The There, There, and The True Cause . The Lesson Learned and Never Learned . The Litmus Test
The There, There, and The True Cause
The There, There
I think I was pretty clear in my last post that Hamas leverages the less-than-pure motives of the UN and the international media to perpetuate a distorted information flow that exaggerates the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and erroneously assigns exclusive blame for it to Israeli malice. I was also pretty clear that the ultimate blame for the war, Palestinian civilian deaths, and the deprivation in Gaza is Hamas, a genocidal jihadi organization of such bottomless evil that it maximizes the deaths and misery of its population as a strategy, and proudly posts horrific videos of Jewish hostages that echo the Holocaust.
That said, there is a hunger (not starvation) crisis in Gaza, and Israeli negligence, not malice, is partly to blame. While Hamas's manipulation, obstruction, and lethal violence, as well as the haughty obstinence of UN-affiliated and other international aid organizations, play major roles, there is a there, there as concerns Israeli responsibility.
In a recent piece for The Free Press, which you can (and should) read here, the deeply thoughtful, and here critical, Israeli journalist and historian, Haviv Rettig-Gur, articulates with typical clarity both Hamas’s efforts to ensure Palestinian suffering in Gaza and thus Israel’s international isolation, what he calls “the humanitarian aid war”, and the mistakes made by the Israeli government that ultimately served Hamas’s strategic objective. The bottom line is that Israel’s tactical efforts to use aid as pressure on Hamas played it too close to the line in terms of food stockpiles and distribution logistics, and reflected a bewildering failure to internalize the fact that Hamas’s malign fanaticism renders it immune to the distress of its people and exalted in the strategic benefit it brings. As Rettig Gur puts it,
“The whole concept of the strategy to use aid as pressure on Hamas was flawed at its very core. Why would Hamas blink first? Has the Israeli government met Hamas? Why did they think this was going to work with a group whose foundational strategy is Gaza’s destruction?”
…Which Israeli strategist was dumb enough ever to think that Israel’s threshold of tolerance for Gazan suffering was higher than Hamas’s?”
As harmful as these missteps may have been, Rettig-Gur observes, “The only place Israel has fared worse is in the information war.” Many news outlets don’t have an obvious address in the Israeli government for information and:
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu literally does not have a clearly identified English-language spokesperson. No one in the Israeli state apparatus tracks claims about the country or the war and responds, handles damage control, or manages the narrative and coordinates the message.”
For an even more in-depth dive into Israel’s operational and strategic mistakes, listen to Rettig-Gurs’ podcast on the subject here. A Kelly Victor find.
The True Cause
While Israel’s blunders are important to acknowledge, it is equally important to understand them in perspective, something the mass excoriation of Israel, bordering on mass hysteria, proves is desperately needed. To that end, I first commend to you this piece by Andrew Tobin, describing chapter and verse Hamas’s role in creating the hunger crisis through its infiltration of the work of UN-affiliated humanitarian agencies, and seizure of control over the aid they provide. The report is based on dozens of interviews, including UN representatives who present their side of the story. See the video below (thank you, Ian Burnstein) of Hamas’s commandeering multiple aid trucks.
And then there is the sheer barbarism, inhumanity, and lethal fanaticism that started this war, perpetuates it, and has ensured the destruction of Gaza and its residents. I have run out of words to describe the evil that is Hamas, but over the last several days, Hamas itself broadcast images and videos that render them irrelevant.
Photos and film of two of the 20 living hostages Hamas holds in its dungeons were recently made public. Again, by Hamas. They are Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, who are visibly being starved, though not to death, since that would eliminate their value as human bargaining chips. Rom’s mind is broken at least as much as his body, and it is hard to believe Evyatar’s psychological state is any better. The video Hamas produced shows him using his last remnants of energy to narrate the literal digging of his own grave to the savages filming him. Warning: These videos are very difficult to watch.
In a galling illustration of the ideological capture of important segments of the media, in its coverage of the videos of Evyatar and Rom, rather than printing their images and reporting on the vile savagery of Hamas and the visceral reaction to it of virtually all Israelis, “The Paper of Record,” The New York Times, ran a photo of a relative handful of protestors who responded to the ghoulish psychological warfare from the tunnels of Gaza by demanding a ceasefire. In his recent post, sent to me by Detroit’s master of meat, Eric Grosinger, longtime former NYT Creative Services Director Yaakov Ort, who in the 20 years since his retirement has never publicly criticized his old employer, called its reporting
“an appalling twisting of the facts, and mindful, heartless concealment of the truth.
…The symbolism of the photo is so apt Notwithstanding The alleged starvation con, since digging our own graves is exactly what the current Times news, op-ed, and editorial writers…are arguing daily we should do. Guess What? We won’t.
The vicious weaponization of historical irony by Israel-haters and antisemites libeling Israel as committing genocide, a word coined for the industrialized project to eliminate world Jewry, could not be more obvious or revolting. It is, of course, a modern-day blood libel rooted not in fact but rather a desire to demonize and thus delegitimize the Jewish state. Hamas’s films intentionally echo images of the holocaust, and reflect a sadistic enemy whose pride in its genocidal ambitions eclipses the Nazis’, who at least tried to conceal them from the civilized world. And yet Israel, not Hamas, is labeled a Nazi regime engaged in genocide. It is a libel no longer relegated only to the morally twisted ideologues who originated it, but rather one which has been adopted by more reasonable people, confused by its incessant repetition into thinking it true.
As this exceptional piece by former British airborne officer and special forces member, and Middle East specialist and lecturer, Andrew Fox, explains, the first victim of post-modernism’s ideological poison is Israel. Its ultimate target, however, is the moral moorings of the West. Its successful perversion of the West’s thinking on Gaza, Hamas, and Israel demonstrates it is getting closer to hitting it.
The Lesson Learned and Never Learned
"The initiative by several countries to recognize a Palestinian state is one of the fruits of October 7. We proved that victory over Israel is not impossible, and our weapons are a symbol of Palestinian dignity."
Ramzi Hamed - Hamas spokesman, senior diplomat, and Political Bureau member
That the political frenzy to recognize a Palestinian state can only be interpreted as a reward for next-level terrorism and fanaticism so total it eagerly sacrifices the lives of its people is, one would think, too obvious to warrant discussion. It certainly is to Hamas. As senior official, Razi Hamed, triumphantly declared (above), the lesson is not lost on him.
Sadly, the idiocy of Emmanuel Macron and Kier Stermer’s statehood fetish was not recognized as such by the myriad useful idiots on the world stage who scrambled to ride their wave. I guess there’s an obvious logic to that. It turns out Europe, Canada, and Australia do not have a monopoly on idiocy or useful idiots. We have it and them right here.
Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) is leading a letter urging President Trump to recognize a Palestinian state and has so far convinced 12 other useful…um…congresspersons to sign on. They are: Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Al Green (D-Texas), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), and André Carson (D-Ind.). Congressman Green promises to take the inanity to the next level with the introduction of a resolution to the same effect.
The Litmus Test
A Jewish Insider report, “Israel votes emerge as new litmus test in Senate primaries,” contends
“After a majority of Senate Democrats voted last week to cut off some military sales to Israel, the issue has emerged as a dividing line in some key Senate primaries. The votes have become a pivotal test in determining which members have maintained their support for Israel, and those who are responding to the political pressure from the party’s progressive activist base.”
The analysis reviews the candidates in five key open-seat races in Illinois, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Michigan, home to many readers of this post. You’ll have to click here to see the lay of the land for the first four, but I’ll save you the suspense on The Great Lakes State.
Michigan’s sitting Senator, Gary Peters (D), voted against Bernie Sanders’ resolutions to disapprove arms sales to Israel. Elissa Slotkin (D) was not present for the vote but issued a lengthy statement after explaining she would have sided with Sanders in blocking the sale of “offensive weapons,” presumably including some which enabled Israel to protect itself against the existential threats of Hezbollah, Iran, and, for that matter, Hamas.
Congresswoman and candidate to fill Senator Peters’ seat after his retirement, Haley Stevens (D), aptly described as “a Pro-Israel stalwart,” stated she would have voted against the resolutions. However, State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, “who earlier this year had been meeting with Jewish groups to reassure them of her pro-Israel bona fides,” failed the litmus test and, in a statement deeply critical of Israel’s prime minister, said she would have joined Slotkin in voting against providing Israel with “offensive weapons.”
Until very recently, proposals by radical members of Congress, like Bernie Sanders, to stop the flow of arms to Israel could garner the support of but a small handful of fringe fellow travelers. Not any more. The international echo chamber for Hamas’s propaganda has generated a political inertia that is chipping away at support for Israel. It proved irresistible to the majority of Democratic senators who voted with Sanders last week.
So we must thank those who stand with Israel. Thank Senator Gary Peters by clicking here, and click here to thank Michigan Senatorial candidate, Congresswoman Haley Stevens. I guarantee they are hearing from the other side; make sure they hear from you.