On October 7 last year, ordinary civilians in Israel were the victims of extraordinary savagery. Hamas terrorists killed young people at a music festival, often in gruesome ways. Families were slaughtered in suburban homes. By any civilized moral standards, there ought to be overwhelming sympathy for a country subjected to such savagery. Instead, throughout the Western world, we have witnessed endless anti- Israel protests. Why? Part of the reason is demographics. In Britain, for example, in 2001 there were one and half million Muslims. Today, there are almost four million.
That is not to say that every — or even most — British Muslims are anti- Israel. But it does explain the scale and size of some recent protests. So, too, on American university campuses. There have been frequent anti-Israel student protests, often at so-called elite universities. It is perhaps not a coincidence that there has also been a rapid rise in the number of students with Middle Eastern backgrounds at such universities. Again, not every student from the Middle East is necessarily anti-Israel. But the reservoir of potential anti-Israel student protesters is certainly larger than before. The rise in anti-Israel sentiment in the West clearly can’t only be about demographics. Many, if not most, of those protesting against Israel are not those with a Middle Eastern background, but those on the political Left. Why then do those on the Left have such animus towards Israel? Why do they seem to suspend ordinary moral standards whenever Israel is involved? When it comes to Ukraine, for example, those on the political Left – correctly in my view – see Ukraine as a brave country, rightfully taking a stand against a vastly bigger aggressor. So why don’t they see Israel that way? Israel wasn’t just attacked on October 7. From the Six Day War to the Yom Kippur War, Israel has been on the receiving end of relentless aggression. Israel, a country smaller than Vermont, is surrounded by larger foes intent on destroying her and eradicating her people, as Hamas showed us a few months ago.
The last time there was unequivocal support for Israel in the West was during the Entebbe raid in Uganda in 1976. I remember the morning of the Entebbe raid well. A young child at the time, I happened to be living close by in Kampala. When Israel pulled off a daring rescue mission, freeing the trapped hostages from the hijacked Air France plane at Entebbe — where Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother Yonatan lost his life — there was rejoicing across the political spectrum.
Today, when Israel attempts to rescue her hostages in Gaza she is treated by many media outlets with scorn. Look at how posters of Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been torn down in cities throughout Europe and America.
As my friend Douglas Murray has pointed out, when a cat or dog goes missing in London or Paris or New York, people will often put up a poster about the missing pet. If we saw someone take down a poster about a missing pet, we would be offended. We’d know it was wrong. Where is the outrage against those removing posters of the Bibas kids?
One reason Israel is held to a different standard is anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is a famously shape shifting virus. At one time, Jews were hated for their religion, then for their race. Today, it seems to me, it is for their nation. Israel is loathed by many progressives because as a country, Israel embodies the notion of national self-determination. For many centuries, Jewish families toasted each other at Passover with the phrase: “Next year in Jerusalem.”
And then in 1948, almost miraculously, it came true. National self-determination offends elite opinion formers. They revere supranationalism instead. They venerate the UN, the ICC and the EU. Progressives prefer laws made by international treaty over those passed by elected national legislatures. Progressives prefer fealty to rules made by the global community over obligations to an actual community.
Israel’s success offends the Left not only because she is a national state, but because she demonstrates the success of Western society. If all cultures were of equal worth, why then does a small state that could fit inside Vermont produce so much enterprise and innovation? If there is an equivalence between cultures, why has post 1948 Israel seen such success amid a sea of Middle Eastern failure and autocracy?
Those who loathe Israel don’t just hate the Jewish nation state, they despise all nation states – including another phenomenally successful Republic, started not in 1948 but in 1776. If they merely hate Israel, why do they burn the American flag? America and the Western way of life is their intended target. Whether we like it or not, those of us who love America, who see Western culture as a sublime human achievement, have no choice but to side with and support Israel, against those who seek to destroy us all.
Those who hate Israel hate us too.
Douglas Carswell is the President & CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. MCPP sponsored this post.
29 comments:
Another unbiased analysis by the "think tank."
Just after World War II, Israel was universally considered a nation of “oppressed” people. Almost everyone was in agreement on this, including people on the left. This small nation of people (with God’s blessing) emerged from the Holocaust and began to transform their little country into one of the most prosperous and powerful on earth – making astounding and cutting-edge contributions to the world in agriculture, medicine and other scientific endeavors. As Israel began to prosper, the political left changed their view of it.
Liberals began to see Israel as the oppressor and the so-called ‘palestinians’ as the oppressed. Israel is surrounded by nations which have done very little to advance their cultures. Yet the little nation of Israel has outpaced its neighbors, economically and militarily. Israel is now the envy of the region. It’s no wonder that Israel’s neighbors (enemies) want Israel for themselves.
This premise of oppressor/oppressed also explains why liberals today no longer view America as a great nation. To liberals, the American story is not one of spiritual faith, courage and hard work, but rather a history of unwelcome conquest. Today, liberals most often see America as an ‘oppressor.’
Even the enforcement of law, which is necessary for any orderly society, is seen by many liberals as ‘oppression’ and this in turn leads to anti-police sentiment.
People who hated the Nazis and opposed Germany in the Great War did not necessarily hate Germans or Germany. In fact some Germans opposed what Germany was doing. Everybody this man thinks hates Jews does not. If he thinks as he writes he is simple-minded.
I'm more interested in learning why all these mush-headed college students and those living in mom's garage think they support Palestine, thus Hamas. Makes no sense. And can't figure out why the administration in Washington is pro-Hamas.
You could get in the game and pub your own analysis but, of course, we know you won't. You're only here to complain.
I have historically been sympathetic to Israel - a Jewish state that exists in the midst of Muslim states that have vowed to exterminate them. We always want to root for the underdog. After the October attacks, I couldn't have cared less what happened to the Palestinians in Gaza - they brought it on themselves. However, I recently took the time to read about what has been happening in Israel for the last 40+ years. I want to keep supporting Israel, but they have been operating under an apartheid-like situation. The Jews in Israel have completely forgotten what it was like to be the oppressed and have become the oppressors. That said, I have no love for Palestinians. They contribute nothing and the violent zealots among them are dragging the world backwards. The October attacks were way over the top. I no longer care what happens to either the Jews in Israel or the Palestinians. Either kill each other off or learn to live in peace. At this point, the world is better off without either group.
Nations created by force or fiat generally encounter fierce resistance from the native population. That simple history also applies to the new nation called Israel. You can move the natives as we did, absorb them (we did sometimes but Jewish Israel can't)) or terminate them (we did some of that too). All the pretty words and patriotic intentions do not change those options. Termination is tough and it's harder to hide than it once was. With the present media coverage that's a problem for Israel.
Just sayin'
3:13 same. I feel very similar.
Opposition to Isreal's mistreatment of the Palestine people does not make them antisemetic. Don't conflate the two.
3:13 does not know the definition of "apartheid." Merriam Webster defines it as, "a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race," or "segregation on grounds other than race."
It is true there is a separation between Palestinians and Jews, but that separation is because they are apart of two distinct nations, not because they are two people groups segregated within the same nation-state. Jim Crow was apartheid; however, saying Israel is an apartheid state is as stupid as saying France is an apartheid state because they have a border with Spain, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, etc.
Israel is the most free country in the middle east. They recognize free speech and freedom of religion. They have free AND fair elections through which it has elected 100 Arabs to its national parliament since 1949. 10 are currently serving. Moreover, Arabs are allowed to serve in the IDF and are CURRENTLY fighting Hamas is Gaza.
Israel is far from an Apartheid state.
Is Israel infallible? Absolutely not. I have disagreements with how the IDF is operating in Gaza. But to say that Israel is an apartheid state shows your ignorance of history and the current affairs.
to 6:50. You obviously have not been to Isreal to see the 20 foot high solid cement walls that separate neighborhoods.
It’s discouraging to see so many people who refuse to admit their own antisemitism. Palestinians are responsible for their own situation; as long as their main goal is the eradication of Israel and Jews, Israel has no choice but to do what is necessary to protect themselves.
4:03, what nations have NOT been created by force or fiat? Very few…
7:59, no one would build a 20’ solid cement wall; it would be much too weak. It would have cement, sand, and aggregate (collectively known as concrete), reinforced with steel rebar.
Some commentators here don’t seem to realize there are Arab Muslims who are full citizens of Israel and have been since modern Israel became established. They own land and businesses, vote in elections, and have representatives in Parliament. So much for the false apartheid claims.
"There is a type of Zionist who seems to believe that the Holocaust entitles Israel to one free genocide."
-Naomi Klein
Alternative viewpoint appearing in 3, 2, 1, never.
Good grief! Can you be more simpleminded? You can hate what some Jews and some Palestinians have done and not hate an entire people. What was done to Israelis and continues to be done to the hostages is horrible. What has happened to Gaza and it's innocent children is also horrible. There is also a difference in targeting a military convoy like Ukraine did and Putin responding by targeting a shopping area should be a hint. It's even worse for anyone in this country to hate anyone because of their race or religion. Hate the actions or the behavior instead. PS the racists who think whites are superior aren't watching the Olympics. I've yet to see a Kluxxer or Neo Nazi who is superior in any measure except for lying, cheating, stealing, troublemaking and committing crimes.
to 8:50
This all seems pretty simple to me. Don't attack the Jews if you don't want your ass kicked. If you start a war with them by attacking Jewish women and children expect collateral damage when they counter attack. It's that "golden rule" thingy.
Race bait much ?
I've never "SEEN" a Kluxxer or a Neo-Nazi... PERIOD: EVER. They're virtually nonexistent. You need to get out, more. What one sees portrayed on the screen, seldom accurately reflects real life.
How many kluxxer do you know?
The idea that you have to support Israel to be a conservative is a fallacy. The modern state of Israel was founded on a lie. They said Israel was “a land without people for a people without land,” and emptied villages and homes of their inhabitants. The Zionists have been doing their best ever since to eradicate the Palestinians from the land. It is not “anti-Semitic” to point this out. In fact, the term “anti-Semitisim” in this context is incorrect. Most of the Israelis are European or Russian. The Palestinians are Semitic. Sephardic Jews are Semitic. Ashkenazi Jews are not Semitic. Regardless, the Israelis have been murdering Palestinian civilians with impunity for a long time and have really escalated these murders after the so called “unprovoked Palestinian attack. Bombing and shooting women, children, and any other civilian is barbaric, whether done by Islamic terrorists, Israel, or America. Netanyahu and the other far right Zionists orchestrating these murders should be tried in international court and executed for their crimes.
For the record, I am a constitutional conservative in line with the traditional right, not the fake right of the neo-conservatives or Donald Trump. Pat Buchanan would have made a good President as would have Ron Paul.
In Mississippi, since 1975, the only KKK and Neo-Nazi you will ever see will be a federal agent. Nationally, George Lincoln Rockwell and William Luther Pierce were both FBI assets. Everything you think you know about these organization is an exagerated caricature played by a federal agent. Just like Jan.6.
Y’all say kluxxers are nonexistent, and as if on cue, along comes 6:57 to prove you wrong.
And 12:27 is so brainwashed he apparently thinks anyone who doesn’t support everything Israel does is in the KKK. Can your type of people not consider a point of view about Israel that isn’t taught by your dispensationalist Southern Baptist preachers? The concepts they preach about Israel and the end times would have been entirely foreign to St Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and pretty much all the rest of Christendom prior to the late 1800s.
I too often wondered why Libs hate Israel so this was interesting.
Like was there was a meeting to discuss the specific things they would attack each year...the Mona Lisa, highways, Stonehenge, Asians, etc.
I bet they all share a Pinterest board with bomb recipes and hearts drawn around Hammas.
Genuinely curious if the Israeli haters think Israel should have offered no retaliation in response to the civilian concert goers that were murdered in October?
Who initiated the October attack that started this?
What is the acceptable level of response that Israel should have taken?
How do you make war less murder-y in general?
I typically dont pick fights with anyone and that is how I dont get hit.
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