Negating the Nonsense

It is hard to keep pace with the amount of information, both written and visual, that deals with the Israel -Arab conflict. The arguments that support each side are therefore well-known. There is one particular aspect to the pro-Israel position that needs to be sharpened and strengthened. There are some very smart, articulate people making the case for Israel in its war with Hamas, and the conflict in general. Some are Jewish, some are not. What I have noticed from all of them is the omission of calling out the flaws -negating the nonsense – in the arguments made by the enemy. 

   One issue is the accusation that Israel is an apartheid, colonial regime. The claim is that Jews have no connection to the land, and we have taken control over the indigenous Arab population.  Arguments against this claim often focus on clear historical archeological evidence of a Jewish presence here millenia ago, or invoking the Bible where it states that the land was given to the children of Israel. All well and good, but one’s man’s history is another’s fairy tale. American and Russian opinions differ on who made the difference in defeating Nazi Germany. So let us follow through on the colonial argument: If Jews have no historical or biblical connection to the land, what does that mean for the billion -plus people who celebrate Christmas? Is it the position of Israel’s detractors that the birth of their saviour – born of Israel’s  King  David’s line – took place not  in Bethlehem, a half-hour drive south of Jerusalem, but rather in Bethlehem, Indiana?  Is the David to which they refer not the king of Israel, but rather the king of late night television, David Letterman? 

    Another is the “cruel and evil Zionist occupation”. Israel’s control over Judea and Samaria has always been called into question (to a significant degree due to Israel’s schizophrenic policies  there, but that is for another time). For as long as we have had a presence there, our treatment of the poor, hard-done-by, downtrodden Palestinians has been the focus of virtually any discussion of  the conflict. We have been dancing to the music of “a two-state solution”, a  “just and lasting peace”, with “security and dignity for all” for almost sixty years. One justification for Arab terror has been the Israeli control in and of itself. Another  has been the cruelty of the occupation – the massacres, the genocides, the ethnic cleansing, and of course the humiliation of the checkpoints (remember that?)  In the present context of the conflict, when challenged by journalists/ podcasters/youtubers to condemn the actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023, Hamas supporters respond that no, they do not condemn the attack, due to  Israel’s cruel and evil genocidal  occupation.  This is consistently accepted as fact, with no pushback. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Gutteres allowed for the attack, as it “did not happen in a vacuum”. Can they describe one place where the Arab population was just moved out – take what you can and be gone; where was it that the IDF – or even better, settlers – went in and shot up a school full of children; share a story of a family that was just wiped out by an act of murder by marauding armed Zionists. When these justifiers of Arab atrocities grew up under the cruel and evil Zionist occupation, it gets even more risible. They will claim that their family has lived in the same town or village for generations – so I guess they were not massacred or ethnically cleansed. Growing up under the cruel and evil Zionist occupation, they were not brainwashed with Zionist propaganda, because that would be part of their narrative. They are quite articulate in their position, using a relatively high register English, indicating access to information in at least two languages. Let me know when we get to the evil cruelty.

        A blatant example was on display at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist,  was a co-winner for the documentary, “No Other Land”. In accepting his award, Adar said,  “About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter [is] she will not have to live the same life I am living now.” The man just won an Oscar for making a film critical of the government under which he lives. Professional opportunity, freedom of expression… What part of that life does he not want for his daughter?

     I suppose it might be too much for the Arabs and their sympathizers to hear the contradictions in their position. It is long passed time that we point them out.