The first war — the war Israel is now waging against Hamas and its allies in Gaza and the West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and Iran itself — is about security.
The second war fuels and explains the first. It’s about existence. Israel’s most strident critics insist that the current conflict is about Palestinian existence, about Israel’s alleged refusal to grant a Palestinian homeland.
The third war is metaphorical. It’s also dangerous and corrosive. It’s Israel’s war for the legitimacy of its actions, a war against the “yes but” thinking that now describes the middle ground of Western opinion on the conflict. That’s not a demand that people turn off their brains when it comes to judging Israel’s behavior. On the contrary, it’s a request that they turn their brains on.
The fourth war is global, ideological — and fundamental. It’s the war against antisemitism. Among the many toxic and defamatory charges leveled against Israel since Oct. 7 is that the war in Gaza has caused a surge in antisemitism, a sly way of charging the Jewish state with being the agent of anti-Jewish hate.
Finally, there’s the war within the state of Israel and among the Jewish people worldwide. It’s a war that has been one of the most enduring, and often fatal, features of Jewish history. Its contours were visible during the fight over Israeli judicial reform before Oct. 7, and now in the lawlessness of right-wing Israeli mobs charging into Israeli army bases. It’s also a war between diaspora Jews who recognize that the assault on Israel is ultimately an assault on them, and the “ As a Jew” Jews who provide moral cover and comfort to Israel’s enemies.
Addressing these divisions is as central to Israel’s long-term security as confronting any other threat.
.Here are the top political news stories for today.
Israel has shown incredible restraint over the years in allowing terrorists to flourish right outside its borders.
What do you think the United States would do if there was a terrorist enclave the size of Gaza in Tijuana, Mexico or Windsor, Ontario that "only occasionally" launched attacks that killed dozens (and sometimes hundreds) in San Diego or Detroit? Would western activists still be talking about proportionality?
@NurturingP0l1cyVeteran2yrs2Y
I mean we work hard to prevent that by sharing our wealth with Canada and Mexico through Nafta, trading millions of dollars with mexico/canda, giving Mexico billions of dollars in aid per year and promoting bilateral cooperation with Mexico and Canada.
Perhaps if Israel managed it's relationship with Palestine as well they wouldn't always be at war.
A “Palestinian State” is unlikely to bring peace. Americans who support a “free Palestine” don’t consider the likelihood that it will simply be another Iranian proxy. Need I mention the failed governments of Lebanon and Yemen?
But don’t bother telling that to American college students or, for that matter, Kamala Harris.
@GeldingSkylarGreen2yrs2Y
"The threat of a major escalation on Israel’s northern border has turned entire cities into ghost towns and displaced more than 60,000 Israelis from their homes. That’s the proportional equivalent of roughly two million Americans forced out of their homes by the threat of terrorism."
The media will never mention what the same math would be on the Palestinian side. 1.9 million Gazans, around 75% of the population, have been displaced. The proportional equivalent would be 250 million Americans forced out of their homes.
"The threat of a major escalation on Israel’s northern border has turned entire cities into ghost towns and displaced more than 60,000 Israelis from their homes.
That’s the proportional equivalent of roughly two million Americans forced out of their homes by the threat of terrorism."
Using proportion is a neat trick to gin up your numbers to make eye popping points, so I submit a similarly proportional counter argument to Brett's statement.
Over 85% of Palestine's 5 million people have been displaced by Israeli forces since October. To put that in perspective, that would be the equivalent of 310 million Americans losing their homes, not by the *threat* of terrorism, but actual military aggression.
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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