Sunday, January 28, 2024
Elder of Ziyon
Over Shabbat, the tweet went truly viral. As of this writing, the tweet has over 700,000 views, 6,500 "Likes" and 3,200 "Replies" that are overwhelmingly negative.
Since it was getting so much attention, I wrote a short follow-up essay for anyone who finds my thesis hard to believe but has not yet been completely poisoned by hate by both the modern antisemites and the seemingly objective media.
Here's that essay, with some additions and links:
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Based on the responses to this tweet, tens of thousands of people actually believe the argumentum ad populum fallacy. (Or just maybe in the case of Israel.)
Clearly, most people responding negatively don't know the first thing about the conflict. But others think that the curated news they read represents the truth.
For those who can still think for themselves and are not motivated by hate, I suggest a couple of facts that the mainstream media downplays.
First, the IDF has an entire organization (since 1994) dedicated to helping Palestinians in the territories, COGAT. I've spoken to members. They care deeply about Palestinians and their wellbeing. They work tirelessly to coordinate aid and trade. They even have organized trade shows for Palestinians to learn new farming or medical techniques, providing them with the latest methods for success.
Of course, they also care about the safety of Israelis. But such an organization wouldn't exist in a state that is hellbent on destroying the people on the other side. The people demonizing Israel don't want you to know about COGAT, or they want to distort it. (COGAT's head is an Israeli Druze general, not a Jew.)
Second, the IDF is treated in the media like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. It is a professional army, respected by all militaries worldwide. It doesn't shoot indiscriminately. It doesn't target civilians. Dead Gazans don't help its cause, and on the contrary, it hurts it. Hamas has embedded itself in the entire infrastructure of Gaza and part of its strategy is to maximize civilian deaths. I am not exaggerating. If you can name a single thing Hamas has done to protect Palestinian lives, I'd love to hear it.
Relatedly, in previous wars, the goal was to dissuade Hamas from wanting to attack Israel because the cost would be too high. October 7 proved that Hamas doesn't care about the cost: their hate and antisemitism is what drives them, not a desire for a state (in fact, they desire a caliphate, not a Palestinian state, except as a stage to their pan-Islamist goal.)
Also, if you think Hamas had modified its antisemitic charter, you are dead wrong. They issued a document but say in Arabic that it does not replace their charter.
As such, it is a valid military goal to utterly destroy a group hellbent on destroying you. Hamas' urban tunnel strategy - a strategy that is utterly unprecedented in world history - is designed to allow Hamas to survive, and the phrase "human shields" is not a slogan but its major defensive weapon.
The threat of thousands of dead children is Hamas' Iron Dome.
There is a lot more to say. Read the Modern War essays from West Point to see what real military experts have to say about Israeli and Hamas strategy and international law. The more you learn about actual combat from real soldiers, the more you realize that the New York Times and CNN and Human Rights Watch are utterly clueless, and their biases guide their reporting more than reality. Their articles about Israel using so-called "dumb bombs" are a classic case in point: computer guided and released "dumb bombs" are nearly as accurate as smart bombs and make far more sense for certain targets like warehouses. But the point is that Israel is fighting a very difficult war with constraints that no army in history had to deal with, where the population is being kept in their "open air prison" not by Israel but by their fellow Arabs who seemingly share Hamas' goals of maximizing casualties.
Israel's former chief justice Aharon Barak wrote in his ICJ opinion on Friday:
International law is an integral part of the military code and the conduct of the Israeli army. The Code of Ethics of the Israeli Defense Forces states that “[a]n IDF soldier will only exercise their power or use their weapon in order to fulfill their mission and only when necessary. They will maintain their humanity during combat and routine times. The soldier will not use their weapon or power to harm uninvolved civilians and prisoners and will do everything in their power to prevent harm to their lives, bodies, dignity and property.”When those norms are violated, the Attorney General, the State Attorney and the Military Advocate General take the necessary measures to bring those responsible to justice, and their decisions are subject to judicial review. In appropriate cases, the Israeli Supreme Court may instruct them how to act. This is Israel’s DNA. Governments have been replaced, new justices have come to the Supreme Court, but the DNA of Israel’s democracy does not change.Israel’s multiple layers of institutional safeguards also include legal advice provided in real time, during hostilities. Strikes that do not meet the definition of a military objective or that do not comply with the rule of proportionality cannot go forward. The holdings of the Israeli Supreme Court and Israel’s institutional framework demonstrate a commitment to the rule of law and human life - a commitment that runs through its collective memory, institutions, and traditions.
Israelis know this as well as they know their own names. The Israel that is portrayed in the media has nothing in common with the real Israel and the real IDF.
If you accept that Israelis are human beings who do not want to hurt the innocent and are not monsters, and look at the news through that lens, and if you are not already blinded by hate, you will see that the simplistic "Israel is bad" narrative is a mere meme, and the truth is way beyond the headlines.
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