"The modern Far-Left finds in the Palestinian story a stage on which to reenact its own myths of oppression and redemption, even when those myths contradict everything it claims to believe." !!!!
For the Arab world, the Palestinians are the literal and symbolic incarnation of their refusal to accept the existence of the Jewish state and their desire to destroy it, no matter how many deaths or decades it takes.
For the Western world (mostly its liberal ruling classes), the Palestinians are the literal and symbolic incarnation of the crimes of our ancestors—colonialism, imperialism, racism, capitalism, etc—and the modern desire to atone and wipe our hands clean of the blood shed to found and build our wealthy and powerful societies.
Of course in neither conception do the actual lives of the actual Palestinian people play any role, except as ideological stand-ins. They have only a symbolic existence and exist as other people's puppets.
I really can't add much to Josh Hoffman's excellent piece (as usual), except to say: Hell hath no fury like an idealist scorned. The young people of the West have been raised in the faith of Marxist-Lennonism, founded on the usual stale socialist ideals stated in that sappy, stupid song: "Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do/ Nothing to kill or die for/And no religion, too/Imagine all the people/Livin' life in peace" etc.🤮
And the Jews are both the oldest faith and among the youngest countries, so once again they are being asked to fill their eternal role as scapegoat and jump into the cleansing fire first, in order to fulfill the Lennonist dream of a single universal "brotherhood of man" with "nothing to kill or die for". Frustrated idealists are dangerous, because once they see their failures at building they turn to the much-easier task of destroying. They soon start demanding that everyone obey their good intentions and follow their script—or else.
Well, for the Marxists the destruction (of the existing order) is the foundation for the successful building of the new order. Works well for the people who never promised to be peaceful.
This is also why Israel is treated with double standards. Maybe they have admitted defeat, but as a consolation prize, they put Israel under a microscope desperately trying to discover something they can still fit into their supposed altruistic belief system- that they possess the ultimate humanity. And then you add the centuries old anti-semetic belief that Jews think that they are superior, the chosen, so they expect Israel to be a perfect country without any flaws and when they think they have found a flaw, they expand, exaggerate, and create an evil inhumane script of Israel in which to release their guilt. Anti Zionism.
I admit though that I’ve lost my patience trying to analyze the haters, many of whom virtue signal that “Hate has no Home Here.”Wherever they’re coming from, they’re horrible people, and I for one will neither forget nor forgive the damage they have wrought.
So true. A very important analysis. After these two shocking years, my formerly nuanced worldview has radicalised.
I wish we could say openly " Israel conquered in 1967 just as you, invaders, did. Now it is ours. Period".
The narcissism of the Muslims is not clear to me though. I used to think it was a compensation for the obvious reality of their backwards civilisation, the poverty, the wealth of their kings, emirs and other totalitarian rulers, the inferiority to the West.
I could understand it then as analogous to Israel's chosen people self-designation. They were surrounded and oppressed by powerful enemies throughout their history, but even as they blamed themselves for their penury, they decided God loved them and chose them for a mission. And nothing has changed in the collective psyche of Jews and Israel to this day.
Feeling chosen is a source of strength.
But today I see Muslim narcissism as plain supremacy delusion, anchored as so eloquently explained in this article, in atavistic 7th century tribal desert honour, a psyche frozen in time by a rigid abusive ideology that passes as a religion . And the brutality of Islam.
As for the perennial protesters, there must be a ferocious need for revenge too. Beyond honour wounds, Arabs were always sore losers. So are their brainless acolytes and sycophants. They demonstrated their true savagery by recommending Jews be gassed and praising Hitler as having the right idea. Losing means revenge is due. Jews winning is an abomination to them.
We know that. We know how Israel described and infused their choseness. They took responsibility, as Jews always did. But my comment was a secular explanation of why they chose their choseness in the first place. They chose to think God loved them in spite of the harsh realities of their existence and history to that point.
There are many deep insights in Josh Hoffman's essay and analysis of Muslims/Palestine and Western guilt and progressivism. But maybe there's more to consider.
First, the protests are not peaceful. They are a show of strength from which western society has cowered, with law enforcement cowering to their demands. These are mini wars and if the Muslims are not winning in the Middle East, then they are winning here, attacking Jews and their synagogues and schools and getting away with it: the good old days of superiority right here on wester soil.
Second, as they grow in both power and numbers, they will control government. They are paying the long game: four out of five councilors (I think I read this), in Manchester, England are Arabic. and voted to ban Israeli fans from the soccer matches. New York City is about to elect a Muslim mayor who has made anti-Semitic remarks. As their numbers grow, they will effectively dominate governments and then turn western countries (America, Canada, Europe are you listening?) against Israel. No military supplies, no cooperation and eventually, ouster from the U.N.
And so I would not glory too much about Israel's exceptionalism . All that has happened with Gaza, is that the West has bought itself a little more time. What are we going to do with it?
This is the Muslim Brotherhood playbook which plays the long game. But Israel will be just fine and it is exceptional, if the West doesn’t change direction it will fall into darkness. There is every reason to be joyful. It’s the West that is mired in sickness and has lost its moral footing.
Here's today's fantasy: All of the Jews in the UK quietly sell their homes over the course of the next year or two, moving into rentals; those with businesses quietly sell them as well. Then, let us say in the summer of 2027, they all pull their funds from British banks and all British investments and leave for Israel. Can you imagine? No more Jewish doctors, lawyers engineers, restaurant owners, workers . . .nothing. It's a great thought.
That’s why it is so important to not only defeat Hamas, but to rub their noses in it by demanding total surrender and disarmament. These animals only know one thing, strength, and Israel has beaten them every which way.
Stop referring to these savages as ‘animals’. They not, animals do not behave like this. You’re also insulting those of us who are dog parents. Do you not know how these savages hate dogs and those that were killed on 7 October? There is zero connection between savages and the Animal Kingdom!
A searingly true article, Joshua! Anti-Zionists have no real convictions of any kind. They just don’t want to appear complicit in the so-called “oppression” of the Palestinian people by Israel and to assuage their own white western guilt. They hate that Israel exists and Jews aren’t victims anymore. They resent Jewish sovereignty in the land of their ancestors because it holds up a mirror to them and they don’t like what they see staring back at them. They are forced to confront their own rotten worldview. Jews fought back and chose NOT to making being perpetual victims their identity like these folks do. These activists want to feel like their doing something to make the world a better place and that they are not guilty of being “complicit in systems of oppression” while not actually doing anything to help minority groups and praising terrorists and celebrating their handiwork and bashing their own countries. The Arabs and their Soviet allies came to realize Israel couldn’t be destroyed physically, so it should be condemned morally. So the USSR invented the idea of Palestinian identity and the fairytale of Israel being a colonial oppressor. So many of these folks have bought this lie and repeat talking points directly out of Soviet propaganda just because they need a cause to be a part of and are ashamed of their home country and their white skin.
But unfortunately for them, their “activism” has accomplished nothing and they are a bunch of losers. They are fighting for a losing, morally bankrupt and phony cause. They can’t accept they are modern day Don Quixotes who’ve thrown away their lives for a false narrative and fake cause that at the end of the day is basically just being a puppet of Iran and it’s proxies. All they’ve accomplished is to be gullible fools who didn’t help make life better for Palestinians, demonized a state built by Holocaust survivors and refugees and the only democracy in the Middle East and did a bunch free PR for Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. That’s it. You’re not Rosa Parks. Not even close. All these clowns in the Pro-Palestine Movement need to get real jobs, get a life and get educated. They need to crack open a history book and read real Middle Eastern history. The Jewish people are the indigenous people of the land of Eretz-Israel and have been for over three millennia. Are you folks familiar with names like Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, King David, King Solomon, and Jesus of Nazareth? Have you heard of the Exodus Story? Do you know who Theodor Herzl, Nathan Birnbaum or Chaim Weizmann were?
These morons clearly need a reading list and I’m happy to provide one for them:
• Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis
• Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth by Noa Tishby
• Moses: A Life by Jonathan Kirsch
• King David: A Biography by Steven L. McKenzie
• Man on Devil’s Island: Alfred Dreyfus and the Affair That Divided France by Ruth Harris
• Chaim Weizmann: A Biography by Jehuda Reinharz
• 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris
• One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate by Tom Segev
• The Holocaust: A New History by Laurence Rees
• Voyage of the Damned: S.S. St. Louis by Max Morgan Thomas and Gordon Witts
• Benghazi-Bergen-Belsen: The Long Lost Story of the Holocaust of North African Jews by Yossi Sucary
The irony of course is that the leftist idiots will be the first ones to lose their heads if they get their wish and the world of Islam conquers the West.
This was very illuminating with regard to how Israel is viewed by Arab neighbors and others, and why. I believe it is also true that Israel thrives because of their faith, and the teachings of Judaism, while Arab nations are shackled by Islam, a regressive, repressive, cult religion.
Am I alone in feeling we really haven’t done enough to name their pain or our own? Yes, they don’t like losing. They are humiliated. Wrote about this with a fantasized speech I wish someone would give. Am I off base? https://galan.substack.com/p/a-dangerous-piece?r=1xoiww
OK, but the bottom line is they hate Israel and they hate Jews. Proof is in the millions of non-Arabs who turned against Israel and the Jews. Life-long non-Jewish friends - gone! including the Vatican, which, after 65 years of nurturing reconciliation with the Jews, declared Christian Zionism "heresy."
A very interested analysis which can be expanded upon to include traditional Christianity (leaving out the evangelists).
Christian dogma calls for the Jews to be replaced by Christianity as Gods chosen people for having rejected Jesus. The Jews punishment is to wander the earth and to suffer as a symbol off what happens for rejecting Jesus. The establishment and success of the State of Israel discredits that dogma and calls into question Christianity’s validity.
Perhaps this is why heavily Christian countries like Spain and Ireland have been the ones who are most anti-Israel.
"The modern Far-Left finds in the Palestinian story a stage on which to reenact its own myths of oppression and redemption, even when those myths contradict everything it claims to believe." !!!!
For the Arab world, the Palestinians are the literal and symbolic incarnation of their refusal to accept the existence of the Jewish state and their desire to destroy it, no matter how many deaths or decades it takes.
For the Western world (mostly its liberal ruling classes), the Palestinians are the literal and symbolic incarnation of the crimes of our ancestors—colonialism, imperialism, racism, capitalism, etc—and the modern desire to atone and wipe our hands clean of the blood shed to found and build our wealthy and powerful societies.
Of course in neither conception do the actual lives of the actual Palestinian people play any role, except as ideological stand-ins. They have only a symbolic existence and exist as other people's puppets.
I really can't add much to Josh Hoffman's excellent piece (as usual), except to say: Hell hath no fury like an idealist scorned. The young people of the West have been raised in the faith of Marxist-Lennonism, founded on the usual stale socialist ideals stated in that sappy, stupid song: "Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do/ Nothing to kill or die for/And no religion, too/Imagine all the people/Livin' life in peace" etc.🤮
And the Jews are both the oldest faith and among the youngest countries, so once again they are being asked to fill their eternal role as scapegoat and jump into the cleansing fire first, in order to fulfill the Lennonist dream of a single universal "brotherhood of man" with "nothing to kill or die for". Frustrated idealists are dangerous, because once they see their failures at building they turn to the much-easier task of destroying. They soon start demanding that everyone obey their good intentions and follow their script—or else.
'Hell hath no fury like an idealist scorned'...brilliant.
lol thanks
Well, for the Marxists the destruction (of the existing order) is the foundation for the successful building of the new order. Works well for the people who never promised to be peaceful.
This is also why Israel is treated with double standards. Maybe they have admitted defeat, but as a consolation prize, they put Israel under a microscope desperately trying to discover something they can still fit into their supposed altruistic belief system- that they possess the ultimate humanity. And then you add the centuries old anti-semetic belief that Jews think that they are superior, the chosen, so they expect Israel to be a perfect country without any flaws and when they think they have found a flaw, they expand, exaggerate, and create an evil inhumane script of Israel in which to release their guilt. Anti Zionism.
All true.
I admit though that I’ve lost my patience trying to analyze the haters, many of whom virtue signal that “Hate has no Home Here.”Wherever they’re coming from, they’re horrible people, and I for one will neither forget nor forgive the damage they have wrought.
So true. A very important analysis. After these two shocking years, my formerly nuanced worldview has radicalised.
I wish we could say openly " Israel conquered in 1967 just as you, invaders, did. Now it is ours. Period".
The narcissism of the Muslims is not clear to me though. I used to think it was a compensation for the obvious reality of their backwards civilisation, the poverty, the wealth of their kings, emirs and other totalitarian rulers, the inferiority to the West.
I could understand it then as analogous to Israel's chosen people self-designation. They were surrounded and oppressed by powerful enemies throughout their history, but even as they blamed themselves for their penury, they decided God loved them and chose them for a mission. And nothing has changed in the collective psyche of Jews and Israel to this day.
Feeling chosen is a source of strength.
But today I see Muslim narcissism as plain supremacy delusion, anchored as so eloquently explained in this article, in atavistic 7th century tribal desert honour, a psyche frozen in time by a rigid abusive ideology that passes as a religion . And the brutality of Islam.
As for the perennial protesters, there must be a ferocious need for revenge too. Beyond honour wounds, Arabs were always sore losers. So are their brainless acolytes and sycophants. They demonstrated their true savagery by recommending Jews be gassed and praising Hitler as having the right idea. Losing means revenge is due. Jews winning is an abomination to them.
Good comment. However, I think you totally misunderstand the Jew's idea of being chosen. It is not a gift, but a responsibility.
We know that. We know how Israel described and infused their choseness. They took responsibility, as Jews always did. But my comment was a secular explanation of why they chose their choseness in the first place. They chose to think God loved them in spite of the harsh realities of their existence and history to that point.
There are many deep insights in Josh Hoffman's essay and analysis of Muslims/Palestine and Western guilt and progressivism. But maybe there's more to consider.
First, the protests are not peaceful. They are a show of strength from which western society has cowered, with law enforcement cowering to their demands. These are mini wars and if the Muslims are not winning in the Middle East, then they are winning here, attacking Jews and their synagogues and schools and getting away with it: the good old days of superiority right here on wester soil.
Second, as they grow in both power and numbers, they will control government. They are paying the long game: four out of five councilors (I think I read this), in Manchester, England are Arabic. and voted to ban Israeli fans from the soccer matches. New York City is about to elect a Muslim mayor who has made anti-Semitic remarks. As their numbers grow, they will effectively dominate governments and then turn western countries (America, Canada, Europe are you listening?) against Israel. No military supplies, no cooperation and eventually, ouster from the U.N.
And so I would not glory too much about Israel's exceptionalism . All that has happened with Gaza, is that the West has bought itself a little more time. What are we going to do with it?
You are correct. They are close to conquering Western Europe without an army and without firing a shot. They have every reason to feel ascendant
This is the Muslim Brotherhood playbook which plays the long game. But Israel will be just fine and it is exceptional, if the West doesn’t change direction it will fall into darkness. There is every reason to be joyful. It’s the West that is mired in sickness and has lost its moral footing.
Here's today's fantasy: All of the Jews in the UK quietly sell their homes over the course of the next year or two, moving into rentals; those with businesses quietly sell them as well. Then, let us say in the summer of 2027, they all pull their funds from British banks and all British investments and leave for Israel. Can you imagine? No more Jewish doctors, lawyers engineers, restaurant owners, workers . . .nothing. It's a great thought.
Excellent observation!
That’s why it is so important to not only defeat Hamas, but to rub their noses in it by demanding total surrender and disarmament. These animals only know one thing, strength, and Israel has beaten them every which way.
Stop referring to these savages as ‘animals’. They not, animals do not behave like this. You’re also insulting those of us who are dog parents. Do you not know how these savages hate dogs and those that were killed on 7 October? There is zero connection between savages and the Animal Kingdom!
A searingly true article, Joshua! Anti-Zionists have no real convictions of any kind. They just don’t want to appear complicit in the so-called “oppression” of the Palestinian people by Israel and to assuage their own white western guilt. They hate that Israel exists and Jews aren’t victims anymore. They resent Jewish sovereignty in the land of their ancestors because it holds up a mirror to them and they don’t like what they see staring back at them. They are forced to confront their own rotten worldview. Jews fought back and chose NOT to making being perpetual victims their identity like these folks do. These activists want to feel like their doing something to make the world a better place and that they are not guilty of being “complicit in systems of oppression” while not actually doing anything to help minority groups and praising terrorists and celebrating their handiwork and bashing their own countries. The Arabs and their Soviet allies came to realize Israel couldn’t be destroyed physically, so it should be condemned morally. So the USSR invented the idea of Palestinian identity and the fairytale of Israel being a colonial oppressor. So many of these folks have bought this lie and repeat talking points directly out of Soviet propaganda just because they need a cause to be a part of and are ashamed of their home country and their white skin.
But unfortunately for them, their “activism” has accomplished nothing and they are a bunch of losers. They are fighting for a losing, morally bankrupt and phony cause. They can’t accept they are modern day Don Quixotes who’ve thrown away their lives for a false narrative and fake cause that at the end of the day is basically just being a puppet of Iran and it’s proxies. All they’ve accomplished is to be gullible fools who didn’t help make life better for Palestinians, demonized a state built by Holocaust survivors and refugees and the only democracy in the Middle East and did a bunch free PR for Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. That’s it. You’re not Rosa Parks. Not even close. All these clowns in the Pro-Palestine Movement need to get real jobs, get a life and get educated. They need to crack open a history book and read real Middle Eastern history. The Jewish people are the indigenous people of the land of Eretz-Israel and have been for over three millennia. Are you folks familiar with names like Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, King David, King Solomon, and Jesus of Nazareth? Have you heard of the Exodus Story? Do you know who Theodor Herzl, Nathan Birnbaum or Chaim Weizmann were?
These morons clearly need a reading list and I’m happy to provide one for them:
• Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis
• Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth by Noa Tishby
• Moses: A Life by Jonathan Kirsch
• King David: A Biography by Steven L. McKenzie
• Man on Devil’s Island: Alfred Dreyfus and the Affair That Divided France by Ruth Harris
• Chaim Weizmann: A Biography by Jehuda Reinharz
• 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris
• One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate by Tom Segev
• The Holocaust: A New History by Laurence Rees
• Voyage of the Damned: S.S. St. Louis by Max Morgan Thomas and Gordon Witts
• Benghazi-Bergen-Belsen: The Long Lost Story of the Holocaust of North African Jews by Yossi Sucary
The far left hates anything that is democratic western and successful
The irony of course is that the leftist idiots will be the first ones to lose their heads if they get their wish and the world of Islam conquers the West.
This was very illuminating with regard to how Israel is viewed by Arab neighbors and others, and why. I believe it is also true that Israel thrives because of their faith, and the teachings of Judaism, while Arab nations are shackled by Islam, a regressive, repressive, cult religion.
Wonderful/brillant essay
Joshua, Just love what you wrote at the end " they can't accept that history has moved on and they haven't " Thank you....... Am Israel Chai !!!!!!¡.
Am I alone in feeling we really haven’t done enough to name their pain or our own? Yes, they don’t like losing. They are humiliated. Wrote about this with a fantasized speech I wish someone would give. Am I off base? https://galan.substack.com/p/a-dangerous-piece?r=1xoiww
BS"D
OK, but the bottom line is they hate Israel and they hate Jews. Proof is in the millions of non-Arabs who turned against Israel and the Jews. Life-long non-Jewish friends - gone! including the Vatican, which, after 65 years of nurturing reconciliation with the Jews, declared Christian Zionism "heresy."
Brilliant analysis. You'd almost feel sorry for the poor dupes, if they weren't filled with hate.
Sad, sad and pathetic people.🤷🏻♂️
A very interested analysis which can be expanded upon to include traditional Christianity (leaving out the evangelists).
Christian dogma calls for the Jews to be replaced by Christianity as Gods chosen people for having rejected Jesus. The Jews punishment is to wander the earth and to suffer as a symbol off what happens for rejecting Jesus. The establishment and success of the State of Israel discredits that dogma and calls into question Christianity’s validity.
Perhaps this is why heavily Christian countries like Spain and Ireland have been the ones who are most anti-Israel.
Just a thought…