1. Advocating for Gaza or Gazans is advocating for Palestinians and Hamas.
2. Advocating for Palestinians and Hamas is advocating anti-Semitism and genocide—of Jews.
3. Advocating for Palestinians and Hamas is also advocating for, rationalizing , enabling and encouraging terrorism.
4. Any public statements from President Biden or his administration critical of Israel’s handling of the war helps achieve Hamas’s objectives. Helping to achieve Hamas’s objectives as a consequence of its terrorist attack validates the use of terrorism as a means of achieving Palestinian ends.
5. It is basic radical revolutionary strategy to manipulate a foe into harming “innocents,” bystanders, and non-combatants. When such revolutionaries deliberately place such bystanders, and non-combatants in harm’s way, it is the revolutionaries who are accountable and responsible. Except for the children, whom their parents and other adults have endangered, there are no “innocents” in a population that knowingly hands its leadership over to violent and extremist leaders. The German people were not “innocent” in World War II; Japanese civilians were not innocent either. Rhetoric describing the Gazan civilians as “innocent” is capitulating to the strategy of terrorists.
6. The campus demonstrations against Israel assist and enable terrorist propaganda and encourage future terrorist attacks. Unsettling U.S. society is one of Hamas’s objectives (and Iran’s, and Hezbollah’s). That alone is justification for shutting down the pro-Hamas demonstrations on campus. In addition to interfering with Jewish students’ education (and non-Jewish students too: the campus protests when I was a college freshman, frequently stopped me from attending class.), these tell Hamas and other that terror attacks on Israel will have beneficial results to their cause. In short, these demonstrations will get people killed.
7. Biden’s two-faced, cynical waffling on the war…“We support Israel!” “We support Palestinian civilians!” “We support Israel!” “We support Palestinian civilians!”….
…validates Hamas tactics and undermines Israel. The tactic is cowardly, unethical, immoral, and, as usual for Biden, stupid, irresponsible and incompetent.
8. Last week there was report that Biden was looking for ways to recognize a Palestinian state. Allowing Palestinians to get what they crave as a direct (or indirect) result of the October 7 terror attack justifies terrorism in their self- warped culture’s poisoned mind.
9. In the same vein, Biden, Harris and Sec. of State Blinken suggesting in public statements that Israel prosecuting the war vigorously to its conclusion—the end of Hamas—isolates the country or, as V.P. Harris said regarding the looming invasion of Hamas’s stronghold in Rafah, would be a “huge mistake” simply bolsters the terrorist’s cause. Sen. John Fetterman’s reaction was logically, ethically, and morally spot-on:
Ethics Alarms 
Thanks Jack. I’ve been waiting for you to weigh in. Those calling the shots for Hamas knew full well there would be serious violent retribution and in fact that was the beginning of their planned propaganda campaign on the world stage. Look how well it’s working. The Pravda MSM has already flipped the script as to who the bad guys are. Hamas leaders know how much they have infiltrated our campuses. Who do you think is paying these militant students’ tuition?
Hamas leaders could care less about sacrificing their own people. They are genuine medieval savages after all who consider dying for jihad a noble and glorious death. Well at least their brainwashed obedient automaton infantry do. They even get sex in the deal which at least means fewer women being raped wherever these barbarians coalesce. Israel is dealing with people totally obsessed with the death of all infidels beginning with those dirty Jews.
My only criticism is that you make no mention of who is manipulating dementia-jo behind the scenes. It is becoming increasingly difficult to extract even ten minutes of coherence out of him even with a teleprompter. Medicine can only do so much. Our beloved President’s overall Middle East policy has Obama’s fingerprints all over it.
Is there anyone in congress more courageous and outspoken on the Left than Fetterman?
On the Left OR the Right, no?
This is arguably worse then what went on during Vietnam, because now the student protesters are targeting other students for abuse for no other reason than who and what they are. I know that the NYPD has said that there will not be a repeat of Seattle or Portland with independent zones being set up on the streets, but I’m sure that’s coming next. It’s got to end soon, or we are going to be looking at a repeat of 2020 as soon as school lets out.
Imagine a future where Europe becomes an Islamic Caliphate. When the European Caliphate conquers the former US, it decides to further humiliate its citizens by renaming the territoriy ‘Canukistan’. Suddenly, in Muslim Canada, people start calling themselves ‘Canukistanis’. They then claim that the US territory is their ancient homeland, they are ‘Canukistanis’, after all and these white colonizers drove them from their beloved homeland. The Native Americans try to protest, of course, but are shouted down on the international stage and ignored. The jihad to free ‘Canukistan’ from its colonizers and restore it to the native Canukistanis has begun and it is supported by leftists of all types and college students across Canukistan. The appointed leader of Canukistan tries to suggest a ‘two state’ solution, giving the Canukistanis everything between the mountains, but this is insufficient. The Canukistanis demand everything, including their ancient holy sites of New York and Los Angeles, of which they demand immediate and complete control due to the special relationship to those sites alluded to in their ancient oral traditions that have been handed down, without error, for 1500 years. Yes, the Canukistanies ruled the area in a 2000+ year long era of peace and prosperity until it was stripped of them by the ‘devil’ Donald Trump in 2016. They demand a ‘restoration’ of their total control of the region, as it existed before the year 2016 and the expulsion or destruction of the colonizer invaders.
Anyone who denies the truth of this is a MAGA deceiver and part of the worldwide MAGA conspiracy to oppress the virtuous Canukisatnis.
I thought Canada already had a two-state solution in the form of Quebec.
-Jut
That is too close to home. I wanted a ridiculous story that everyone would have to accept as absolute truth (or be called an ‘-ist’ or ‘-phobe’). The current Palestinian narrative is just as ridiculous, but everyone is forced to just accept it and you can’t point out how wrong it is.
Raymond Khoury wrote a story not too dissimilar to what you are suggesting:
https://raymondkhoury.com/
it is called “Empire of Lies.”
jvb
I’m not a constituent of Sen. Fetterman, but he has been a revelation, particularly with the Israel/Hamas issues. I don’t what all else he supports, but kudos to him for taking this stance.
Now…the blatantly cynical, distrust-of-all-things-government side of me wonders…
Since everything in Washington reeks of slime – especially as you move left on the ideological spectrum, but to a degree everywhere – and is almost totally coordinated, what is Sen. Fetterman’s part in the orchestra? Is he playing the solo prepared for him or is this improvisation?
Israel blows up a refugee camp “there was totally a hamas guy around there.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyqFFsRifFM&ab_channel=CNN
Israel guns down civilians waiting for food:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-gaza-hamas-war-humanitarian-aid-death-toll-over-30000/
Aid workers drive in, Israel shoots them all (they said it was a “mistake”)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/central-world-kitchen-aid-workers-killed-airstrike-gaza/
Israel keeps shooting unarmed protesters in Gaza, journalist refuses to stop talking about it so they kill her.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shireen_Abu_Akleh
Another journalist gets told to stop reporting Israel’s attacks, he refuses, so they bomb his family.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/1/to-kill-a-family-the-loss-of-wael-dahdouhs-family-to-israeli-bombs
Most initial civilian deaths blamed on Hamas were actually the trigger-happy IDF
https://thegrayzone.com/2023/10/27/israels-military-shelled-burning-tanks-helicopters/
Israel kills their own hostages (from israel’s own media):
https://x.com/QudsNen/status/1718547315764441095
Israel claims Hamas “Killed 40 babies,” never provides evidence, eventually has to walk back the story.
https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/no-hamas-did-not-behead-40-babies-at-an-israeli-kibbutz-last-saturday/
Israel claims Hama put a baby in an oven, this is actually something Zionist Militias did back in the 40s
https://x.com/MnarMuh/status/1718818552977797569
Driving over civilians with tanks
https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6202/Israeli-tanks-have-deliberately-run-over-dozens-of-Palestinian-civilians-alive#
Yeah these are totally the good guys.
“War is Hell.” Another version: Don’t start wars if you are not willing to accept the consequences. Pretty simple, really.
Oh—I should also mention that nothing in the post said anything about “good guys.” But terrorists and the fools and tools that encourage them are definitely “bad guys.”
I love the way Jews are the only people in history who are supposed to fight a war of survival with one arm tied behind their backs. They’re supposed to provide aid and comfort to the enemy while they’re trying to win a war the enemy started. Very interesting.
Just imagine. The Allies had the nerve to conduct the strategic bombing campaign WITHOUT conducting the Marshall Plan AT THE SAME TIME! What’s up with that??!!
I mean, I don’t disagree with that, in the Melian sense; the Strong Do, the Weak Suffer. War is “The last argument of kings.” “Don’t start fights and complain you get your clocked cleaned” is a fair argument.
But I wonder if Israel boosters actually believe that. In fact, Israel has quite a history of ‘starting it’ but always seems to avoid the blame. This isn’t a secret, they admit it themselves.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/first-strike-nation/
It’s an interesting article, pre-dates the current war by 5 years, when Israel bombed Gaza unprovoked.
For 70+ years they’ve been lashing out while claiming self defense every time. Their argument is everyone is out to get them, so they are allowed to attack anyone. That’s official military policy in Israel. At what point is it safe to call this country an aggressor?
You can point out that Hamas is avowed anti-Israel. Fair. But how far back do we go? I would call emigrating to a country and then ethnically cleansing it ‘starting it,’ for one example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_expulsion_and_flight
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/11/03/israel-nakba-history-1948/
Invading a country and massacring civilians sounds like ‘starting it.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre
Israel has quite a long history of targeted assassinations (written by an Israeli and vetted by the Mossad)
https://ronenbergman.com/rise-and-kill-first-the-book/
When he waffled on Israel, those wacky Zionists tried to letter-bomb Truman. Is targeting a president ‘starting it?’
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/02/archives/letterbombs-mailed-to-truman-in-1947-truman-was-sent-bombs-book.html
Who could forget this curious incident? Strange that we never retaliated against a country that ‘started it.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident
(No, the claim it was an ‘accident’ doesn’t hold up. The ship had it’s comm tower destroyed, the crew repaired it, broadcast ‘we’re American, please stop’, but the attack continued.)
Israel claims they will nuke Europe if they are ever invaded. They call it the ‘Samson Option.’ Is intimidating people under nuclear threat ‘starting it?’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Samson_Option:_Israel%27s_Nuclear_Arsenal_and_American_Foreign_Policy
In any case, if war is hell why do you care if some dumb college kids hold a protest? Sitting in an office chanting slogans is a far cry from bombing a hospital. Yet you condemn one, while excusing the other.
You say protests will get jews killed; I think Israel bombing embassies and starting more wars will get jews killed. Worse, it will probably get Americans killed. I do not want my son dying in the middle east.
America has made all our enemies into friends over the last century, why can’t Israel do the same? “If you meet assholes all day long, you’re the asshole.”
Wow, that Wikipedia article is astoundingly anti-Israel. Any account that doesn’t clarify that the U.N’s two-state offer was rejected by the Palestinians because they would not acknowledge Israel’s right to exist is burying the lede. Similarly, all the Arab nations attacked Israel in order to make sure it didn’t exist—and lost. Meanwhile, terrorist acts against Israel had continued periodically and unabated prior to the attack that you reference. And current events validate the logic and justification for that attack.
The fact that you default to the false, and proven false, “bombing a hospital” Hamas propaganda renders you useless for any intelligent conversation on this issue. Similarly, the bombing of the Iranian complex in Syria is more complicated than you imply. Why do I care that “dumb students” hold a protest that proclaims that other students and their families don’t deserve to live? Why don’t you care? I had nearly two of my four years in college disrupted by such “dumb students,” but at least they weren’t calling for my death.
Israel didn’t “start” the Hamas war, and as Iran has made it clear that it seeks Israel’s destruction, any actions taken by Israel to eliminate that threat is ethically justified. All the Palestinians and their allies have ever had to do to ensure peace is to reject their stated objective of destroying Israel. They won’t, and because they won’t they deserve what happens to them.
Go ahead and comment on any other topic, but you are suspended from threads on this one.
From Instapundit: “Democrats in Full Panic Mode Over Anti-Israel Protests.” Good! They deserve to be.
Kyle V,
Just what the world needs more of, naive Hamas Apologists.
If you want to learn the simple truth about who are the good guys – go visit Israel for a month and then do the same in Gaza. I purposefully said visit Israel first because you most likely wouldn’t last more than a few days in Gaza. Your only hope being a quick beheading instead of being set on fire in a cage and having your execution gleefully posted on social media.
Have a nice day.
Can you post anything that isn’t just the MSM parroting a claim of Hamas’s spokesterrorists?
I’ve read innumerable blathering commentaries about supposed “genocide,” all of which treat the Gaza war as something unprecedented. None of them have mentioned the word “siege” or attempted to discuss the law of war that applies to sieges. But of course, sieges where a defending army takes refuge in a city full of civilians have been commonplace throughout human history. And the attacking army has always done the same thing — bombard and starve the city, killing soldiers and civilians alike. That’s ugly, but it’s war.
One example: In World War II’s siege of Leningrad, something like a million and a half Russians died, mostly civilians, from starvation, cold and bombardment. The Germans strafed and shelled civilians who tried to flee, in order to drive them back into the city and increase the strain on the defenders. After the war, there were hundreds of war criminal trials in which thousands of Germans were convicted and many executed. But the German general who was tried for the siege of Leningrad was acquitted because the tribunal agreed that what he had done was not a violation of the law of war.
The law was changed in the 1949 Geneva convention to create some protections for civilians during sieges but the rules are full of nuance and recognize that civilian deaths during sieges are inevitable. Concepts like “proportionality,” “foreseeability,” “reasonableness” all leave considerable discretion for the besieging party, which is not required to give up and go away because civilians will die.
Most significantly, and something that I never see mentioned, is that the law is clear that primary responsibility for meeting the basic needs of civilians lies with the besieged party — that is to say, with Hamas. Hamas is required under the Geneva convention to cooperate with the besieging Israeli forces to minimize the impact of the siege on civilians. Hamas is supposed to make sure that food and medicine that the Israelis allow into Gaza are distributed to civilians and not to fighters. Hamas is supposed to keep military installations distinct from civilian facilities, not hide behind civilian human shields. Hamas has done nothing of the kind, and has in fact done the opposite.
While there may be individual acts by Israelis that have crossed the line, Hamas’ entire conduct of the siege has been a gross violation of the law of war, not to mention Hamas’s actions on October 7, which would merit the execution of all who planned and carried out the slaughter of unarmed civilians. If even a single person who has condemned supposed Israeli war crimes has denounced Hamas’ much worse crimes, I haven’t seen it.
Great post, Greg. Leningrad came to my mind as well. I was under the mistaken impression the Russian civilians were able to escape and the battle was fought room to room in an abandoned city. Thanks for you thorough analysis.
Ooops. Stalingrad. Or as it should have been called, Volgagrad. Gotta keep your grads straight. And your burgs.
While the grand scheme of ethical analysis taking into consideration events from the break up of the Ottoman Empire to the present day – good things the Jewish settlers and Israel has done – bad things they’ve done – good things the Arabs and Palestinians have done – bad things they’ve done – the final analysis skews unquestioningly in Israel’s favor:
There is a contemporary concern that I am not sure about how much it should be weighted in ethical considerations. In the West Bank there *are* property confiscations and evictions of Palestinians to allow for growing Israeli communities.
I can’t find any really definitive research that all these evictions are ethically or legally conducted or if they are based on some sort of ethical or legal claim to the land because of actions taken by the individual inhabitants.
Wasn’t the West Bank seized by Israel during the 1973 war? And there has never been a formal resolution of that war?
If you attack a country and they counterattack and take your territory, until there’s a peace treaty, do they have an obligation to give you back your territory?
No one rationally expected or is expecting to cede the West Bank back to Jordan. They lost it in the war you mentioned.
That doesn’t mean the inhabitants of the land magically lose property rights for merely being of the ethnicity of the loser.
If the seizures and evictions in the 1990s-2010s can somehow be linked to crimes and aggressions of the 73 war or even of later tumults, then by all means, punish the miscreants.
I haven’t seen any good reporting or research on this yet.
Nope. Unless you’re talking about the joke known as “international law.”
Seized from Jordan. They formalized peace in 1994. Same time period as the Oslo Accords in which Israel and the Palestinians agreed to a weird “triaged” sharing of the West Bank. One zone would be entirely Palestinian secured and administered. One zone would be shared. The other zone was entirely Israel secured and administered.
With an ultimate goal of eventually giving most administration to the Palestinians while the Israelis kept some security functions and shared the rest.
Much of this “transfer of authority” was interrupted and ultimately halted by the 2nd intifada.
One of the grievances listed by the West Bank Palestinians for kicking off the intifada was property seizures and evictions. There were other claims made also that were less justifiable grievances.
So back to question- if the nature of the seizures and evictions were legally and ethically square then no problem.
But I haven’t seen any really good reporting or research either way.
Need to correct this-
The West Bank was taken from Jordan in the 1967 war. Not the 1973 War (the Yom Kippur War).
Jordan quit its claims on the area in 1988 though Israel also never formally annexed it- though the peace treaty in 1994 and the Oslo accords were a weird sort of de facto annexation.
Michael W,
Indeed, there will be continual sorting once Hamas is eliminated. Let’s not forget that all the past decisions, negotiations, and disputes have occurred with Israel being under the psychological/emotional influence of the ongoing aggression arising from within Palestine.
This exact same phenomenon has most certainly influenced the behavior of the Orange Master.