The lens to view Jews, Israel and antisemitism

Since Oct 7th there have been lots of crossed signals about these issues which make reasonable analysis pretty tough.  Let’s try and sort them out.

First protesting in favor of Hamas is offensive, as is plopping your ass down and halting traffic. So is acting like a jackass to make Jews feel unwelcome (rampant on many college campuses).  On the other hand, people have a legitimate right to protest what Israel’s doing (so long as it's done peacefully).

Moving on, Israel has a right and obligation to reasonably defend itself after the Hamas attack.  The word “reasonable” can and should be parsed into two separate wheelhouses:

1. What’s humane and proportional given the circumstances?

2. What will yield the results Israel wants?

People routinely mix up those two which yields some flawed reasoning.

First what yields results:  Israel's problem is Iran.  Hamas is a terrorist arm of (& completely funded/controlled by) Iran.  Even if you were able to 100% annihilate Hamas, Iran has 5-6 terrorist groups to take its place.  The Houthi Rebels (Yemen) are an example.  These gremlins have disrupted 30% of Global shipping. So unless you stop Iran & it’s terrorist proxies, you’ve accomplished little.

Iran’s funding source for terrorism (contrary to those who claim they get relevant money from the US) is almost exclusively through the sale of oil to China. Those revenues have increased approx eightfold since the Pandemic. Is China willing to threaten to cut off that funding with assurance from the US that we’ll substitute our oil for Iran’s?  I believe so for a number of reasons. We have a mutual interest in a stable Middle East. Remember the Saudis also supply China.

So the best way to stop Iranian terrorism against Israel is through its checkbook.  PERIOD. Completely quashing Hamas is not only impossible but is a temporary band-aid. As long as the money flows, the arms flow.

BTW, how’s the Israel invasion going?  Not great, most news sources inside Israel and the West place Hamas casualties at only 20-30%.  Ergo, whatever the IDF is doing isn’t working and isn’t likely to.  What they are accomplishing is creating a hotbed of angry people (2 million of them/50% being impressionable children) who have had their lives destroyed and a portion will want retribution (even if it takes a lifetime).  These people aren’t going to seek retribution against Hamas.  So if you’re actively looking to recruit for the next Jihad, mission accomplished.

What’s humane and reasonable?  I’m constantly reminded by well-wishing but badly misguided people that Israel had no choice.  They liken the Oct 7th attack to Pearl Harbor.  As the US unabashedly killed millions of civilians in WWII Israel has no other choice but to level Gaza City. Besides, they claim, Israel hasn’t killed 2 million people (only about 10,000-25,000 depending on whose numbers you believe).  I guess displacing 2 million people to disease-ridden tent cities while blowing up their homes, communities, and possessions is necessary collateral damage?  Besides, many of these people are anti-Semitic.

To which I say, your neighbor may not like you, maybe a bigot, but they have a right to due process and to not have their life obliterated.  Does the Israeli Gov reject the Christian concept of brotherly love (even for those who aren’t fond of you)?

Of course, this is all a bit ridiculous because Israel had a large pallet of retaliatory options, which include(d) working to shut off Iran’s Oil revenue, conducting special forces raids to assassinate Hamas and responsible Iranian leaders, limited bomb strikes and military destruction of tunnels.  There is more than one what to skin a cat, and “pushing the button” has done nothing good for the strategic well-being of Israel.

The definition of insanity is often referred to as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Do I expect the current Israeli Gov to learn from their voluminous mistakes? Not at all.  There are plenty of Americans who haven’t learned a thing either. Speaking of people in the dark, most Israelis support the government’s military intrusion into Gaza. Not the brightest light bulbs in the pack.

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