Politics

Over the weekend Hamas forces attacked Israel. Initial reports indicated Palestinian forces entered via land and power gliders. There is evidence they are directly attacking civilians, although a considerable amount of information is clouded in the fog of war. Immediately, most conservative analysts and commentators defended Israel and condemned Palestinian forces as terrorists. The resulting media fury has sharply divided people on all sides of the political compass. Some people fully support Israel without question, some fully back the Palestinians, and others condemn both sides of the conflict. Few people are asking the real questions beyond the media smoke screen. The conflict is a major distraction from a failing US president, the unending conflict in Ukraine and the dual border crises in the European Union and the United States.

The Pundits

On the Viva/Barnes podcast, Robert Barnes was quick to unequivocally defend Israel¹. Stephen Crowder did the same on his Monday morning show². If you watched either of these shows live, or travel down below to the video comments, they are filled with vigorous debates. There are thousands of comments talking about the apartheid form of government between the Israelis and those on the West Bank, and how the Israeli Defense Force has driven thousands from their homes in brutal expansionism. There are also thousands of comments that stand behind Israel as a democracy, victims of terrorism, or as God’s chosen people in the Christian faith. There are also those who hate both sides, advocating for one side wiping out the other, and the world wiping out whoever is left.

The only voices I’ve heard who have done a critical and in-depth analysis of the media machine feeding us information from conflict, are the hosts of the No Agenda Podcast. Their report on Israel questions who is reporting events, what reports may be real or false, and the reasons why network and media outlets are taking their respective stances³. They are one of the few in independent outlets who are questioning each and every story without blind and panicked emotion.

Conservative commentators, who align themselves with Christianity or Israel, are finding many in the populist movement that elected the first anti-war president in my lifetime, do not share their values when it comes to the nation of Israel, or international involvement in foreign wars. This conflict, just like Ukraine, is a wedge that will split conservatives both in America, and around the world.

Is It Terrorism?

I immediately question every video and social media report on the conflict. During the opening days of the war between Ukraine and Russia, it came to light that many of the videos and news reports that were circulating were taken from training exercises, video games or unrelated to the current military action. I’ve found it wise to question a media that seems to always behoove military and weapons industries.

Many outlets make claims without showing video evidence citing the graphic nature of the content. From what can be pieced together, it does seem that the Palestinians who invaded, were shooting civilian drivers in their vehicles⁴. There are videos of fighters paragliding into a concert⁵, causing Israels to flee a music festival⁶ where reports state they killed at least 260 people⁷. They appeared to be cheering over a dead woman dragged around in a truck⁸. They weren’t just attacking civilians, but allegedly had taken an Israeli military base as well⁹.

Babies in the Incubators

Multiple outlets are reporting Hamas fighters decapitating babies¹⁰¹¹¹². In 1990, Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ testified before congress that soldiers pulled babies from incubators and left them to die, a story that was found to be fabricated. A few are calling this out to be potential bullshit¹³¹⁴. Be careful not to believe everything you read.

Ideology and Justification

If these reports and videos are true, attacking civilian targets for political ends is literally an act of terrorism. The justification for such actions by supporters of Palestine, often rely on the past crimes of Israelis. Apologists for Palestine state that Gaze is an, “The largest open air prison¹⁵.” The attacks are justified as fighting to end “Israel’s occupation and apartheid¹⁶.”

During the Summer of 2020, Black Lives Matter (BLM) used past wrongs as justification for wide spread destruction, looting and murders during a summer of riots. I witnessed the destruction myself, living in the South Loop of Chicago. BLM of Chicago has officially shown its support for the Palestinians¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹. This is inline with the ideology of BLM; using the history of past crimes as a justification for violence and destruction against a demonized oppressor.

In Australia, Pro-Palestinian protesters chanted “gas the Jews,” outside of the Sydney Opera House²⁰. Many far-left politicians, academics and celebrities have sided with the Palestinians as they are reported to have mass murder civilians²¹.

Jordan Peterson has spoken before on the dangers of attempting to neatly place people into boxes marked oppressed and oppressor, and how such ideology can lead to seeing everyone associated to those with privilege as enemies²². This is the same Jordan Peterson who accused fans critical of him as being “trolls,” because he refused to push back, when given a chance to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the interview, Netanyahu equivocated Palestinians to being squatters in an apartment who didn’t pay rent. This is the same Peterson who told Netanyahu to “Give ‘em hell,” in response to the recent attacks²³.

Both Sides

Years ago I worked with an Egyptian American, who told me Islam was a religion of war. A Chinese American friend made similar comments. As a liberal, I sought to defend Islamists as a protection of their rights to their religion, even though I was an Atheist who had left Christianity behind years prior. Both people countered my defense; their arguments not targeting Muslim people in specificity, but that the religion itself came from conflict. Their culture was built within the crucible of strife.

We are living in an era where people on the progressive left believe that human beings are fungible; that you can replace a man with a woman or a Muslim with a Christian, and you would only get positive diversity or cultural enrichment. However, the culture a group grows up with fundamentally changes the way people think, work and act. The reason I specified the races of the two people above, both of which I considered on the progressive left, was their background did influence their justifications.

How Religions Shape Reality

Cultures are not fixed. Christianity has changed significantly over the past several centuries. The early protestant reformer, Martin Luther, believed the Jewish people had turned away from the true Messiah, and were no longer God’s chosen people²⁴. Many of the evangelical Christians I knew in the 1990s believed that the Jews are still God’s chosen people, and would be judged to enter the kingdom of heaven. Some will state this is due to guilt over the Holocaust, and others will say this is out of a perverse desire to see the end times²⁵.

There are Muslims who have adapted and assimilated into Western culture, as well as calls from Muslims for further secularization²⁶. However, there would be no need for such calls if it wasn’t for the real dangers of Muslim extremism. In 2020, Samuel Paty, a French school teacher, was beheaded, over allegations he had taught his class about Charlie Hebdo’s 2012 cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad. In 2015, the New Years sexual assaults in Cologne, Germany, perpetrated mostly by “North African man” were barely covered by the media²⁷.

I think Christianity has grown the way it has because its core ideology revolves around messages of grace, forgiveness and equality under God. Those on the social justice left may not acknowledge it, but their own ideas of equity are based around the same Christian ideas of equality. However, many on the progressive left are atheistic or agnostic. They have removed God from the equality equation, often citing Marxist mantras of how religion is an opiate for the masses. They want to see justice and equality now, and it’s that same desire for revenge that drives those who commit acts of terrorism in the name of Islam.

Back in 2012, I marched alongside socialists protesting against Israeli atrocities. Many were socialists, and left leaning progressives. One of their leaders, an Australian Israeli, symbolically burned his citizenship papers in front of Flinders Street railway station. Looking back, I think the greatest irony are those on the progressive left advocating for struggle of Palestine, are also those who advocate for gay rights and marriage equality. Homosexuality is illegal in many Muslim countries, and can be punishable by death.

The Future Genocide

I think the Palestinians are committing atrocities of terrorism. I think the government of Israel is an apartheid and authoritarian regime. Just because the Palestinians are the underdogs in this fight, does not justify their means of warfare (unless they win and rewrite history).

One does have to show the capacity for violence in order for non-violence to work. Gandhi fasted when his people took violent action against the British Raj²⁸. Martin Luther King called riots the “language of the unheard²⁹.” Is there anyone in Palestine who will rise up a cult of personality, denouncing the violent assaults of the Palestinians, yet advocate for radical non-violence? Or is such a value system impossible under the teaching of Islam?

It may not matter. Hamas’s assault makes little sense. They are the underdogs, and I find it hard to believe they could have taken down the “Iron Dome” or breached Israeli Defense Force (IDF) outposts. Did an influx of weapons laundered through Ukraine³⁰, or left over from Biden’s withdrawal in Afghanistan, give the Hamas leadership the incentive they needed to launch an attack? They cannot hold positions against the IDF. Do they intend to fallback and commit to a guerrilla war? It does not matter.

I think it’s likely Israel will use this as the justification to carpet bomb the Gaza strip. We may see even more mass migration into Europe from those fleeing the war. Whichever side someone advocates for, I do not see how they are advocating for something other than genocide.