The Rules That Only Palestinians Can Play By
Double standards galore, the "poor Palestinians" and their supporters are afforded luxuries from which Israel, Israelis, and Jews are forbidden.
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Israel is being told that it cannot “bargain with humanitarian aid” (a large chunk of which ends up in Hamas’ hands), but no one seems to be telling the Palestinians that they cannot bargain with Israeli hostages.
Few people mention that Palestinians attacked Israel during a Jewish holiday (Simchat Torah) on October 7th, but Israel must go above and beyond to forsake Palestinians (including Palestinian terrorists) during Ramadan.
Israel is being pressured to expand entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but no one is pressuring Hamas to offer more aid to the Israeli hostages.
Palestinians can start a war, lose, and then cry about it, but Israelis are rarely allowed to win a war in self-defense.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) willfully employees hundreds of Palestinian terrorists, but Israel is conducting a nefarious “political campaign” against the organization.
Palestinians can indiscriminately attack people in Israel on land and through rocket fire, but Israelis cannot kill Palestinians in the unfortunate (yet reasonable) heat of war — without being told that there are “too many” civilian casualties.
At the Oscars on Sunday, Hollywood types wore a red pin that represents the groups Artists4Ceasefire, but notably absent were the yellow pins representing the hostages kidnapped by Palestinians on October 7th.
People question everything the Israeli government says, yet take Hamas’ Gaza Health Ministry at their word.
Palestinians deserve more land, even if it means compromising Israelis’ security, safety, and well-being.
The majority of Palestinians support Hamas and get a free pass for it, but Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Israeli government are a major problem and we should try to take down their ruling coalition.
Palestinians in the West Bank have regularly attacked Jews there for decades, but West Bank Israelis are violent and must be sanctioned.
Let’s help the Palestinians in Gaza get more aid through the sea, but let’s not help the Israelis ensure the aid gets to the right people — and then ridicule Israel when it does not.
This Israel-Hamas war has “ruptured any sense of a shared humanity,” but we never said anything about Hamas and the Palestinian Authority’s totalitarian, oppressive regimes before October 7th.
Palestinians are notorious for using “humanitarian aid” to smuggle in lethal equipment used against Israel, but Israel must open up more crossings to allow more aid to enter Gaza.
Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel,” but the overwhelmingly kleptocratic Palestinian Authority is perfectly fine.
Let’s be culturally fashionable “pro-Palestine” to cover up our flaming antisemitism, and also: Zionism is racist, prejudiced, and discriminatory.
Israel is fighting an immoral war, but Hamas can starve its people to death without any real consequences.
Marwan Barghouti, currently sitting in an Israeli prison serving five life terms for planning terror attacks that killed five Israelis, is the Palestinians’ so-called “Nelson Mandela” — but Israeli “violent settlers” are obstructing the peace process.
“We’re calling for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza,” but no mention of the dangerous effects that a permanent ceasefire right now would actually entail for Israel, Israelis, and even Jews across the world.
Let’s overemphasize and over-share the quotes of self-hating Jews, and also: Palestinians, Muslims, and Arabs who speak the truth against their people are “traitors.”
The Israeli government is prolonging the war, but no one says anything about Hamas continuously refusing a ceasefire and the release of the hostages.
In London over the weekend, a man was detained for innocently holding a sign that said “Don’t attack the law, Hamas is terrorist” — but provocative, harassing, and bullying pro-Palestinian demonstrators regularly go unchecked.
“We’re calling for peace and lasting justice for the people of Palestine,” even though many Palestinians have historically never been sincerely interested in peace and justice alongside Israel.
Let’s condition military aid to Israel which is defending itself after quite possibly the worst terrorist attacks in modern history, but let’s not condition humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Every civilian death is a tragedy that ought to be mourned, but few folks talk about October 7th anymore.
“Free the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — but Israel is the one attempting to commit genocide.
When the Palestinians attack Israel, they are “liberating” themselves from the Zionists, but when the Israelis respond, they are “oppressing” and “ethnically cleansing” the Palestinians.
Israel should accept a two-state solution, and the Palestinians do not have to make any concessions.
Let’s airdrop aid into Gaza that reportedly killed people, and also: Let’s exclusively hold the Israelis accountable for all deaths in Gaza, irrespective of any context.
Israel must not escalate the situation into a regional war, but the Palestinians want to use Ramadan to ignite the Middle East and no one seems to care.
A major Israeli operation in Rafah, the last terrorist stronghold in Gaza, is a “red line” — but leaving Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad intact in Gaza is not.
Let’s disparage the only democracy in the Middle East, and let’s not say a word about the “poor Palestinians” who have never shown a desire for democracy.
Netanyahu is a modern-day Hitler and Israelis are today’s Nazis, whereas many Palestinians have a copy of “Mein Kampf” translated into Arabic.
“This is for Gaza” — and also, how dare the Israelis try to eradicate Hamas from Gaza, even though doing so would be remarkably better for Gaza.
Politicians and bureaucrats are scolding Israel for fighting Islamic extremists of whom said politicians and bureaucrats are frightened.
There is a growing famine in Gaza, and also 102 food trucks have entered Gaza every day, on average, during the last few weeks — 50-percent more trucks than before the war started.1
UNRWA asserts that no one around the world can claim they “did not know” about what is happening in Gaza right now, but when the IDF found a data center directly underneath UNRWA’s headquarters in the strip, the organization claimed they “did not know.”
Netanyahu is using this war for political gain, and let’s pretend like practically every other politician on this planet is not doing the same (see: Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Rishi Sunak, Cyril Ramaphosa, Vladimir Putin, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Justin Trudeau, and Mahmoud Abbas, to name a few).
Let’s “free Palestine” and also: Let’s boycott a country where people of all religions, ethnicities, and cultures are truly free.
Israel National Radio
It's 1939 all over again, and it makes me physically sick! Facts do not matter.
Joshua, this article was so spot on, I could feel my blood pressure rising. Everything you stated is exactly what the imbecilic leaders who lead with arrogance are doing daily. I have a response to each one which I will save to remind myself of the reality, and not the fantasies of these vote chasers. I do believe the money that has been spread around in large quantities is also responsible for the absolute avoidance of what is really going on. On an aside, have you heard any leaders talk about Hezbollah also sending rockets into Israel, just Tel Aviv recently, on a daily basis? (Thank goodness for the Iron Dome) We know the answer to that one. Again, the astuteness of your writing is so appreciated in a time when we have Hamas PR shills coming at us from all directions.