The Palestinian Tragedy.

[expat500]

A long read.

Yet rather than try to understand what exactly is going on, and untangle the threads of this knotted conflict, it is once again being presented as a simple clash of good against evil.

Israelis are frequently presented as the new Nazis, supporters of genocide, advocates of apartheid and child-killers. The fact that the typical Israeli might be a regular human being, who is no more flawed than the average person, is effaced in this worldview. And the possibility that Israelis might have good reasons to fear for their lives is also ignored by too many self-proclaimed advocates for Palestine.

But it is no more helpful in our understanding of this conflict to assume contemporary Palestinian grievances are simply motivated by age-old anti-Semitism. Those who take this view see Palestinian resentment towards Israel as at best irrational. This misses the fact that there are genuine and varying reasons why the average Palestinian – as opposed to the political activist – might feel animosity towards Israel. In the West Bank, for example, freedom of movement is often severely curtailed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). And in Gaza Israel withdrew its forces in 2005, but Israel continues to control Gaza’s airspace, as well as most of its land borders – although it should be noted that Egypt controls the land border with the adjoining Sinai peninsula.

Concludes with…​

In the late 19th century, leading German Social Democrats astutely referred to anti-Semitism as ‘the socialism of fools’. They argued that, despite its sometimes radical sheen, anti-Semitism was a thoroughly reactionary movement.

In a similar way, those Western radicals and leftists who give succour to the Hamas worldview are guilty of pursuing the anti-imperialism of fools. They might think they are being radical and humanistic, but they are helping to propagate the worldview of a thoroughly reactionary political movement.

The Palestinian tragedy

Hamas has turned a national liberation movement into a neverending jihad against Israel.

www.spiked-online.com

 

[JoeB131]

Ah, let's take this bit of crazy apart.

Israelis are frequently presented as the new Nazis, supporters of genocide, advocates of apartheid and child-killers. The fact that the typical Israeli might be a regular human being, who is no more flawed than the average person, is effaced in this worldview. And the possibility that Israelis might have good reasons to fear for their lives is also ignored by too many self-proclaimed advocates for Palestine.

Um, okay, here's the problem with that. After WWII, they interviewed the surviving top Nazis who were on trial at Nuremburg. Instead of finding the monsters they expected to find, they found guys who were erudite, intelligent, and seemingly normal. They coined the term "The Banality of Evil" for how regular people could go along with an evil system.

The problem with your average Zionist is that he can't see the forest for the trees. Most of the rest of the world sees Israel for what it is. A colonial settler state where the indigenous people are treated like second-class citizens in their own country.

But it is no more helpful in our understanding of this conflict to assume contemporary Palestinian grievances are simply motivated by age-old anti-Semitism. Those who take this view see Palestinian resentment towards Israel as at best irrational. This misses the fact that there are genuine and varying reasons why the average Palestinian – as opposed to the political activist – might feel animosity towards Israel. In the West Bank, for example, freedom of movement is often severely curtailed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). And in Gaza Israel withdrew its forces in 2005, but Israel continues to control Gaza’s airspace, as well as most of its land borders – although it should be noted that Egypt controls the land border with the adjoining Sinai peninsula.

Well, yeah, it's pretty stupid to scream "Anti-Semitism" at the Palestinians, who are a Semitic people themselves.

But let's be honest: why do Palestinians hate Israelis? They stole their land in a series of wars, displacing them from their homes. They force them to live in Gaza and the less desirable portions of the West Bank. They routinely bomb civilian targets in retaliation for terror attacks.

In the late 19th century, leading German Social Democrats astutely referred to anti-Semitism as ‘the socialism of fools’. They argued that, despite its sometimes radical sheen, anti-Semitism was a thoroughly reactionary movement.

In a similar way, those Western radicals and leftists who give succour to the Hamas worldview are guilty of pursuing the anti-imperialism of fools. They might think they are being radical and humanistic, but they are helping to propagate the worldview of a thoroughly reactionary political movement.

YOu might be half right. The problem with anti-imperialist thoughts in the West is that they think the world would be happier if they shared Western values. This is absurd on its face, and after 40 years of America picking up where the Europeans left off, you'd think we'd get the message.