Thank you for speaking out! Israel needs all the support it can get. I agree, this propaganda is like a plague. The western leaders are so cowardly, they have an invasion of Muslims in their Countries. They wish to appease them. Israel is doing the right thing, the only message these people understand is strength and power! Keep going. 🙏
"Recently, a retired Israeli army chief, Herzi Halevi, reportedly stated that over 200,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed or injured, a figure that aligns more closely with the Gaza Health Ministry's casualty reports." Anyone for accusing General Halevi of anti-semitism? That's an awful lot of victims, genocide or not.
Actually, the ratio of combatants to civilians killed is the lowest in modern warfare. Anyone with a brain knows that 200,000 dead is fake news. The total is closer to 15,000.
The charge of genocide has nothing to do with facts or reality and certainly has nothing to do with the welfare of the actual Palestinian people, who exist as props and symbols in the minds of Western liberals. Charging Israel with genocide is an attempt to transform Jews into Nazis and thereby morally delegitimize the Jewish state and the Jewish desire for self-determination. It's not enough that Jews be demonized and attacked, they must be humiliated and stripped of any claims to protected status or as victims, which is the great moral credential of our time.
The "genocide" lie is based on moral inversion and psychological projection. If you're a devoted member of the Free Palestine! cult (which is now a MANDATORY belief for progressives) and you wake up on 10/7 to the news of the Hamas massacre, you have two choices: 1) admit you were wrong, or at least that things have changed, condemn Hamas and admit that Israel has to respond and that it's reasonable for them to demand the total eradication of Hamas (though this may lose you friends, followers and cause all sorts of personal and professional problems, esp if you work in media or on a fancy campus); or 2) heap so much scorn and slander on Israel, paint it as a totally evil abomination—settler-colonial imperialist capitalist apartheid genocide etc—or as one scholar at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research wrote recently that “[Israel is] a condensation of Western colonial and imperial power, a worldwide symbol of Western perfidy, a state which physically cleaves Africa and Asia, a merchant and mercenary of global counter-insurgency, all melded in a manticore of death and destruction.”—talk about gilding the lily!
This way Team Free Palestine! can save face and status and maintain their exalted self-image—"I only hate you because I love Palestinian babies so much!"—and the dogma and narratives that undergird it. It makes perfect sense psychologically, however loathsome it appears to those of us not in their cult.
The misuse of "genocide" is just part of the campaign, using buzzwords to inflame people's emotions. Thus, "apartheid," "ethnic cleansing," "colonization," "famine," etc. get trotted out, with zero regard for accuracy. Heck, Amnesty International tried to change the definitions of "genocide" and "apartheid," to shoehorn Israel into the terms. If the shoe doesn't fit, bring in a shoe stretcher!
As far as I can see, we are already living in that world. Eighty years have elapsed since the end of WW2 and here we are repeating everything that led to the Holocaust, showing we have learned nothing. The only caveat I would add to your essay is that the West which thinks it will survive its criminal and depraved behaviour while Israel sinks is in for a big surprise. It is not 1933 Germany. There is a Jewish state and a Jewish people living in that state and they are armed with weapons that neither Spain nor Ireland, neither Holland nor Belgium, neither Slovenia nor Iceland has. As for those that do, they too may be in for a big surprise. Not to mention the Muslim world Turkey is so eager to head. We shall see who is the last man standing. And if the BBC is around to report on it.
Yes, indeed. Having the ability to defend ourselves is what makes all the difference this time around.
I don't think we need to blame ourselves for having learned nothing. It's the world that is asleep at the wheel. What we have learned is that the public is easily led and misled. And that we can't presume that even the most obvious truths will be apparent to the mass audience. We have our work cut out for us. But at least we have the means to defend ourselves while we fend off the lies and smears and plan our responses.
The moral clarity in this essay is pure as crystal. But too few people will understand this to avert disaster. We are living through a time of social upheaval and a rising tide of Jew hatred, two indicators that always spell the end of an empire. I have a sense of impending doom because I can't think of an example in history where this ended well. Thank you, Andrew Fox, for your courage in staking out a position defending the Jewish people.
I can’t agree more - thank you for the post - when you say “this is not about Gaza; it is about the future of the Jewish People” I would add “and more broadly about the future of the western civilization.“ The west should understand that when things go wrong for the Jewish community be it in the streets, in campuses, in synagogues , this is bad sign for the values of freedom and for the people of that particular place. Again thank you for the article
The entire "Palestinian" movement is the biggest HOAX ever seen in world politics. It keeps living on for two reasons: 1. It generates billions and billions and billions of money and so-call "aid" that enriches the leaders and is a great way for world-wide money laundering. 2. Great excuse to hate Jews openly and viciously.
This has all happened before. The White communities too of the Advanced Western Nations, who were building modern societies, with full modern amenities and new infrastructure like decent roads and sewage systems in the Global South, were harassed and attacked in a sustained murderous Global campaign of Anti-Colonialist Hatred (covered with the fig-leaf of Marxism) which then drove Europeans out of their colonies in the 20th Century. Many of these 'Liberated' countries went on to form mass-murdering Marxist Dictatorships across Africa, the Far East and Latin America, as well as The Middle East.
Hamas’ primary strategy of massacring Jews to whet the appetite of the antisemitic world, then maximizing civilian suffering to embolden the full flowering of millions’ most basest instincts - the hatred for the “collective Jew” - has been triumphantly vindicated beyond their wildest dreams.
We can expect nothing else from a world which turned its back during the first pre Israel Holocaust and would happily enable the second.
So sick and tired of seeing these people, knowing that they endorse lies, knowing that some of them are paid. Knowing how ignorant they are of the truth. Knowing they are not interested in hearing the truth. And sadly. it is a setting in which they can scream and yell their antisemitism.
What can one say about so.many of our fellow Americans who identify more with old europe than their own country. Especially american jews od the leftist persuasion.
Excellent points. The only thing I would change would be to eliminate "modern," since this is the largest propaganda assault in ALL of human history. Universities infiltrated around the world, institutional Jew-hatred in the majority of Muslim countries, media complicity, the UN, social media, spineless politicians, ad nauseam. We've never seen anything like this, even in the days of Nazi Germany or Pravda. Those campaigns may have had pervasive antisemitism, but they weren't global in scope or nearly as well funded. Since antisemitism always heralds the breakdown of society, civilization is in trouble. We should take those war drums at anti-Israel demonstrations seriously and literally.
Thank you for speaking out! Israel needs all the support it can get. I agree, this propaganda is like a plague. The western leaders are so cowardly, they have an invasion of Muslims in their Countries. They wish to appease them. Israel is doing the right thing, the only message these people understand is strength and power! Keep going. 🙏
"Recently, a retired Israeli army chief, Herzi Halevi, reportedly stated that over 200,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed or injured, a figure that aligns more closely with the Gaza Health Ministry's casualty reports." Anyone for accusing General Halevi of anti-semitism? That's an awful lot of victims, genocide or not.
Actually, the ratio of combatants to civilians killed is the lowest in modern warfare. Anyone with a brain knows that 200,000 dead is fake news. The total is closer to 15,000.
Not enough for what they’ve done, and promise to keep doing in the future.
Thank you!! Spot on. Excellent.
The charge of genocide has nothing to do with facts or reality and certainly has nothing to do with the welfare of the actual Palestinian people, who exist as props and symbols in the minds of Western liberals. Charging Israel with genocide is an attempt to transform Jews into Nazis and thereby morally delegitimize the Jewish state and the Jewish desire for self-determination. It's not enough that Jews be demonized and attacked, they must be humiliated and stripped of any claims to protected status or as victims, which is the great moral credential of our time.
The "genocide" lie is based on moral inversion and psychological projection. If you're a devoted member of the Free Palestine! cult (which is now a MANDATORY belief for progressives) and you wake up on 10/7 to the news of the Hamas massacre, you have two choices: 1) admit you were wrong, or at least that things have changed, condemn Hamas and admit that Israel has to respond and that it's reasonable for them to demand the total eradication of Hamas (though this may lose you friends, followers and cause all sorts of personal and professional problems, esp if you work in media or on a fancy campus); or 2) heap so much scorn and slander on Israel, paint it as a totally evil abomination—settler-colonial imperialist capitalist apartheid genocide etc—or as one scholar at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research wrote recently that “[Israel is] a condensation of Western colonial and imperial power, a worldwide symbol of Western perfidy, a state which physically cleaves Africa and Asia, a merchant and mercenary of global counter-insurgency, all melded in a manticore of death and destruction.”—talk about gilding the lily!
This way Team Free Palestine! can save face and status and maintain their exalted self-image—"I only hate you because I love Palestinian babies so much!"—and the dogma and narratives that undergird it. It makes perfect sense psychologically, however loathsome it appears to those of us not in their cult.
The misuse of "genocide" is just part of the campaign, using buzzwords to inflame people's emotions. Thus, "apartheid," "ethnic cleansing," "colonization," "famine," etc. get trotted out, with zero regard for accuracy. Heck, Amnesty International tried to change the definitions of "genocide" and "apartheid," to shoehorn Israel into the terms. If the shoe doesn't fit, bring in a shoe stretcher!
As far as I can see, we are already living in that world. Eighty years have elapsed since the end of WW2 and here we are repeating everything that led to the Holocaust, showing we have learned nothing. The only caveat I would add to your essay is that the West which thinks it will survive its criminal and depraved behaviour while Israel sinks is in for a big surprise. It is not 1933 Germany. There is a Jewish state and a Jewish people living in that state and they are armed with weapons that neither Spain nor Ireland, neither Holland nor Belgium, neither Slovenia nor Iceland has. As for those that do, they too may be in for a big surprise. Not to mention the Muslim world Turkey is so eager to head. We shall see who is the last man standing. And if the BBC is around to report on it.
Yes, indeed. Having the ability to defend ourselves is what makes all the difference this time around.
I don't think we need to blame ourselves for having learned nothing. It's the world that is asleep at the wheel. What we have learned is that the public is easily led and misled. And that we can't presume that even the most obvious truths will be apparent to the mass audience. We have our work cut out for us. But at least we have the means to defend ourselves while we fend off the lies and smears and plan our responses.
Excellent essay in all regards.
Thank you
The moral clarity in this essay is pure as crystal. But too few people will understand this to avert disaster. We are living through a time of social upheaval and a rising tide of Jew hatred, two indicators that always spell the end of an empire. I have a sense of impending doom because I can't think of an example in history where this ended well. Thank you, Andrew Fox, for your courage in staking out a position defending the Jewish people.
Wonderful feedback, thank you.
I can’t agree more - thank you for the post - when you say “this is not about Gaza; it is about the future of the Jewish People” I would add “and more broadly about the future of the western civilization.“ The west should understand that when things go wrong for the Jewish community be it in the streets, in campuses, in synagogues , this is bad sign for the values of freedom and for the people of that particular place. Again thank you for the article
Jake Wallis Simons and I fully agree - that’s the exact the topic of our new podcast, launching this week.
https://substack.com/@thebrinkpodcast?r=z0uop&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
The entire "Palestinian" movement is the biggest HOAX ever seen in world politics. It keeps living on for two reasons: 1. It generates billions and billions and billions of money and so-call "aid" that enriches the leaders and is a great way for world-wide money laundering. 2. Great excuse to hate Jews openly and viciously.
This has all happened before. The White communities too of the Advanced Western Nations, who were building modern societies, with full modern amenities and new infrastructure like decent roads and sewage systems in the Global South, were harassed and attacked in a sustained murderous Global campaign of Anti-Colonialist Hatred (covered with the fig-leaf of Marxism) which then drove Europeans out of their colonies in the 20th Century. Many of these 'Liberated' countries went on to form mass-murdering Marxist Dictatorships across Africa, the Far East and Latin America, as well as The Middle East.
Outstanding essay, Andrew Fox! All of these distortions magnified by the MSM, the internet, and Western govt’s (it is rather frightening!)
Thank you!
One of the best essays I have read on this terrible global war against israel and Jewish people. Thank you Andrew Fox.
You’re welcome!
Hamas’ primary strategy of massacring Jews to whet the appetite of the antisemitic world, then maximizing civilian suffering to embolden the full flowering of millions’ most basest instincts - the hatred for the “collective Jew” - has been triumphantly vindicated beyond their wildest dreams.
We can expect nothing else from a world which turned its back during the first pre Israel Holocaust and would happily enable the second.
Absolutely……I don’t understand how people don’t see it!
So sick and tired of seeing these people, knowing that they endorse lies, knowing that some of them are paid. Knowing how ignorant they are of the truth. Knowing they are not interested in hearing the truth. And sadly. it is a setting in which they can scream and yell their antisemitism.
What can one say about so.many of our fellow Americans who identify more with old europe than their own country. Especially american jews od the leftist persuasion.
Excellent points. The only thing I would change would be to eliminate "modern," since this is the largest propaganda assault in ALL of human history. Universities infiltrated around the world, institutional Jew-hatred in the majority of Muslim countries, media complicity, the UN, social media, spineless politicians, ad nauseam. We've never seen anything like this, even in the days of Nazi Germany or Pravda. Those campaigns may have had pervasive antisemitism, but they weren't global in scope or nearly as well funded. Since antisemitism always heralds the breakdown of society, civilization is in trouble. We should take those war drums at anti-Israel demonstrations seriously and literally.