I could get into the nuances of conscription and reserves but I’m not going to. With confidence, succinctly, none of us are serving blindly. (I’m also employed by the IDF outside of reserves so I assure you that I, in particular, love my army and believe in what we stand for.)

I don’t *think* that defending Israel is the only way to guarantee Jewish safety. I know it is. We are a country surrounded by homicidal antisemites. Hamas has stated that they will continue doing what they did on October 7th until we cease to exist. There is no peace for the Israeli or Palestinian people with Hamas still in power. So we’re destroying their tunnels and we’re rooting them out and we’re here for our hostages. Let’s play devils advocate - if Israel didn’t exist do you all honestly think that Hamas and all other Iran proxies would just allow Jews and the Western world to live in peace? Because they wouldn’t. Y’all should be grateful that we’re here because if we weren’t, they’d be killing Jews elsewhere. Don’t let them fool you into believing this is about land. They. Hate. Jews. And Israel is the only place in the world where Jews can truly defend themselves. My grandfather survived the Holocaust BH and he always says that they didn’t have a way to defend themselves in the camps. They weren’t organized. They didn’t have weapons. They didn’t have the upper hand. Well now we’re organized and we’re armed and we’re trained. Never again will we be helpless - thanks to Israel.

“That feels like taking the responsibility off of other countries” - what responsibility? To protect Jews? To persecute Hamas? Feh! None of that will ever happen. Not once has any other country *saved* the Jewish people. And, actually, often times people are turning a blind eye to our persecution - like most of the world did on and after and ever since October 7th. Like they did during the Holocaust. Like they have every time Hamas and PIJ indiscriminately fire rockets at Israel. As I said, never again will our safety be in anyone else’s hands because the world has shown us time and time again that they do not care.

“Leaving diaspora Jews vulnerable” is an insane way to blame the victim. WE WERE ATTACKED. But do you think we needed to be attacked for people to hate Jews? No, this has just empowered them to do so out loud. There has always been a correlation between anti-Israel hate and violence against Jews in the diaspora. In May of 2021 when 4000+ rockets were fired into Israel, goyim in the diaspora took this as permission to act out their antisemitic fantasies. Again when WE WERE ATTACKED. Don’t forget - People were celebrating our massacre before Israel even set foot in Gaza. Don’t let the world fool you into thinking that Israel defending ourselves has created antisemitism in the diaspora, it’s only encouraged it.

I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume you are not Jewish. I don’t know how to explain this conflict to you - a conflict I have lived my entire life (like my parents and grandparents before me). I don’t know how to share my pain and grief and the pain and grief of my tribe in a way that will make sense. But I’m done needing to justify my existence as a Jew. Israel is done justifying its existence as the homeland of the Jewish people. History has shown us that our survival is our responsibility and I/we won’t apologize for it. The same people that are too cowardly to stand up for us when our people are killed and raped can keep their mouths shut when we defend ourselves.

And it seems like maybe you didn’t read this post that I shared today which really would have answered a lot of this without me needing to go on a sleep deprived rant.

[pettytiredandjewish]

For the “pro Palestine” crowd:

-hamas is a terrorist organization that is literally harming Palestinians and using them as human shields??? Like those bastards could care less about their own people. They just want power and control. Just like isis and other extremist groups. They also have tight control over the media in that region and that they are using it to their advantage? They control the narrative of what’s happening, the number of casualties, lie about attacks, etc.

-if you really do care for Palestinians- do you condemn Hamas for what they’ve done to Palestinians? If they really cared about them they would have stopped using them as human shields and give them food/water/other essentials that is being sent to that region during the war. But instead Hamas is holding all of that hostage. Also the Israeli government did sent out warnings to tell Palestinians to evacuate. But guess what-Hamas told their people to ignore those warnings.

-that Israelis are not their government??? They can’t control what their government does. Most of them hates what’s going on and wants this war to be over. None of us wanted this war but it happened because of the bombings and the pogrom on 10/7. Hamas literally disguised themselves as IDF to trick Israeli citizens to trust them while this horrible attack happened. This resulted in the Israeli citizens getting attacked/kidnapped/r****/k*lled. How are you justifying this?!?!

- do you guys even care about the hostages that Hamas is still holding??? And how they are being treated horribly? Do you care that Hamas is executing them like some sick game? (I could go into more detail but the pictures and videos that I’ve seen… ). Do you care that they are r***** innocent women, kids and men? It’s really messed up and f-ed up if you are turning a blind eye on that. Me too unless you’re a Jew…

-this war could end if all the hostages were to be freed , Hamas steps down from power and pay for what they’ve done and Israel gets a new president/goverment (and the ones who were involved will deal with the consequences). Israeli citizens are not their government. Stop blaming them for what their government is doing. This war wasn’t wanted and we want it to be over. But it will continue until Hamas is stopped and until all hostages have been freed.

-why do y’all keep attacking jews/Israelis who are mourning the deaths of their loved ones who were killed during this war??? What are you gaining from that? Let us mourn in peace for the love of g-d. Also why are you attacking people who are calling out antisemitism? (I mean I know the answer…) but why??? I hate to break it to y’all but antisemitism is on the rise (it’s getting worse every single day). Are we not allowed to be afraid about that? To be consistently worried for our loved ones and our selves? Yes Islamophobia hate crime is one the rise (I constantly worry about my family friends and the shit that they’re dealing because we live in a small town) but are we not allowed to be concerned about the rise of antisemitic hate crimes that’s has also been happening?

-also I can’t believe I have to say this but…stop calling for a global intifada!!! Y’all know what that is? Do really want to call for a global attack on all jews/Israelis? Like what the actual hell?! Why would you want that?!? What is wrong with y’all? This is why i have trust issues.

-also can you stop blockading synagogues/hospitals/college campus buildings/etc and harassing jews who’s have nothing to do with this whole war??? Like what’s the point? Do y’all think that we have Israel’s president phone number? You pulling that shit isn’t doing anything but causing harm to those that you are harassing. Also idk maybe stop spewing out antisemitic shit at your protests? And stop calling jews/Israelis Nazis- because that is so f-ed up. Just don’t do it.

I am proud of being Jewish. I should not be called a heartless bitch, monster, or moron (just some of the shit I’ve been called ) for calling out antisemitism and being worried about Israeli citizens who are also affected by this war. I do care about the Palestinians who are victims of this war but I also care about the Israeli citizens- they are treated like shit. Don’t blame them for something that they did not do. You attacking random jews online and in person is not helping with stopping the war. It’s making things worse. And y’all wonder why us jews don’t feel safe…

Am Yisrael Chai! ✡️ and for all those who have died, may your memory be a blessing.

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Hey, so we're clear: antisemitism in the US is about to get even worse because the bigots on right are feeling empowered by the presidential election, and the bigots on the left will continue to blame all Jews everywhere for everything the Israeli government chooses to do in a military situation that does not include taking popular votes from their own citizens, let alone Jews outside of Israel. Because antisemites would rather listen to propaganda from terrorist groups than actually do any critical thinking, read anything that might prove they are factually wrong, or even do some reading about what constitutes a justifiable act of war when just blaming all Jews everywhere is so much easier to feel morally superior and also get some of that deep-seated antisemitism room to breathe like it's never breathed before.

Hamas is a terrorist organization. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Netanyahu is NOT popularly supported by Israelis, and Israelis whether in the IDF or not, do NOT get a say in military decisions that Israel is making.

And, literally NONE of what I just said should affect the treatment of literally ANY JEWS. But boy, if the last 13 months hasn't shown the whole fucking antisemitic ass of a lot of people.

Free Palestine from Hamas. Free Lebanon from Hezbollah. Free Israel and all Jews from antisemites.

[mossadspypigeon]

the reason why you are called a nazi for "criticizing israel" is not because you are actually offering up any real criticism. you are spewing hate rhetoric. let's explore:

what is currently known about israel by the wider world is false. no one tries to research the israeli side, the history of the conflict from their view. no one even bothers taking basic world history, which would show jewish indigeneity to the levant and that israel is a decolonialist project.

instead, a mob has gathered information pumped out by enemies of israel and jews everywhere:

APARTHEID

COLONIALIST PROJECT

WHITE COLONIZERS

NOT NATIVE

GENOCIDE

GO BACK TO POLAND

WAR CRIMES

DOG ATTACKS

OPEN AIR PRISON

TAKING RESOURCES

BURNING TREES

SETTLERS

etc etc etc and THAT is what they consider to be fact. all of it is myth. it is steeped in the propaganda that jews are all powerful, blood thirsty, violent, and sneaky. that we control everything including governments.

so no, spewing all of this and then saying you are "criticizing israel" is not criticizing israel. that is a falsehood.

you hold israel to impossible standards. you cannot admit what is done well by the country. you don't even know how its government works and you refuse to listen to its people. you don't even know its geography.

you don't realize that every accusation against israel exists because of something done to us by oppressors and enemies. or, if they haven't done it TO US, they do it to others and blame us for it.

colonization? nah that's the arabs. the dog attacks? NAZIS sicced dogs on us. concentration camps? hello. genocide accusations? obvious. burning cultural sites? no, hamas did and still does that. rape at shifa hospital and sde teiman? stories from nova survivors about rape surfaced at the same time. awful funny how that works. destruction of desalination plants? nope, hamas.

so, you are not criticizing israel. what you are doing is spewing propaganda that only exists because of antisemitism. without antisemitism, none of this would be happening and none of you would feel the way you feel or think the way you think. unpack your own inherent antisemitism and you might realize this.

and YES israel is the JEWISH STATE. IT REPRESENTS JEWS. it is our indigenous homeland!!!

[jewreallythinkthat]

I’ve seen you mention a few times about having problems with standing together. If you don’t mind, could you go further into detail about that? I’m not super familiar with the organisation, but from what I’ve seen and heard they seem to be pretty good (especially now that they’re trying to deliver aid into Gaza)

Yeah for sure.

I think their aim to have peace, a Palestinian state, and the attempt to bring food to Gaza is really important and admirable. In theory, they stand for pretty much everything I do.

The problem is the way they go about achieving some of their aims, I feel, is incredibly devisive and finger-pointy-blame-slinging. For example, this was their statement on 7/10

Hamas terrorists were still in Israel committing their (officially classed as a genocidal) attack and ST were already demonising Israel. The entirety of the second paragraph is not necessary. The inability to outright condemn the barbaric nature of what happened, without also condemning Israel at the same time is not something I can get on board with. There is no justification for what was done. None.

Anyone with a brain, especially left wing Jews and Israelis know that the occupation of the West Bank, and the Gaza situation (which once again, Egypt are also involved with) are unsustainable and there is absolutely further discussion, protest, and debate to be had over how to get the fucking settlers out of the West Bank, set up a successful Palestinian state, make Gaza livable again in the fastest way possible, and obtain a sustainable peace in the region but in a statement condemning the biggest single slaughter of Jews (along with Palestinians, Thai nationals, and multiple other peoples), that was not the time.

I also found the immediate and aggressive personal attack against Hen Mazzig when he posted about an LGBT+ issue unbelievably distateful. I will admit that Hen's wording was certainly.... A little point scorey.... But the actual event he was talking about was a big deal. I think having a direct go at a gay man, including an impressive case study worthy example of the Straw Man argument, when talking about an LGBT+ issue is unacceptable. It frankly came across as a personal vendetta and incredibly childish.

The other thing that frustrates me is that as a Palestinian-Israeli joint group, the only people I ever see ST calling out, insulting, and demeaning are Israelis. They (from what I see) do not condemn the PA or other Palestinian groups at all and while the current Israeli administration are reprehensible in their behaviour, it takes two to tango and they are not the only ones in the wrong. If you are building a solidarity movement, you need to call out both sides for being shitty. If you don't, it's not a solidarity movement IMOH.

All that being said, I do think there is a lot of good that ST do, I just wish they would take people's concerns with their behaviour at times as a genuine thing that people want them to better about rather than immediately going on the defensive and shutting any attempt at discussion. It feels like they refuse to take any criticism, no matter how valid it is as if they are the only people trying to end this.

I hope this answers the question a bit. (Basically, as always, it's complicated 🙃)

[jewishbarbies]

So I debated for a long time whether to send this or not bc I explicitly do not want to equate what's happening in I/P to fiction or in any way trivialize the very real people who have died

But I find it incredibly ironic (in a bad way) how the leftist circles screaming about Zionism are the same circles that are STILL openly proudly fans of tv shows/books/movies that depict war in genuinely nuanced ways. Ways that EXPLICITLY contradict the black and white narratives exploding in leftist spaces.

So like. Did y'all miss the point or do you think nuance is for fiction only? There are innocent civilians on every side in war and civilians shouldn't be blamed for the actions of their governments --but only in fiction? In the real world it's fine to celebrate civilian casualties as long as they're Israeli? Guilt by association in fiction is bad but every Jewish person should be held accountable for the Israeli military???

Like I'm intentionally not naming any fandoms bc this SHOULDN'T be about fandoms, but the hypocrisy is killing me. They claim to be fans of the "killing civilians is bad even when they're from the Bad Culture™" shows but they're out in the real world denying (or worse celebrating) Oct 7th? They love the fictional characters who say "killing civilians is bad" but can't stand Jewish people mourning the civilians in israel? What???

(again, I'm really not trying to make this extremely real problem about fiction. I just mean the complete lack of self awareness I see every day has me ready to explode. )

no, i get what you mean. i definitely think there's a link between the massive drop in critical thinking and media literacy and the fandomization of real world issues. there's some statistic that gen z is the most politically active of most previous generations and while that's inherently a good thing, they're not engaging with politics and conflicts in responsible ways. they'll do a lot of organizing for a cause here in america and get something done, and then think they can do the same thing for international plights and just end up stepping on everyone's toes, inadvertently perpetuating that america-centric attitude they claim to be against, bc they don't listen.

a lot of people these days refuse to engage with media in the way it's intended and therefore ignore or flat out miss its entire message. you'll have a movie/show/book/whatever about the nuances of war, like the hunger games (which gen z is so completely misinterpreting), and how easy it is to become the person you're fighting against if you let yourself do the things they do eye for an eye style, and they'll come away from that comparing hamas to katniss. it makes no sense within the context of the book's narrative, yet that's the conclusion they draw because they refuse to properly engage. it contradicts their second-hand anger. they're mad about their own shitty life in the states and the powerlessness we all feel here as our rights are being threatened every single day, and they'll look for somewhere else to put it all. so they butt in to situations they don't belong in and make it worse like bulls in a china closet.

bottom line is that they see what they want to see because of their lack of self reflection and self awareness, thus allowing their lack of media literacy, critical thinking, and confirmation bias run the way they think and believe. they've taken "it's fiction" to the point where none of them would pass a basic english class and now palestinians and hamas are all blorbos in The Real World Show.

[jewish-vents]

i work for a school district and our labor union back in november wanted to put out a ceasefire statement that didn’t condemn hamas and blamed israel for the conflict. i live in a pretty liberal area where there have been a lot of protests and even riots since the war started. there are only like 10 jews in the entire district and we rallied to go to the executive board meeting and talk about why this was a dangerous thing to do especially at a time when literally none of us were going to shul bc of all the bomb and shooting threats. i spent an hour on the worst zoom call of my life traumatizing myself trying to explain to the people in my union who i fully believe had good intentions why this was not something that was appropriate for a teachers union on the other side of the world with literally no stake in the conflict to do and that it would disproportionately impact the few jewish folks who actually work here and are materially impacted by the war. after listening to my union president go on about how she doesn’t want to be “the arbiter of what is and is not antisemitism�� (which, nobody was asking you to do that. we literally just wanted you to listen to us when we told you a thing was antisemitic) one of the staff from my school (bless him) suggested rewording the statement to be more specific to the union so that instead of taking a position on the war, it was acknowledging the impact it was having on our communities and pledging solidarity with any union or community members who were affected by it. and that’s what they ended up doing! which felt pretty good despite having to sit there and be questioned and attacked for saying “maybe you don’t have to have an opinion on something that literally doesn’t affect you and maybe you should listen to the people who actually have a stake in this and are being attacked because of it”

fast forward to yesterday. without announcing to the general union members they voted again on a ceasefire resolution and pushed it through, sending out a link to call your congressperson about calling for ceasefire to all union members. i’m just. what was even the point of all of that if they were going to ignore everything we said and push it through anyway. i get that things are bad and i hate the war too. but all this is doing is alienating the few jews in the district who are already being attacked by their coworkers and students over the war regardless of our position or opinion on it. i’m lucky in that my building staff has been really supportive to my face and have stood up for me behind my back. my coworkers at other schools are having a very different experience and it’s so frustrating that those experiences are constantly diminished and compared to others. none of the things that we talked about back in november have changed. all of the reasonings for not making a statement on this are the same. but the union leadership pushed it through anyway, without telling the union until after it was already over and done. i’m just so tired of being ignored by the group that is supposed to be advocating for me. i’ve been having issues with district admin overloading my classes and the union has ignored me because of what i did at that meeting back in november (when i was terrified and traumatized and begging them to not endanger us further) and the district obviously isn’t going to help me. i’m in my second year of teaching considering quitting because of all of this. what the hell am i supposed to do now.

.

[uboat53]

Well, today is the one year anniversary of when a number of Hamas militants snuck past Israeli defenses around the Gaza strip, murdered over 1,000 Israeli civilians, and kidnapped several hundred more. Given that, this seems to be a good time to reflect on what happened and what has happened since as a result.

First off, I think it's important to recognize that, of everything that has happened, none of it represents the actual desires or actions of Palestinians, Israelis, or even Lebanese people as they are getting dragged into the conflict as well. The conflict very much needs to be understood as being between Hamas, the Netanyahu government, and Hezbollah with all of the people of the region being caught in between. Certainly the people of each group sometimes see the combatants as their protectors against the excesses of the others, but almost none of them actually support the atrocities that the warring party of their "side" has committed.

It's also important to recognize that, as much as Israel had cause for a military response to Hamas' attacks, no attack gives carte blanche for any and all levels of violence. Israel has committed unbelievable atrocities on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip in the name of attacking Hamas and, while it's beyond the point in moral terms, in strategic terms it's important to point out that they've arguably created far more angry new recruits for Hamas than the number of fighters they've actually killed. Would a different Israeli government have undertaken military action in response to this attack? Definitely. Would they have done so in a massively different way? Almost certainly.

In addition, the methods of warfare were absurdly bad for achieving the stated aim of recovering Israeli captives. In fact, it's fairly clear at this point that Israel has killed about as many of its hostages as it's saved and those still in captivity are no closer to freedom than ever. More importantly, most of those who were actually released were released not by military action, but by diplomacy. In other words, we have to understand the actions of the Israeli military not as being made in furtherance of the security needs of the Israeli state, but having been made in furtherance of the Netanyahu government's agenda.

You see, Netanyahu is historically and absurdly unpopular in Israel. 75% of Israelis wanted him gone and that was before they blamed him for the security failures of October 7th, 2023. It's also important to note that Netanyahu is facing numerous criminal probes which are only being held at bay by the fact that he holds the position of Prime Minister. Much like Trump, Netanyahu needs to stay in office if he hopes to stay out of court.

He has the advantage, though, in that the next Israeli elections are not scheduled until October of 2026. As long as he can keep his governing coalition together, he can stay in office for another two years no matter what the Israeli public thinks of him. Luckily for him, and unluckily for just about everyone else, his coalition consists almost entirely of bloodthirsty Jewish supremacist parties and hard-line Jewish religious parties. His actions in the conflict this last year have not been taken out of a desire to secure Israel's security, but out of a desire to appease the members of his political coalition and keep him in office as long as possible in the hopes of a turnaround in his political fortunes.

And we should be clear, the actions taken over the last year by the Netanyahu government have severely damaged Israeli security. Yes, Hamas and now Hezbollah have been degraded to some degree and even some of their leaders have been killed, but the organizations still exist and now have a whole new generation of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians who have been brutalized by Israel to recruit from. More importantly, though, is that Netanyahu has damaged Israel's relations with its main backers in a way that will be difficult to recover from.

In Europe, even Germany, which has previously backed Israel to the hilt as part of its post WWII reckoning with the Holocaust, has seen support for Israel drop to record low levels. In the US, Netanyahu's open support for Donald Trump has seen the Democratic Party, which used to be staunchly pro-Israel, begin to question its support; questions which will not easily go away even after this war is over. To some degree this was inevitable as the Democratic coalition increasingly leans toward minorities and non-religious people, but Netanyahu's actions have certainly sped it up.

While Israel can, to some degree, continue without this support, it will do severe damage to the country if their primary trading partners and suppliers of weapons turn against them. More importantly, the US veto at the UN is the only thing that has prevented international sanctions from being put in place, sanctions that will certainly be imposed if the US refuses to continue this pattern even for a single vote.

In other words, much like Hezbollah with Lebanon and Hamas with Gaza, the Netanyahu government has done irreparable long-term damage to Israel, the state it represents, in the name of securing its own parochial power. In the process, it has killed tens of thousands of civilians, destroyed a nascent political alignment with the Persian Gulf monarchies which would have significantly improved its security, and seems to be in the process of trying to ignite a broader regional war which would further isolate Israel internationally and likely cost the lives of a good many Israelis in open war.

Oh, and the hostages are still not all back yet.

So yeah, the last year has been a disaster for just about everyone in the Middle East and there doesn't seem to be any prospect that it's going to get better anytime soon. I think it's a solid lesson in the damage that autocrats who are not responsible to the people they supposedly represent can do, and an important lesson that even a country with functioning democratic institutions can find itself in that situation if people with such inclinations are allowed to take power.