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Israel Forever Evil, Her Enemies Forever Good
The following, authored by Brendan O’Neill, is taken from a post on spiked-online.com:
Truth is the first casualty of war, they say. It’s the first casualty of virtue-signalling, too. Over the past week we have seen just how estranged from truth the West’s fashionable anti-Israel set has become. Something extraordinary happened: woke commentators and activists expressed more fury over a massacre that didn’t happen than they did over one that did happen. They made more noise over a massacre that exists mostly in their imaginations than they did over a massacre that existed in the real world, that shattered people’s lives in the most violent, horrifying and bigoted fashion imaginable. This tale of two massacres, of the real and unreal, sheds a harsh and unforgiving light on anti-Israel sentiment today.
O’Neill goes on to describe how an encounter of the IDF in Jenin that led to the deaths of seven terrorists (two from Islamic Jihad, four from Hamas, and one from Fatah) was claimed by a US Congresswoman and some notable media outlets to be a massacre or a bloodbath, while the real massacre of seven Jews outside a synagogue in Jerusalem was ignored.
It’s interesting to note that several highly popular podcasters and pundits were silent on this distortion. Then again, these individuals are reliably anti-Israel in their views. I refer to Joe Rogan, Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, and Andrew Sullivan. Widely considered to be mavericks for their frequent confrontation with political and cultural fashion and wokeness, they walk in lockstep with the progressive left when it comes to Israel.
Published in General
The Left never forgives a betrayal. Israel was founded on Socialist principles. It’s creation was supported by the USSR. In its early days it was a beacon of successful socialism, whose basic building block was the kibbutz, the utopian commune that fused egalitarianism, farming, and Zionism. But that all changed. As Israel moved right, the Left’s hostility grew. Until it’s now viewed as irredeemably evil…right up there with the likes of America.
And it doesn’t hurt that the Left are basically cowards and kowtow to the most violent. So since 9/11 tbey have been especially obsequious to Islam in general and the Palestinians in particular.
Were the seven alleged terrorists actually killed by the IDF? How? Were they shot? What were the circumstances?
I agree with you. But I would also add that Israel enjoyed a measure of international sympathy following the Holocaust. That sympathy has since dissipated as the world’s oldest hatred rears its head. I don’t think of Joe Rogan as a leftist so why does he allow an anti-Israel bigot such as Roger Waters to spout his venom? During a podcast, Waters stated: “The Israelis seem now to have a policy of … murdering so many of them that they are absolutely trying to create another intifada. So they can make it an armed conflict…so they can just kill them all.”
In response to this calumny, Rogan was silent.
This is an interesting perspective–one which, as an old Jew, I have never entertained. Although, it is my estimation that Israel is a State the size of New Jersey with the overall politics of a State like Virginia. The Israelis have been forced to move right by a need for physical survival, but their natural state of political being is most definitely left of center. Netanyahu is a warrior and an intellectual, but he is an exception.
Maybe Rogan was shocked into speechlessness by the inanity of Waters’ statement.
if only this were true. You can find the interview on YouTube by searching “Rogan Waters Israel.” See for yourself. There’s no pushback from Rogan to any of the lies and distortions of Waters.
I do not follow Joe Rogan. I listened secondhand to segments of his interview with Mark Zuckerberg about the FBI “suggesting” what to ban, etc. But on a regular basis, I am afraid I must claim ignorance.
OK, you haven’t answered my question, which is troubling.
The report seems to be that the IDF did, indeed, kill 7 alleged terrorists. The OP calls this
and
So did it happen, or not?
I understand that you may not like the use of the word “massacre.” That’s normal rhetoric, which you used yourself for an alleged terrorist attack.
Because I’m very troubled. If the IDF did, indeed, kill the 7 alleged terrorists, then your statements in the OP, which I quoted above, seem like falsehoods.
What is the truth about the IDF action?
JoshuaFinch used the term “massacre” because that is what the Arab fascists said: In their propaganda ever killing of terrorists is a “massacre” in which innocents are killed by those eevil Joos.
Furthermore, the term “massacre” carries strong emotional connotations, and normal people (as opposed to islamo-fascists, communist apologists, and other monsters) do not customarily use it to describe the justifiable killing of combatants. (Exceptions: “My God, the highway of death was just a massacre of the Iraqi military.” And in such cases the very different connotations are clear.)
Still no answer about what happened. Interesting.
Okay, then maybe you can tell us what you believe happened.
Do you believe it was a “massacre”? And if so, why?
Killing murderers is, by definition, not a massacre.
Massacre:
noun mas· sa· cre ˈma-si-kər Synonyms of massacre 1 : the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty witnessed the massacre of a boatload of refugees 2 : a cruel or wanton (see wanton entry 1 sense 1a) murder 3 : a wholesale slaughter of animals
To my mind, terrorists are not usually helpless and unresisting. But I guess it all depends on whose ox is being gored.
Not that there’s anything wrong with dropping a JDAM from high overhead on unsuspecting terrorists.
Still no reply to my question. I am “concerned.”
The IDF entered Jenin and engaged in a three hour gun battle with terrorists. This was followed by the slaughter of Jews outside a synagogue in a Jerusalem neighborhood. For details, go here.
I will never in my life understand why people insist on the idea that Jews are the bad guys in these scenarios. Well, ok, I understand why Muslims do it. But I don’t understand how anyone viewing from the sidelines does.
This is not to say Israel is never in the wrong, they are. Maybe one time out of fifteen. Maybe.
Can you imagine what it’s like living with a group of people that wants your disappearance, if not annihilation? The fury of this group and its supporters throughout the West increased following Israel’s peace agreements with several Arab countries. Just a few days ago, Chad (a Muslim country) opened an embassy in Israel.
The fact that Israel is gaining wider acceptance among its neighbors is intolerable to its enemies.
Well, I am a Republican, so I do have an inkling of what it’s like, but not to such a literal degree.
Well said, even if they are not slaughtering American churchgoers . . . yet.
They never forgave Nixon for going after Alger Hiss
Even earlier than 9/11: In the 90’s, only a few years after the death fatwah against Salman Rushdie, “liberal” journalists stopped reporting on Islamic extremism in the American mosques and began demanding that those targeted for death must “understand” Islam. Even worse in Europe, where the standard liberal/leftist position was that criticism of Islam should be a criminal offense.
Muslims and leftists both demand complete submission. It’s not a coincidence that those hateful Muslim Congresswomen are Democrats. I would not be surprised if leftists convert to Islam at some point.