Jerusalem

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Okay, enough nostalgia and European tales of love and war. Let’s get back to the awful present, and the god-awful Gaza mess. One side argues that Palestinians have lived under Israeli occupation since 1967 and are fighting for their freedom, the other absolves Netanyahu and the ruling Israeli government of any wrongdoing. Actually, it’s been going on since 1948, with its roots all the way back to 1917 and the Balfour Declaration. A couple hundred or so columns of this size might enlighten you further, but what’s the use? I’ve covered a couple wars down in that unhappy land and seen the horror of the refugee camps up close, and the only solution I can come up with is a wish for a pox—on both houses of Hamas and Netanyahu.

Surprisingly and suddenly, American students are now involved. Where were they all this time, I do not know, but now that they’re awake, let’s get down to the brutal facts: Keffiyeh-clad protesters are not my cup of tea. They are ignorant of history, spout fake news fed to them by TikTok, wave LGBTQ flags, have no positive vision or anything useful to contribute, claim to hate nation-states, and believe in open borders. They are the most spoiled generation in history—narcissists who think society owes them, and that the world revolves around them. They find the West evil, racist and sexist, and that it is the product of looting and colonialism. They reject hard work but claim victimhood and entitlement. Phew!

Now for the good news: There isn’t any. Let’s face it, Israel cannot be a true democracy as it claims when it oppresses and occupies millions of Palestinians. Jewish students claim to feel unwelcome and unsafe in their American schools, just as I am sure that Israeli shock troops must feel unwelcome in Gaza and the West Bank. So, how to put this unkind thing in the kindest possible way? Israel is an occupying power, and all the pro-Israeli propaganda in the world cannot change that basic fact.

As I’ve already mentioned, 900 words can only superficially touch on the conundrum. The biggest problem of all is to convince the powers that be that just as Hamas is a terrorist organization that doesn’t give a fig about who they kill and maim, so is Benjamin Netanyahu a gangster who has brought some fellow gangsters into his cabinet, people who have hindered aid to the starving and innocent population of Gaza and who would drive every Palestinian into the sea if they could.

Here are some grim numbers: The first intifada that erupted in 1987 and 2000 was caused by what Palestinians deemed the cruel occupation and aggressive methods of the Israeli occupiers in Gaza and the West Bank. It caused the deaths of 160 Israelis and 1,087 Palestinians. The second intifada for similar reasons caused the deaths of 1,000 Israelis and of 3,000 Palestinians. The numbers since Oct. 7, 2023 are about 1,200 Israelis and perhaps 400 IDF soldiers, and 35,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children. Jewish lives matter to Jews and to all civilized people, but so do Palestinian ones. In fact, more than 400 innocent Palestinian villagers have been shot and killed by Jewish settlers in the West Bank since October last, but their deaths have been reported by certain Israeli news as if flies had been exterminated.

A New York Times columnist writes that he’s a Zionist because he supports Israel’s right to exist. That means I am one also, but then he goes on to say that Jews are safe nowhere, bringing in Dreyfus, Hitler, and Khomeini. (“I see Israel as an insurance policy for every Jewish family…”) In other words, America is an unsafe place for Jews. This is the kind of rotten lie the Times spreads insidiously and very competently.

This man should go down to Palestine and write about the fanatics called settlers—brainwashed, apocalyptic, and messianic—who have emerged from the brutal undercurrent of religious Zionism. These feral know-nothings believe that the Messiah will arrive as soon as ethnic cleansing of all non-Jews, plus some secular Jews, is complete. These primitives pay no taxes, do not serve in the army, and are subsidized by the state. Their only duty is to read religious books. They have five times the amount of children of the average Israeli. They are a law unto themselves while terrorizing Palestinians and, as of late, giving Palestinian farmers 24 hours to leave their land and homes or be killed. They are Netanyahu’s ardent supporters.

Blood-soaked decades have been wasted on the obscene dream of annexing the West Bank and expelling the Palestinian population. The best opportunity for peace was the 2002 Saudi initiative, unanimously endorsed by the Arab League, that also offered an end to the Israeli-Arab conflict. For once the Palestinians were smart and accepted it. The right-wing governments of Ariel Sharon and Netanyahu rejected it. The latter, believe it or not, went on to fund Hamas, via Qatar, as a way to divide Gaza from the West Bank. Netanyahu finally saw what his underhanded dealings brought forth: October 7 and now Gaza. Does the adjective “gangster” fit him, or am I wrong?

Hamas is no Palestinian nationalist movement. It ignores Gazan lives and is the self-declared vanguard of a globalist radical Islamist movement. The luckless Palestinians are merely pawns. So, do you now see what I mean by a pox on both their houses? Hamas was made possible by Netanyahu’s deal with their leaders via Qatar, and Israel is now led by gangsters who believe their land to be is from the river to the sea. May both rot in hell.