Israel: The World's Most 'Moral' Army

I'm so sick of "morality" in war

Israeli Citizen Justifies Forcible Takeover

Surviving the conservative political punditry this week has been a real grind. Now I know how Ron Paul felt on 9-11 or Thomas Massie during Covid-19.

But let’s start from the beginning. Late last year while writing about freedom of speech someone in the comments said, "Sure, you're brave now, but we'll see how brave you are when we see your take on Israel and Palestine."

And here we are, sadly.

With the vicious terrorist attack in Israel, now is as good a time as any. And I guess I'll start by saying people like Ben Shapiro are out of their fucking mind:

My heart goes out to Ben and anyone with close family ties in Israel who are grieving. Fuck Hamas. Fuck terrorism. That said, we need less emotional dogmatic responses.

I only want to make one point in this article: if what you are selling is that “you're either with me or you're with the enemy,” to use a Malcolm X-ism, I can only assume you've been duped or are trying to dupe me.

I feel like it’s Bush-Era 2001 again

I won't make the mistake of saying every social issue needs a badge of "nuance." As the old proverb goes, if you stand in the middle of the street, you will be hit in both directions.

But when it comes to war, egging on war, and whipping up people into a state of "you're either with Israel, or you're with Hamas" nuance is critical.

I don't like Hamas either. I don't condone baby murder or rape. But I also don't like Israel using white phosphorus in Gaza to kill civilians. Or ignoring the history of how that land was obtained (or using the bible to justify it). Or that to criticize anything Israel does is seen as anti-Semitic. I laugh at the "You're either with us or against us" rule.

Especially as someone who is heading to Special Forces selection for the US Army in January, this all deeply concerns me. The last five wars the US government and media have sold us (including Russia-Ukraine) have been built on lies. The same is happening again for Israel such as these baby beheadings and other events that Israel cannot confirm “but you can assume it happened.”

It's like in Orwell’s 1984 when the civilians always believe they are at war with Oceania, and then it's a new enemy they've "always been at war with."

No wonder a new poll shows that young Americans' support for Israel is cratering. Complete support for Israel's recent actions in Gaza fell from 81% among those over 65, 56% among 50-64, 44% among 35-49 to just 27% among the 18-34 demographic. We’re tired of the lies.

I don't trust these people

Most historians agree that back in 1948, the pre-state Jewish militias in Israel took actions that resulted in the massive displacement of the Arab population of Palestine AND took active steps to prevent that population's return.

Whether you agree it was justified or not — or morale — it happened.

750,000 Palestinians were displaced during that time. This community and its offspring uphold the core of the Palestinian refugee populace today.

So why can’t someone like Ben Shapiro add even a minuscule amount of that context? Hm?

Or what about classical liberal and free speech pretender Dave Rubin who supports banning Palestine protests in France?

Or libertarian Robby Soave who turned into a frothing at the mouth Bush-era psychopath with his tirade against his morning show co-host Briahna Joy Gray:

Neocons might be the worst people on the planet.

Worse than the social justice warriors, the woke, and the race hustlers who scammed a country. War is the biggest scam. And of course Israel should defend itself, but don’t pretend we don’t know how we got here.

And let me close with this, I have no horse in this race. I've just read history and know Israel deserves criticism like anyone else. Does that mean they deserved to be bombed? Of course not. But it also means that they have done things like this:

• Compared missile strikes and attacks in Palestine to "mowing the grass."

• Threatened to censor free speech, halt media broadcasts and seize equipment if a media outlet serves as a basis for “enemy propaganda.”

• Ignored the U.N. Partition Plan for Israel/Palestine in 1947, guaranteeing Arabs 40% of Israel's land, which is now regulated to 10%.

• They funded Hamas in the 1980s as a “counterweight” to the secularists and leftists in Palestine (something the US gov’t knows a thing about)

• Suffered the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who once said in 2001, "America Is A Thing You Can Move Very Easily' — which has led to mass protests and even mention of a civil war this year.

Final Thought

Don’t lie to me. That’s all I ask.

The situation in Israel is like early American colonists being dumbfounded by Native Americans defending their land as we set foot in their territory.

Even if Jews were promised this land and had a history with it, there were people living there. People… living there. Conquering it was always going to be bloody.

At the very least — if not a conspiracy as some allege — what happened in Israel last week was a security and intelligence failure of the highest degree.

So spare me the morale pontification. It’s easy to be on the more 'moral' side when you have all the power and are in a privileged position. Let us find these Palestinians, the newest of the earth's exiles, some new promised land of their own, since they have already suffered more than forty years in the desert and are not even free to wander... not even the other Muslims around the area want Palestinians, where do you propose we send them? Antarctica?

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Thanks for reading, I hope I didn’t just lose half of my subscribers. Moving to Denver, Colorado today for the next three months. If you’re around let’s grab a coffee ☕